Page 77 of Puck You Very Much
“Three words with only one syllable each. I can see how that would pose a challenge for you.”
He stood up and paced the room. Honest-to-God, who would’ve thought that uttering three lousy words would pose not only a challenge but a threat?
Then he stopped and slumped his shoulders.
“Okay fine, I love you.” He spat the words out. “Happy now?”
“That didn’t sound very sincere.”
He gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists. My boyfriend actually choked back a scream. That alone told me I’d won the battle if not the war.
“Okay, okay, fine,” he said, “I’ll say it so it sounds more sincere.” He took a deep breath. “I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. A million fucking times, I love you. Satisfied?”
I paused because I couldn’t grant him the satisfaction of an immediate reply. He could’ve stared holes through me at that moment, but he couldn’t faze me.
“Okay, I guess I’m satisfied,” I said.
“Youguess?”
“Look, it’s not every day I admit that you’ve satisfied me, so you should take what you can get.”
Now Zane’s brow furrowed. He wanted to kill me; I could tell. That just meant I’d accomplished my mission.
“In that case maybe you should let me satisfy you again.”
When he pounced onto the couch again, I saw the erection straining against his jeans once more. If I could say only one great thing about Zane Hirst, it was that he could go from zero to sixty in record time.
He eased me down onto the couch cushion, allowing me to feel his weight like he had earlier. At that moment, I didn’t want to worry about anything else.
His tongue slipped back into my mouth, and I threw my arms around his neck and shoulders, squeezing him tight. Then he freed his hand to loosen my belt and help me out of my pants. This was simply an escape, a means to forget the bigger problems that stood ahead of us.
But sometimes it helped us to do what felt good. It helped us to do what felt so right.
31
ZANE
“Get with the program, would you?” Jax Echlin said as he skated up to me. When he stopped, his skate blades sprayed a flurry of ice shavings onto me. No, he didn’t do that on purpose or anything.
“Iamwith it, gimme a break.” I gave him that response because I didn’t know what else to say.
“No, you are not. You’ve been standing there with your thumb up your ass and staring off into fucking la-la land.”
Normally, I would’ve shrugged off a dumbass comment like that. Teammates had said far worse to me, and the occasional cutting remark was part of the game. This felt different, though. It was no joke. He’d targeted me specifically. Ice shaving shower aside, I wanted to punch Jax.
“Are you really gonna tell me that’s not the truth?” he asked.
I shrugged, lifted my helmet to allow a little comfort and freedom, and leaned against the boards.
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
But that was bullshit. I knew exactly what to tell the team captain. I just couldn’t say it aloud if I knew what was good for me.
Jakob Martin occupied significant real estate in my mind, but not for the reasons you would think. It wasn’t about competition or hot sex. When Jax accosted me, I’d been daydreaming about Jakob’s smile. It always looked so natural and never forced. He possessed perfect teeth but not the kind that came from thousands of dollars spent on dental work. They were flawless, no small feat when you consider the gaps in their mouths that most hockey players boast.
I’d also lost myself picturing the dimples stamped into his cheeks, that deepened whenever he flashed one of his perfect smiles. The sight, even a memory in my mind, warmed me to perfect comfort.
And then I smiled when I thought about my boyfriend’s easygoing ways, and how he seemed to win every argument even after I should’ve had him soundly thrashed. More than that, he rubbed it in, in a way that should’ve driven me nuts, but I found that quality as endearing as his physical attributes.
