Underneath It All (Storm Series) (20 page)

“When did I do that?” He was losing his temper, but Alaina was behaving completely irrationally and Rob couldn’t even begin to understand why.

“You’re pressuring me to take your handout.”
She was frowning and he was mystified about what was going on.

Rob took a deep breath then
let it out slowly. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Ever. Let’s make that clear. I think—I hope you know I’d never force you to go somewhere you felt uncomfortable. So what’s this really about?”

“I don’t even know. I need some air.” She grabbed her purse. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Scrambling off the bar stool, he slammed his elbow—though luckily the one on his good arm—against the counter. Rob ignored the pain and said, “Baby, where are you going?”

Alaina glared at him.
“I need to be somewhere else.” She was making tracks for the door.

“
Wait. Talk to me.” How had things gotten so bad so fast? What the hell was happening?

“Not right now.”
With a final glance back, Alaina slipped out the door.

“What the fuck
was that?” Rob asked the air.

After cleaning up the remains of their lunch, Rob called Sarah.

“Hey, Rob. What’s up? I thought you were with Alaina.”

“She stormed out about a half
hour ago.”

“What? Why?”

Rob sighed. “I asked her to Scott’s party.”

“Uh-huh…”

“And then I told her the party was formal dress and she said she didn’t own anything appropriate.” He rubbed at his forehead again, hoping to forestall the pounding taking up residence behind his eyes. “So I offered to buy her a dress.”

“And she didn’t react well to that?”

Rob made a derisive noise. “No. She accused me of trying to make her a ‘kept woman’ and ran out.”

“Come again?”
Sarah sounded as confused as he felt.

“
I don’t understand either. I have no idea what I said that was so wrong. She kept saying stuff like ‘handout’ and that I was telling her what to do.”

“
Sounds like something’s going on deep inside. Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Rob didn’t believe that and doubted Sarah did either, though it was nice of her to try to make him feel better.
“How can it
not
? I’m the one she’s all pissed off at.”

“Maybe something happened in her past to make her react that way.”

Rob ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a long breath. “What should I do? I’m totally confused. One minute we’re having a nice lunch, and the next she’s bolting.”

“Give her
time. Maybe try to call her tonight.”

Time?
Had Sarah forgotten she was talking to him? An idea formed. “Are you going shopping tomorrow? Seb mentioned you might.”

“Yeah.”

“How about if
you
call her?”

“
Uh-uh. This is not my battle, Rob. I don’t want to get in the middle. You wouldn’t when Seb and I were struggling, and I won’t now.”

“You’re right
,” he admitted. “I’m sorry. That wouldn’t be fair.”

“If, after you talk to her, you’ve
managed to convince her to let you buy the dress, of course promising you won’t keep her as a pet, then I can call and invite her to shop with me, give her some encouragement. How’s that?”

A pet? That would be the day.
“Sounds like you’re asking me how hard climbing Mount Everest one-handed would be,” he grumbled.

“At least you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”

“Maybe not, but my mood isn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows.”

“All the more reason to give her a few hours.
” He could practically see Sarah smirking. “Both of you can cool off.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Call or text me and let me know what happened.”

“Will do. Thanks.”
Disconnecting the call, Rob tossed the phone on the other end of the couch. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the cushion. He’d already gone through the conversation about a dozen times and still couldn’t figure out what had freaked out Alaina. Maybe Sarah was right. Maybe the issue didn’t have to do with him at all.

He
managed to wait until after dinner to call Alaina. When she answered, he said, “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Um, how are you? I wanted to make sure you got home okay.” Rob hated this feeling. Normally he was a pretty confident guy, but something about this situation caused him to question himself.

“
I did. And I’m fine.” She waited a beat then continued, “Look, I need to explain myself. I know that. I’m not sure how though.”

“I have a suggest
ion,” he said slowly, unsure of the reaction he’d get.

“I’m all ears.”

“Could you come over here, so we can talk face-to-face? Always less chance of misinterpretation then. On the way over, you can think about what you’d like to say.”

