Bound (25 page)

I couldn’t help grinning at her suggestion that I made him happy.

“We’re a family, Kate,” she said. “That has its ups and downs, like all families do. But if you need anything, we’re all here.”

“Thanks.”

My gaze went back to Ryke, who was charging down the rink, bits of ice flying up from his skates. I was hopelessly into him, and being welcomed into the circle of his team made me wish we could both overcome our reserva
tions and do this thing. I vowed to try.
 

***

Ryke

My ribs ached from
my fight with that fucker Alexi Landau. I hated that prick and never seemed to get through a game against his team without one of us starting something. Tonight, it had been him.

“You want some, Ryker?” he’d asked me. “Or do you need to stay pretty since you’re a model now?”

And we’d pounded each other til we both landed in the box. I’d cut his lip, forcing him to leave the game because it wouldn’t stop bleeding. Fighting always worked me up, and I’d been thinking about calling Kate since leaving the arena. After a quick dinner at a Dallas diner, I’d cabbed it back to the hotel and was dialing her on my walk through the lobby.

“Hey,” she said, her sweet, sleepy voice making my cock stir to life. “Great game. Are you okay after that fight?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Hopefully Alexi’s still bleeding.”

“The announcers on the game said he had to get it stitched up.”

“They ought to stitch his whole fucking mouth shut,” I said, skipping the elevator and taking the stairs. “What are you up to?”

“Just laying in bed.”

“Perfect. I’m heading there myself. Tell me what you’re wearing.”

“A white t-shirt and red panties.” The smile in her voice and the mental image of her made me so hard I jogged to my third floor room, worried someone would see me at full attention.

“You can lose the shirt,” I said, sliding my key card in the door and pushing it open. There was a rustle on the other end of the phone.

“Okay,” she said. “And what will you be losing?”

“Everything. I’m taking off my shoes right now.” I sat down on the end of the king size bed, tossing my shoes and socks and standing up to take off my pants. “Now I’m taking off my pants . . . okay. Hold on.”

I sat the phone down and stripped off my shirt, picking it back up immediately. “Okay. Everything’s off and I’m so fucking hard.”

“Oh, really? What can we do about that?” Her breathless tone made me wrap my hand around my cock and pump it slowly.

“Touch your nipples,” I said, picturing her doing it. “Play with them until they’re hard.”

“Ah . . . I wish it was your hands on me,” she said. Fuck. At this rate I’d blow my load in no time.

“So do I,” I said, breathing heavy as I tried to hold back. “Put your hand in your panties. Touch yourself.”

She gasped, but within a few seconds it became a moan. “Oh, Ryke. God, it feels good. It’s been so long since I’ve . . .” Her voice trailed off, becoming a moan again.

“Tell me about it,” I said. “What you’re doing to yourself right now.”

She panted into the phone a few times before speaking. “I’m . . . rubbing myself. I was going slow, but now I want to go faster. Ah . . .”

“I wish I was in you right now,”
I said, my voice strained from making myself hold out. “I want you so bad, Kate.”

We were both eager tonight, because it was only a few more seconds before her heavy breathing and low moans told me she was coming. I let myself go, too, groaning as I pumped myself dry.

“Ryke,” she said softly. “I just got off while we had phone sex.”

“I know, baby, that was the idea.”

“But it’s been so long since I’ve . . . God, I’d forgotten how amazing it was.”

The combination of sweet and sexy in Kate undid me every time. She pulled at me like no one ever had.

“I can’t wait to see you,” I said. If I’d heard a teammate talking to a woman this way, I’d have told him he was a pussy. But I couldn’t help it. I was on a long road trip and I was missing her.

“Me too,” she said. “I’ll be thinking about this all day tomorrow. We’d both better get some sleep.”

“Yeah. Goodnight.”

“So good.
Great, even. Bye, Ryke.”

Jet lag and fatigue caught up with me, and I drifted
to sleep, trying not to think about how much wanting just one woman unnerved me.

***

The beep on Kate’s voicemail prompted me to leave a message, but I hung up. Teammates clicked open their seatbelts around me, but I ignored mine. All I could think about as our plane eased to a stop was why she hadn’t answered, last night or today.

We’d played in Montreal last night, and I’d gone out with the guys after. While we were waiting on our food at a steakhouse, I’d stepped outside to call Kate.
It was my third day on the road, and I missed her. I sure as hell didn’t want the other guys to know that, though. I’d never hear the end of it.

I’d left a message asking her to call,
but she never did. A surge of heartburn in my chest made me shift in my seat. I hadn’t eaten anything today that would cause it and was wondering what would’ve given me heartburn when realization hit like a 250 pound defender.

I was worried. That was a fucking first
. I rolled my eyes, disgusted with myself.

The plane was quiet, other than the rustling sounds of guys getting up and gathering their stuff. I unbuckled my seat belt, exhaling deeply as I considered what to do about Kate. I’d have to stop by home to see if everything was okay.

“Hey,” Luke said to me from across the aisle. “You wanna go eat and play pool or something?”

I was about to tell him I couldn’t when my phone vibrated and Kate’s name appeared on the screen.

“Kate. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I was just walking Wilbur and I forgot my phone at the apartment.”

My tension eased and I sank back against my seat. “Wilbur?”

“Mr. Richardson’s dog. He can’t take him for walks since he broke his hip.”

“Who’s that?” I unbuckled my seat belt and stood up to leave the plane.

“He’s your neighbor downstairs.
Super nice guy.”

“Huh. I’ll have to meet him sometime. He’s not using Wilbur to get you in the sack, is he?”

