36. Sawyer

Chapter 36

Sawyer

“Here we are, sir,” the driver tells us a few minutes later, as he pulls up outside the private club that we’ve rented out for Grant’s party.

“Thank you,” I tell him. “We’ll be a few hours.”

“Understood.”

I get out and walk around the car to open Violet’s door for her. When I offer her my hand to help her out, she takes it, and I lace our fingers together briefly, giving her hand a squeeze. I wish I could keep it locked with mine as we walk inside, but I let go as I close the door and rap my knuckles on the car. The driver pulls away to find a place to park and wait for us, and I gesture with my chin toward the entrance to the club.

“Shall we?”

Violet gives me a look that feels like a plea and a warning all at once, and I respond with a smile that’s innocent and also slightly devious.

I follow her into the club, trying not to notice the way her dark blue dress clings to her curves as she walks, and when we get inside, it’s clear that pretty much the entire extended Aces family is already here—from Coach Dunaway all the way down to spouses, partners, and siblings.

“Hey! There you two are!” Reese calls over the music as soon as he spots us.

He strides over to greet us with Callie right beside him.

“Fashionably late as always,” he jokes, punching my arm, and I snort a laugh. It’s true that I have a reputation for often being the last one to arrive, since getting out of the house on time with Jake sometimes proves to be a challenge.

“Hey, thanks for giving Violet a lift,” Reese adds, and I nod, careful not to let my gaze stray to her for too long.

“Not a problem. It was easy to do.”

Noah makes his way through the crowd to say hi as well, and I spot Margo near the center of the room, chatting easily with Ted Gallagher, the Aces marketing director, and her sister Heather.

I don’t see Grant anywhere though, so I shoot Noah a questioning look. “Where’s the man of the hour?”

“Oh, he’s here somewhere.” He cranes his neck, trying to see through the throng of people. “Probably hiding in a corner, hoping everyone forgets it’s his birthday.”

“No chance of that,” I note dryly, gesturing to the massive banner hanging at one end of the room that says in big, bold letters, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANT!

“You like that?” Theo sidles up to us with Becca on his arm, looking smug as hell. “That was my idea.”

I laugh, and when Reese offers to go grab his sister a drink, I go with him. It feels… strange, somehow, not being the one to bring her a glass. Not being the one taking care of her.

It bothers me.

“I’m glad you gave Vi the night off,” Reese comments as we wait for our drinks at the bar. “The whole team loves her, and even Grant likes her more than he likes most people. We don’t…” He grimaces, shrugging. “Well, we don’t really have much in the way of family besides each other, so I like to think of the team as her family too.”

My throat tightens, both at the reminder that Violet and Reese’s parents basically abandoned them when they went through their divorce, and because of the twisting guilt in my gut. I hate lying to Reese. He’s one of my best friends.

“Of course,” I say, a little stiffly. “We all care about her.”

The bartender interrupts our conversation, sliding our drinks over to us, and we go back to join the others. Margo has joined them too, and she and Callie are in the middle of a detailed discussion about wedding dresses that goes way over my head. The stiffness in my shoulders from my conversation with Reese slowly ebbs away as we all talk and banter, and I run my finger over the button that controls the vibrator, my gaze darting to Violet every now and then.

We’re deliberately not standing close to each other, speaking to other people—yet still, I’m acutely aware of her. Every small gesture she makes. The way her blonde hair shifts over her shoulder as she turns her head. The way her teeth shine as she laughs, her red lips parting.

Unable to hold back any longer, I press the button, turning on the vibrator.

Violet jolts slightly, a bit of her drink sloshing over the edge of her glass. Her free hand reaches out as if searching for something to steady herself with, and her mouth opens slightly?—

“Oh my god!” Callie blurts.

I tense up and quickly flick off the vibrator, worried for a second that she somehow figured out what’s going on with Violet. But then Callie points across the room, drawing our attention to something on the other side of the large space.

It’s Grant. Our 6’7” goalie is standing with his arms crossed over his massive chest as he talks to Margo’s sister, and he’s…

“Holy shit.” Noah lets out a low whistle. “So the motherfucker can laugh.”

