Chapter 18

We walk into Pringle's about thirty minutes after everyone else, the party having already started. The bar is packed as usual after a winning home game, but I lead Ada to the private section in the back that is always reserved for the team. It's hard to go anywhere in public when so many people know who we are as hockey players. I'm grateful Pringle's has always been good to us. I suppose it's a symbiotic relationship of sorts since having us here brings in customers for them as well. Either way, we love it here and have for years.

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" The guys and their girls chant as Carissa and Dex each chug their glass of beer. Watching her glass empty in seconds, Carissa will be the clear winner again as she is every single time.

"Dammit!" Dex shouts slamming his glass down on the table. "Every fucking time!"

"What's going on?" Ada asks in my ear.

"Oh, Dex challenged Carissa one time in a beer chugging competition and she whipped his ass big time. He can't let it go so he's always asking for a rematch."

"And he never wins?"

I laugh shaking my head. "He never fucking wins. It's amazing."

"Hey!" Dex points to me from his seat. "Don't talk about me like I'm not right fucking here. You're not doing my self-esteem any favors."

I tip my head back and cackle at his weak scolding. "Right because if there's one thing I think about when your name is mentioned, it's low self-esteem."

Carissa wipes the back of her hand across her mouth and then parts her lips and gives Dex an exaggerated "Ahhhh. Better luck next time, Foster."

Colby shakes his head in amazement from the other side of the table. "My wife, ladies and gentlemen. Isn't she fucking hot?"

Dex shrugs and opens his mouth but Colby quickly covers it much to Tate's amusement. "Don't answer that."

"Took you long enough bro." Dex smirks turning his eyes on me. "Did you uh…" His eyes shift to Ada and then back to me. "Succeed?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I grin.

"Yes. Yes I very much would. Give me something good to be happy about right now. I just suffered another humiliating loss."

"Then perhaps you should quit playing, Dex," Hawken suggests.

"Fuck you, Malone. That is not how we set the example for our kids! If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again."

Hawken laughs. "Dude, for one, I'm pretty sure that saying wasn't meant to apply to chugging beer as fast as you can and two, Rory and I don't have kids yet sooo…" He shrugs and then gives Dex the double bird.

"You're no longer the fun uncle," Dex tells him.

Quinton rises from the table and gestures to Ada and me. "You guys want a drink? This round is on me."

"Nah. I'm not drinking tonight but thank you."

"What the fuck, Miller? You had a damn shut-out tonight and you don't want to celebrate?"

"Yeah I do want to celebrate." I clear my throat and squeeze Ada's hand in mine because even she is giving me a questioning look. "Just not with you asshats."

Her cheeks pinken and she tries not to smile when I lean over and whisper in her ear, "I want a clear head so I can enjoy what happens later."

She doesn't have time to react to what I just said to her before Kinsley is up and out of her seat. "Hey Ada, you want a shot?" She pulls Ada from my grasp. "Let's do a shot and then dance."

"Yes! Dancing! Okay." She yanks her purse from around her neck and hands it to me. "I'll be back."

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Rory squeals. "I'll come too!"

"Wait for us!" Charlee, Tate, and Carissa join them as well.

I watch her walk with Kinsley to the bar where she orders a shot for all the ladies. Once they all have a shot glass in front of them, they lick their hands, tap their shot glasses on the bar, and lift them to their mouths, shooting back what is obviously tequila. Then they each grab a lime and suck it between their lips.

Hell.

Now my dick is at half-mast and I have to adjust myself. I never thought I would be jealous of a lime. The ladies head to the small corner of the bar where several people are dancing and work their way into the moving crowd. Ada raises her arms over her head and swivels her hips to the pulsating beat of the music. Just for a moment our eyes meet and now she knows I'm watching her. Not that I'm being shy about it.

She runs her hands over her body.

Her waist.

Her hips.

Her breasts.

