The Penalty Box (Vancouver Wolves Hockey #3)(72)

If my heart were a bird, it would be singing at the top of its voice. I felt so happy right now. The sex had been mind-blowing. Hands down, the best sex of my life. Mica was possessive, in control, and knew how to use his body to give me multiple mind-numbing orgasms.

But our conversation this morning was what made my heart bleat with joy. My temporary husband had half-heartedly suggested that we see where this could go. It had cost him a lot to admit that he wanted to make this work. He had struggled with his words and when I agreed, I could see his entire body relax. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that we’d ever get to this point.

His aversion to kids didn’t bother me. After watching my mom raise two kids on her own, I had seen past the romance of having a baby and was versed in how much energy and time it took to parent a child. If I had to choose between having a faceless baby and keeping Mica in my life and heart, the choice was easy. He won by a landslide.

I hadn’t realized how much I had been trying to hold myself back in this relationship until he spoke those words. Now my poor heart seemed to overflow with emotion. It felt like freedom to just feel all my feelings. And there were so many of them. Lust, trust, happiness, joy. I felt drunk with emotion.

Every moment together with Jasper, Yelena, Mark, and Mica felt like a gift. The five of us felt like family. Together we enjoyed the last few days of the holidays. We cooked together, went for walks together and spent a lot of time laughing and eating.

But the nights were my favorite part. I couldn’t wait to go to bed. Mica was a demanding lover and his wicked, dirty talk made me crazy.

When I got out of the bath, he was lying on the bed, waiting for me.

“Tonight, I think I want a fashion show.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I want you to try on all your lingerie and show me what you bought. I’m going to lie here, and you’re going to parade up and down in your little outfits.”

I half laughed. “You do realize I bought, like, ten outfits.”

“Better get started, then. Start with the one with the feathers.” His hands were crossed behind his head, but his dark pupils told me he was turned on at the thought.

When I came out of the walk-in closet, wearing my feathery teddy, I only got halfway across the room before he was grabbing me and tossing me on the bed.

“The audience shouldn’t interfere with the lingerie models,” I laughed uncontrollably as I tried to crawl away from him.

He yanked me back and within seconds he had me bent over so he could take me from behind. When he was done ravishing me, he had feathers in his hair, his mouth, and stuck to various parts of his body.

The next night when I got out of my bath, he was waiting for me.

“Drop your towel and get on the bed.”

I couldn’t get on the bed fast enough.

He stood at the foot of the bed, fully dressed, his eyes drinking in my naked body. “Now spread your legs.”

I complied, and he grabbed my ankles and yanked me down the bed. With his big hands holding my thighs down, he put his face between my legs and made me come repeatedly, each time more powerful than the last.

“I can’t take it,” I begged, my body humming so hard I thought I might pass out.

Only when my body was a twitching mess of heavenly sensation did he strip down and push himself into me. He fucked me like a savage and made me come twice more before he finally shouted his own release.

We couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. And every time we came together, it was better than the last.





*



Then the day came when everyone needed to leave. Jasper and Mark flew home in the morning. Yelena took an afternoon flight back to Russia. And Mica was packing to catch a red-eye. I sat on the bed watching him while secretly dreading his departure. Not because I was scared, but because when he left this house, it always felt like he took all the light and energy with him.

He looked at me. “You going to be okay?”

A smile tugged out of me. “Yeah.”

“Want me to get Zoey to come over here?”

No, I needed to be alone. To process everything that had happened. “That’s okay. I’ve got Sniper.”

He zipped his bag shut. “I talked to my friend. He will be keeping an eye on things.”

I lifted my eyes to him, wondering if he’d tell me. “Which friend?”

“A good friend. Someone I trust.”

He gave me a long, passionate kiss before leaving in a cab to meet up with the rest of his team. I curled up in bed with Sniper at my side and Sasha at my feet, but despite the dogs, the house felt lonely. And I was already counting the days until he returned.





*



I returned to work. Sniper came with me to work and, not wanting to leave Sasha at home, I brought him with us too. When Krista saw Sasha playfully chewing a toy in front of the photocopier, I held my breath, but she picked him up and said, “When this one is at the office, he’s my dog.”

And then she disappeared into her office with him.

I avoided walking the dogs with Andrew. He had crossed some weird line with us, and I didn’t feel like it was appropriate to spend more time with him. I changed our walking times, heading out with the dogs as soon as I got home from work. When the doorbell rang around the time of the dog walking group’s walk, I didn’t answer the door. I knew it was cowardly to ghost him, but I didn’t want to deal with him.