Page 48 of Interference

Not that it would take much to remember this. I could see us fucking frantically and hungrily, and at the same time, see him on the ice and on the bench, sweaty and focused and full-on badass on skates.

My mind flicked to that moment he’d been congratulating his teammate, when his smile had been so huge and bright and unrestrained, and a strangled sound escaped my lips in the same instant cum erupted over my hand. The whole world seemed to tremble, nearly shaking apart from the force of the first orgasm I’d had in far too long, and I thought I heard myself nearly sobbing from the intense pleasure.

I slumped back, hissing when my shoulders touched the cold wall, and then I settled into the coolness and just breathed. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, not being able to stand while I did this. I’d have ended up on the floor even if I’d had two feet underneath me. Like this, I hadn’t had to worry about balance or gravity—just losing myself to friction and fantasy.

Was it going to be awkward when Anthony came home? Would I be able to look him in the eye now that I’d had the most incredible orgasm while imagining him? Well, I’d find out tomorrow. For tonight, I was going to sleep like the dead.

I finished my shower, then hoisted myself up off the bench and started to carefully get out. As soon as I looked through the frosted glass, though, I jumped. And then I laughed.

Lily stared up at me from where she was sitting on the bathmat.

Pushing the door aside, I said, “Sorry, kiddo. Did I wake you up?”

She just watched me. I got her to move so I could get out and dry off. When I was finished, Lily stayed glued to my side as I made my way back into the bedroom. She wasn’t trained to assist me with mobility issues, but she’d seen me fall once and had immediately started sticking close. Sometimes I thought that helped simply because I was so afraid of falling on her, I’d move extra slow and careful.

We made it to bed without incident. I climbed in, and she immediately joined me, curling up against my side.

Before I’d even closed my eyes, though, Lily’s head suddenly snapped up.

I tensed.

Then I heard it—tapping. Scratching. And tiny meowing. “What the…”

More meowing, followed by the thump-thump-thump of what I assumed was paws against the door. Relaxing, I chuckled, and I got up again, switched on the light, crossed to the door, and opened it.

Instantly, Bear and Moose came thundering in and flew up onto the bed. Lily eyed them both, seeming more puzzled than alarmed. She looked up at me with an expression that screamed, “Um, Dad? Why are the oversized floofs in our bed?”

I chuckled. “You boys miss your dad, don’t you?”

Moose made himself at home on one of the pillows. Bear started walking in circles, kneading on the comforter and bumping his head against Lily, who still looked confused.

Well, if the cats were happier in here while Anthony was gone, who was I to kick them out?

There was still one problem, though, especially after Bear flopped over beside Lily.

“Um.” I surveyed the menagerie occupying most of the bed. “Someone’s going to have to move so there’s room for me.”

They all stared back at me. No one moved.

Rolling my eyes, I laughed. I hopped back to the bed, sat on the edge, and hoisted Bear up—carefully, both so I didn’t hurt or upset him and so I didn’t give myself a damn hernia. He chirped in protest, but when I set him down a few inches over, he decided that was okay. Or, knowing him, he forgot where he was in the first place and just figured, “Eh, it’s soft. Whatever.”

Then I gently encouraged Moose’s enormous tail to be someplace other than across my pillow. After I’d switched off the light and lain back down, he promptly thwacked me in the face with his tail.

I sputtered as some fluff got into my mouth and nose. “Really?”

Another thump against my face confirmed, yes, really.

I just rolled my eyes, turned on my side, and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 13

Anthony

During my rookie season, my team went on an awful four-game road trip. Everything that could go wrong did. We lost all four games, and we only managed to even get a lead in one of them. A lead we blew early in the third period before giving up an empty net goal for good measure. Two of the games had been shutouts, and the fourth had been 7-2. By the time we were on our way home, three players were day-to-day, one was going on LTIR, and one hadn’t even been able to make the flight home because the hospital wanted to run some more tests (he did ultimately recover, but he was in a world of hurt that week).

I didn’t think I’d ever be more eager for a road trip to end than I was after that absolute shitshow of a week.

Turned out I was wrong, because holy shit, I was so fucking relieved to see my own driveway coming into view. The drive from the airport had taken a solid forty-five minutes (Seattle traffic was so fun), and Simon and I hadn’t said two words to each other the entire time. We’d roomed together, and then we’d sat together on the plane to keep up appearances, though fortunately we’d both slept for most of the flight, so we hadn’t had to interact much. By the time we’d reached his car and could finally drop the illusion that we were still in the honeymoon phase, I suspected he was as worn out as I was.

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