Faceoff

Chapter Nine

He was torturing both of them by prolonging this. But for some reason, he didn’t want to go from zero to sex in two point five seconds. He wanted to turn her on, bring her up, play with her a little and make it so, so good.

He leaned over and kissed her mouth. “Just relax,” he murmured. “Let me do this.” Now that she was naked, he wanted to be too, so he rose and got rid of his cargo shorts and underwear. His cock sprang up and he gave it a couple of long, slow strokes as he moved over her on the bed. She watched him, her eyes on his hand, lips parted hungrily. Oh man.

He knelt between her thighs. She winced a little as he parted them and he smiled. “Still sore, sweetheart?”

“Just a bit. I’m okay.”

“Good.” He bent and kissed one thigh, smooth and soft, then kissed his way up to her hip bone, across her tummy to the other hip and down to that thigh. He stretched out on the bed then and gently pushed her knees back to reveal her to him. He studied her. Fascination with the female body filled him, along with admiration and intense arousal. What mysteries and raptures were hidden away between women’s legs, so secret, so delicious. Pink and plump, her soft, hairless folds glistened with her own arousal. He kissed her there, soft little closed-mouth kisses up one side, and down the other. He nuzzled the tiny patch of dark hair, breathed in the sweet female scent of her. His mouth watered to taste her. He swallowed and rubbed his face on her thigh, his whiskers rasping a little on her soft skin. “Nice, Kyla. So beautiful.” With his thumbs he parted her flesh, revealing deeper pink, more creaminess, and now he drew his tongue through the slit. Her body jerked and her fingers curled into the sleeping bag. Soft cries of pleasure filled the tent.

“Sweet.” He swallowed her taste, licked her again, slow, long, lush licks, then kissed her clit. She cried out again. He played with her clit with his tongue, loving how it swelled and strained against his mouth, how she pulled her knees back even more. He slipped his hands under her ass and held her to his mouth, feasting on her with his lips and tongue and, so carefully, his teeth. “So sweet, Kyla.”

“Oh god, oh my god.” Her head turned from side to side on the pillow. “Oh Tag, that’s so good.

“You taste so good, baby.” He swiped his tongue over the softest flesh, her scent filling his head. “Oh man, Kyla. I wanna fuck you so bad.”

“Do it!”

He looked up at her, his gaze tracking over her flat stomach and soft breasts, her arms still pinned beneath her. “Uh-uh. That just earned you more torture.”

She whimpered and her teeth sank into her bottom lip.

“I was going to make you come,” he continued, sliding a finger inside her. Wow. So wet. “But now you’ll have to wait.”

He teased her with the very tip of his tongue, licked lower, nipped at her butt cheeks. “You have the sweetest ass, Kyla. Have I ever told you that?”

She made a little noise that might have been a no.

He loved how her firm round cheeks filled his palms. He continued to lick her, slow and long, easing around her clit, but never on it. Her soft whimpers teased him and urged him on.

His thumb gathered up some of her cream and rubbed it around her puckered rear entrance. Her body twitched hard and she made a strangled noise. He looked up again to gauge her reaction. “Like that, Kyla?”

“I don’t…know.”

He wasn’t sure if she said “know” or “no” so he did it again experimentally. Her moan of pleasure told him what he needed to know. His cock throbbed with the need to be inside her, the thought of taking her there tightening his balls excruciatingly. But that would be later.

He flicked his tongue over her clit again. She sucked in a breath. He played there again, and when her thighs tightened and he felt her pussy clench, he drew back.

“Taaaag!” Her soft wail of protest made him smile. “I was so close…”

“I know.” He moved up over her now, knees on either side of her body, until his cock was right at her mouth. Her eyes watched it, blinking rapidly. “Suck me, Kyla.” He held his dick right at her mouth and rubbed it over her bottom lip. Her lips parted, so obediently, so sweetly, heat flared inside him. He pushed in gently, and when her mouth closed around the head, a ragged groan tore from his lips. His eyes fell closed as white-hot sparks whipped through his veins. “Aw, Christ, Kyla!”

Her little tongue explored the head of his cock while her lips wrapped around and she sucked greedily. Oh hell. For a moment he’d wondered if he was pushing too hard, but he’d seen the look of rapturous hunger on her face, and oh yeah, she wanted this too. He opened his eyes, eager to see the visual, to see her pretty lips on his swollen dick. At that moment she looked up at him, lashes framing her eyes like starbursts, and he felt like he’d just taken a hard check into the boards.