I glance over at Noah, who has a bemused, slightly stunned look on his face. He’s not the only one. There’s something in Grant’s expression as he talks to Heather that I’ve never seen before, his usually gruff and stoic countenance softening a bit.

But whatever curiosity I have about what caused the shift in Grant’s demeanor falls to the side as my gaze lands on Violet, who still looks a bit dazed from the burst of pleasure that shot through her a moment ago.

Her eyes lift to meet mine at the exact moment I look at her, and I can’t resist—I press the button on the vibrator control again.

This time, she’s ready for it, and she hides her reaction better than last time. The only small indication that the vibrator is working is the way her pupils blow out, her eyes darkening as she holds my gaze. She drags in a slow breath as if trying to tamp down her body’s reaction, and I smile, my finger sliding upward on the small device in my pocket until I find the button that increases the intensity.

I press it once, and her nostrils flare, her lips parting just slightly. She deliberately looks away from me, as if she’s afraid she’ll give too much away if she doesn’t, and my cock twitches as I watch her delicate throat shift as she swallows.

Callie, Becca, and Margo choose that moment to draw her into a conversation, and I smirk as I watch Violet suppress a full-body shiver, a faint look of panic crossing her face.

Don’t worry, heartbreaker. I’ve got you .

As much fun as I’m having with this, there’s no way I’d let anything happen that would embarrass her. My protective instincts toward her wouldn’t let me.

I press the button to turn off the vibrator, giving her a bit of respite. Her cheeks are already more flushed than they were when we arrived, and although I get sucked into a debate between Theo and Maxim about our odds of making the playoffs this season, I catch Violet subtly pressing a hand to her cheeks when I shoot a glance her way.

“Okay, people!” Noah calls out a few minutes later, drawing the attention of everyone in the club. “Gather round! Grant forbade us from getting him any presents, but he did not forbid us from getting him a cake. So will you all please join me in singing Happy Birthday to our favorite grumpy goalie?”

As Noah speaks, several of the club’s staff members wheel out a table from the back with a massive cake resting on top of it. There are hoots and cheers from the gathered crowd as Noah makes a big production of lighting all thirty-four of the candles that have been stuck into the decadent looking frosting.

“Grant, get up here!” Theo calls, and our goalie emerges reluctantly from the crowd. His expression is once again set in its usual stony facade, almost making me think I imagined the way he was smiling and laughing moments ago as he talked to Margo’s sister.

Maybe we all collectively hallucinated the same thing , I think with a wry chuckle, recalling my teammates’ stunned reactions to the sight.

As Noah, Reese, and Theo try to convince Grant to give a speech— good luck with that, boys —I move subtly through the crowd until I’m standing just behind and to the left of Violet. I’m so attuned to her by now, having spent hours memorizing her body and its responses, that I can tell the exact moment she realizes I’m close. Her ribs expand with a soft inhale, and she lifts her chin a little.

“Everyone’s about to start singing, heartbreaker,” I murmur, my voice so low it’s barely audible. “But I want you to sing loudest of all. Be a good girl and come for me.”

She sucks in another breath, her shoulders tensing—and when the guys finally give up on getting Grant to make a speech and start leading the crowd in a loud rendition of “Happy Birthday to You,” I press the button to switch the vibrator back on.

My mouth moves as I sing along with everyone else, but I’m barely aware of the words. All of my focus is on Violet. I can’t tell if she’s even bothering to pretend to sing right now, but I can tell she’s right on the brink of coming. Her breathing picks up, and just as the volume of the crowd peaks at the end of the song, she lets out a small, muffled whimper, her hands curling into fists.

My cock pulses, and it takes everything I have not to reach out and wrap an arm around her, to pull her closer to me so that I can feel her perfect body molded against mine as the aftershocks quake through her.

“The cake hasn’t caught on fire yet,” Noah jokes from the front of the room. “So we’ve got time for one more.”

He shares a devious look with Theo, and the two of them launch into “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” which the rest of the crowd quickly picks up.

