Page 24 of The Grinder

Christ, he had half a chub now and he hadn’t even seen her yet.

And when he walked out into the hall and caught sight of her, he had an instant hard-on and the rest of the night’s disappointments faded.

All because she smiled at him.

Tonight, he had no intention of being good. Tonight, he planned to be as bad as he could convince her to be.

“Hi.” He almost had to strain to hear her, even though the mood in the hall was pretty quiet as the guys left the locker room and headed for the parking lot.

He wanted to grab her and repeat that kiss from last night. Just thinking about it made his muscles tense in anticipation.

“Hey. You ready to get out of here?”

Her smile dimmed a little and he cursed himself for the pissed-off tone in his voice.

He was about to apologize when she reached for his hand and squeezed. “Sure. Tough game tonight.”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

Her teeth lodged into her bottom lip for a second before she spoke again. “Would you like to come back to my place for a drink instead of going somewhere? Vivi’s working late and—”

“Yeah. I would. That’d be great.”

Her smile warmed again. “Then let’s go.”

They walked in silence to her car in the lot across the street, her hand in his. He’d caught a ride in with Justin. If he needed to, he’d Uber it home tonight. He was hoping he wouldn’t need to. Hoped like hell that her smile was an invitation he had no intention of turning down tonight.

“So do you have practice tomorrow morning?”

“Not in the morning, no. We’ve got an optional skate in the afternoon that I’ll probably go to. We had our asses handed to us tonight. We’re lucky the score wasn’t ten to one.”

“They seemed like a tough team.”

“They’re one of the worst in the league. A bunch of fucking kids with no— Shit. Sorry. Don’t mean to take my frustration out on you.”

She squeezed his hand as they reached her car, a sensible four-door gray sedan that would be a tight fit for him. He’d suffer through it for her.

The lot was mostly deserted now, the fans already on their way home. She’d parked her car in a dark corner and the next thing he knew, he had her backed up against her car with his mouth sealed over hers.

He hadn’t wanted to wait another second to kiss her. Couldn’t wait another second to kiss her.

And when she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed against him, he wasn’t sure they’d make it back to her place before he stuck his hand up her shirt so he could get his hands on her skin.

Christ, he felt like a teenager, all hormones and lust. But, holy fuck, she was hot and right there with him.

Her fingers bit into him, pulling him closer, showing him how much she wanted him. Damn good thing, too, because he had a burning ache deep in his gut that intensified with every passing second.

For the first time in months, maybe years, he felt wanted, not because of what he did but for who he was.

And how fucking awesome was that?

Her lips moved with his, opening for him to slide his tongue into her mouth. She tasted hot and sweet and made him want to suck all that sweetness into his own body.

Her natural reserve melted away under the heat of that kiss and she snuggled in closer, her stomach pressing even tighter against his cock.

Oh, fuck yes.

Sucking in air, he kissed her harder, more intensely, wanting her to be as crazy as he felt himself getting. He didn’t want to be the only one out of control.

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