“Yeah, I can do that. I can’t stay real long, since I have some prep work to do for tomorrow still. I…hav
en’t done much of anything this afternoon.”

“That’s fine. I want to talk things out
though.”

“Fair enough. I’ll see you in about twenty minutes.”

“I’ll be here.” He hung up and a smile crept onto his face. Maybe they would talk and decide this whole fight was dumb, and then his skittish feeling would fade.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door. He let Alaina in, not sure if he could or should kiss her hello. She made the decision for him, walking past him to sit on the couch without removing her jacket. Rob reminded himself to be quiet and let her talk this through. Hopefully if he did that, he could convince her to hang out, even if only for an hour or two. Rob took the other end of the couch and waited for her to begin.

“I’m sorry I blew up at you like that.”

He nodded but said nothing.

“
You have to understand something about me.”

“Tell me.”
He
wanted
to understand.

L
ooking down at her hands, her fingers twisting around each other, she said, “My parents have always babied me. Bugs the hell out of me. I couldn’t wait to move out of the house to get away from that. I love my parents, but they didn’t do me any favors as far as me knowing how to take care of myself.” She stopped speaking and looked up. “I’ve worked pretty hard in the last couple of years to get out from under their thumbs. The situation hasn’t been easy, and though I could call them every time I have a problem, I don’t. They used to tell me how to dress, what was appropriate to say and when, who my friends should be…”

Rob leaned forward
to briefly squeeze her hands. “I had no idea, honey. That’s not what I want to do to you at all. I’d never think I had any right to control you.”

Alaina nodded. “I realize that.
Even this afternoon, I understood. I guess it was a knee-jerk reaction.”

If she knew she’d been irrational, did that mean she was willing to hear him out now? Only one way to find out.
“I hesitate to bring this up, but I would like to help you with the dress if you’re willing to go to the party with me. I want to show off my gorgeous girlfriend.”

She
smiled and looked away.

So far, so good.
“What, does me calling you my girlfriend scare you?”

“No. I mean, we’re exclusive.
” Alaina returned her gaze to his, a flush of red suffusing her face. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been anybody’s anything, but I have to admit I like hearing you refer to me like that.”

She’d referred to him as her boyfriend before, so he didn’t understand what the big deal was.
“Then why the embarrassment?”

“
That had more to do with the ‘my
gorgeous
girlfriend.’”

“
You’re hot.” She made a derisive noise, and he slid closer, putting his good arm around her. “And for the record, you’re a lot more than my ‘anything.’ You’re really important to me. I hope you know that.”

“I do.”

With a gentle squeeze, he asked, “Do you believe me when I say I think you’re beautiful?”

Rubbing her forehead, she looked at her shoes. “No one has ever said
that to me. Probably why I’ve had such a hard time believing a guy like you would even give me a second glance.”

Removing his arm from around her, he grabbed her hand and pressed it into his groin. “Now are you convinced?”

“You’re a man in your twenties. Breathing makes you hard.”

“
You
make me hard. I want to strip you and make love to you until your eyes cross from the pleasure. Should I keep going? Because I can.”

Alaina barked out a laugh.
“Um, no, that’s not necessary.” The side of her mouth kicked up into a half-smile.

He let her hand go and said, “Getting back on topic,
will you let me buy you a dress?”

“You’re persistent, you know that?”
Her eyebrows were raised, but she didn’t look angry.

Rob grinned. “Ask the defensemen in the NHL
about playing against me.”

“Okay,
” she said. “But I’m not buying anything super-expensive.”

“The offer to go with Sarah still stands. I’m sure she won’t be buying any thousand-dollar dress. I don’t know what the Storm pays her, and obviously she lives with Sebastian
, who’s paid well even on an entry-level contract, but she’s a practical girl. I can’t see her going nuts.”

“Should I call her?”

“I told her I’d let her know if you were willing to go after you and I talked.”

“
Just out of curiosity, how often do you talk to one or both of them?”

“Pretty much every day,” Rob admitted. “We all went through a lot last year and got pretty close.”