I know they’re just doing it to fuck with Grant, forcing our resident recluse to be the center of attention for a little while longer, but it also gives me the chance to keep toying with Violet. Keeping my hand in my pocket, I tap the button to turn the vibrator up as high as it goes. Thankfully, everyone around us is completely distracted, because Violet stiffens as if she’s been electrocuted.

She presses a hand over her mouth, disguising the noise that slips out by coughing afterward. The song ends with a rousing cheer, and when Becca glances over at her, Violet waves her friend off, coughing again.

I bite back a grin as I turn the vibrator off, leaning a little closer to her as everyone watches Grant blow out his candles.

“I only told you to come for me once, but you came twice, didn’t you, you greedy girl?” I whisper.

She nods wordlessly, still trying to catch her breath.

“Good,” I breathe, joining in the applause as Grant steps back from the cake and Noah starts cutting pieces of it. “Because we’re not done. I plan on getting at least five from you before the end of the night.”

Violet’s eyes widen as she starts to glance over at me, but before she can say anything, we’re joined by Coach Dunaway, who’s brought his wife and his daughter Hannah to celebrate as well. Hannah is the spitting image of her mother, pretty and willowy, although her mismatched eyes are something she must not have inherited from either parent. Instead of her dad’s brown eyes or her mother’s gray ones, she has one light green iris and one that’s blue.

Dunaway and I end up talking strategy for our upcoming game against the Glaciers, and Hannah and Mrs. Dunaway chat with Violet for a while.

I give Violet a break for the moment, allowing her to regain her equilibrium, but as everyone makes their way over to the cake table to grab a slice, I turn the vibrator on at a low buzz—not quite enough to push her right over the edge, but enough to tease her already sensitive clit.

And just like I promised I would, I make her come several more times over the course of the evening.

The third one is a slow burn that I let creep up on her, slowly jacking up the speed of the vibrator until she can’t hold it off anymore. The fourth is hotter and faster, hitting her like a ton of bricks as she sits at one of the tables arranged around the room. And by the fifth, she’s so far gone that she has to rest both hands on the table, dropping her head a little to hide the flush on her cheeks.

“Are you okay?” Callie asks after the fifth one, her brow wrinkling with concern as she glances over at Violet. “You look a little flushed.”

A possessive feeling of pride expands in my chest, because I know I’m the reason for that. But I keep my expression neutral, glancing casually over at Violet rather than devouring her with my gaze the way I want to.

She slowly lifts her palms from the tablecloth, brushing her hair back and tucking it behind her ears. “Yeah, I’m—I’m fine. But I do feel a bit hot. I should probably head home soon.”

“I can drive you,” I offer, careful not to blurt the words too quickly. “I’d like to get back and relieve the sitter soon anyway.”

A look of pure relief passes over Violet’s face, and she nods. “That would be great, thank you.”

“Of course. Come on.”

I stand up from the table we’ve been sitting at and offer her my hand. Being able to touch her in public, even in such an innocuous way as this, sends a sort of thrill through me. I’ve managed to keep my cock from tenting my pants all night by sheer effort of will, but my balls ache from how turned on I’ve been all evening, and the feel of Violet’s skin against mine makes heat race through my veins.

We say our goodbyes quickly, and I shove down the feeling of irrational jealousy that tries to rise up as I watch Violet wish Grant a happy birthday and give him a quick hug. I know she’s not interested in him in the least, and as far as I know, he’s not interested in anybody —but still, it activates some primal, possessive part of my brain that never even seemed to exist until I met Violet.

We head out of the venue together a few moments later, and as soon as we’re outside, Violet drags in a lungful of the cool night air as if she was drowning before. I can see goosebumps on her skin, and her nipples are stiff peaks beneath her dress. I want so badly to kiss her, to taste everything I’ve done to her tonight—but I restrain myself from doing more than resting a hand on her lower back as I guide her toward the street.

The driver pulls up, and I open the door for Violet and help her into the car. Her knees are shaky, and she’s a little unsteady on her feet, but she still looks up at me with fire in her eyes as I close her door and step around the car to join her in the back seat.

