Page 53 of Punchline
We met in the middle and shook hands. “You’re Beth’s new guy, huh?” Waylon looked at me like I was dirty. “You don’t look quite big enough for this division. Better be careful you don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
I nodded, because if I spoke I’d probably start calling him a bunch of names that would get me thrown out of the tournament. We separated, the timer dinged, and he charged, ready to use his lower center of gravity to hurl me into the air as soon as he got his hands on me.
It was a textbook setup for a Yoko Wakare. I let him take my collar but evaded the arm grab, took hold of his gripping arm, and slid sideways and under him in a sacrifice move that put me, and all my weight, on the ground. I draggedhim down with me, hard enough that he flipped midair to keep from dislocating his shoulder. He hit the mat with aslapthat echoed through the room, and I immediately got him in a seat belt, worked to a back take, and then maneuvered my way into a triangle from the rear that put his red, shiny face on display for everyone to take in as I slowly cranked the choke, millimeter by millimeter, until he tapped.
I beat him in under a minute, and it felt fucking good.
He didn’t shake my hand at the end of the match, just gave me with a flat stare before walking off. Fine—he didn’t have to be a good sport about it, like I didn’t have to give a shit what he thought when I walked off the mat and finally pulled my boyfriend into the kiss I’d been desperate for.
“Holy shit,” Ethan said when we separated. “That was so cool! What was that move? Can you teach it to me?”
“I don’t think it would be legal on the ice,” I said.
“Good point,” he replied. “Still, that was awesome. I knew you were good at this, I just… it’s different seeing it in person. So, um, are you done? Can you be done here now?”Because I’ve got a lot of ideas for other things we could be doing, he didn’t say out loud, but I could see it in his eyes.
Carson, meanwhile, was laughing so hard he’d gone silent. Beth rolled her eyes at him but grinned at me. “We’ll make sure all the students are taken care of,” she told me. “Good job out there, Jake, you made us proud.”
Aw, crap. I had to clear my throat a few times to reply. “Thanks, Beth.” I was proud of me, too, even more so because I’d won in a way I could be proud of, against someone I was happy to take down a notch.
Now all I needed was Ethan in bed and dinner, in that order. Or… no, shower first.
Definitely shower first.
CHAPTER 17
ETHAN
“Holy fuck.” I flopped onto the bed beside Jake, panting hard and trembling even harder. “I need… I need to watch you fight more often.”
He laughed breathlessly, sinking onto his stomach. “Did it really turn you on that much?”
I eyed him. “Pouncing on you in the car wasn’t a clue?”
He studied me, then chuckled and wiped a hand over his face. “Good thing I won, then, isn’t it?”
“Pfft. If you’d lost, I’d have sucked you off as a consolation prize, then fucked you until you screamed.”
His eyebrow rose. “So… how exactly would things have played out differently than they did tonight?”
“It would’ve been a consolation prize.” I shrugged. “Otherwise, pretty much the same.”
Jake laughed and rolled his eyes. “I think you just like watching me get knocked around.”
“No, I like watching you get hot, sweaty, and focused while you knock someone else around.” I groaned and sat up. “Let me get rid of this. Be right back.”
He got up too, and of course, we ended up in the showeragain. We had, after all, worked up quite a sweat. Things didn’t get spicy this time, though. After two orgasms apiece, not to mention Jake’s fight earlier, we were both out of gas.
That was fine. I had no complaints about standing in the small shower, arms around his neck as we kissed lazily. This was something I’d missed after my last breakup, and definitely not what I’d expected the first time I’d crossed paths with my hot fighting coach. I loved rough-and-tumble sex as much as the next guy, but I’d missed the softness too. The affection. The kisses that didn’t go anywhere. The touches just because.
If Jake had been too tired or sore for sex tonight, that would’ve been fine. There’d been a few times when a hockey game had whooped my ass, and he’d still wanted to spend the night with me. And hell, sometimes one or both of us just didn’t feel like fooling around… but more nights than not, we slept in the same bed. My housemates didn’t even blink when he came out of my bedroom or the bathroom in the morning, and sometimes I’d come out to the kitchen to find him and Nate or Sven shooting the shit over coffee.
I didn’t want to get my hopes up that this was something like Marek and Carson had. At the same time… I mean…
What if it was?
What if all these fluttery stupid feelings I got whenever I looked at Jake were the real thing? What if all the affection and quiet moments were the beginning of something that ran deeper than lust and sex?
Standing here in his shower, Jake broke the kiss as gently as he’d started it, and he drew back to meet my gaze. He’d had fire in his eyes earlier, both during his fight and during our sexy aftermath, but they were full of fatiguenow. Fondness, too, and a sweet smile, but he couldn’t hide the exhaustion.
