Page 60 of Goaltender Interference

“You good, Safy?” Saari asked, because of course he’d noticed.

“Fine,” Matt said. “Just have to give it some time, I think.”

It had been years since he’d felt so eager to go home after a game. When he had still been married to Emily, especially toward the end, there’d always been the vague feeling of dread, knowing she’d be upset about something, knowing it was one more thing he’d have to manage. And after Emily, it had just been quiet night after quiet night, not even admitting to himself how lonely it had been.

And now there was Aiden, waiting for Matt when he got home, like he’d been lurking by the doorway and trying to seem like he hadn’t actually been doing that.

“Hey,” Matt said, unable to keep the slightly goofy smile off of his face. “Were you lonely, baby?”

Aiden’s face flushed darker, and he looked down. “Uh, no, it’s just—sometimes it’s not easy watching you playing and wishing I could be out there, too.”

Matt couldn’t help wrapping Aiden in his arms immediately. “I’m sorry. I wish—I don’t know. Is it weird to think that maybe it would have been nice if we could’ve played together, that last year?”

“We would’ve been miserable,” Aiden mumbled into Matt’s hair.

“Maybe we would’ve reconnected then, too. Maybe it would’ve worked out. I wouldn’t have been able to resist you.”

“Do you ever think about that?” Aiden pulled back a little, so he could look down at Matt. “How long it’s been. How I still feel exactly the same goddamn butterflies in my stomach when I look at you now as I did that first handshake line.”

Aching knee and bruises and exhausted body aside, despite the fact that it was close to one in the morning, he felt himself stirring. It was impossible not to, when Aiden was looking at him like that, when Aiden’s lean body was pressed against his, when Aiden’s eyes were hot and intent and needing. Matt pressed his mouth against Aiden’s neck, savoring the little sigh it earned him.

“We don’t have to...it’s late, I know you’re exhausted...”

“You could fuck me,” Matt suggested, “I could make you do all of the work this time, eh?”

Aiden sounded like he had surprised himself into laughing, short and wheezy. “If that’s what you want.”

“Yes,” Matt said, “please.”

Sometimes, when Matt thought about the way sex with Aiden had evolved over the years of their relationship, it did his head in a little. When they’d first started hooking up, it had been asurprise to both of them for different reasons. Matt because he’d assumed he was straight; Aiden because he hadn’t ever met anyone who could compare to hockey. But the attraction had been electric and undeniable. It had been awkward at first, figuring out what they liked and what was comfortable, before Matt had cracked the code and learned the two most important things about Aiden: he was kind of a freak, and he was incredibly flexible.

By the time they’d broken up, they’d tried pretty much everything together. Matt had learned things he’d never thought he’d learn about himself, like the fact that even though he had never intended tohurtAiden, Aiden really, really liked it when Matt hurt him. That was the thing: it hadn’t just been about sex, it was about the way Aiden was so vulnerable and cracked open when he let Matt do those things to him, the way that Matt could be the same way with him. The way he couldn’t be with anyone else, for so many fucking reasons, not the least of which was because he was the captain of the Montreal Royal.

They might not ever have been good at talking about their feelings, but their bodies could do it for them.

And now that they were back together, Aiden still sounded and felt the same underneath and on top of him, around him or inside of him, but there was that ache in Matt’s chest, the thought of all of the other men over the years who’d been able to see Aiden like this, who’d been able to look up in bed and see his huge brown eyes focused only on them.

It was so fucked up. It wasn’t like Matt to be that possessive. Aiden wasn’t athing, wasn’t something he could own. But it was like now that Matt had Aiden back in his life after so long, now that Matt had Aiden back in his bed, focused on taking Matt apart, piece by piece, everything was all mixed up in his head, a combination of joy and pain so intense he couldn’t even begin to untangle the mess.

It didn’t help that Aiden was deep inside of him now, slow, even thrusts driving all logical thought out of his head. All he could think about was how much he had missed this, all he could think about was how good Aiden felt, draped over his back, like he couldn’t bear to put even an inch between them. Matt was so intensely aware of every little sensation: the slick sweat between them, Aiden’s hands wrapped around Matt’s wrists, pressing them down into the bed, his short, bitten-off fingernails digging into Matt’s skin. They were barely moving and Matt’s whole body was on fire anyway, building up to the climax.

“Matty,” Aiden mumbled into his neck. His mouth was hot and humid, barely coherent. “Matty...”

“I’m so close, please, Aiden, come on—”

Aiden gave him what he wanted—he had always been good at taking direction—a slow, inexorable grind of his hips, and it was like Matt’s whole body was enveloped and penetrated and covered, and all of his senses, everything around him, were justAiden. And then Matt was crying out, unable to even feel embarrassed about how desperate he sounded. It took him a while to collect his thoughts after, flat on his stomach in the sticky spot on the bed.

Aiden pulled out and sat back on his legs, but Matt couldn’t move, rolled over onto his back and threw his arm over his eyes because looking at Aiden, just then, was almost too much for him to bear. The only sound was his own ragged breathing, panting and short, and Aiden’s, just as breathless.

“Gabe wants me to go to the home opener,” Aiden blurted out all at once, like he was trying to stop himself and failing.

“Oh—okay?” Matt managed, still gasping and disoriented. He blinked, trying to process Aiden’s words.

Aiden was saying, “I’m going to go. I bought tickets.”

Matt pushed himself up onto his elbows. It felt a little like Aiden had slammed him in the head with a two-by-four. He wasn’t entirely sure whether it was the orgasm and the aftershocks, or because of what Aiden had just said. “I...okay. Are you coming back?”

“It’s a round-trip ticket?” Aiden said, slowly.

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