Page 116 of Branded
Now I had the woman I loved in my bed, and I needed to fuck her, to hold her, to make sure she knew how much she meant to me.
Later, I’d process.
Right now?
I drew her up my chest, brought that delicious pussy of hers right up onto my mouth, hands clamping down so she couldn’t escape, lips and teeth and tongue working until she was grinding against me, my name a curse and a benediction as it left her mouth. I didn’t stop until she was shattering, until I rolled us both over and slid inside.
Then I went slower, showing her how much she meant, how much those words meant.
And later, after we’d both shattered and I’d gotten us cleaned up, I brought her close, held her tight, and I lived a dream I’d always wanted, but never thought I could have.
My alarm killed me.
Fucking killed me.
But we had a skate to get to and a game that night, so I needed to head downstairs and eat.
I’d let Kailey sleep, would bring her something up when I’d finished.
Quietly slipping from her arms, I turned off the alarm, quickly dressed, and slipped from the room. Five minutes later, I had a plate full of sustenance and was heading for a table.
“Smitty.”
I turned.
Saw Hazel.
And frowned.
Because she hadn’t been on the trip.
“Is everything okay?”
“Sit.”
A command, and Hazel wasn’t the type who often gave commands. She was soft and easy and usually worked on the guys with sneaky and underhanded techniques—helping us without us actually knowing we were being helped.
So, the command had me sitting.
“Everything’s fine,” she said. “My mom and dad decided they wanted the perks of dating a daughter who works for a hockey team.” Her face softened. “I hooked them up with tickets for tonight even though they commandeered my son and husband for sight-seeing duties.”
“I…right,” I murmured.
“Now”—the command was back, and I found myself sitting up straighter—“I need to talk to you.”
“What’s up?” I asked, shoving a piece of melon into my mouth.
Her brows lifted. “Why don’t you tell me?”
Churning in my stomach, and I went to make a joke, as I always did, but then her hand covered mine. “Don’t,” she said.
“You’re too late,” I told her, unable to not make at least a small joke. “Kailey already smacked me around with her pretty words last night.”
Hazel’s head tilted to the side.
“I get why you gave me the personality tests,” I said. “I even read them,” I added, in case she thought I hadn’t done the work she’d asked of me.
“Of that I have no doubt.” She squeezed my hand, pulled back and picked up her own glass of orange juice. “You always work hard, Smitty. So why do you think that I would think any different? Is it because you think the only value you bring to the team is killing yourself to prove that you’re valuable? To prove you’re not a disappointment?”