His balls grew even tighter at the root of his cock, her mouth consuming him, sensation building at the base of his spine. “Sweet Jesus,” he muttered, watching her suck him with a look of such intense pleasure on her face he almost erupted. But no. He’d made her wait and he wasn’t going to end this already, this way. She was going to come around his cock buried deep inside her and then he’d come too. He pulled out of her hungry mouth and she looked up at him and pouted.

He liked that. Exhilaration streamed through him as he reached for a condom, something else he kept in his little bag of kinky tricks. He sheathed up and then rolled her to her side and unwrapped the tape from her wrists.

“Oh,” she breathed, stretching her arms out. He took hold of her wrists and eased her arms up, ran his hands over her small muscles to ease any discomfort.

“Okay?” he murmured.

“Yes. Now I can touch you.”

“Gonna fuck you now, Kyla,” he said, once again moving between her legs. “Can’t wait any longer.”

He watched her face, watched the sweet smile that made her eyes crinkle up in a way that was so goddamn familiar and appealing.

“Yes, please,” she whispered.

Something clenched in his chest. “Now that’s the right way to answer,” he growled, remembering her earlier command to “do it”, and her smile deepened, so sexy and warm.

“I’m a fast learner,” she said, reaching for his shoulders. “And you’re bossy.”

“Yep.” His voice came out gruff, but inside he was marshmallow soft and gooey at the fact that once again she’d amused him, right in the middle of hot sex. What a woman.

This was bad. This was so bad. He’d had a lot of good sex in his life, great sex even. Ménage sex, kinky sex, straight up vanilla sex. But he’d never had this feeling of falling, of sliding slowly into something deep and consuming, a feeling of overwhelming need to have this woman, to make her happy, to protect her from the world, from herself, from every damn thing. What the hell was that?

In a daze of lust and confusion he rubbed his gloved-up cock through her slick moisture, then pushed into her. Heat. He felt her heat through the latex, surrounding him, pulling him in deeper. He groaned, knees spread wide, hands on her thighs pushing them back. The soft noises coming from her throat inflamed him more, her hands reaching for him, pulling him to her.

“Oh god,” she moaned. “Yes, yes please, Tag, fuck me. Like that.”

He slid in farther, her tight heat grasping his cock like a fist, and he fell over her, kissed her mouth with all the emotion swelling up inside him, sliding his tongue inside, again and again, as his cock slid in and out of her, wetness and heat, sparks and flames.

She felt so good, so fucking good, Christ. He pushed the hair back off her forehead as he kissed her and held her head and moved inside her, rocking against her. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, her nails a small bite of pain. “Kyla,” he moaned. “Kyla.”

She kissed him back, her mouth open for him, her tongue sliding against his. Did she taste herself on his mouth? The thought had more flames flickering inside him. Pressure built inside him, tingles at the base of his spine, his balls tightening. Oh man. Oh man. He was gonna come, soon, but she had to come first. Oh man.

He rose back up onto his knees, slid his hands to her waist and admired her as he thrust into her, slowing it down. Her breasts jiggled enticingly on her chest at each push and she lifted her hands to cup them. She pinched her own nipples, already so dark and hard. Fuck, that was hot! He tipped his head back briefly and fought for control.

Then he slipped a hand down to where they were joined, found her swollen little clit and rubbed. She made a soft noise, her hips moving against his, and once again their eyes met in a small explosion of heat and sparks, a magnetic connection that sucked him into a spinning haze. “There?” he asked.

She gave a jerky nod, and her eyes drifted closed. “Uh…” More sweet little noises followed, her pussy tightening around him, making him burn so hot. So hot. His veins pulsed with heat, flames licked over his balls and tingles raced up his spine. So close…he slowed his strokes while he rubbed her clit, breathing fast. He watched her face, so beautiful, flushed pink, her long brown hair spread wildly on the pillow around her head.

He felt her body tighten, her pussy clench around his dick and she gave a long, low cry of pleasure that had his heart nearly exploding out of his chest. “Oh yeah,” he groaned, thrusting into her slick heat, feeling her pussy ripple around him. She gave another soft wail and then she grabbed his wrist to hold his hand still.

“Too much,” she gasped. He got it, and moved back over her and kissed her mouth, slid his hands into her hair and fucked her with hard strokes. She met each stroke and sensation burned and twisted through his body.

“Damn, baby,” he groaned against her lips. “Gonna come now too…oh Christ.”

He let it come now, the orgasm that had been building, intense, barely controllable. His vision darkened, his body tightened and then pulsed inside her in, hot heavy spurts. A growl tore from deep inside him as he pressed into her, ecstasy erupting from inside him and flowing in heated waves of pleasure.

