Garrett (17 page)

“You bet on my team?” he asks with an astonished grin.

“I bet on you,” I tell him. “You’ve proven to have more tenacity than anyone I know. I figured you’d get the job done.”

Garrett’s hands reach out to grab me by my waist, and he pulls me over onto his lap. When I’m settled with my arms around his neck, he leans in to kiss me. “I really, really liked having you there watching me. I wanted to impress you, so I played harder.”

“You always impress me,” I tell him. “It was really kind of hot, watching you out there.”

“Yeah?” he asks with keen interest. “Like how hot?”

“Like you will be a very happy man if you take me to your house after we finish eating.”

Garrett groans and leans in to kiss my neck. “Let’s leave now,” he whispers urgently.

I push back from him, laughing. “No way. We’re hanging with friends, then we can go. I’ll still be all hot and bothered later.”

He wraps his arms around me tighter and hugs me to him. “You’re such a tease. I’ll make you pay.”

“Get a room, you two,” Alex yells at us, and Garrett and I just swivel our heads his way, shooting him devious grins.

Reluctantly, I crawl off Garrett’s lap and sit back down in my own chair. But gosh, this is so much fun. Hanging casually with Garrett and his friends, sexy banter and tons of flirting, the promise of some mind-blowing sex later on.

I’m happy.

I can actually put aside my worries.

And, yeah…that’s because of Garrett.

I watch Olivia’s ass swaying in front of me as she jogs up the stairs to her apartment. For the past few hours, I’ve sat in the backseat of Alex’s Suburban with her as we all drove back from a quick getaway to Busch Gardens. She sat on the driver’s side behind Alex and I sat on the passenger side behind Sutton. There was a great big divide between us, but what could we do…we were strapped into place with our seat belts. We ended up bridging the divide by holding hands in the center, but it was driving me nuts sitting that close but not really being able to touch. Her long, bare legs encased in a pair of tiny shorts and flip-flops were begging to be stroked. She was wearing a purple tank top that curved low over her chest and showed a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage.

By the time Alex pulled up to her apartment to drop us off, I was sporting a semi and was pretty sure I was going to attack her right inside the doorway.

Which is actually kind of funny in a way. I mean, I love sex. Would have it every day if I could, but that’s not something that’s ever been realistic. As much as I was a serial one-night stander, I didn’t go out with a woman every night. It was more like once a week.

But with Olivia, I want to be inside her several times a day. She and I practically broke the hotel bed this morning when we woke up, and here I am now, just a few hours later, and I’m dying to have another taste of her sweetness.

Olivia pulls her key out and starts to unlock the door. I drop the duffel bag that had our clothes for the weekend on the concrete landing and step in close behind her. Putting my hands on her hips, I press in so she can feel my cock at her backside and growl in her ear, “I’m so fucking horny. It’s been murder sitting next to you in that car and not being able to touch you.”

Turning away from the door, Olivia loops her arms around my neck and grinds her pelvis against mine as she pulls me down for a bone-melting kiss. She lifts her mouth away just enough to say, “Me too. Got a condom handy?”

“In my wallet,” I grit out as one of her hands drops down to my erection, squeezing me not so gently. “Fuck, baby…I’m going to pull you down to the landing in a second if you don’t get the fucking door open and get inside.”

Olivia spins back away from me, her breath coming in short gasps as she fiddles with the lock. She almost drops the key when I bring my hand up between her legs and cup her. “Can’t wait to get my mouth on this.”

She shudders and lets out a tiny moan, but manages to get the key in the lock and turn it.

Then I’m pushing her inside and we are a tangle of arms, lips, and legs. Her hands slide into my hair and my fingers dig into her ass as I pick her up and walk her to the couch. Our teeth bang against each other as we kiss in a frenzy of lust and need.

Rather than lay her down, I spin and lay backward, bringing her body on top of mine. She mashes her lips to mine, thrusting her tongue in my mouth while she grips my hair even tighter. My hands fly up the backs of her thighs and burrow in under the edge of her shorts, trying to get just a little touch of the wetness I know I’ll find there. But she only kisses me for a moment, because she rears up into a sitting position, straddling my waist. My cock pushes against her core and she grinds down against me. Then she’s scooting back and working at my button and zipper with quick but clumsy hands.

“Need you in my mouth,” she pants.

“Fuck,” I hiss, and I bat her hands away because I can be quicker. Because I need to be in her mouth. In a nanosecond, I’ve got my zipper down and Olivia is reaching for my cock.

I vaguely recognize the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway, and then I hear, “Olivia…my baby girl. I missed you so much.”

