Chapter Forty-Five

Natalie watched Darcy slowly walk into her room, and gave silent thanks that, for once, she hadn’t left her belongings all over the floor. The wardrobe people had tailored Darcy’s suit perfectly and dear lord her ass was killing Natalie.

Darcy turned and Natalie didn’t waste a second. She took two steps forward and kissed Darcy, letting her fingers slide into her gorgeous hair. Darcy’s hands found Natalie’s waist before shoving higher to push Natalie’s suit jacket off her shoulders.

Darcy pulled back. “Finally, I’ve been trying to get a look at you in this shirt all night.” She ran her hands up Natalie’s arms, which produced a wave of goose bumps. “Cold?”

“Fuck no,” Natalie said, leaning in for another kiss. Darcy’s mouth was hot and soft and it destroyed any remaining trace of restraint she had. She took a step forward, pushing Darcy against the wall.

Darcy gasped when her back hit the wall, and she nipped at Natalie’s lower lip. Natalie’s fingers found the buttons on Darcy’s shirt and paused, waiting for Darcy to give her the go-ahead.

“What the fuck are you waiting for?” Darcy said, letting her own hands come to rest on Natalie’s ass.

Natalie’s hands fumbled the first button when Darcy pressed her hips into Natalie’s. But instead of hurrying, she slowed down. She leaned back, without breaking any of the delicious pressure between their hips.

She looked Darcy in the eyes and slowly, so impossibly slowly, unbuttoned Darcy’s shirt all the way to her pants. She untucked it in one smooth motion and then let her hands roam all over Darcy’s skin, her hands coming to a rest under her bra to swipe her thumbs across Darcy’s already hardened nipples.

Darcy’s head fell back against the wall and she let fly with a string of expletives that made Natalie laugh. “And here I thought working in TV had turned you all boring.”

“Shut up,” Darcy said, gasping for air when Natalie pulled down the cup of her bra and licked her nipple. Darcy’s hips leaped forward into Natalie’s before she pushed herself off the wall and reached behind her back to unhook her bra. She struggled for a second before flinging it off along with her jacket and shirt.

“Holy fuck,” Natalie said, not even pretending not to stare. She had a thing for athletes. Part of that was the muscles and coordination and some of it was the swagger that came from being so good at something physically demanding. She loved the way women’s muscles looked and felt and Darcy was no exception.

Darcy had transformed from a hockey player’s body to something more akin to a runner. She was smaller than she’d been in college, but no less hot. Natalie ran her hands down the front of Darcy’s body, her fingers tracing the lines of her ab muscles, her eyes watching them ripple under her touch.

Darcy grabbed the hem of Natalie’s shirt and tugged it up over her head. Darcy took her time drinking in every bit of Natalie’s newly exposed skin. There was a time when Natalie would have felt shy about it, but not anymore. It had been a long time since Darcy had seen her without her clothes on, but Natalie had grown more confident since then. She might have been crap at keeping a girlfriend but no one ever complained about her body. Perks of being a professional athlete.

Retired athlete.

Darcy traced a finger over the Olympic rings tattooed on Natalie’s ribs. “I wondered about these.” She let her finger trail lower.

She reached for Natalie’s waistband and pulled her along as she walked backward into the room. With each step she gave a deliciously firm tug, coaxing Natalie along with her as she moved deeper into the room. She kept her eyes locked on Natalie’s as she backed Natalie up to the edge of the bed. “This okay?”

Natalie nodded before capturing Darcy’s mouth with hers. Darcy’s fingers worked at the button on Nat’s pants only to have Darcy let out a frustrated sigh when she couldn’t get them undone.

Natalie smiled against Darcy’s lips and unbuttoned her own damn pants before kicking them off across the room. Finding them was tomorrow’s problem. She let Darcy shove her back until her legs buckled and she found herself seated on the bed, her face level with Darcy’s stomach. She snaked her hands behind Darcy’s back while she pressed hot kisses against Darcy’s exposed skin. She felt Darcy’s muscles ripple when her tongue tickled her.

