Page 106 of Brace and Chase

He stays on his knees, his hips slowing down gradually until I’m sensitive all over and wince—only then does he stop.

“Okay?” he asks, voice hoarse.

“Oh, I’m fucking dandy,” I tell him truthfully. “A virgin no more,” I tease without putting too much effort into it. He still snorts so I consider it a win.

“And we have four more full days of this,” he says in wonder, eyes bright with excitement.

We do, and we spend them well.

THIRTY-TWO

SWEETHEART

March arriveswith a heatwave that promises a hellish summer, and I can feel sweat rolling down my back just from walking out of the terminal to the plane that will take us to the first stop of our two-week roadie.

It’s the last long one of the season, and maybe my last one ever. Probably my last one ever.

As I settle in my window seat next to Nik, I can’t help but turn my thoughts inwards.

Nik’s words from last week—I only need hockey and you—have been plaguing me whenever I let my guard down and my brain decides it’s time to attack with what-ifs.

I’m pretty sure Nik hasn’t noticed. It wasn’t hard, considering we did little but fuck for the whole time we had off. Seriously, it became kind of addicting, or more than it already was. It’s like we just discovered how our dicks are supposed to work at thirty-three.

Anyway, now we’re back to work, going full speed to win as many games as possible to close out the regular season. And that’s all I should focus on.

Not what’s going to happen at the end of the season, definitely not where I’m going to live or if Nik will have any say in what I do.

I can’t decide anything.

Mostly because I’m more unsure about everything than I’ve ever been in my life.

Last year I knew I was retiring when the season began for fuck’s sake.

My mom was right when she said she suspected I’d been planning on retiring last year for a very long time.

But I could never have predicted Gab, and I could definitely never have predicted Nik.

I put my headphones on and settle in for the thirty-minute flight—a waste if there ever was one but it does save us a lot of time, so whatever.

We’re only flying to LA today, then San Francisco, Oregon, Seattle, Vancouver, then we’re crossing over to Minnesota, and the last stop is Chicago.

Laney did give me permission to stay one day with my family, but he told me Nik had to stay with me—oh the hardship. Thinking he was screwing something in my plans, he winced as he said it, but I assured him it was fine.

It was, after all, the plan all along.

I managed to hide my happiness at his words, though, and thanked him for the day then went about my day.

I decided I’m telling my family while we’re there.

I’m pretty sure it’s going to go great, and I can’t wait for Nik to experience my family in its entirety. He’s gonna fit right in with my aunts, my mom, and my grandfather.

I love them dearly. In fact, my aunt Allegra is almost like another mother to me, but they are the crazy faction of the family.

And it’s fine for me to call them that because my grandmother gave them the damn nickname—we all call them that. Hell, they call themselves that when they get together for their freaky planning sessions.

I bet they had one when I confirmed Nik and I would be there for twenty whole hours.

He’ll fit right in with those weirdos.

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