Chapter 44

Forty-Four

EMORY

I'm hot, yet I feel no covers on top of me.

I squint at the dim glow filtering through the window. I shut my eyes again, feeling entirely too comfortable. My fingers stretch before I place them back down on something silky smooth. My neck cracks as I lean toward the right, and when I inhale, I'm wide awake.

God damn, she smells good.

My hand is on her thigh, and that thigh is resting on top of my leg.

Ever so slowly, I peer down at her head on my shoulder. Her soft breaths caress my bare skin, and I've never felt so content in my entire life.

There is something about her touch that calms my world, and the urge to pull her in closer is getting worse as each day passes by.

I wish I could snap a picture so she could see how content she looks wrapped around me in our bed.

My bed.

Not my, our .

Tension pulls on all my strings, and I low-key panic at the annoying thoughts that keep hitting me at all the wrong times. What the fuck is going on?

Scottie shifts in her sleep, hiking her leg up higher on top of mine. I practically swallow my tongue when the inside of her thigh brushes against my dick.

I promised her I wouldn't touch her, but this is obviously her doing. I'm in the exact spot I was in when I fell asleep hours ago, after I admittedly watched her like a fucking creep with the hockey game well over and the glow of the TV swiping across her features.

My head wouldn't stop spinning.

I kept chasing all the negative things I thought about her weeks ago, wishing I could make them ring true, but they just don't.

She may be mouthy and defiant with a streak of independence flowing through her thatoften comes off as patronizing, but I can't deny that she's a good person down to her soul. She's sweet when she becomes vulnerable. She's kind to the homeless community, donates clothes and food, checks in on her drug addict mother who she should hate, rescues asshole cats, watches Rhodes's daughter without any hesitation, and Jack told me about how Scottie rocked his daughter to sleep during one of the games because his wife needed a break.

Scottie is much too kind to be stuck in an arranged marriage with me, and it's irritating that I still don't know why she needs the money.

I won't pressure her to tell me, though.

I pressed too much last night. I regretted it the second I saw her pretty eyes fill with unshed tears.

Scottie adjusts in her sleep again, and my hand tightens. My dick is sensitive to the touch, so in an attempt to keep my word for the first time since meeting her, I try to slide my palm away. But then…she makes a noise.

My jaw slacks.

She doesn't want to cross any more lines.

I have to respect that.

I'll admit, I've purposefully egged her on and touched her in all the right spots because I like to mess with her, and I crave to see her body react, but something feels different now.

I made a promise to her, and although I wouldn't say I'm a saint, I'm not going to break it.

Not now.

She moves again, and I can't breathe.

Right when I try to take my hand off her leg for the second time, her soft palm lands on top and traps me.

"Scottie," I say her name in a low voice.

I may have all the right intentions, but my body does not.

My dick is harder than ever, and her skin is warm to the touch. She makes a breathy noise as she pushes my hand up her leg, and it's the hardest test I've ever had to take.

"Scottie." Wake up.

"Hmm?" she half moans in her sleep.

I wonder if she's wet.

I bet her body is reacting to my hand without her head even knowing it.

What I wouldn't give to find out.

She scoots closer, and I shut my eyes.

"Stop testing me," I snap, unable to keep it together any longer.

Her chest begins to rise quicker, and I grind my teeth. I'm ready to throw her off me, but then a soft gasp leaves her. Our eyes snag, and with her soft lips parted and doe-like eyes, I am a goner.

"If you don't want to be touched, I need you to get out of our bed."

Fuck, I said it again.

"You mean your bed?" Her voice is raspy, and adorable. Fuck me.

I narrow my eyes. "No. I meant exactly what I said."

Don't go.

Scottie's sleepy gaze bounces back and forth between mine, and I swear I see the smallest smile threatening to appear on her lips. I trick myself into believing that she likes the sound of it being our bed, instead of just mine.

Suddenly, I'm thinking of plans to get my parents to stay for another night so she doesn't move back downstairs or into the guest room when her shaky sigh fills the tight space between us.

"Do I need to give you a countdown?" I ask.

I'm not sure if she thinks I'm kidding, but if she doesn't get the hell out of this bed, I'm going to stick my tongue down her throat and make sure she doesn't sleep anywhere other than beside me from now on.

The innocent, sleepy-faced Scottie changes right before my eyes. Her leg moves, and her attention immediately falls to my lap. I hear the way her mouth opens with surprise, and I expect her to get out of the bed as soon as she feels how hard I am, but as always, she keeps me on my toes and surprises me.

"3." I grip her thigh and turn my head farther toward her.

Her chest rises and falls, and each breath she takes pulls me in closer.

"2." Testing the waters, I drag my palm up her bare thigh. I can't stop touching her.

Goosebumps fly to her flesh, and I curse under my breath.

When our eyes catch again, I lay it out straight. "If you don't want me to cross lines, stop drawing them, because you're tempting me, and I'm a man who saves all his restraint for the ice."

