The Penalty Box (Vancouver Wolves Hockey #3)(55)
“No, you really don’t.”
“Your mom knows what we’re doing.” She was breathless. “I can’t do this if your mom knows.”
I reluctantly stepped back, my eyes feasting on her body. “My mom knows better than to visit the home of newlyweds.” I wrapped my hand around her neck and pulled her in for a hot kiss. Scorching hot. In hopes she’d change her mind.
She moaned and stepped into me.
Oh yeah. I playfully growled against her mouth. “I can make you feel really good.”
She giggled and stepped back. “I can’t do this while there are people in the house.”
“You can,” I told her, only half in jest.
She lifted her face, her eyes searching mine. In her eyes, I saw both lust and joy, and those emotions in her made me feel light and happy.
I slapped her ass. “Get out of here, while I let you.”
*
I took my time getting dressed, thinking about where we were heading. When I started pursuing Charlie, it had been my hormones chasing her, but now, it was something different. She felt different.
I didn’t know if it was because I was married to her or because she was like no other woman I had been with. We had denied the chemistry between us for long enough. We were married. I saw no reason why we shouldn’t take our relationship to the next level.
My mood faltered slightly when I walked out of the bedroom. Andrew sat at my island, sipping coffee out of my favorite mug. My eyes looked for Charlie. She was sipping her coffee. I held her gaze.
Remember last night?
She flushed hard and smiled into her mug.
I moved to the kitchen and started pulling out the ingredients for a smoothie.
“Do you have practice?” Charlie murmured.
“Yeah, I have to leave soon. It will be light practice since we are playing tonight, but I’ll come home right after.”
“Are you two going to the game?” Andrew asked my wife and my mom.
“Of course,” my mom answered.
“Well, I have two extra tickets. Why don’t you two ladies let me buy you dinner and then we can go to the game together?”
Before I could shut that down, my mom exclaimed, “That would be wonderful.”
“Great.” His eyes taunted mine. “Why don’t I come and pick you up around five? I know a great place to eat near the stadium, it’s a…”
I turned on the blender, drowning out his words. I might have blended a fraction longer than I needed.
“Sorry,” I mouthed, not sorry.
His eyes were hard. But when he turned to my mom, he was all buttery smiles and charm.
“I should go.” He slid off his stool. “And I’m looking forward to tonight.”
He said goodbye, and I tracked him with my eyes until he disappeared.
“What a nice gentleman,” my mom said in Russian. “Why don’t you like him?”
“He’s a nuisance,” I responded in Russian as I poured my smoothie into a travel mug.
She lifted her chin. “Jealousy can enhance the flavor of the dish, but too much and it spoils the meal.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“It’s okay, Mica. It only means you care. Which makes me very happy.”
I glanced at Charlie, who was looking between us, not understanding a word we said. I leaned over and planted a lingering kiss on her lips. “I gotta go.”
She flushed. “See you later.”
Chapter 17
CHARLIE
Andrew and Yelena talked around me while we ate our pre-dinner game, allowing me to think about what had happened with Mica. Last night, the way he touched me… I had never been touched like that before. But his words were what made me blush every time I thought of them.
This is just the beginning.
Your body is mine now.
It’s mine to fuck.
I shivered at Mica’s blatant possessiveness. I not only wanted it, I craved it. I wanted to completely surrender to the man. I wanted to belong to him. I wanted him to fill the role of my husband. Now that I had experienced a taste of what he offered, I felt like a starved woman standing before a buffet. Like a prophet, he had shown me the promised land of what could be. The problem was, he was offering me keys to paradise for only a year, and then I would be cast back out. Did I even want to know how perfect life could be, knowing that it was temporary? How would I recover from that?
When my mom had passed away, I had been forced to rely entirely on myself. I looked out for my safety, my finances, my life. No one else had worried about me. My survival had been up to me. Mica’s approach to our marriage was old-fashioned. He made it clear that it was his responsibility to take care of me, protect me, and keep me safe. His care healed something in me I didn’t know needed healing.
But what would happen to me when our marriage ended? I would need to return to looking out for myself, and I was already bracing myself for how lonely that would feel. I knew it was stupid to let myself rely on him. I was only setting myself up for heartache at the end of this.
But when he touched me and told me I belonged to him? He felt like an addictive drug. I wanted to belong to him. I wanted to matter to him.
You’re mine. You’re my wife and this body is mine.