All while keeping eye contact with me. She licks her lips and drops it low and I know she's baiting me into joining her. How can I not watch her when she is putting on a show like this? She's dancing with her friends, yeah, but the way she's moving her body? Yeah, that's one hundred percent for me. And I don't mind the visual foreplay one bit.

Though it's not doing a thing to help the flag status in my pants right now.

There's nothing better than a woman confident in her own skin. Her laugh and her smiles and the way she moves her body is having a strong effect on my dick, but I can't look away from her.

"Dude, you've got it bad," Milo says from the table, watching me.

Colby chuckles while taking a slow sip of his beer. "He so does."

"What?" Their talking distracts me enough to turn my head away from Ada for just a moment.

"Ada." Milo gestures with his head. "You're totally into her."

A contented smile forms on my lips. "What if I am?"

"Not a bad thing at all, my man. You deserve to be happy. It's fun to see you pining after someone."

I scrunch my face. "I don't think I'm pining."

"Dude, you're a fucking sucker for her," Dex adds. "Everyone sees it. You're pining with a capital P."

"Do you even know what pining means, Dexter?"

"Yeah. It means you want to stick your dick in her so badly you can't see straight."

I guess he has a point.

But it's more than wanting to stick my dick in her. I want to be the one who makes her feel good. I want to bethe one she begs for. I want her to be desperate for me, for my touch, begging for the pleasure only I can give her. I want her crying out my name, over and over, as she comes undone right in front of me. I want to be the one who makes her happy in every waypossible.

"I fucked up with Lori," I confess to them as I turn my head back to watch Ada. "I won't make the same mistake twice."

"And what mistake is that, pray tell?"

"I didn't…I don't know, love on her enough."

Quinton scowls. "No fucking way. I don't buy it."

I shrug. "I can't possibly have given her enough attention when I was home. She never said it but in the grand scheme there has to be a reason she left, right? And I'm not saying that because I want her back. Fuck that. If she didn't love me, then far be it for me to keep her trapped in a relationship she didn't want to be in, but still. That has to be the reason. I didn't give her enough."

Which is why I'm going to give Ada fucking everything.

Quinton sits back in his chair. "I'll politely agree to disagree. You gave one hundred and twenty percent when it came to Elsie and Lori and keeping up with the rigors of the job."

I shake my head. "Nah. When I think back on how things were at home I think that was my downfall. I spent my free time with Elsie. I didn't try to make Lori feel loved and cared for and appreciated."

"Do you feel those similarities with Ada?" Milo asks me.

"No. Ada is completely different from Lori. She has this…" I watch her swing her hips with her friends still laughing and smiling without a care in the world. "This confidence about her. She's comfortable in who she is. She has a story, you know? She's kindhearted and whimsical, funny, and compassionate. She knows where she's been and she knows who she is and she's creating her own new path." I breathe in and release a deep sigh. "And I find myself wanting to be part of it."

My phone buzzes in my pocket alerting me to an incoming text message so I pull it from my jeans to see who it's from.

"Fucking hell, this might just be the best day of my life."

"Good news?" Colby asks, watching my smile widen.

"Yeah. Grady found Lori. Said divorce papers were served and I'm free. Thank fucking Christ."

Dex pats me on the back excitedly. "Thank God. Now can we please fuck the nanny?"

I laugh. "You cannot fuck the nanny, Dexter. But I…I can finally fuck the nanny."

"Damn right you can. Time to go get your…whoa, what's happening over there?"

Dex gestures to where the girls are dancing. And my smile begins to fade when I see a group of men step into the circle to try to dance with them. My heart rate accelerates and my nostrils flare as I watch one of them put his hands on Ada's hips. I see when her sincere smile morphs into a completely fake one. I notice her body posture stiffens and the laughter in the group subsides as several ladies are approached. They're not scared at all. They know we're close by, but that doesn't mean they want the attention they're getting from men they don't know.

"No fucking way," Colby says, standing from his chair, his eyes glued to Carissa.

