Alex (Cold Fury Hockey, #1)(96)

I’m shocked when Alex drops that card to the ice and the next one says, You won’t regret it.

Before I can even look up at him so he knows that it’s not even possible for that to happen, he drops that board to the ice.

Don’t you think Garrett is a big girl for watching Love Actually?

The crowd goes nuts and it’s at this point that I see this whole scenario is being shown on the Jumbotron above. I give Alex a disapproving look and hold up the card No for him to see.

To show how well Alex knows me, and knew what my answer would be, I can’t say that I’m all that surprised when he drops the top board and his next one says, Great. Guess I’ll have to watch it with you at some point.

I nod my head at him with a smile, not even bothering to hold a card up for him to see.

Alex skates forward, coming up to the glass. I step forward to rest my hands beside my head and get as close to it as I can without fogging up the smooth surface.

Before reaching me, he drops another board and I look down to read the next one, Gotta go play hockey now.

Okay, I mouth at him.

He drops the last card and his hands are empty. Coming right up to the glass, he places his hands opposite mine and I swear I can almost feel his touch even through the barrier.

Alex stares at me with such love, my legs feel like jelly. The sound of the crowd dies down again, not because they have stopped cheering, but because I have chosen to focus only on Alex.

I’ve chosen to look at this man, who loves me and whom I love in return, and I’m overwhelmed with the knowledge that nothing else matters except what we have.

Holding my gaze for just another brief moment, Alex mouths the words I love you to me before giving me a wink and skating off.

I don’t even get to return the words before he is gone.

That’s all right. I’ll make up for it tonight after the game.

***

“Oh, Alex,” I moan as he sinks into me with one sure push, my hands gripping his shoulders hard. This is going to be some stellar sex, I can tell. Not only have Alex and I reconnected and claimed our love very publicly, but the Cold Fury kicked some major ass tonight, winning 6-2. Alex had two goals and two assists, and yes, I’m really proud of him.

Leaning down, he gives me a soft kiss then pulls back just enough to look into my eyes. He’s lodged deep within me but he doesn’t move a muscle. “I love you.”

He doesn’t give me a chance to reply with the same, because he’s kissing me again. A little deeper this time but still in a leisurely fashion. He hasn’t moved an inch otherwise.

I taste myself on his lips, because when I opened my front door to him tonight, he made short work of carrying me to my bedroom and stripping me naked. After he pushed me back onto the bed, he pushed his face between my legs and didn’t surface again until he had made me come twice.

Then he pulled himself up my body, sank into my wetness and told me he loved me.

Now his kissing is becoming a little more urgent and a whole lot deeper. He makes a tentative move of his hips and damn…he goes just a little deeper still.

Pulling back once more, he looks at me again. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t,” I whisper and place my fingers against his lips. “It’s all forgiven.”

He looks down at me from above, his dark hair hanging forward and his eyes glittering in the soft glow of my lamp. Tilting his hips back, he pulls out of me and then pushes back in slowly…all while holding my gaze.

He does it again…pulling farther out, pushing back in just a little deeper.

Each time, some air is expelled out of my lungs and my heart pulses in response.

Alex is gentle with his pace, matching the emotion in his eyes. When I get close…when my body starts to tingle, and tighten, and my veins are pounding with blood, Alex goes just a little bit faster to help propel me over the edge.

A strangled sound comes out of my mouth as I splinter apart, just as he sinks slowly into me one more time, holding his body still and staring at me tenderly while he comes.

Propping himself on his elbows above me, Alex gives me a warm smile before leaning down and kissing me on my forehead. He then rolls to the side, taking me with him and tucking me in for a cuddle.

“I love you, Alex,” I tell him, because he said it last and never gave me a chance to reciprocate.

Squeezing me closer, he says, “I can’t believe you’re lying in my arms right now. I thought I had lost you for good.”

“Why did you change your mind?” I ask, immensely curious as to what prompted his turnaround.

“I think I knew within five minutes of walking out your door I’d made a mistake, but I was too stubborn to admit it. Every day that passed, I started to accept it more…that I was wrong to let you go. But every day that passed, I convinced myself you had moved on. That I had hurt you too bad.”

“I understood why you did it, Alex. I didn’t agree with it, but I understood.”

“What did you understand?” he asks me, with just a tinge of unease, because he’s asking to be put under the microscope.

“I understood that you were struggling with concepts that were very foreign to you, especially after having been raised in an atmosphere where you were to eschew all outside interference with your career. You were waging years of training and molding against just a few weeks of getting just a glimpse of what love could be. I think most people would have had a hard time taking the shot at love and not just going back to what they knew…safety.”