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned that. Must be nice to have friends you can rely on.” Alaina sounded wistful, and Rob frowned.

“You have friends. You had lunch
the other day with…” He struggled to recall the name. Finally, it came to him. “Becky?”

Alaina laughed. “Close. Becca. And she’ll cut off fingers if you ever call her Becky, just to warn you.”

“Oh, you’re going to introduce me to her?”

“
Yeah, I should. We’ve been together for, what, about six weeks now? More?”

He had no clue really.
“Uh, something like that.”

“I’d invite you over to my family’s house for Thanksgiving, but
I would not want to subject you to my family all together. Better to ease into them slowly.”

Meeting the
friends and the family? Wow.

“Whatever you say.
” He didn’t want Alaina to feel pressured to include him in her plans if she wasn’t ready. They’d just cleared one hurdle after all. “Sarah’s probably going to invite me to something before the team leaves that day. They play in Columbus the day after Thanksgiving.”

~ * ~

TWELVE

T
he next day, Sarah and Alaina went shopping and as Alaina tried on each dress, Sarah texted Rob, giving him updates, which he thought was pretty funny. He and Sebastian were meeting them at the mall for dinner at some fondue place and Rob got antsy waiting for the afternoon to end.
Maybe Alaina will model the dress for me. And then let me peel it off her.

Now that Rob had made love to Alaina he only wanted her more, but their schedules hadn’t allowed time for that.
With the next day being Saturday, he hoped to persuade Alaina to either stay over with him or at least not leave his place so early. Since they had slept together he hadn’t bothered to masturbate–some things couldn’t be replaced. He hardened inside his jeans thinking about sliding into her wet warmth.

Yeah,
I have it bad.

Over dinner, Alaina refused to let him see her dress. “I want to surprise you.”

The party was still a few days away, on the Tuesday
before Thanksgiving, and Rob groaned. He speared Sarah with a mock glare. “You didn’t let her get anything that’s gonna make me growl like a possessive tiger every time one of the guys looks in her direction, did you? I know people who can make other people disappear, you know. After all, I am Italian.”

Alaina elbowed him, and
he grinned at her then waited for Sarah’s reply.

Plucking
a piece of meat from the broth, Sarah answered, “Oh hon, you’re going to growl anyway, so what does it matter?”

Rob looked to Sebastian, who shrugged. “Better her than Sarah.”

“Nice, man. Way to back me up.”

“Hey, I put up with
it, you can too.”

Turning his body slightly, he regarded Alaina. “I know you’re a pretty conservative dresser.
Please put me out of my misery and assure me your dress isn’t too sexy.”

“
The dress is classy, Rob.” She patted his uninjured shoulder, giving one of those motherly looks she’d no doubt perfected over her years of teaching.

“Good.” He leaned
as far as he could without toppling over—stupid shoulder was still in a sling—and kissed her.

Later, when they were back in his car, as Sarah had driven Alaina to the mall, Rob asked, “Can you hang out for a while?”

Alaina, despite her initial prote
sts, had agreed to drive the Escalade. It was a lot more comfortable than him squeezing into her little subcompact, but he wisely refrained from actually mentioning that. He’d like to get her a nicer car so he wouldn’t worry so much when she was on the road, but there was no way she’d accept it. If him buying a dress for her nearly imploded them, what would happen if he handed over the keys to a brand new car?

“Yeah.”
She reached over the console and palmed him. He gasped and was hard as a nail within seconds. “I think something might need a little attention.”

“Fuck, yes,” he growled.

When they reached his house, he cut to the chase. “I need you. Now.”

“Come on, then.” She led him into his bedroom and began remov
ing his clothing. Rob had started wearing button-down shirts because they were easier to get in and out of, but Alaina still handled him with kid gloves.

“I want you naked too. God, I need to see you.
You turn me on so much. I ache for you when you aren’t here.”

“I have no idea why, but thank you.”

I really need to work on that low self-esteem thing.

Once
devoid of clothing, he crawled into bed then indicated her. “Take off your clothes. All of them.”

