Page 78 of Knocked Sideways

“You like taking care of me.” Remy smiled. “I notice that, too.”

That smile was all Jed wanted to see on Remy’s face. He kissed Remy’s forehead again, and his eyebrows, and along his jaw, and then dropped soft kisses on his lips until Remy opened up his mouth and climbed over Jed with their tongues still tangled together. He thrust gently against Jed’s abs until Jed took them both in hand and brought them off together.

“It’s so good with you,” Remy sighed, sliding off and wiping himself with the sheet. “I’ll change ’em later, okay? Gonna sleep in now. It’s our day off, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.” Jed felt like there was some kind of band around his chest, squeezing hard, because it was almost too much. He didn’t know what he was going to do if Remy left when the season was over, but he was damned if he was going to give up a single moment of holding Remy like this before he had to.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

REMY

Road trips were harder now, when they meant Remy had to sleep by himself and go without more than a kiss or two each day. Yeah, well, it’s a good thing you’re not getting too used to having more, the darker part of his mind said as he settled into a seat across from Petey and Jake on the flight up to Edmonton. This is what it’s gonna be like if you don’t get your contract when the season’s over.

He couldn’t trust that he’d have an offer until he saw it. His agent had assured him that it was too early for Colorado to talk about his contract, and that as long as he kept playing the way he’d played the last half dozen games, he was doing everything he needed to do if he wanted to stay. Which he did. He really did.

He could say it to himself now. He wanted to stay and keep playing with Bakesy and Petey and Jake, and he wanted to know that Jed was in the net behind him, ready to clean up anything he missed. He wanted to come home every night to Jed’s quiet house on the side of the mountain and wake up every morning in Jed’s enormous bed.

And if it didn’t sound too needy, even to himself, he would admit that what he really wanted most was to be in Jed’s presence all day, every day, pretty much.

So. He knew what to do. Work hard to prepare and then go out and leave it all on the ice, every game. Battle harder than the other guy for the puck each and every time. Shut out everything that wasn’t winning the best he could.

Play cards with Petey and Jake and try not to think too much about the sandy-blond head he could see up toward the front of the plane, and whether Jed was reading the next book in that spy series he’d been so into that he’d stayed up late one night to finish the last one. Remy’d had to lie in bed alone for half an hour before Jed finally joined him and he was able to fall asleep.

He’d grumbled the next morning, while they were still in bed, that Jed wasn’t allowed to start the next book in the series until their road trip. Jed looked at him for a long moment with those cool, assessing eyes and said okay, he wouldn’t. And then he’d pulled Remy on top of him and licked into his mouth and run those big hands up and down Remy’s back and kneaded his ass until Remy was whimpering for more, even though they had morning skate and needed to get out of bed.

Jed had only slowed their kisses and stared up at him, eyes blown and breath coming faster than usual. And Remy almost said what he was thinking out loud. I want you so damn much, all the time, but more than that, I just want to be close to you, always. For once, his mouth and brain had stayed connected, though. He’d leaned down and given Jed another deep kiss and gone back to his own room to take care of himself before getting dressed.

Yeah, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that they were going to have to spend a few nights apart. He still had some sense of self-preservation. He had to be able to survive without Jed right there, holding him up. And it was going to be a tough series of games, ending with the toughest one of all in Montreal. He wasn’t sure how he felt about facing his old team. Not as angry as he would have been two months ago, probably. But he sure as hell wanted to win.

Remy realized then that Petey and Jake were both staring at him with some concern.

“Dude, you’re like, on another planet,” Petey said. “Do you want us to deal you in or not?”

“Better not. I’m gonna watch some tape again.”

“Everything okay?” Jake asked. “Not worried about your old team, are you?”

“I’m not, actually.” Remy was almost surprised to find he meant it, and Petey shot him a knowing look.

“Yeah, because getting traded to us was the best thing that ever happened to you. You’re willing to admit it now, right? Being on the ice with me and Jake is awesome for your stats. And don’t think we’ve missed the beard burn.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Remy blushed, because what the hell else was he supposed to do, thinking about Jed leaving evidence of what they did together all over his body?

“You are so gone,” Petey said, with some awe in his voice. “This is real, huh?”

“Maybe? Like, it feels pretty real. But, you know, I could be leaving.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it doesn’t have to be the end of things,” Jake noted. “Have you talked about it?”

“No, and I don’t want to.”

“Okay, okay.” Petey nudged Jake so that he’d start dealing the cards. “Go watch your tape so you can be ready to set me up to score more goals.”

“Or so you can be ready to score ’em yourself,” Jake said mildly.

“Eh,” Petey said. “I like my plan better.”

Remy rolled his eyes affectionately, and Jake did, too, and Remy let their good-natured bickering fade into the background as he pulled out his tablet so he could do his best to give himself the option of having this next year.