Page 87 of These Wicked Games
Exhaustion punches me. I don’t know why, but I fall to my knees in front of him. It’s over. It’s really fucking over. The game. My life with Tripp. The abuse. I don’t need to live in my father’s fucking shadow. I have a new team, a new fucking life, with a man who cares about me. He does care about me, right?
I look up and watch him skate slowly toward me. Oli looms above me, and my cheeks warm with the memory of being like this for him before. For a moment he just watches me, and soft understanding flows between us. I don’t know what he’s thinking, though. Then he grabs either side of my helmet and shocks me to my fucking core, leaning down and kissing the top of it. The arena falls silent, or maybe I’m plunged so deep into his ocean I can’t hear anything outside of us. I feel tears burn, but I blink them back.
Finally Oli pulls back, then helps me up, and his large hand presses against my lower back, guiding me off the ice. ThePhantoms have already left the ice. Everything feels so quiet. I don’t look around. I don’t even breathe.
All I do is feel.
Nothing matters but him and me.
My legs move slowly in the water. I reach my hand in, feeling the warmth against my fingers. The slight buzz of the wine we’re drinking softens my mood. After the game, Oli didn’t want to go out for drinks, and with one look at me I heard him loud and clear. I watch Oli sit in his hot tub, naked. A much better use of our evening if you ask me. “I just realized I don’t know where you live.” He smiles. “I feel like I should know that.”
“Why? You wanna stalk me, Oli?” Sitting here feels nice. My muscles are sore from the game tonight and I just want to relax. Despite the chill of the winter air, it’s hot here in the water. “I live in the Treadwell apartments on the other side of town. It was the only place I could find fast, with not a lot of paperwork. I didn’t have much when I left that night.”
“Can I ask what happened?”
I swallow. I know eventually I’ll have to tell him. I want to, just . . . right now, with everything that’s happened, I don’t want Tripp to ruin the mood. “I will. Just not right now. Okay?”
“That’s fair.” He leans down, pulling me against him and kissing my neck. I let the softness of his kiss take my thoughts away. “Takethese off,” he whispers, and tugs on my briefs. Humoring him, I lift up and allow him to pull them off. The warmth hugs my aching muscles. “Nice, right?”
I look up and watch the night sky, so black above, making the stars shine brighter. “Come over here.” Oli holds out his hand to me, and I take it, letting him pull me into his lap. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I can’t help the goofy smile that springs to my lips. “Kiss me.”
“Aren’t we demanding tonight.”
Ignoring my tease, he leans in, kissing my lips like he owns me. In a way he does. He definitely owns the feral side of me. We haven’t really put a label on what we’re doing, and most days he still pisses me off. Still, here in his arms with his lips on my skin, I have nowhere else I want to be.
My fingers dive into his hair and I deepen the kiss. His tongue comes out to play, and I think of all the sinful things I want him to do to me. It’s in the back of my mind to ask what we’re doing, but how can I ask him when I don’t even know myself? Why ruin it? What we have is working and I don’t want to put pressure on him and ruin it.
“You taste so good,” he whispers against my lips. His fingers grips my thighs, lifting me to wrap them around his waist. He wades us through the water before my back hits the wall. “Are you sore?” Ignoring him, I pull him to me. I can’t look away and I just shake my head. I am a little, but I don’t care. The warmth is easing my muscles and I need him. I wonder when this fire will burn out. It has to, right? This scorching flame that burns inside me can’t last forever. But what if it does? “Kiss me, Dre.”
I obey because my brain has been conditioned since meeting this man. If I obey, I get rewards—big thick rewards. His lips press against mine, and my stomach flips when he wraps his arms around me. It’s intimate in a way I haven’t felt since we were in that car on the anniversary of his mother’s death.
I crave the raw aggression, but I’m starting to love the gentle touches too. I should be freezing out here, but inside this hot tub I can’t feel any of the chill the oncoming winter is bringing. Oli is warm, his arms locked around me, his hands gripping me. It’s like every part of him refuses to let me go, and I bathe in the safety I feel right now. If anything were to come fuck with me, I know Oli would protect me.
I know I don’t need him to save me, but I’ve spent my entire life fighting, and it’s nice to have someone help carry the weight. I don’t need Oli to fight my battles, but I know he’ll be there if I need backup.
“Why are you thinking so fucking loud?” Oli growls against my neck.
I pull back to look at him, his deep blue eyes swirling on me. “I’m the only one, right?” His nose flares and his jaw clenches, but I smile.
Oli shakes his head. “I only have the patience for one brat in my life.”
“I better keep you busy, then.” My legs fall on either side of his waist, I keep feeling the soft slide of his cock against mine. “Aren’t you going to ask me?”
“I know you’re not dumb enough to put someone else’s life at risk,” he all but growls. Gripping my chin hard between his fingers,he pulls my gaze to his. “I told you. If anyone puts their hands on you, I’m fucking breaking them.”
“You jealous, sexy bastard.” I cup his face, pressing slow kisses up the bridge of his nose. I smirk, my cock flexing between us. Oli notices if the soft intake of breaths he's making when he rubs against me says anything. I've never felt desire and need like this. I feel like I could spend all day touching him, and it wouldn't be enough.
“That dancer at the club . . . I wanted to remove his fingers one by one. The way he touched you . . .” He shakes his head. “I wanted to kill him.”
“Yet you fucked that girl.”
“And it turned you on watching me.”
A tiny spark of possessiveness hits me. “What about the guy I brought home at the hotel room. You were listening, right?” All he does is nod, glaring right through me. “You jack off?”
“I wished it was your beautiful body rolling on top of me.”
While I know we’re teasing, I can’t help my fingers as they dive back into his hair.
