Awk-Weird (Ice Knights, #2)(42)

“That’s it, Tess.” He was already on the edge, fighting to last with her. “Damn, you feel so good.”

He cupped her tits, rolling her nipples between his thumb and finger, tugging on them until she cried out, telling him to keep going. Then she dropped her hand to where they were joined and started working her clit with her fingers as she fucked him. Jesus. He didn’t know where to look, and it felt so good, he wasn’t sure he could see anyway.

“I’m gonna come, Cole,” she said, letting her head fall back. “I want to feel you with me.”

Since he was holding on by a thread at this point and his balls were curled up tight to his body already, that wasn’t going to be a problem.

“Let me feel you come, Tess.”

Her fingers went into hyper-speed mode as her hips bucked and he teased her nipples before she came, her slick walls squeezing him tight as her orgasm hit. He lifted up and drove into her, coming so hard, it was like he was falling and flying at the same time. And when she collapsed on his chest, he curled an arm around her and held her tight against him as they came down.

They were both still trying to catch their breath when his phone buzzed on the nightstand. He ignored it, but the calls didn’t stop, so he snatched it up from the surface, not swiping accept call until he recognized Petrov’s number on the screen.

“What,” he answered.

“I’m in your driveway,” the center said. “Are you running late? Shit. I have to tell Christensen. You’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Ten minutes.” He hung up and let out a sigh. Great. Not only did he not want to leave Tess, he sure as hell didn’t want to have to deal with the shit-talking twins Petrov and Christensen for the next week. “I gotta go.”

“Sure.” Tess nodded, unwrapping herself from around him and grabbing his sheet. “Road trip, right?”

“I’ll be home in four days,” he said, watching her get out of bed and wrap the sheet around herself.

“Who knows,” she said, smiling a little too brightly as she headed for the door. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and my plumbing will be fixed by then, so you’ll get to come home to your old house. You’ve been so sweet to let me stay with you.”

After what they’d just done, he was sweet? What the fuck? This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Sure, he had no idea what should happen next, but it sure as hell wasn’t her calling him “sweet” and hurrying to get out of his room.

Tess paused at the door. “I’ll get out of your way; I know you have to hurry.”

And then she was gone, taking his sheet with her as Kahn chased her from behind, jumping onto the tail of her makeshift robe and going along for the ride, while all Cole could do was stand there like an asshole who had no clue what was going to happen next.





Chapter Twelve


“So, uh, hi. This is Cole, which you probably knew already because of caller ID.”

Shop quiet for the first time that afternoon, Tess listened to the message as she created an arrangement featuring pansies and violets for a customer.

“I’m just leaving you a voicemail like some weird stalkery person or your grandma, which I am not. Obviously.” He let out an uncomfortable groan. “Texting just seemed rude after this morning. You’re probably in the middle of making a flower arrangement or talking people out of buying roses.”

Not a lie. The woman who’d called about the last-minute arrangements had wondered out loud about going the traditional route for her girlfriend and getting roses. Thank God Tess had been able to persuade her into something a little less pedestrian.

“Anyway, we’re wheels up on the flight in a couple of minutes and I just wanted to touch base to say…um…yeah…to say…this morning was great. No! That’s not what I wanted to say.”

What the hell? The sex had been pretty fucking fantastic, if more than likely a bad decision on her part.

“I mean yeah, it was amazing, but I’m not just calling only because of that. I mean, you were clear on boundaries. I’m not going to cross those. I just—”

The voices in the background got louder before being muffled as if Cole had put his hand over the phone.

“Christ, Petrov, can I have five minutes alone? I shut myself in the massage room for a reason.” Cole mumbled something Tess couldn’t make out. “Sorry, okay, I’m gonna hang up now because I’ve fucked up this whole voicemail and I have no idea how to recall it or nuke it. Jesus. This is why I should have texted. Okay. Bye.”

The voicemail ended right as she finished her arrangement and that satisfaction of a job well done was the only reason her cheeks were hurting from smiling so hard. Really. It was.

…

The game in Phoenix had been brutal, but the sweetest thing after winning against one of the dirtiest teams in the league was the little red circle with the number one in it near the telephone icon on his phone.

Score.

“Hey, it’s Tess. That was some voicemail.”

Cole wasn’t smiling like a fool. He wasn’t. The idiots on his line just kept pointing at him and laughing while Blackburn just shook his head in what looked like sympathy.

“Did you know a company called Televoice International is the one that came up with the term ‘voicemail’?” The speed of Tess’s words increased as if they just had to burst out of her. “They trademarked it and everything, but then everyone started using it and now it’s just a generic term, sort of like Kleenex. Although Kleenex is still a used brand name. Speaking of which, did you know Kleenex were originally invented as a cold cream and makeup remover and not to blow your nose? Crazy, right? So you’re playing right now.”