Her laugh made me smile. “He’s in his 80’s, so I don’t think so. How was your trip?”

“Good. W
e just landed. We won last night.”

“I know you did, I was watching. I may or may not have been yelling at you though the TV screen last night to beat that guy’s ass you were fighting.”

I liked knowing she watched my games. Thinking about it made me skate a little faster and hit a little harder.

“Did I call too late last night?” I tried to mask my disappointment over not talking to her.

A snicker from one of the guys made me turn around. We were all standing around waiting for the plane door to be opened.

“Quit being such a pussy, Ryker!”
our goalie Paul O’Neal yelled.

“Fuck you,” I returned, glaring at him before returning my attention to my call. “Sorry, Kate.”

“It wasn’t too late, I was out with Kylie at a sports bar where we watched the game and I didn’t hear my phone. I didn’t get the message til this morning.”

Lewd groaning noises from behind me forced me to turn around. Eric Larsen, an obnoxious defender, was pretending to jerk off. “Ask your assistant if she’ll assist me with this,” he
said loudly.

“Hold on,” I said to Kate, pushing past Vic to get to Larsen. I shoved his chest and he faltered and landed on his ass in the aisle. “Shut the fuck up. Don’t talk about her.”

Vic must’ve heard the menace in my tone, because he stepped between us. He motioned for me to get off the plane, and I followed the others to the door.

“Sorry, I’m here,” I said to Kate. “Do you feel like going out tonight?”

“I would, but I’ve got plans with my mom. We’re going to dinner and a movie.”

An unfamiliar sensation
made me pause for a second. “Okay. See you when you get back.”

We said goodbye, but I
couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation. Kate and I had a great time when we were together, but when we weren’t . . . she did her own thing. I’d never had that with Maggie. She’d been waiting on me to call every night I was on the road and expected us to be together every night when I was home.

Kate could’ve blown off her
mom to be with me, but she didn’t want to. And damned if I didn’t find it appealing. I’d be going to bed alone thinking of her again tonight. Who was I kidding? I was thinking of her already. Just the memory of our conversation the other night made my balls tighten uncomfortably. The way her breathing had picked up speed until she was nearly panting. Her sweet voice saying my name.

Fuck, now I had a throbbing hard-on. I hustled the last few steps to my car
, adjusting myself as I got in. There were only two things that helped when my blood was flowing like this. And since sex was out, I was heading to the gym for a long, hard workout.

***

Kate

I was parking in Mom’s driveway to so I could run inside before we left for our dinner date when my phone rang with an unfamiliar number.

“Hello?”

“Kate. It’s Quinn. Don’t hang up.” He spoke quickly.

“You know I don’t want to talk to you,” I said
, annoyed. “It’s why I blocked your number.”

“I know. I’m not calling to bother you. The way we left things . . . or I guess the way
I
left things, because you didn’t do anything wrong . . . I regret it. I know this sounds strange, but it would mean a lot to me if we could sit down face to face and talk about things.”

“Quinn—”

“Let me rephrase that,” he said, cutting me off. “You can talk, and I’ll listen. I’m trying to do the right thing and not run away. You can yell at me the whole time, call me an asshole, whatever you want. I just want . . . I
need
to face this. Does that make any sense?”

His pleading tone made me unable to hang up on him this time. I sighed and shook my head. “Yeah.
That’s fine. When do you want to meet?”

“Whatever works for you.”

“Thursday evening?”

“Sure. I teach a class til 8:30, could we meet at 9? At that deli we used to go to? Do you remember it?”

The place downtown with great paninis where I’d gazed at him and decided I believed in love at first sight. “Yeah, I remember it. I’ll be there.”

***

P
eople were spilling out the front door onto the sidewalk of the downtown bar Ryke had texted me the name of.

When he’d asked me to drop by, I told him I couldn’t because I had so much to catch up on. The pile of fan mail was scary tall since I’d been busy with other stuff this week. I was
helping Jan from the team’s front office with a fundraiser she was organizing. Mimi and I were baking cookies and pies for it, which was fun, but took forever.

But when I thought about how much I missed Ryke, I decided the fan mail could wait. I n
eeded more than just his voice. Weaving through the crowded bar, I was thinking about wrapping my arms around his neck and telling him how happy I was to see him.

After scanning dozens of faces, I found him at a tall table with several other guys. I recognized Luke and Victor, two of his teammates. The relaxed grins of all the men made it clear how close they were. Luke pulled another teammate’s face toward his own, trying to kiss his cheek, which drew a round of laughter.

A few women were clustered around the group, wearing eager expressions. I craned my neck for a view of Ryke and saw a woman standing to the side of him, pressing herself into his arm. Even before I got a glance at her heavy makeup and tiny shirt, I knew I was getting a first hand view of a groupie. What had Ryke called them? Puck sluts. She spoke into his ear, but he seemed to be listening to Victor, who was next to him.

I actually felt a little sorry for the girl when she stopped talking and laughed with Ryke and Victor, like she’d been a part of their conversation and was in on the joke.

The table was crowded, but I’d sit on Ryke’s lap if I had to. I wouldn’t settle for looking now and touching later. It wasn’t about staking my claim, but letting Ryke know how good it was to have him back home for a few days.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I considered ignoring it, knowing it wasn’t Ryke. But I grabbed it anyway, scanning a text from my mom.

Locked my keys in the car at gas station. Can you bring my extras?

I texted back that I’d be right there and wo
ndered if I should tell Ryke I was leaving. But that was silly. He didn’t even know I was here yet, and he was already having two conversations at once. Well, one and a half, maybe.