A couple hours later, Brody stepped into the elevator at the Ritz and waited for the bellhop to turn the key that gave him access to the penthouse floor. When the guy left, Brody sagged against the wall of the car, feeling as if he’d just run the Boston Marathon and followed that up by climbing Everest. The interview with the league investigators had been pure torture. He’d sat there in his suit, with this fucking oxygen-depriving tie, and he’d had to sell out a man he’d once considered a friend and another he’d respected as a boss.
Thank God this day from hell was over. He didn’t know what the investigation would turn up, how it would all end, but a load had been lifted off his chest.
One load, at least. He still hadn’t quite accepted the fact that Becker had betrayed him. He knew it would take more than one afternoon to come to terms with it. But he’d walked out of that conference room today with his conscience clear, and now he couldn’t wait to lose himself in Hayden’s arms and forget about everything except the love he felt for her.
“Babe?” he called as the elevator doors opened and he entered the living room.
Her voice drifted out from the hall. “In here.”
He found her in the bedroom, sitting cross-legged in the center of the bed, still clad in the flowy green skirt and yellow top she’d been wearing earlier. Well, damn. He’d been hoping to find her naked.
But that could be easily amended.
She slid off the mattress, her skirt swirling around her firm thighs as she moved toward him. “How was the interview?”
“Terrible. But I think I convinced them I wasn’t guilty of any wrongdoing.”
Relief flooded her features. “Good.” Then, looking somber, she added, “I found out something about Sam Becker that you’re not going to like.”
He swallowed. “I know already. But who told you?”
“I overheard my dad talking to him on the phone earlier.” She bit her bottom lip. “So it’s true? He really did do it?”
“Yeah. Nicklaus took a bribe, too. Our goddamn goalie, Hayden.” His anger returned like a punch to the gut. “I can’t believe they would do that. Especially Sam.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again, reaching up to touch his chin. “But I think forgiveness will come in time. If I can forgive my dad, maybe you’ll be able to forgive your friend.”
He faltered. “And if I can’t?”
“I’ll help you.” She smiled wryly. “I’m good at forgiveness. I mean, didn’t I forgive you for dumping me?”
He snorted softly. “I panicked, okay? And I only suggested we put things on hold—” He stopped when he glimpsed the amusement in her eyes. “You’re not mad,” he realized.
“Of course not.” She ran her index finger along the curve of his jaw. “I can’t stay mad at the man I’m in love with.”
He held his breath, not daring to give in to the sheer emotion threatening to spill over. “You mean that?”
“Yes.” She cupped his chin with both her hands. “I love you, Brody. I know I kept fighting you whenever you said we were perfect for each other, but… I’m not fighting anymore.” She exhaled slowly. “I’ve fallen for you, hockey star. The earth moves when we’re together and I love it.”
The joy in his heart warmed his chest and made his pulse skate through his veins like it was on a breakaway.
“I’m willing to be part of the hockey lifestyle for as long as it takes,” she added, certainty shining in her eyes. “I’ll even go to your games.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “But I’ll probably bring some lecture notes to work on. Because I still don’t particularly like hockey, but I’ll make an effort to—”
He silenced her with a kiss, but pulled away just as she parted her lips to let him in.
“I won’t play hockey forever,” he said gruffly. “And there’s always the possibility of me signing with a west coast team next season. That way you can keep teaching at Berkeley, and we could…I don’t know…get started on building a life together. A home.”
As he voiced the words, he knew without a doubt that was what he wanted. A home with Hayden. A life with the one woman who looked past his uniform and saw the man beneath it.
“I love you,” he said roughly. “More than hockey, more than being successful. I want to wake up every morning and see one of your smiles, go to bed every night pressed up against you. Hear that noise you make whenever you come. Maybe have kids with you one day.” He put his hands on her slender hips and pulled her toward him. “Will you let me do that?”
Twining her arms around his neck, she leaned up to kiss him, a long, lingering kiss that promised love and laughter and hot, endless sex. Pulling back, just an inch, she whispered, “Yes,” and then raised her lips to his again.
Deepening the kiss, he untucked her shirt from the waistband of her skirt and slid his hands underneath, filling his palms with the feel of her silky skin. His tongue sought hers while his hands found her breasts.
Hayden moaned. “No, not here.”
She darted over to the nightstand and pulled out a condom. Then, without another word, she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the bedroom to the middle of the hallway.
“Here,” she said, a playful light dancing in her eyes.
He looked at the spot she’d chosen, chuckling when he realized this was where they’d fucked for the first time. On the hallway floor, while Hayden writhed beneath him and squeezed his ass and pushed him into her as deep as he could go.
“Here is perfect,” he said roughly.
He drew her into his arms, claiming her with his mouth, and they were both breathless by the time the kiss ended. He began peeling her clothes from her body. First her shirt, then the bra, the skirt, the panties, until she was standing naked in front of him, a vision of perfection. He marveled at her curves and perfect skin, those beautiful tits, the shapely legs… Fuck, he couldn’t believe she was his.
“I love you,” he said, his throat thick with emotion. “I love everything about you.”
She gave a soft sigh of pleasure as he cupped her breasts, stroking the swell of each one.
He hastily removed his own clothes, kicked them aside, then dropped to his knees and peppered kisses on her flat abdomen before moving to nip at her inner thigh. He loved the sweet moan she responded with, loved the way she tangled her fingers in his hair and guided him to the spot between her legs that he knew ached for his touch.
He kissed her pussy. Flicked his tongue over her sweetness, circled it around her clit. He would never be able to get enough of her, even if he spent the rest of his life trying. With a strangled groan, he planted one last kiss on her and then pulled her down to the carpet.
With a look of pure contentment in her eyes, Hayden lay back, spread her legs and offered him a wicked smile.
“Don’t keep me waiting,” she said with just a hint of challenge in her voice.
“Don’t worry, Professor. I don’t intend to.”
He covered her body with his. His dick, hot and hard, pressed up against her belly, and he shifted so that his tip brushed her wet pussy.
But he didn’t plunge inside yet. First, he kissed her again, a long, lazy kiss. Then he lifted his head slightly and said, “No ground rules this time.”
Her eyelids fluttered open. “What?”
“When we first started seeing each other, there were ground rules.” He nipped at the hot flesh of her neck. “No rules this time. You’re getting not only my body, but my heart and my soul. Every night for the rest of your life. Or at least for as long as you want ’em. Got it?”
She raised her brows. “Again with the demands, huh?”
“Yup. You got a problem with that?”
With a laugh, she gripped his hair with her fingers and tugged his head down. Slipping her tongue into his mouth, she kissed him until he could barely see straight, then reached between them, grasped his cock and guided it to her opening. She lifted her hips at the same time he plunged inside, and they both groaned happily.
“I don’t have—” she moaned as she took him in deeper “—a single problem with that.” With a breathy sigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his collarbone. “I love you.”
He slowly withdrew, then drove back in, filling her to the hilt. “It drives me wild when you say that,” he choked out.
“What, I love you?”
His cock jerked in response. “Yes, that.”
She raised her hips off the ground and hooked her legs around his lower back, holding him prisoner with her wet heat. “Good, because I plan on saying it often.”
Staying true to her word, she brushed her lips over his ear and said it again. And again. And again. With a groan, he buried his head in the crook of her neck, inhaled her sweet scent and sent them both to heaven.
And when they were sated and happy and lying there on the carpet, Brody could swear that the earth had moved.