They stayed like that for a long time, her hands roaming his back, her lips pressing soft kisses to his shoulder and his neck. His lungs burned as he fought for breath, heart gradually slowing to a near-normal rhythm. Sweat dampened both their skins, and he finally lifted up to look down at her. He stroked damp hair off her forehead and their eyes met.

Whoa.

Her slow, sweet smile made something soft and hot expand inside him, so big he felt like bursting. He smiled back at her in response. “Wow,” he said, fingertips moving over silky hair, soft skin.

“Yeah. Wow.” Her hands ran over his ribs. “That was…wow. I came so hard.”

Satisfaction swelled inside him now too. He kissed her lips. “Good.” He moved inside her, his cock still hard, and her breath hitched in her throat.

“Still…sensitive,” she whispered.

“Wanna make you come again.” He nuzzled her hair and breathed in her scent, flowers and spice and coconut.

“Oh.”

“In a few minutes.” He gave one last thrust, then withdrew, reaching to hold the condom in place. “Let me get rid of this.”

As he disposed of the condom in some tissues, Kyla let out a small shriek. “Eeep!” She scrambled into the sleeping bag and pulled it over her head. A moth had somehow found its way into the tent and fluttered around the lamp in dizzy circles.

Grinning, Tag captured the moth and quickly liberated it from the tent. “Afraid of a harmless little moth, Mac?” he said, climbing into the sleeping bag beside her. “It’s gone.”

She lifted her head. “I know they’re harmless. I just don’t like them flying around like that.”

He smiled and pulled her against him. She curled up like a kitten, fitting perfectly to him, her face pressed to his throat. He drew in a long slow breath and let it out just as slowly. That had been kind of…brain-scrambling. Hotter than hot. He pressed his hand into the small of her back, bringing her closer still. His other hand slid into her hair and cupped her head.

He could stay like this forever.

“So nice,” she murmured.

“Mmm.”

For once he didn’t want to go to sleep. Or go home, like he usually did after sex. In fact, he wanted to talk. He wanted to know all about Kyla, her life now, her job, everything. “How’s your mom doing, Kyla?”

She stirred a little against him. “She’s good. At least as far as we know.”

“It must have been hard.”

“Yeah.” She talked, hesitantly at first, about her mom’s cancer diagnosis and the emotional roller coaster it had been for the entire family.

“It’s good that you’re all together this week,” he said.

She sighed. “Yes, it is. And I almost missed it.”

“Because of your job.”

“Yeah.” And then she talked about that too, about the pressure she felt to succeed, the need to prove to her family she could do it too, her dad the CEO of a big successful company, her brother Scott already a VP of a major bank in Vancouver and even Michael, only twenty-eight, owned his own computer consulting business that was making him big bucks. She talked about the problems of fitting in at the law firm, the old boys club.

“You always wanted to be one of the boys,” he said, letting his hand wander down over the curve of her butt.

She laughed. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“But you’re not one of the boys, Kyla.”

She lifted her head. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean…” He gave her a slow grin. “I wouldn’t be here with you like this if you were a boy.”

The corners of her mouth twitched upward. “No, I guess not.”

“Seriously. You have some amazing qualities. Feminine qualities. You don’t need to be one of the boys to be successful. You couldn’t keep up with us when we played football or baseball or when we waterskied. But you had all of us wrapped around your little finger.”

“I did not!”

“Sure you did. Remember that time you wanted to enter the sandcastle building competition? You had us all hauling buckets of sand and water and running around doing your bidding. And we loved it.”

She went still against him.

“Maybe fitting in with the guys at work isn’t the way to go. And Jesus, Kyla, if it’s making you have panic attacks…”

She met his eyes again and her throat worked. “I’m fine.”

“But is it what you really want?”

Kyla glared at him. “Why would you even ask that? Of course it’s what I want! I wouldn’t be doing it otherwise.”

“Sometimes what we think we want isn’t necessarily what’s right for us though.”

She frowned at him. “What do you know about it?”

“I don’t know anything about practicing law. But I know that you showed up here all pale and scrawny and immediately passed out on the lawn.”

“Scrawny!”

He grinned. “Sorry. I take that back. You do look kinda thin, but you know I think you’re gorgeous. But you’ve been having panic attacks and you don’t have time for fun or exercise. That’s not healthy for you. You don’t even apparently have time for family since you weren’t even going to come up here this week.”

She didn’t mention the headaches and stomach troubles she’d been experiencing for months. “It’s what I’ve been working for my whole working life.”

“No reason you can’t change direction.”

“I don’t want to change direction. This is what I want.”

“So you see yourself working at that law firm for the rest of your life? What’s the name of it? Dewey Cheatham & Howe?”