Darcy grabbed the sides of her head when Natalie started to trail kisses lower. “Me first,” Darcy said, her voice low and rough.

With one hand on Natalie’s shoulder, she pushed her back onto the bed. Natalie scooted her entire body up toward the headboard and watched Darcy climb onto the bed and hover over her. Darcy cocked her head to one side. “Any requests?” She bit her lower lip and waited for Natalie’s response.

“Stop talking and fuck me already,” Natalie replied, hoping she sounded less nervous than she felt. She reached behind her to rip off her bra, but Darcy grabbed her wrist.

“Let me, please.” She breathed the last word, like she was afraid Natalie might say no. All those years of being a pain in the ass had colored the way she saw her and Natalie wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

Natalie held up her hands in surrender and let Darcy take her time unhooking her bra and then sweeping her mouth across each of her nipples in turn. Natalie’s hips lifted off the bed, trying to make contact as Darcy’s tongue flicked back and forth across Natalie’s nipple. Fucking hell, she was going to explode.

“Darce,” she said between gasps.

Darcy lifted her head from Natalie’s chest and fixed her with a wicked smile. “Something wrong?” She swept her tongue across the other nipple and smirked as Natalie’s entire body shook.

Natalie hooked one leg around Darcy and rocked forward. Darcy laughed and let her fingers trail down to Natalie’s bare thighs. She followed with the rest of her body, finally leaving a line of kisses up Natalie’s thigh toward her completely soaked underwear.

“Mind if I get rid of these?” Darcy said. Confidence edging on cockiness somehow managed to turn Natalie on even more.

Natalie shoved the underwear off and threw them to the floor.

Darcy raised one eyebrow and trailed another round of kisses excruciatingly slowly across Natalie’s thigh. One half second before Natalie was about to scream from impatience, Darcy lowered her tongue and licked the crease where Natalie’s thigh met her hip. Darcy’s tongue ran all the way up to Natalie’s hip bone, where she sucked so hard Natalie was sure she’d have a mark in the morning. The thought of Darcy leaving a mark, a secret proof of this moment, had her gasping.

“Darcy, please.”

Darcy’s mouth rumbled with a low chuckle. She cocked her head to the side to look up at Natalie. “You sure?”

Natalie nodded. “Jesus Christ, Darcy. I’m dying here.”

Darcy ran her tongue along Natalie’s thigh, higher, deliciously higher, until she finally stopped torturing Natalie and let her tongue slide the length of her until she found her throbbing clitoris. Slowly at first. Excruciatingly slowly.

Patience was never Natalie’s strong suit and Darcy was using it against her. Natalie would have been livid if Darcy’s mouth didn’t feel so good. Darcy reached up, her thumb finding the stiff peak of Natalie’s nipple. It nearly sent Natalie spiraling over the edge.

Natalie lifted her head off the pillow and caught a glimpse of Darcy staring at her from between her thighs. Her eyes blazed, the green nearly invisible, her pupils were blown so wide with want.

It was too much. Natalie was going to actually die from too much incredible sensation at once. Her hips rocked against Darcy’s face. She wanted more, more of Darcy, more of her mouth and her fingers, and every tiny bit of skin she could find. She wanted all of Darcy.

Natalie kept her eyes locked with Darcy’s.

“Darcy, please,” Natalie panted. “I want you inside me.”

Darcy quirked an eyebrow, and grinned. When she slid two fingers into Natalie, Natalie came with a series of expletives that would have had her coaching staff either laughing their asses off or sending her to skate until her legs gave out.

“Holy fuck, Darcy,” Natalie gasped when she could manage to pull in enough air to speak.

Darcy left a trail of gentle kisses on Natalie’s stomach, chest, and finally across Natalie’s collarbones as she pulled herself up on the bed. She draped an arm lazily across Natalie’s stomach, tracing light circles on her side.