Page 23 of The Penalty Shot (Totally Pucked 5)

A flurry of nerves hit my stomach at finality. Nerves, because this is a huge deal and I’m scared. I don't want to end up in the same position I was with Jarrett. I want the best for Alex, and sometimes, I have to make decisions that aren’t easy.

One thing I do know, regardless of how I feel right now, I want to be near Asher, and that thought alone…it’s scarier than anything else.

Chapter Nine

Auden

One momentmy life was perfectly ordinary and normal. Boring, really. The most exciting thing to happen to me was usually watching a marathon of Harry Potter.

Then, suddenly everything changed, and I had a six-foot-four, hulking professional hockey player as a roommate. And while he has his own space, and I have mine…he seems to be everywhere. Invading everything. Including my thoughts and I’m still trying to get acclimated to Asher being my roommate.

When I was in the shower last night, I accidentally knocked his body wash off the ledge, and it spilled, surrounding me with the fresh scent of him. Even though I hurriedly picked it up and capped it, I couldn’t stop thinking about him and what would happen if he was in here with me.

It felt…forbidden, and a rush of pleasure surged through me imagining him being naked and soapy. It didn’t help that he had taken to walking around the apartment in old sweats, slung low on his hips. His body is perfection, truly a work of art, and I may be inexperienced with men and relationships, but a girl can only turn a blind eye so much.

I was so overcome by arousal, my hand snaked lower, and I fell over the edge while thinking of my new roommate.

God, what am I doing?

Now, every time he steps out of the shower smelling like his body wash, my mind floods back to the other night when I came on my fingers, with his name on my lips.

This can’t happen. Not now, not ever. Not only because he’s way out of my league, but because I need him as my roommate. A non-crazy roommate, who can afford his half of the rent, so I can keep this apartment.

Moving out just isn’t an option. I can’t uproot my son when he is finally finding his place at school, making new friends and in a home that is safe and stable.

“Hey Aud?” Asher says, his voice low and raspy, breaking me from my thoughts. I glance up from the book in my lap and he’s leaning against the counter in the kitchen.

“Hm?”

“Alex and I are going to make pancakes for dinner. That cool with you?”

I nod then clear my throat, praying that the heat on my cheeks doesn’t give my thoughts away. “Yeah, sure, of course.”

Asher’s lips tug up in a grin, and he nods. “Alex told me about his night for dinner. I like that.”

I try not to think about how great Asher is with Alex…because, well, as much as I love it, it scares me. How easily Asher fits into our lives, and how easy it could be to fall for him. Since moving in, he and Alex have been on aStranger Thingsre-watching binge, watching it until Alex’s bedtime every night. Not only that, they’ve been swapping books, doing his math homework together, and sketching side by side at the kitchen table after dinner.

It’s just…God, it feels so good to have someone else be a part of our lives, someone that my son loves and trusts.

I just keep praying that Asher’s always there for Alex, the way he is now, because I don’t want my boy to end up hurt.

“Auden,” he groans, burying his head between my legs, “you taste so fucking good. Come for me, baby.”

I wake with a start, sitting upright, clutching my chest as my breath comes in labored pants that I can’t seem to get control of.

Anotherdream.

Flopping backward, I groan and look at the clock on my nightstand. The red glowing numbers show one-thirty. It’s the third time this week that I’ve woken up from a dream that left me a sweating, panting mess and every single one of them involved Asher.

All six-foot-four of him, with his hard planes and dips that I shouldabsolutelynot be thinking about. Yet, here we are.

After a feeble attempt at going back to sleep, I throw the covers off me and strip out of my sweat-soaked t-shirt in exchange for my bathing suit. On nights where I can’t sleep, I swim.

Until my muscles burn, and I’m no longer restless. It’s another thing I picked up after moving to Chicago, and one of my favorite things about this apartment. The pool. A little slice of unexpected heaven.

Grabbing a towel from the bathroom, I peek into Alex’s room, and see he’s half-hanging off the bed, snoring lightly. I walk over to his desk, jot a quick note and leave it on his nightstand, with his phone on top. He more likely won’t wake up, but I want him to know where I went if he does wake up.

When I turn to walk down the hallway to the front door, I run into something hard and unwavering.

---