Page 25 of The Sweetest Chirp

But were my crimes really just cause for three missed years of my child’s life?

Three years earlier…

My leg is a blazinginferno of fiery pain.

I realize that pain is a part of recovery, but fuck me sideways, this hurts. Could have something to do with the different ways I had Audrina last night. Under me, on top of me, over the couch, over the counter, in the shower, from the side… And listen, I didn’t let my knee hold me back. I’ve been waiting since I knew what sex was to have Audrina. There was no way in hell I was going to be a two-pump chump. Knee be damned.

Now, though, as the pain radiates up my leg and I’m limping like I just had surgery, I wonder if she would have been okay with a two-pump chump? I gave her multiple orgasms, but maybe she wouldn’t have noticed if I came once I got inside her.

It’s a compliment, really.

I scoff at myself as I head toward the medical part of the compound, needing some meds and hoping to catch Audrina. Even with the pain, I’m giddy to see her today. I want to ask her out on a real date. I realize that we live together, but I want to take her somewhere special. I want to show her who I am as a boyfriend. As much as my heart screams we’re together, I want to romance her. Ask her out the way she deserves and thencontinue to show her how much better I am as a boyfriend than a best friend.

I grin to myself as I think of how gloriously naked I left her this morning. She was wrapped in my sheets, her hair a wild mess along my pillows as she snored lightly. I kissed the side of her mouth, not wanting to wake her, but she clung to me. “PT?”

Even though she is a physical therapist for the IceCats, she can’t be mine because we know each other outside the rink. They worry she won’t push me, but what they don’t know is I wouldn’t listen to Charles if it weren’t for Audrina. She forces me to do the exercises he gives me, and she even stretches with me at the house. We don’t want to rock the boat, though, so we keep that on the down-low.

I kiss her again before I whisper against her swollen lips, “Yeah. When do you go in?”

“Eight. Are you working out before?”

I do upper body before I go to PT. “Honestly, after lifting your sexy ass up all night to fuck you in all those delicious ways, I shouldn’t, but I am.”

She grins, her teeth grazing my lips. “Be careful when you’re lifting, though. Don’t put all that weight on your right hip.”

My lips quirk, and I kiss her again. “Yes, ma’am.”

She reaches up, squeezing my throat playfully before she rolls over. I smack her ass, rewarded with a sexy gasp before she wiggles it for me. So, I slap it again.

As any smart man would.

Now, I want to smack it again…and maybe once more for good measure. Fuck, I can’t believe last night happened. I’ve wanted to taste her for so long. To feel her in my arms, to hold her after I made her scream my name over and over. We are so close, but now that we’re intimately acquainted, I don’t know how I’d ever handle not having that with her. I’ve been craving intimacy from her for years. There have been so manymoments I just wanted to kiss her grin off. Or call her a brat before I smacked that ass. I can do that with a girlfriend, but with a best friend, it’s a bit frowned upon. I never allowed myself to cross that line, but after last night, I cleared that sucker like I was clearing the zone to score the winning goal.

And I did.

A hat trick, honestly.

My grin grows as I limp down the corridor of the IceCats compound. If I weren’t so distracted this morning, I would have grabbed my crutches and made sure I had my meds ready. Alas, Audrina is playing on a loop in my brain. How her eyes locked on mine, how she grinned so widely at me as we cuddled, how my heart thudded in tandem with hers.

How it’s meant to.

How perfect we felt together.

I hear her laughter as I get closer to her treatment room, and before I can get excited for more of the sound, it’s interrupted by the low chuckle of a man. As much as my brain flips to jealousy, I have to remind myself she works with a team of guys. She is just doing her job. She’s mine. I have nothing to worry about.

“Are you and Orlov together?” I hear him ask. Jessie Drouin. Fuckwit. “Because if not, you should give me a chance.”

Audrina’s voice is playful. “I can’t date guys I work on.”

“Then I’ll work with Charles. I’d love to do this naked.”

Her laughter sets my teeth on the edge, but when I turn the corner, I find her with her body laid over his, pressing his knee into his chest. It’s a normal move, nothing to worry about, but the way his hands are at her hips, very close to her butt, has me seeing red. It’s expected for us to put our hands above our heads, not on the therapist’s ass. It’s common fucking courtesy.

Don’t lose it. It’s all fine. Just ask him nicely to move his motherfucking hands off your girl.

“Hey, fuckwad. Get your hands off her ass,” I practically roar.

Way to go.

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