She blinked, then burst out laughing. “Oh my god. It’s Ingram Howell Grant. And yeah, I guess I do.”

“What about a family? Getting married and having kids.”

“I can do both.”

“Of course you can, but will they support you in that? From what you’ve said, it didn’t sound like they were all that supportive of you taking time off to be with your mom when she was sick. Will it be any different when you have kids?”

She couldn’t answer that. There weren’t a lot of female role models at Ingram Howell Grant. “I’ll be a ground breaker,” she said. “Once I’m partner, they’ll have to respect me and what I need.”

“Oh yeah?” He lifted an eyebrow. “You think that’s going to change just because you make partner? How do they make you feel now? Like a future partner? Or like you’re a production machine? Do you feel valued? Or like you could be replaced?”

She didn’t like those questions, and she had a sneaking suspicion it was because she wouldn’t like the answers.

“Do they expect you to always choose the firm over your personal life?”

“They say they respect work-life balance. And that sometimes personal things take priority. But…” She stopped, remembering the resentment she’d sensed when she’d taken time off to be with her mom, despite the words that had been said.

“Do you respect the senior partners at the firm?”

“Of course I do.” Except when they went golfing and dumped work on her desk. “Oh just drop it, Tag,” she said crossly. “I’m not all up in your business. I could ask you the same questions. You seemed pretty stressed last weekend. You didn’t want to come up here either.”

“I wanted to. I wasn’t sure if I could. Yeah, I’ve been a little stressed with this whole move and the fact that we had a crappy season last year. I’m part of the team and I’m responsible for that and now coming back here, I know I have a big role to play in the PR aspects of it. But here’s the difference…I love it. I love what I’m doing. I completely respect my new coach and the new team owners. Like you, I’ve worked my whole life for this, but I still love what I’m doing, every minute of it. And I’m not sure you do.” He bent his head. “I’ll admit there have been times in my life I’ve been scared about what I’d be able to do if I couldn’t play hockey anymore. It’s good to be single-minded and focused on what you want, but that made me think―what if that’s taken away from you? Because it can happen in a heartbeat. For me it could be a bad check—a head injury or my knee destroyed again.” She remembered he’d been out for months a couple of years ago with a knee injury.

“Don’t say that,” she said, for some reason her stomach cramping at the thought of Tag being hurt.

“It could happen. I have to face reality. For you, it could be going back to the city and discovering they named someone else partner. Then what would you do?”

She didn’t know. She hadn’t even wanted to consider what would happen if she didn’t make partner. Would she stay on at the firm? Go somewhere else and start all over? What would be the odds of making partner somewhere else? “I don’t know,” she said quietly.

“I also have to face the reality that my hockey career is going to end a long time before your law career will. Then what will I do?”

She looked at him. “You’re pretty practical, aren’t you?”

“That makes me sound boring.”

She moved her head side to side. “No, you’re hardly boring, Tag.” Not boring. Right now he was being annoyingly thought-provoking. He was making her think about things she’d been pushing to the back of her mind.

“Who’s your competition?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I know how competitive you are. Is there someone else competing for partnership?”

She lowered her chin and regarded him. “Yes. But that’s not what it’s about!”

“Isn’t it? You’ve been competitive your whole life, Kyla. I’ve seen you do things you didn’t really want to just to fit in with the guys, just to compete with us.”

Her insides burned all the way up to her throat. She swallowed.

“I admire that about you,” he continued softly. “You’re determined and strong. You always have been. I have no doubt you’ll succeed at this. I just think you need to take a step back and consider if it’s really what you want.” He smiled. “I’ve seen how happy your mom has been this week with her three kids and her grandchildren around. Family’s important.”

“You don’t spend much time at home.”

He eyed her curiously. “Forechecking, Kyla?”

She frowned at him.

“Forechecking—checking in the offensive zone with the intention of gaining control of the puck and setting up a scoring opportunity. Feeling a little defensive? Going on the offense?”

“This isn’t a game.”

“It’s an analogy, sweetheart. Where’s your sense of humor? I come home a lot, Kyla. Every summer. Other times during the year. I flew my parents down to Phoenix every year and last year they came to Chicago to watch Jase and I play against each other.”

Shame heated her cheeks. “I know. I’m sorry.”

He leaned forward and kissed her mouth. “I’m sorry I called you scrawny.”

“Okay, tell me about your crappy season,” she said. And they talked about what a huge distraction the whole uproar over selling and moving the team had been for them pretty much all season, all the politics and media attention, then the actual sale and the move back to Winnipeg.

