Page 68 of Hot for the Hockey Player
I swallowed.“I should have known though.I’m his mother.”
“Look at me, Gabrielle.”He squeezed my biceps a little in encouragement.
I lifted my head, his blue eyes and their deep, mesmerizing clarity making my breath snag in my lungs.“Donotbeat yourself up over this.He’s a kid, and kids make mistakes.His mistake was not confiding in you sooner about his struggles.But now you know, and together, you’re going to make it right.It’s not too late.Remember that.It’s not too late.We got through to him, are able to help him before it … well, before he did something really rash.”
My head bobbed in a nod as another tear slid down my cheek.With his big thumb, he reached up and swept it away.“You listened to your kid, and you’re going to get him the help he needs.You’re going to help him thrive.Because heisa phenomenal kid.You’re doing a great job with both of them.Know that.”
I still couldn’t bring myself to say anything.I just kept staring into his eyes, internalizing all that he was saying, and wondering why on earth I dismissed him the way that I did earlier when he was just so wonderful in every imaginable way.
“I need to apologize,” he started.“For earlier.I made you uncomfortable, and I’m sorry.”His sigh made his shoulders slouch a little and ruffle some of the hairs around my face.“But after seeing you in the stands at my hockey game, I couldn’t get you out of my head.You have been the benchmark for women in my entire dating life.A lot of my past girlfriends even looked like you.”
My eyes went wide.
His sheepish smile only endeared him to me even more.
“I know I already said these things, but you are the whole package.Brilliant, compassionate, fierce, kind, beautiful—”
My hand reached out and grabbed him by the front of that tight, white T-shirt before my brain could tell it not to, and with my chest heaving, I hauled him close and crushed my mouth to his.
His lips were soft, warm, and full.Immediately, he started kissing me back.
It was a rush of endorphins, hormones, relief, and overwhelming gratitude that propelled me to bury my other hand in his hair, tugging him down to me.His hands roamed down the sides of my body and cupped my butt, then he lifted me up, making me gasp, and plunked me onto the counter.
We continued to kiss, tongues tangling, teeth nipping.I felt him smile against my lips, and I smiled in return, enjoying the thick, unmistakable prod of his erection against my inner thigh.He cradled my back with his big hands like he was protecting me, cherishing me, and I savored every second of it.
I was lost to his lips and his touch, craving more of him.My hand was still bunched in the front of his shirt while the other one tugged on his hair.I moaned when he scraped his teeth across my bottom lip, and almost didn’t hear the telltale sign of a bedroom door opening.
It had a bit of a squeak to it, so it was Laurel’s.
Reality hit me like a bolt of lightening and I shoved him away, both of us out of breath.He stumbled a little, and I quickly hopped down off the counter just as Laurel, nose in a book, entered the kitchen, oblivious to the world outside of Westros.She grabbed an apple from the fridge, didn’t even glance at either of us, took a bite, and retreated back to her room.
I glanced at Maverick, and his smirk made me want to jump his bones again.
All of this was so out of character for me.Maybe I had a brain tumor?
“Come to my cabin tonight,” he said, gently adjusting his jeans, which of course pulled my eyes right there.
I shook my head.“I can’t.”
He turned to go, his body angled away from me, and for whatever reason, the way he glanced back at me, his brows pinched, an amused look on his face, made my entire lower half clench.“That wasn’t a request.”Then he headed to the door, opened it, and didn’t even look back before taking the porch steps down to his truck.
I leaned against the side of the fridge, hand to my wildly beating heart as I processed what had just happened.
I kissed Maverick Roy.
And he kissed me back.
Boy, oh boy, did he ever kiss me back.
My other hand touched my lips, which still tingled from the memory of his mouth, of his tongue and teeth.
The door opened again and my stomach flew up to my throat that it might be Maverick, back for more.But it wasn’t.It was my cousins.
They ditched their shoes, took one look at me, and all three of them halted in their tracks.Or, I should say, Raina stopped, which caused Naomi to bump into her, and Danica to bump into Naomi.
“You look different,” Raina said, narrowing her yellow-green eyes at me.She tucked a strand of her dark-red hair behind her ears and continued to study me like a bug under a microscope.Then her brows went sky high.“Did you get laid?”
Naomi and Danica both scoffed, and Naomi gave Raina a gentle shove so they could all enter the kitchen.“I don’t think she got laid, but her cheeks are rosy and her lips are puffy,” Naomi added.