After the driver confirms where he’ll be taking us, I give him a nod and close the partition between the front and back seats. The moment we’re fully alone, with no chance of any wayward eyes on us, Violet turns to me.

“You’re evil, you know that?” she whispers, although I can tell by the tone of her voice that she enjoyed every bit of tonight just as much as I did.

I chuckle. “Are you sure that’s the word you meant to use, heartbreaker?”

“Among others,” she shoots back, and I can’t resist any longer.

Without a word, I pull her onto my lap, and she yelps in surprise as she ends up straddling me, her dress riding up her thighs. My hand finds its way through the slit of her dress and moves up her leg, and a groan pours from my lips when I slip my fingers into her panties to find just how wet and swollen she is.

“Fuck, baby,” I rasp. “You’re soaked.”

“No thanks to you,” she says, trying to pout—but it turns into a gasp as I adjust the vibrator’s position and graze my thumb over her clit.

I laugh softly, kneading and massaging her ass with my free hand as my cock presses painfully against my pants, aching to be closer to her.

“On the contrary, heartbreaker. I’d say that’s all thanks to me.”

She whimpers, biting her lip as she rolls her hips against me, seeking out more of my touch. “Fuck, Sawyer… I thought that last orgasm was gonna kill me. That it was too much. That there was no way I could keep quiet. So how are you making me want more? ”

My nostrils flare, a bolt of heat shooting through me. “You want more?”

She nods, and I slowly pull the vibrator out, letting it drop onto the seat beside us—then push two of my fingers into her.

“Like this?” I murmur, my voice rough. “Is this what you want?”

“Fuck!” She whisper-cries, her inner walls tightening around me. “Yes. Oh god…”

“You want to come on my fingers?” I press them deeper, grinding the heel of my hand against her clit, giving her something to ride. “Or do you want my cock? You have to tell me, baby. Because I’ll give you whatever you want.”

“Your cock,” she answers immediately, her eyes like twin pools in the darkened interior of the car. “I want your cock, Sawyer. I want you .”

Fuck. You have me, baby. You have me wrapped all the way around your finger .

There isn’t a single thing this woman could ask me for that I wouldn’t move heaven and earth to give her. And what she’s asking for right now? Hell, it’s exactly what I want too.

I palm the back of her head, kissing her so deeply that I think we both forget to breathe for several moments. When we finally separate, gasping for breath, I slide my fingers out of her tight pussy and grip her hips, pulling her flush against me so that she can feel how desperately hard I am for her.

“I want to fuck you so damn badly,” I growl. “But I’m not doing it in this car. I wasn’t just torturing you all night, I was torturing myself too. Do you know how fucking hard it was to watch you come and not drag you into the back so I could get on my knees and taste that sweetness between your legs? To hear the tiny little noises you made and wish that you were screaming my name at the top of your lungs so everyone would know who made you come like that? Fuck, I’ve been dying, heartbreaker. So when I fuck you, I’m gonna do it right. I’m gonna take my time and worship you properly, just like I’ve wanted to do for the last few hours.”

She makes a soft noise in her throat, dropping her head to kiss me again. And even though this might be the most acute torture of all, holding back with her hot, wet pussy grinding against my clothed cock, I lose myself in it until the car finally rolls to a stop.

“Thank god,” I mutter, throwing the car door open.

I lift Violet off my lap and help her up, then pocket the little vibrator and slide out of the car too. I pat the roof with my hand, and the driver pulls away from the curb and drives off into the night.

“Gotta get you inside,” I grunt, half tempted to throw her over my shoulder to get her where I want her faster.

But instead, I take her hand and stride quickly up the walkway to the front door. I fumble in the dark for my keys, cursing under my breath, and Violet giggles as she watches over my shoulder. Finally, the lock clicks, and I open the door.

It’s late, so Jake is nowhere to be seen as we enter the living room. As expected, Kelsey is sitting on the couch with the lights dimmed and the TV on low. I’m about to thank her for her services and hustle her to the door when I realize with a jolt of surprise that she’s not alone.

My ex-wife is sitting on the sofa beside her.