Off Season (Off #6) (2 page)

My insides melt,
heat swells between my legs, and how could I ever deny him that
request? Besides, I want something else to remember him by as well.

Seeing as how this
one-night stand is almost over, and we won’t ever see each
other again…

Just as we knew it
had to be.

Zane

Flopping down into
my leather recliner, I reach to the side, pull the lever, and kick
back, the footrest popping up. Leaning over the armrest, I grab the
two basic necessities a man needs in times such as this.

The remote control
and my beer.

Taking a quick
swallow, I set the bottle back down and click on the television.
Flipping idly through the channels, I search for something
interesting to watch. Something to occupy my time. Because that’s
really all I have during the off-season.

Our training camp
for the upcoming hockey season won’t start for another month,
so I have a few more weeks left to be lazy. Some of my teammates hate
the off-season, completely bored with the summer months.

Not me though. I
relish it.

Don’t get me
wrong. I love my career, and playing professional hockey is the most
important thing in my world.

Next to chasing
women, that is.

But we have a
grueling schedule nine months out of the year… upwards of ten
if we make the playoffs… so I enjoy every minute of my time
off in the summer.

My mind wanders to
Cady Dunne, and I know I sure as hell enjoyed last night with her.
When Linc and Ever first introduced her, and I took her small hand in
mine to shake, I felt a current of something potent pass between us.
Sure… she was gorgeous, but in a very unconventional sort of
way. Her hair was cut into a sleek bob of the purest black that came
to rest just above her shoulders. The ends were tipped in an
almost-platinum white—maybe even silver—color, and she
sported a tiny diamond through her right nostril. She wore a pair of
skinny, black jeans and a black, mesh-type shirt over a white tank
top and finished the look off with a pair of black Converse.

She was beautiful,
but funky. Part beatnik, part punk rocker. The look worked for her,
and her clear, blue eyes popped under the swirling strobe lights of
the nightclub. As we talked, I was surprised to learn she was
studying for her master’s degree, so in addition to being
uniquely gorgeous, she was smart as well.

A killer combination
in my book, and I decided that I was going to do whatever I could to
get in her pants that night.

Turns out…
didn’t take much, because Cady was as attracted to me as I was
to her. We flirted, we drank, and we danced. We joked, we talked, and
we flirted some more. She had no hesitation in staying out with me
after Linc and Ever left, and I immediately pulled her out on the
dance floor, holding her body intimately close.

Just as I was
contemplating how to best seduce her into bed, she stood on her
tiptoes to place her lips near my ear. I bent slightly and had no
problems hearing her when she murmured in that gorgeous, Irish
accent, “So, how do you Yanks feel about one-night stands?”

I jerked in surprise
and pulled back so I could look in her eyes. They were seriously
intent, warmed with desire. My lips pulled upward in a smile, and I
told her, “I can’t speak for all Yanks, but I’m
firmly in support of the idea.”

And that’s how
it started.

It ended with some
seriously hot making out in a dark corner of the nightclub, followed
by groping in the cab that we took back to Linc and Ever’s
house. It wasn’t until the cab came to a stop that I was sure
it was going to happen. But Cady tugged on my hand, and I followed
her out of the cab, releasing her just long enough to pay the driver.

When he pulled away,
I turned to look at Cady… standing in the shadows near the
mailbox at the end of the driveway. I couldn’t see her eyes, as
the porch light on Linc’s house didn’t extend down that
far.

Stepping up to her,
I slipped my hand around the back of her head and fisted her hair.
Leaning in, I asked, “So… we going to do this?”

“Do what?”
she asked innocently, and even though I couldn’t see her eyes,
I knew they were lit up with mischief by the tone of her voice.

Gripping her hair
more tightly, I pulled her in close and growled. “Are we going
to go inside and fuck like animals all night?”

Cady let out a soft
gasp over my filthy words, even as she pressed her pelvis in toward
me. My cock jumped in appreciation.

“Yes,”
she whispered as her hands came up to press against my chest. I could
feel the erratic thump of my heartbeat just underneath her palm.
“We’re going to do this.”

Her words came out
in a breathy promise filled with desire and laced with lust, and my
blood boiled in response. I leaned down and kissed her, groaning in
approval when her tongue met mine.

