Page 52 of Puck of the Irish

“You remember when you called me and Connor disgusting?” Hattie says as we make our way down to the ice forthe game. She has a shit-eating grin on her face and I narrow my eyes in mock annoyance.

“Shut it,” I tell her. “We aren’t nearly as bad as you two.”

“Lies. You’re worse,” Bobby says, falling into step beside us.

“I hate you both, have I mentioned that lately?” They both laugh and we stop and grab beers and snacks before we had down to our customary spot at the glass. We settle in and watch as the guys stretch on the ice. AJ meets my eyes across the rink and gives me a cocky smile and a wink. Shep does the same to Hattie and…I follow Bobby’s gaze where it locks with Jules’ in a weirdly tense moment before they both look off in other directions, as if pretending they didn’t see each other.Hmm…

“Did you and Jules get in a fight or something?” I ask.

“What? No…well, kind of yeah. It’s nothing though, just stupid stuff. So, how are things on the dad front?” he asks, quickly changing the subject.We’ll be circling back to that later. No way it’s nothing…I wonder…

“No real change. He’s not ready to accept my life and stop trying to control it, so I’m not ready for us to have a relationship.” I shrug. “Simple as that.”

Hattie reaches over and squeezes my forearm.

“I know that’s gotta be rough though, even if y’all weren’t super close to begin with.”

“It is what it is,” I sigh. It does suck but I’m not going to budge.

“So when are you guys gonna go official official?” I give Bobby a confused look and he clarifies, “Like social media and magazine covers and the whole nine yards?”

“I don’t know, I feel like that’ll jinx us or something.”

“Oh please,” Hattie says, rolling her eyes. “Y’all are end game, I know it.”

I feel like even thinking it really will somehow ruin everything, but I can see myself with AJ forever. I can see a life,a family, all of it. I laugh her off and we chat about other things while we wait for the game to start.

When the second period ends, we’re up five-one.

“Damn, Nat, you must be his good luck charm because Rizzo is on fucking fire!” Bobby yells when the crowd erupts as Rosie, the goalie filling in for Shep until he’s greenlit to come back, makes a save. He’s pretty good, but he’s no Connor Shepherd. The doctors are telling him it’ll be another month, at least, but knowing him, he’ll be back in another two weeks, tops. He’s stubborn as hell and looks like he’s coming out of his skin watching the game from the bench.

I grin before cupping my hands around my mouth and yelling with everyone else. He skates backwards by us then, grinning and gliding his glove over the glass. I shake my head and mouthshowoffbefore he turns and skates off again. He really has been killing it these past few weeks, even breaking the Vipers’ all-time goals scored record. AJ said the same thing, that I was his lucky charm, but I won’t give these two the satisfaction of agreeing with them.

“He’s Irish—he’s just got good luck in his veins,” I call back and they both give me looks that say I’m full of shit. I stick out my tongue at them and then grab everyone nachos, feeling like I’m on top of the world.

As soon as he walks out of the locker room after the game, I can’t help but leap into his waiting arms and slam my lips to his. Watching him play has always been hot, but watching him play likethat, like a fucking rock star who met my eyes across the ice at every possible second? It’s sexy as hell. His hair is wet fromthe shower and little droplets of water drip over my fingers as I tangle my hands through it.

“Mmm, a man could get used to this kind of post-game greeting,” he murmurs against my lips. I laugh and reluctantly let him put me down so we can walk out to the parking garage. Most everyone else has left already since AJ stayed after to get patched up a bit—nothing major, just a small split over one eyebrow—and do an ice bath, so it’s almost deserted. I hop in the passenger seat of the Range Rover while he tosses his stuff in the back. He slides into the driver’s seat and I immediately throw myself over the center console and pull his face to mine again. He tangles his hand into my hair, groaning into the kiss that spirals out of control almost immediately.

“Nat?” he asks, half excited, half confused.

“I can’t wait until we get back to the house. I want younow.” The sound he makes is a near growl and then he’s got my leggings and panties yanked down faster than I would have thought possible. I kick off my boots and shove the material down the rest of the way, whimpering into his mouth as he thrusts his tongue at the same time he thrusts two fingers exactly where I need him. He pumps them in a deep, hard rhythm and I’m already soaked and ready. Desperate.

“Then get your ass over here, baby,” he rasps as he grips my hip and yanks me over his lap. I settle my knees on either side of his hips and I’m so thankful that he didn’t decide to bring the Maserati today. That thing is almost impossible to fuck inside.Almost. We made it work, but admittedly laughed more than anything trying to figure out the logistics, and that was just in the garage at his house. Now, we don’t have that problem and there is no fucking laughing, there’s just a fiery, carnal desire that’s about to consume me like wildfire burning completely out of control.

I reach down and fumble with the button and zipper of his jeans and he tugs my sweater off, leaving me in just my black lacy bra. I free his cock and he makes a choking-groaning sound as I stroke once, twice, and then quickly position him beneath me. This isn’t a slow, sweet bout of sex. This is feral and frenzied and hot as fuck.

I sink down his shaft and cry out, the sound muffled against his lips.

“Ah, fuck Nat! You feel so fucking good.” He grips my hips and guides me to start riding him, hard and deep. I grip his shoulders, digging my nails in and holding on for dear life as he starts to buck his hips upward as he wrenches me down.Fuck, fuck, fuck. I kiss him again, thrusting and rolling my tongue, demanding and taking what I want. He gives me everything, knowing exactly how to make me so drunk with pleasure that I barely even perceive the world around me. There is no world around me. There’s just me and him and our bodies fitting so perfectly together.

“Just like that, baby. God, I love when you ride me…” He sucks on my lower lip and I moan, whipping my hips faster. This angle is sublime. I don’t care that we’re in public. I don’t care that this is ridiculous. I don’t care about anything but the man below me and his lips on mine and the thundering of our hearts as we climb and climb and?—

Bright flashes of light nearly blind me. I stop moving, frozen in shock.

“What the fuck?” AJ barks.

I blink, trying to force the white spots from my vision. When they clear, my heart sinks. Three guys with cameras surround the outside of the car, snapping picture after picture of us.Of me fucking riding Anthony Rizzo in the front seat of his car. Shit, shit, shit. I guess it’s a good thing he hadn’t taken my bra off or this would have been really, really bad, but it’s still not great. Ithrow an arm over my breasts to cover myself anyway and lean close into AJ’s chest.

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