"Yep, that's our cue." Milo stands as well and I'm right behind him stalking towards Ada. Not in a predatory way. Unlike Colby, I'm not looking for a fight tonight, but no way in hell am I going to let another man put his hands on my girl while I'm standing mere feet away. If anyone touches her, it'll be me.

"The lady's with me." It's all I have to say to the man before his hands are up in defense and he's backing away having recognized who I am.

That's right, dickwad. I'm Zeke fucking Miller, now back the fuck off.

Ada watches me with an ornery smirk on her face, but she doesn't say anything.

Thank God, she's not pissed with me.

I place my hand on her hips as the music changes to something with more of a slow, sultry beat. She brings her hands to my biceps and stares up at me, her eyes telling me everything I know she can't, or won't, say aloud.

"You alright?"

"Mhmm," she says."Just been waiting on you to come join me."

"I don't like seeing some other guy put his hands on you."

"Good. Because I didn't like some other guy putting his hands on me." She lays her cheek against my chest, inhaling deeply, as if my scent alone calms her. The thought kicks m into action and I pull her tighter against me, sliding my leg between hers, so she'sstraddling my thigh.

"I want to be the only one who touches you."

"I want that too."Her voice is quiet, but somehow I hear her loud and clear, and her words go straight to my crotch. My dick is hard enough to pound nails, and I'm positive she feels whatshe's doing to me. This woman is intoxicating. It's easy to block out everybody else in this bar whenI'm dancing with her. As if everyone simply disappears.

It's just us.

Dancing.

Feeling.

Wanting.

Anticipating.

The song comes to an end but I don't want to take my hands off her. The mere thought of adding space between us is unbearable. I need her hands on me, her body pressed into mine, like I need my next breath.

I stare down into her eyes looking for that sign of needy desperation that I feel when I'm with her and wholeheartedly believe I see it gazing back at me. Our eyes stay locked and I continue to move us slowly even though the tempo of the song is faster now. The rest of the bar fades away, leaving us in our own little bubble of lust.

Our own personal space.

She tilts her chin, her eyes flitting between mine and my lips, and I know she wants me to kiss her. I lean my head down so I'm mere centimeters away from her. Enough that I cansmell a hint of citrus and tequila in her breath.

"Zeke," she murmurs against my lips.

"You want me to kiss you." It's not a question but a fact.

"More than you know." Her eyes fall closed and she nods only the slightest bit. "I'm dying for it." Her earlier words about not denying a dying man his wish tumble through my brain as I slide my fingers through her long locks, gathering her hair in my fist, as I would if I were going to press my lipsagainst hers. Her tongue darts out, wetting her lips, and my god, every cell in mybody wants to suck that plump pink lip into my mouth.

Fuck, I want to ravage her.

But I can't do that, not here.Which means, it's time go. "Pick a number sweetheart." I bring my mouth to her ear and murmur. "Anynumber, between one and five."

She opens her eyes and studies me, her brows pinched.

"Trust me. Pick a number."

Her lips turn down in the cutest pout. "Three," she finally answers.

"Three it is." I nod, more than ready to rise to the challenge. "You ready to get out of here?"

"Not until you tell me what three means." She bites her bottom lip anxiously but I smile and pull it from her teeth with the pad of my thumb and then bring my lips once again to her ear.

"It means when I get you home you're not sleeping tonight until you've had three very satisfying orgasms."

She gasps beside me, but I don't move and neither does she.

"It means I get to strip you naked and feast my eyes on your beautifully sexy body, and when I've had my fill I'm going to lick your pretty pussy until you're dripping wet and screaming my name."

"Zeke," she sighs breathily.

"Then, I'm going to use my fingers… make sure you're really ready to take me."

"Yessss…please."

"And when I think you're ready, I'm going to slide my cock into your tight pussy and fuck you so hard the only words you'll remember will be more, please, and Zeke."

"Take me home, Zeke," she pleads. "I'm ready now. Right now."