She was sweet and
soft, pliable under my hands. I wanted her desperately… more
than I can remember ever wanting a woman in recent history. I had
just enough alcohol in me to make me bold, but not enough to make me
stupid.

Pulling back, I
looked down at her seriously. “No regrets, right?”

She blinked at me,
and I could see the moonlight reflected in her blue orbs. “Regrets?”

“About doing
this… having a one-night stand,” I confirmed.

She blinked again.
“Why would I have regrets?”

I shrugged my
shoulders. “We’ve both been drinking. You’re
leaving for Ireland tomorrow. And Cady… you just don’t
seem like the type of girl that does this.”

She didn’t
seem the type of girl to jump into bed with a near stranger because,
despite her punk, emo look, I found her to be just a damn nice woman
with a good head on her shoulders.

Her hand slid down
from my chest, across my stomach, and over the fly of my jeans. Her
fingers curled around my erection and she squeezed, causing a moan to
slip out of my mouth. “I
don’t
do stuff like
this,” she said quietly. “But I very much want to now.
So, there won’t be any regrets.”

My brain was fuzzy,
not from the beers I drank but from those slender fingers gripping my
cock. A gentlemanly part of me thought,
Maybe I should stop this
,
but the horny guy inside of me said,
Bring it on
.

Reaching down, I
swatted Cady’s hand away and laid another deep kiss on her. I
let the night cloak us in darkness, while my hands wandered down to
the waistband of her jeans. “We’re agreed then,” I
murmur against her lips. “No regrets?”

“No regrets,”
she breathed out in a rush.

“Good,”
I told her as I popped the button open on her jeans. “I most
certainly am not going to regret this then.”

Cady sucked in her
breath as I quickly dragged her zipper down and snaked my hand down
the front of her pants. My fingers knew what they were doing…
having made this journey before on countless women, and in a
sensually suave move, I had my fingers in her underwear and stroking
through her slick folds.

Cady jerked in my
arms and brought her hands up to grip at my biceps. “Zane…
what are you doing? We’re standing out in the front yard.”

Leaning down, I
nipped at her neck and growled. “No one can see us. It’s
dark out here, and I can’t wait to get inside. I need to get
just a little taste of you right now.”

Slipping a finger
inside of her, I brought my mouth back down on her roughly, gobbling
up the deep groan she forced into my mouth. Her hips undulated, and I
pushed another finger inside. She was so fucking wet and slick, and
as I kissed the hell out of her in Linc’s front yard, she rode
my fingers to a blistering orgasm that came on so fast, I was amazed
over her response.

“Fuck, that
was hot,” I whispered as I pulled my hand out of her pants. She
sort of sagged against me and nodded in agreement, taking in a shaky
breath.

“I can’t
believe I came that fast,” she said with a giggle, and I
grinned back at her.

“Well, that
was enough to take the edge off,” I told her salaciously, “but
I have a whole arsenal of tricks I want to do to you. Let’s get
inside.”

She grabbed my hand.
We ran across the front yard, up the porch, and then we were quietly
slipping inside Linc and Ever’s house. We tiptoed back to
Cady’s bedroom and shut the door behind us.

Then it was on.

We went at each
other all night… like animals… just as I envisioned it.

It was the hottest
night of my life, and I can only thank God that Linc and Ever’s
bedroom was on the opposite side of the sprawling ranch home, because
we weren’t all that quiet.

Linc didn’t
say a word to me the next morning. He and Ever were in the kitchen
when Cady and I walked out. Both of their eyebrows raised in unison
when they saw me, and while Ever had a smirk on her face, Linc gave
me a glare.

Before I could even
defend that look, Cady hissed at Linc, “Not a damn word.”

Blinking at her in
surprise, he merely nodded and went back to drinking his coffee. Cady
walked me outside, where we sat on the front porch step while we
waited for the cab I called to come pick me up.

I held her hand
lightly in mine, and she laid her head on my shoulder.

“Thanks for
last night,” she said quietly. “I had a great time.”

Smiling, I squeezed
her hand. “Yeah, I did too. A really great time.”