"You have a game tonight," she says, like I forgot.

Which I did.

Because when she's in my line of sight, all I fucking think about is her.

"All the more reason for me to reserve my self-control." I stare at her mouth, and mine waters. "So either get out of our bed or get over here and act like my wife."

"Your bed," she corrects again, moving her leg against me.

I breathe out a raspy breath and glare at the ceiling. " Our. " When I turn back toward her, I zero in on her sparkling white teeth digging into her plump bottom lip, and all restraints break. "1."

Scottie's eyes grow bigger, but if she wants to escape now, she's going to have to beg for it.

I flip on top of her with agile speed. The leg that was playing games with me falls to the side, and I'm suddenly pressing into her with my pelvis. She gasps and thrusts her braless chest into my face. Warmth spreads to every muscle in my body.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," I whisper while taking her hands and pinning them above her head. Blonde locks of hair lay around her, and I swear she looks like an angel. "I gave you plenty of time to remove yourself from this bed." Her nostrils flare, but she nods curtly. With her wrists trapped, I drag my other hand down her curves, memorizing every last one even more than I already have.

I pull the cotton of her oversized tee up and expose the silky pair of panties she's wearing.

I bring my mouth to her ear and inhale her scent. "I warned you too. Right?"

"Right." The word is breathy.

I press into her a little harder with my hips, and her head flies backward on the pillow.

"I don't know if you're testing me on purpose, but I wasn't kidding when I said I was saving my self-control for the game."

My groin tingles.

The only self-control I'll be practicing tonight during the game is not picturing her in nothing but my fucking jersey.

"I was testing myself," she admits.

I pull back to peer down at her.

I want to fuck her so bad it hurts.

"Testing yourself?"

Her teeth sink into her lip again, and I wish she would stop fucking doing that. I reach up out of instinct and free it. Her eyelashes flutter. "I failed."

I skim my hand up the side of her belly until I land at the very bottom of her breast. She's addicting . The way her breathing picks up pace when I touch her slowly and how her eyes fill with want, even if she tries her hardest to hide it.

"You're a woman." I rub my finger over her nipple, and when it hardens, I burn. "And you have needs. Why not let me take care of you?"

Take care of her?

When have I ever fucking said that to a woman?

But that's exactly what I want to do. I want to make her come over and over again until that pretty, perfect shade of pink paints her cheeks, and my name is nothing more than a wistful breath on her lips.

We could lose the game this evening, and I'd still feel like a winner knowing that I get to come home to this . To her.

My thoughts are spiraling.

My touches are lingering.

My mouth begs to be on hers.

"Because we're not real," she finally says. "This isn't real."

I press myself into her again, and she gasps. The only thing that is keeping me from making her mine is the thin silk of her panties and my sweats. I catch her chin with my hand when she tips her head back with pleasure. I zero in on her mouth and make it my job to show her that what's happening in this current moment is as real as it gets.

"This is every bit of real, baby."

I press my mouth to hers, and suddenly, everything feels right.

She's as eager as I am. Her legs fall open when our lips touch, and she gives me the silent go ahead to explore every inch of her mouth. Our tongues intertwine, and our kiss grows deeper. The softest, sexiest whimper moves within our kissing, and I can't keep my hands to myself.

I keep kissing her, only stopping to take a quick breath, and pull her panties down her legs. Her hands fall to my biceps, and I flex beneath her grip because just the touch of her against me sends me into a fucking frenzy.

"This…" I groan, sticking a finger inside her, "is real."

She curves her body, and I lift her shirt. Her breasts are perfect. I blow on one nipple, and when it puckers, I give it a quick flick of my tongue.

"Emory."

"Yes, wife?" I'm breathless.

She tightens against my finger. Fuck me.

"You were telling the truth. You do like it when I call you wife ."

Her body moves against my hand, and I'm in awe, watching her completely let loose in front of me. It's mesmerizing. Making her mine feels an awful lot like I've won the Stanley Cup.

"You're beautiful like this." I say it without even registering how intimate it sounds. Scottie's cheeks flush an even darker shade of pink, and I bend down to kiss her again and again until she can't hold on any longer.

My hand falls to her mouth when she cries out, because although the only thing I can think about is how I want to live in this moment forever, I remember my parents are down the hall.

"Fucking beautiful," I mutter, watching her eyelashes flutter.

The blue of her eyes is electrified, and I swear when she drops her attention to my mouth, they grow wild.

"You wanted me to act like your wife, right?" she whispers, still moving against my hand to ride out her high.

There's a slight edge to her voice that is sexy as fuck. A quick flick of my chin is all I give her. I'm frozen when she reaches down in between us and slowly pulls my hand out from between her legs. My finger is covered by her, and I'm obsessed with it.

Crazed, even.

"Well, go ahead, then," she whispers, lying there for the taking. "Treat me like your wife."