Olivia shrieks as if she had just been electrified and scrambles off me so fast, she almost falls backward over the coffee table. I come flying up off the couch, hastily zipping up my pants, but there’s nothing I can do about the massive erection pushing against them.

Both of us turn to stare at a woman wearing a bright patterned dress made of flowing silk standing in Olivia’s living room. She has long golden blond hair flowing loosely with two tiny braids at each temple that are pulled behind her head, and she stares at Olivia with dark green eyes that look very familiar to me.

“Mom?” Olivia says in disbelief, frozen in her spot for just a second. Then she’s flying into her mother’s arms. “What are you doing here?”

I watch as Olivia hugs her mom, and her mom hugs her back hard with her eyes squeezed shut, but not tight enough to prevent the tears leaking out. I see love and fear in her gaze when she opens her eyes again and looks directly at me with a small smile.

Finally, the women break apart, and her mom steps past Olivia and holds her hand out to me. I can see Olivia just over her shoulder, watching her mom tenderly. “And you must be Garrett. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Maryana.”

Her voice has sort of a dreamy quality to it and I shake her hand with a smile. Looking over to Olivia, I raise an eyebrow and grin at her. “You told your mom about me, huh?”

Olivia shrugs nonchalantly. “I might have mentioned you,” she hedges with a coy look.

“We’re on the same page, then,” I say as I release Maryana’s hand. “I told my mom about you too.”

“You did?” she asks with a wide, incredulous smile.

“I did. The night we got down to the beach.”

Olivia beams at me, then I’m forgotten as she walks back up to her mom and wraps her arms around her. Laying her chin on her mom’s shoulder, she says, “Again…what are you doing here? You weren’t thinking of coming to visit until next week.”

“I sent you a text, sweetie…yesterday. That I couldn’t stand it anymore and had to see you. I sent my flight info and everything.”

“I didn’t get a text,” Olivia says as she pulls away from her mom with a frown.

“I’m sure I sent it,” Maryana says as she walks over to the small kitchen table that sits half in the kitchen and half in the living room. She reaches into a purse that’s lying there and pulls out her phone. We watch as she scrolls for a minute, then she gets a sheepish look on her face.

Turning to us, she holds the phone up but we’re standing too far away to see what it says. “Oops. It appears I sent the text to Oliver. My bad.”

“Who is Oliver?” Olivia asks.

“Just someone I was seeing. Ended abruptly. Poor manners on his part, though, not to text me back and tell me I’d sent him the information by mistake.” Turning the phone back around, she looks at it with brows furrowed. “I’m betting that had something to do with the fact I broke up with him by leaving a box of his stuff that he had left over at my house on his doorstep one morning.”

I shoot Olivia a quick glance and we grin at each other.

Maryana throws her phone back in her purse and turns to us. Clapping her hands, she says, “Okay…I’m feeling the need to cook something for my girl. Your mom is here to baby you for a bit. I have the best new herbal tea I found that has natural immune-system boosters.”

Olivia rolls her eyes. “You don’t have to cook, Mommy. And no thanks on the tea. I’ve tasted some of the vile concoctions you’ve made before.”

“Nonsense. I’m cooking…your favorite meal too.”

“Veggie lasagna,” I say automatically, realizing that I know what her favorite food is.

“Exactly,” Maryana says with a smile, and then walks back up to Olivia. Her hand comes out and she touches her daughter’s face, a world of care and concern reflected. “How are you really doing, sweetheart?”

Olivia practically melts back into her mother’s arms and says, “I’m fine, Mom. Better now that you’re here.”

The scene is touching, and I realize that this is probably my cue to make myself scarce. Olivia hasn’t seen her mom since Christmas, and I’m sure they have a ton of catching up to do. I know that they talk on the phone a few times a week, but they need some alone time to talk about Olivia’s condition.

“I think I’m going to head on home,” I tell them as I walk toward the door. “Give you two some time together.”

Maryana pulls out of Olivia’s arms and levels a stern look at me. “Nonsense, Garrett. You’re going to stay and eat dinner with us, and of course, you’ll stay the night too, if you want. I’m sure you two want to pick back up on what I so rudely interrupted.”

I suck in a surprised gasp of air and nearly choke on my own saliva. Olivia just rolls her eyes and says, “Jeez, Mom.”

“What?” Maryana says as she looks between us in confusion. “You’re a grown woman, he’s a grown man, and were you or were you not in the middle of doing very grown-up things to each other?”

“Yes, but—” Olivia starts to say, but her mom rolls right over her.

“I was young and in lust with your father once, so I know how great the sex can be at this stage in your relationship.”

Olivia winces and I snort in amusement.

“Okay, Mom…enough of the sex talk.” Olivia groans and then turns to me. “But yes…I’d really like you to stay. Unless you have to get home?”

