Marek (Cold Fury Hockey #11)(58)

Gracen laughed as did Reed. Josie smirked at me.

I didn’t find it funny at all. Gracen might be in my bed right now, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t available for the taking. The right guy could come along and grab her out from underneath me.

I’d of course reacted appropriately and pulled Gracen from the booth muttering, “Come on, Gracie, let’s go play some pool.”

Reed and Josie’s laughs followed us across the bar to an empty pool table where I racked the balls and Gracen chose a stick. She walked to the end of the table with a tiny, amused smile on her face.

“I’m not jealous,” I’d grumbled as I pulled the rack away.

She chuckled. “Of course you’re not.”

“Good. Glad you get that.”

“Got it.” The amused expression never wavered.

“Good.”

Before she broke, she walked up to me and placed a hand on my chest. She went to her tiptoes and put her face closer to mine. “Josie was pulling your leg. There are not any doctors lusting after me.”

If there was any doubt whether or not I had proprietary feelings for Gracen, it was removed by the rush of immediate relief I felt with those words. Again, the night continued with my emotions seemingly out of control.

“Except Aiden,” she mused as she dropped down and started to turn away.

I snatched her elbow and turned her back to me. “Aiden?”

There’s no doubt she was goading me when I got a coy shrug. “One of Josie’s friends. But no worries…I wasn’t interested.”

I got a mischievous wink as she pulled away to break the pool balls.

“I’m not jealous,” I muttered, and got a rich laugh back from her.

Yeah…I was jealous, and Gracen took great joy in poking at me. We played a few games alone, then Reed and Josie played against us. We drank more beers, had a lot of fun, and the entire time I tried to reconcile what exactly I was really feeling for Gracen. I know I wanted her. I know I cared for her.

I know Lilly couldn’t have a better mother.

I know I didn’t like the thought of her with someone else.

But past that, I didn’t know what I really felt.

I never figured out the answer before we left for the evening, making vague promises with Reed and Josie to do another double date at some point.

It wasn’t until we walked into my house and she pulled me into my bedroom that I started settling down. Despite being turned on beyond measure when she dropped to her knees in front of me, I felt settled.

When she took me in her mouth, I felt a wave of security.

And now as I’m getting ready to connect my body to hers in the most intimate of ways, I feel in control.

For the first time tonight, I feel like all is right in my world.

I press the head of my cock to her opening, sliding an elbow under the back of one of her knees. I raise her up, spread her wide, and while she watches me with hooded eyes, I slide deep inside of her.

I get just a glimpse of the white of Gracen’s eyes as they roll backward before being shuttered by her eyelids. She moans and digs her fingers into my biceps, where she’d been resting them lightly before I invaded her.

My responding grunt of pleasure sounds harsh and coarse to my ears, yet it’s the exact sound I’d expect from something that feels this good.

I release Gracen’s leg and she hooks it around me. Dropping to my elbows, I let some of my body weight come down on her. Let my stomach press against hers and feel the softness of her breasts under the fierce beating of my heart. I press my lips to her mouth, and when I pull back, her eyes flutter open to stare at me.

I think perhaps I could look into the blue of her eyes forever, or maybe I’ll just kiss her for an eternity, but all of those thoughts vanish into cold nothingness when she whispers to me, “I love you, Marek. Always have.”

Somehow, her hands have moved to my shoulders and her fingertips glide over my skin. I concentrate on that feeling, letting my vision go fuzzy so I don’t have to look at directly into her eyes anymore. I don’t want to know if my lack of reaction hurts her or not.

I swallow past the dryness in my throat, rack my brain for what to say. A quick response of the same declaration seems so trite, particularly because that’s not what I was feeling in my heart when she said those words to me. Admitting something along the lines of, “I care for you, too,” seems really to be saying, “I don’t love you,” and I’m not sure that’s true either. My feelings are actually too complex to be boiled down into words, particularly because my feelings for Gracen are now intertwined with my feelings for Lilly.

More important, I can’t seem to muster up a response for her because I find myself questioning whether she truly means that. I’m not sure I can trust her words, and that makes me feel like shit that I feel that way. But when it gets down to it, all I can think about is that Gracen kept Lilly secret for over three years, a betrayal that apparently still weighs heavy on my heart.

Whether Gracen senses my struggle or the awkward silence is too much to bear, she does something that roots me once again in a reality I can handle.

She contracts her pussy so it squeezes my cock in such a way that my balls start to tingle. At the same time, she lifts her head and scrapes her teeth on my jawline before murmuring, “Are you going to fuck me or what?”