Page 25 of The One Timer
“Absolutely. I know you’re more than a hockey player.” She says it with such certainty I wonder if she’s a mind reader. Or maybe she’s a fangirl who has googled me.
“What do you already know? You been checking me out in Hockey News? Looking me up on Google?”
“Why would you say that?” Her voice pitches high, and her face turns wary. Her eyes dart away from mine.
“Hey, I was teasing. I’m an open book.” That’s a fucking lie, but I feel a need to open my book for her. Which is more than strange, so I rein it in. Or try to.
“Are you going to coach or become a broadcaster when you retire? Those seem to be the two usual options for retired professional athletes.” She has her tongue in her cheek and raises one brow. “Although something tells me you’re far from the usual.”
“Was it my big dick that gave me away?”
Her peel of laughter sends said dick shooting straight up, and her hand comes down. I turn on my side and slip an arm around her, pressing her perfect ass so that her belly snuggles against me, giving me a rush like I’ve just reached the top of the coaster and I’m about to fall.
An alarm goes off, and I look at the bedside clock. It’s my emergency backup to my phone, and I have no idea why it’s going off at three a.m. Then I remember. Shit.
“Does that say three in the morning?” She shifts away from me to look closer at the time and then shuts it off. She cocks her head and gives me an expectant look.
I shrug. “I was supposed to call my sister to wish her happy birthday. She was born at 3 a.m. thirty-five years ago today. It’s a tradition we have.”
“In that case, you should definitely call her.” Her voice is sleepy, her eyes half-lidded, and her hair messy and everywhere.
She looks so fucking sexy that my heart pounds faster, picking up from its sleepy beat like a starting gun’s been shot. I want to take her for another ride, see her have more orgasms, and sink myself into her all over again, but she watches me expectantly now, and I know she’s right.
The alarm goes off again. “It’s on snooze,” I say as I reach over and turn it off all the way this time. Then I pick up my phone and tap on my sister’s icon. “I’ll call her and get our ritual over with—don’t mind me.”
“Are you sure? Do you want privacy?”
I shake my head and listen to my sister Katherine’s phone ring, two, three, four—and then she answers.
“What the fuck?” I pull the phone from my ear and grin. Em is watching and suppressing her grin.
“Happy Birthday, Kath!” I make my voice extra loud and cheery.
“Chase? Fuck you. Are you kidding me?” She sighs. “Oh my God. It’s my birthday. Again. I can’t fucking believe a year has passed.”
“I know—time flies when you start getting old—”
“Fuck you, kid. You just wait. Whatever happens to me as I age will be doubly worse for you because you’re wearing yourself out playing hockey, abusing your body like a nut.”
“You sound a little grumpy.”
She laughs. “I don’t sound grumpy. I am fucking grumpy. I’m thirty-five goddam years old, and I’m single and childless with no prospects. You tell me if I should be grumpy.”
Fuck. I trade a quick glance with Em. Her brow furrows in concern.
“Wait a sec. What’s this crazy talk about marriage and kids? Since when did you ever want anything besides being queen of the Whisky industry? I thought you were married to Whittier Enterprises, and each bottle of whisky was like your child?”
“If you were here, I’d smack you in the head. Of course, I intend to be queen of the whiskey world. I’m well on my way…” She goes silent.
“But?”
“Can’t a girl want both? Can’t she have both?”
“I guess…if that’s what you want, Katherine. I wouldn’t bet against you getting it. You’re the only person I know more determined and focused than I am.”
She laughs. “Thank you—I think. Coming from you, I guess that’s a grand compliment. Do me a favor, kid. Don’t tell Gran. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“Why not?”