She did, slowly, and by the time her panties hit the floor he was ready to pounce on her. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t easily be on top. He thought about trying to take her from behind, but wasn’t sure he trusted his balance. Besides, having Alaina bounce on top of him, her breasts sway
ing with every movement and being able to discern every change of expression that flitted over her beautiful face, sounded pretty hot.

“Better?” Alaina asked, one hand on her slim hip.

“Much. Can you grab a condom from the drawer? I forgot to.”

Alaina withdrew a condom then pulled the covers off him. “Yeah, I like that a lot more.”

“Me freezing my nuts off?”

“No, seeing that hard, tight body
. Besides, I’ll warm you up.”

“I’m counting on it.
Now get over here.”

Straddling
his legs, she rolled the condom over his raging, throbbing erection. Rob moaned like a wounded animal when she sank down on him. Then, planting his feet on the mattress, he pushed up as Alaina went in counter motion.

His eyes c
losed as sensation flooded him. He couldn’t believe he’d almost forgotten how freaking good she felt when they were together. This was something a person should never forget.

“Oh, God, Rob.”

Opening his eyes once more, he gritted his teeth to shove back an embarrassingly quick eruption. “I’m here, baby. Feel me. Feel me so deep inside you.”

“I can.”
Arching her back, she sank down on him again, and Rob’s mouth opened, a sound somewhere between a grunt and a groan tumbling out.

He sped up the pace
, and she stayed with him, now slamming down onto him again and again as he slowly lost his mind. “Touch your breasts. Show me what you like.”

She looked startled, but brought her hands up and cupped each luscious globe before zeroing in on her nipples, gently pu
lling and pinching them.

”Now your clit. Rub it for me. Make yourself come.”

“Rob, I…I can’t.”

“Yes. You. Can.” He punctuated each word with a thrust upward. “Come for me.”

They moved together, him holding back his climax by sheer force of will, and a few moments later she tightened on him like a vise. Rob let out a strangled noise, and then he was coming, Alaina’s body milking his release from him.

“Baby
,” he managed to get out as she climbed off him to settle on his good side, “we seriously need to do that way more often.”

Alaina giggled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

And she did. He cajoled her into sleeping over, and they made love again during the night.

The next morning, Rob awoke sweating with Alaina plastered to him. No wonder he feared instant combustion. Steering himself away from her momentarily, he opened the nightstand drawer then struggled a bit trying to get a condom on. Once he’d finally managed to sheath himself, he maneuvered closer to Alaina once more and, with his good hand, gently lifted her leg to lie back on top of his. Fitting himself to her slick opening, he pushed inside inch by tantalizing inch and barely stifled a groan. Rob began to move, slowly and softly, in and out of her warm heat.

Best damn way to wake up that I know of.

Alaina’s eyelashes fluttered, and he kept going, now daring to speed up. “What’re you doin’?”

He couldn’t hold in a chuckle. “If you do
n’t know, even sleepy, clearly my technique needs work.”

“
Mmm, don’t stop. This is a great dream.”

He
scooted until he could look at her face. “Not a dream, baby. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. I’m making love to you, the way I want to every time I see you, every time I even talk to you.”

“Romantic.” A small smile played ov
er her mouth, and he leaned in more, careful to keep his balance. He wasn’t wearing his sling, since he’d been asleep, but he didn’t want to fall forward and have to brace himself with his bad shoulder.

Rob
turned her head, touched his lips to hers then said, “You look great even when you’re first waking up. So not fair. How could I resist?”

She cracked one eye. “Says the guy who could model for GQ at a moment’s notice.”

He looked at himself. “Only if they started doing nudie covers. And that’s attention I don’t need.”

Alaina giggled. “I’d prefer you didn’t get that kind of attention either.”

“Somebody’s jealous,” he said in a sing-song voice, and she tilted her torso to glare at him. “You have nothing to be jealous about, baby. You’re here. They—whoever ‘they’ may be— aren’t.”

“Good. Keep it that way.”