I shake my head with a smile. “I’d love to stay for dinner, although I think I should head home tonight. I’ve got an early-morning team workout and then a drills practice.”

“Excellent,” Maryana says as she grabs her purse. “I’m just going to run to the grocery store and get the stuff we need.”

“No, you’re not,” I butt in. “I’ll go to the store and get everything you need. You stay here with Olivia and get caught up.”

With eyes shimmering in gratitude and tenderness, Olivia smiles at me, and I feel fucking on top of the world.

Groaning, I push my plate away from me and slide my chair back just a bit so I can stretch my legs out, giving a little relief on my stomach. I ate two plates of Maryana’s lasagna and I’m thinking it now may be
my
favorite meal.

I spent the majority of time just watching Olivia and her mother interact. They’re extremely close, but then again, I already knew that, based on what Olivia had told me. I see where she gets her free spirit from, although her mom borders a little on the wacky side. They are both women that express their love through touch and tone. Maryana would reach out to stroke Olivia’s hair as they talked, and sometimes Olivia would hold her mom’s hand. Their voices were soft and full of tenderness and respect.

Olivia spent most of the dinner going back over everything regarding her cancer. While she had told her mom most of it, there were still some holes to fill in. It was an emotional conversation, especially when Olivia told her mom about the prognosis.

“So, Garrett,” Maryana says after she takes a sip of her wine. “Tell me more about yourself.”

“Not too much to tell. Midwestern boy, blue-collar parents who are happily married. A younger brother who is in grad school and a younger sister who just graduated college and has no clue what she wants to be.”

“And you a professional hockey player,” Maryana says with respect.

“I’ve been fortunate,” I tell her humbly. “There’s a lot of great talent out there today.”

“Bullshit,” Maryana says. “Olivia’s told me all about your career. Two Stanley Cups, first line on the Cold Fury. You have superior talent, I’m betting.”

“And work ethic and passion,” Olivia pipes up with pride. “I’m not sure anyone loves the game as much as Garrett.”

I lean over to sneak a quick kiss from Olivia, but her mom stops me with another question. “So, Olivia tells me you were quite the player before you two met?”

One eyebrow raises at Olivia, and she snickers. Turning back to Maryana, I rest my elbows on the table and lean forward. “Oh, yeah. What exactly did Olivia tell you?”

“Just that you were the king of the one-night stand. Never been in a relationship before.”

I cut a smirk over at Olivia, then look back at her mother. “Now…that’s not exactly true. I have been in a relationship before. For three years, actually.”

Olivia gasps and lurches forward in her chair to look at me. “What? You never told me that? When?”

Chuckling, I tweak her under the chin. “My last three years of high school. Kelly McCrimmons. We lost our virginity to each other and then, sadly, she crushed my young heart.”

Sympathy floods Olivia’s face, and her mom makes a sound of dismay. “Oh, Garrett,” Maryana croons. “Tell us what happened. Is that what drove you to be the man-whore that Olivia says you were?”

I choke on the water I was sipping when she says that and direct a hard look at Olivia. “You told your mom I was a man-whore?”

“Maybe not in those words,” she says cheekily. “But I did use
king of the one-night stand
for sure.”

“You’re rotten,” I tell her with a grin, and then look back at Maryana. “It’s not that tragic of a story. I mean, what do people know of love and commitment when you’re that young? She cheated on me, I was crushed, and then I moved on.”

“And then you’ve never been in another relationship since,” Olivia points out to me. “What’s that been…eight years? You have some issues, baby.”

I snort and reach out to pull Olivia from her chair. She willingly comes onto my lap, and a quick glance at her mom shows her very much enjoying watching her daughter and me interact together. She’s a woman who wants her daughter to be happy, and since I can tell I have Maryana’s stamp of approval, I know without a doubt that Olivia is happy.

Wrapping up Olivia tight in my arms, I rest my chin on her shoulder and say, “I don’t have issues. I haven’t thought of Kelly or our time together in years and years.”

“Then why are you relationship-averse?” Olivia asks.

“Clearly, I’m not,” I point out.

“But you were,” she counters.

“Actually…I don’t think I ever was. My parents have an amazingly long marriage, and I respect that. I honestly think I’ve just been young and carefree. Sowing my oats, so to speak. It’s what dudes do.”

“That is true,” Maryana says sagely from across the table. “Men do that. Women do too, but not as often as men.”

“Besides,” I say as I give a quick kiss to Olivia’s neck and then stand from the chair, dislodging her from my lap, “I was just waiting for the right girl to come along. Now, I’m going to clean the kitchen while you two go in the living room and relax.”