And I did. Probably
the best fucking sex of my life, and I know exactly why. It’s
like I was absolutely in tune with Cady, and she was completely in
sync with me. Every want or desire that was coursing through me, she
fulfilled without me even having to ask for it. It’s like she
knew what I wanted, how I wanted it, and when to give it to me. I
felt like her body belonged solely to me, and I was hell-bent on
making her come as many times as I could before the sun peeked up.

But it was with
regret that the cab pulled up, and I realized I would never see her
again. I wasn’t really in the market for a committed
relationship, but damn it all to hell if Cady didn’t make me
have an actual regret that we swore we wouldn’t have.

I regretted that she
was leaving to fly back to Ireland.

Throwing the remote
control on the table, I reach over and pick up my phone. After I turn
it on, I send a quick text to Linc.
Give me Cady’s email
address.

I don’t wait
long before I get his reply.
What the fuck for?

Because I want to
email her, douche.

He didn’t
respond for a full ten minutes, and I was just getting ready to call
him when my phone chimed. I read the text, grinning.

[email protected]

Cady

Rubbing my eyes, I
walk sluggishly into the tiny kitchen of my flat. Jet lag sucks big
time. Even though I flopped onto my bed as soon as I walked in the
door, and then proceeded to sleep for another seven hours, I was
still feeling the pull of the different time zones on my body.

I make quick work of
heating water in the kettle and pour myself a cup of tea. While it
steeps, I sit down at the small, scarred table in my kitchen—a
hand-me-down from my parents—and fire up my laptop. Classes
start tomorrow, and I’m kicking myself in the ass for not
coming back a day earlier so I could get some more rest. As it stands
now, I know I’m only going to be half awake at my first day
back at uni.

Pulling up my email,
I quickly find my class schedule that had been sent from the
registrar’s office over a month ago, making note of where I’d
need to be tomorrow. Luckily, I had purchased all of my books before
I left on vacation, so I was ready to go. And tremendously excited
too. I was almost halfway through my master’s program, and then
I was hoping to land my dream job in educational management.

When I first started
at Trinity, I wanted to be a teacher. And who knows… maybe I
still do to some extent, but I also have a keen interest in being a
deeper part of the system. To work behind the scenes… to be
responsible for the success of the institution. I decided to pursue
my master’s, which would let me pursue either avenue, and while
I very much enjoy my studies, I am so ready to start working in the
real world.

After printing my
schedule, I delete that message and skim through my other email.
Reaching for my cup of tea, it only gets halfway to my lips when I
freeze at the email staring at me from my inbox.

The sender’s
name says
IceCoyote46
and the subject line says:
Regrets
Are Subjective Anyway
.

My heart starts a
mad pitter-pattering within my chest cavity, and my skin tingles. I
don’t have to open the email to know it’s from Zane.

I stare at it a
moment, taking stock of my feelings. When I accepted a sweet kiss
from Zane just before he got in the cab yesterday, a feeling of
bitter disappointment had risen within me. Not that I had a one-night
stand, but that we were parting ways and I wouldn’t see him
again. While I knew it was silly to pine after someone I hardly knew,
the truth of the matter was, he had been filling my thoughts a lot.

As in… I
thought about him the entire flight back to Dublin. One of the
reasons I’m so tired is because I could barely sleep. Instead,
I replayed everything about our night together, relishing in the
memories and the feelings they reproduced.

Not just physical
feelings, which caused me to squirm in my seat as I thought about
Zane. But emotional feelings, because we did a lot more than just
have sex. While we waited for our metaphorical batteries to recharge
in between bouts of lusty sex, we talked about everything. His hockey
career, my studies… my crazy family, his relatively mild and
sedate family. We did this as we lay in bed together, his arms
wrapped around me and my head lying on his chest. He made me giggle
because his humor is dry and condescending in just the right way. We
debated with spirit over the best James Bond, and agreed to disagree
that Sean Connery would not be my top pick just as Pierce Brosnan
would not be his. He pushed and prodded at me about my dreams after
school, causing me to think twice about whether I really wanted to be
in educational management, or down in the trenches with the children.
It wasn’t something I had thought about lately because I had
been so focused on my studies, but he made me remember that it was my
love of children that led me on a career path toward teaching in the
first place.