“D’you think all the talk distracted the players?” she asked. “Was that why you didn’t have a great season?”

He gave her a long look. “Hell yeah. It was totally distracting, to everyone.” He kissed her mouth. “You’re pretty smart, Mac.”

They talked for a long time, until Kyla’s soft curves moving against him distracted him, heated his blood, hardened his dick, and then he rolled her over onto her back and kissed her in long, lazy wet kisses.

“Mmm.” She bit gently at his bottom lip. “I thought you said I could have a turn to be on top.”

He smiled down at her, that wide sexy mouth that made her insides flutter. “So I did. And that would be fair.” He rolled off her and lay on his back. “Take me.”

She laughed softly and laid a hand on his hard abdomen, shifting herself toward him. “Do I get to do whatever I want?”

“Um…” His dick twitched as she reached for it. “Maybe…”

“Maybe I need that bondage tape for you.”

“Ha,” he said. She curled her fingers around his cock, so satisfyingly thick and hot in her hand. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“Hmm.” She bent her head, teased him with her tongue, dragging it over the rim of his cock head, rubbing it against the underside, then licking down to the base and lower still, over his balls.

“Jesus Christ!” His hips jerked off the bed. “Oh fuck, Kyla.”

“Mmmhmm.”

He reached for her hair, scooping it back and holding it loosely at her neck, she imagined, so he could see what she was doing. That pleased her. Pleasing him pleased her. She closed her eyes in delight and opened her mouth to take him in.

“Oh yeah, hell yeah, suck me,” he groaned. “Suck my dick, Kyla, like that, so fucking good…”

She moved her mouth up and down on him, not taking him deep, there was no way she could; he was so thick in her mouth, so heavy on her tongue. She paused for a moment to absorb the sensation, the hot male taste of him. She grasped the base of his cock with one hand while the other played with his balls. Another rumble sounded in his throat.

“So nice,” she said, lifting her head to gaze down at his throbbing shaft. “Very nice.” Her thumb slid wetly over the head and Tag made a strangled noise. Then she moved over him holding herself above him.

“Condom,” he croaked.

She paused. “Damn. Where are they?”

“In that case.”

She slid off the mattress to the tent floor and rummaged around, returning with one held between two fingers. “I’ll put it on.”

“Sure.”

She smiled at the thickness in his voice. A feeling of immense power rose inside her, feminine power, the power to please him with her touch. She paused for a moment, recalling his earlier words. This power felt good, so good. When she’d had her wrists bound, she’d felt erotically helpless but she’d also felt a strange feeling of freedom―freedom and relief, to just be herself, to just feel, to not have to try to fit in.

She ripped open the package and rolled the condom on, torturing him by taking her time and then once again she rose above him. She closed her eyes as he entered her, stretching her with burning pressure, filling her with delicious heat. She laid her hands on Tag’s muscled chest and moved on him, slowly easing his thick flesh inside her, little by little, until he was all the way in. She pressed a hand to her lower stomach, feeling voluptuously filled.

“Oh.” She let out a soft breath. “Oh Tag.”

“Oh yeah.”

She rode him, eyes closed, then dragged her lids open to look down at him. He watched her with heated, hungry eyes that made her stomach swoop with excitement. This was so amazing, being with him like this. He was so amazing. He was dominant, controlling and he talked dirty and did dirty sexy things, but holy hell, she’d never been with a man who’d given her so much pleasure, who’d focused so much on her and her body. Her skin burned everywhere, her pussy flexing around his girth.

She lowered herself over him and kissed him, his mouth, his jaw, his neck, while his hands gripped her butt, moving her up and down on his shaft. Then one hand landed on her ass and heat flared. She gave a little cry, the sensation intensifying the tightening of her womb. Another heated caress on her butt drove her higher. Oh my god.

His fingers slipped between her cheeks, probing again at that back entrance. She cried out, his wicked touch there at that sensitive opening adding another layer of erotic sensation whipping through her body.

She pushed back up, touched herself, rubbed her clit, bit her bottom lip as sensation swelled inside her. She tightened her inner muscles even more on him, knowing that would do it, that would intensify her orgasm, and she fell onto his chest as it burst, pleasure sliding outward from that sharp point of ecstasy deep inside her. One of his hands came up around her shoulders, gripped her chin and turned her face to him and he kissed her, holding her like that as his hips lifted, fucking up into her fast and hard and so, so hot, and then he went taut and still beneath her, pressing his face against hers.

“Fuck, Kyla,” he groaned against her cheek. “You fucking undo me.”

She kissed his mouth again, hands on his face, kissed him over and over again in gratitude and longing and…what felt a lot like love.