Page 110 of Playing the Pucking Game
I stare at the door, fear trickling through my veins. But it’s not strong enough. I need a barrier between us.
You did the right thing.
You did the right thing.
But no matter how many times I tell myself this, I struggle to believe it.
“Fuck’s sake,” I hiss as I surge forward and grab the tote bag I carried home earlier.
After I gave up on my date, I asked the driver to take me to a street with one of my favorite stores. No sooner was I out of the car, I was walking through the front door. I ignored all the pretty lingerie that I’d usually wander through, and I walked straight to the back of the store.
I might need new underwear, but it’s obvious that I don’t have any need for anything that sexy. I can’t even show up for dinner with a man, let alone anything else.
I went straight for what I want like a woman on a mission, just like I do now as I tug at the packaging.
There’s a little voice in my head that warns me that it won’t have enough charge, but I push it aside. Something has to go my way tonight.
“Goddamn it,” I mutter as I battle with the almost impossible-to-open plastic. I need scissors, but I am not going back out there to find some.
Thankfully, I locate some nail clippers in the bathroom, and it’s enough to make a hole so I can rip into the packaging.
In seconds, I’m shoving my sleep shorts down my legs and climbing onto my bed.
Please, please, last long enough to get me there.
I press the little button, and the toy in my hand buzzes to life.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I spread my legs and touch the tip of it to my clit.
I swear my gasp sucks all the air from the room.
Pushing it lower, I groan before pushing the tip inside.
My muscles clamp down, sucking it deeper as images of what could have happened in the room next door only moments ago fill my mind.
29
LINCOLN
“Fuck,” I breathe as I drop my forehead to my arm that’s resting against the wall I just had Parker backed up against.
I fucked up.
I know that.
I should have insisted my leg was fine and sent her to bed.
It was obvious when she turned up soaking wet that she hadn’t had a good night, and yet I went and pushed. My need to know that her date went badly, that she didn’t want the guy she was meeting, was all-consuming.
And when I discovered it was a hookup, things only got worse.
Images of her rolling around in bed with another man were the only thing I could see.
Jealousy shot through me faster than I could control.
It fucking terrified me.
I know that Parker dates. I know that she sleeps with guys and moves on in the way I do with women. But it’s always been from a distance. She hasn’t been with anyone I know since high school. Hockey aside, she’s kept her life as separate from mine as possible.