“I plan to. Remember that whole exclusivity thing we agreed to? I don’t cheat. Can we go back to the fun stuff now?”

“
Sure.”

“Your level
of enthusiasm is overwhelming.”

Rob
used his core muscles to thrust, quickly losing the battle to keep going as his orgasm began to rear. “Touch yourself. I want you to get off too.”

Groaning, Alaina
moved her hand down between her thighs. She wrapped her fingers around his base as it slid in and out of her and he let out a strangled moan. “Feel good?”

“Gotta. Come. Soon. Fuck!”

He prayed to various deities that he’d be able to hold off long enough for Alaina to take her pleasure. His entreaties were answered when she arched her back, pushing him even further inside, and with a harsh intake of breath, squeezed him and came. There was no stopping the tidal wave at that point, and Rob went with her, gritting his teeth against the barrage of sensation.

A couple of moments later, the condom was taken care
of and they lay together, spooning.

Alaina stretched.
“Mmm, what a lovely way to wake up. Except now I don’t feel like getting out of bed.”

Nuzzling the back of her neck, he murmured, “Who
says we have to?”

“I dunno about you, since this place always
looks clean, but my apartment needs a good scouring from floor to ceiling.” He made a noncommittal sound and she asked, “You have a cleaning service, don’t you?”

Rob had no reason to
be ashamed of his money, but when things like the whole dress incident happened with Alaina, he couldn’t help a nagging sense of guilt. “Uh, yeah. I didn’t until Sebastian moved in. With two of us living here, and Sebastian being a pack rat and all…” He internally winced at throwing his best friend under the bus, but felt like he had to explain his actions.

“
Don’t feel bad about having a cleaning service. That’s just silly. God knows if I could afford a cleaning service I’d have one in a heartbeat.” She regarded him. “Now how about some breakfast? I think you need to make sure I’m fed.”

He released a breath and nodded. “
I do try to take care of you. When you let me.” Rob winked. “And eating is an excellent idea.”

Over the weekend he and Alaina had shuttled back and forth between her place and his. While she ran errands, he went to the arena and did some light cardio work. Now Tuesday and the party was upon them.

Sebastian had picked up
Rob’s tux a few days ago to have it cleaned and pressed along with his, and arrived an hour before they were scheduled to pick up first Sarah and then Alaina. Rob had rented a limo for the evening, hoping Alaina would get a kick out of the gesture. But first he had to finagle himself into the custom-fit tux.

He
considered leaving off the sling, but the party might be crowded and the thing would protect his injured shoulder. Shimmying into the tight jacket was difficult, not to mention painful—he and Sebastian needed a good ten minutes to get the garment on after getting his shirt and tie situated. Then Sebastian helped him put the sling back on.

“Good thing I was here, otherwise you would be going to the party
in pants and nothing else,” his friend teased as he pulled on his own jacket.

“You guys have all seen the goods,” Rob threw back, “and I doubt any of the ladies would mind.”

Sebastian snorted. “Your ego is huge. Should I find some way to widen the door so you can get your head through?”

“Oh whatever, dude.
Like yours is suffering.” Rob tucked his wallet in the inside pocket of his jacket and his phone in the front pocket of his pants, both accessible with his good hand. “Let’s go.”

When t
hey picked Sarah up, Rob complemented her dress. She wasn’t much for getting all dolled up, but when she did, she was stunning. He had nothing but fraternal feelings for her, but could appreciate female beauty. When they arrived at Alaina’s apartment complex, Rob got out of the car and went upstairs to her door. A few seconds later, she answered, and he swallowed his tongue.

Sarah had told him to get a dark gray tie and vest
—he currently owned a half-dozen different color combinations—and now he could see why. Alaina was clad in a gunmetal gray dress that hugged her curves to her hips before flaring out at the bottom. Some sort of sparkly thing caressed her breasts. The straps had the same decoration as they wound around the slim column of her neck to tie in the back. Her hair was up and swept to the side, held in place by a gigantic, jeweled thingy, and her full lips were painted blood red.