June
We boarded the party bus to the roar of two-dozen rowdy teammates, all of them chanting Vince’s name as he hoisted the Calder Trophy high over his head in victory. I laughed as he propped his foot on the first bus seat and did a ridiculous twerk and body roll with the trophy, but it only made his teammates get even crazier.
The NHL Awards had been hosted in Austin, Texas, and the entire team had flown out with Vince on the nominee list for the Rookie of the Year. When he’d won, we’d blown the roof off the place, and Jaxson revealed that he’d already booked us an afterparty.
A bus with a stripper pole that would take us around to all the bars and clubs in the city until we shut it down.
Vince’s family had flown in for the ceremony, as well, but while his parents had retreated to their hotel, his sister held fast to my arm as we boarded the bus behind Vince.
“It’s so loud!” she screamed over the noise.
I laughed, squeezing her arm. We paused by the driver at the front of the bus as Vince held his trophy up proudly.
“I’ve dreamed about this moment since I was in high school,” he said, and by some miracle, the guys on the bus calmed enough so they could hear him. “Back then, I saw it as a solo award, as one I would earn all on my own. But now that I’m holding this,” he said, looking at the trophy and then back at his team. “I know I couldn’t have earned it without all of you. I’m honored to be a part of this team, of this organization, and I can’t wait for us to hang another banner on our rafters when we win the Stanley Cup together.”
There was a mixture of cheers and teammates making fun of him for being a mushy princess — both of which made me and Grace chuckle.
“Alright, enough of that shit,” he said, hoisting the trophy up again. “LET’S FUCKING PARTY!”
Carter had flown in for the celebrations even though he wasn’t technically on the team anymore, and he was the first to throw a cold can of beer to Vince. He caught it with one hand, cracked the top, and poured it straight into the cup of the trophy.
Grace and I stared in half amusement, half horror as he crushed the empty can and tossed it to the floor before guzzling the beer out of the trophy to the wild approval from all his teammates.
“I hope you’re ready for a long night out,” I told Grace.
Her eyes were wide, mouth parted, and it reminded me a little of how I’d been the first time I’d traveled with the team. It really was such a spectacle.
“Come here.”
I was still half holding onto Grace when my wrist was wrapped up, and a strong set of hands tugged me into a warm lap. Vince planted a wet, beer-scented kiss on me to the tune of whistles and catcalls, the trophy in the seat closest to the window.
“Um, your sister,” I said, blushing as I pressed against his chest until there was some distance.
“Oh, shit, here, Gracie,” he said, moving the trophy and scooting over so she could sit next to us. But she scoffed, flicking her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
“Please. I’ll pass on the third wheel.” She turned to the bus full of Ospreys next. “Who’s got an open seat next to them?”
It was silent for two seconds.
And then the bus erupted into chatter, every guy yelling for her attention while they shoved teammates out of seats to make room.
I threw my head back in a laugh, but Vince’s jaw was tight as he stood up and pointed a death finger at every single one of them.
“Don’t you fuckers even think about it.” He snapped at Jaxson in the very back. “Jax, let her sit next to you. You’re the only one I can trust.”
“Hey!” Carter said in mock offense.
Vince ignored him, turning to his sister next. “If any of them lay a hand on you—”
“Oh, my God. Relax,” she told him, and then she skipped to the back of the bus.
Vince was pulled into a conversation with Daddy P and one of their defensemen as the driver started us toward our first destination. I held onto the stripper pole in the middle and leaned against the seat, half-listening to them and half-watching where Grace had just slid into the seat next to Jaxson in the back.
I swore I could see him gulp even from here, his eyes like that of a deer caught in headlights as someone handed Grace a beer and she chugged half of it, wiping the suds from her lips when she was done. She pinned him with that beautiful smile of hers next, and I didn’t miss how his eyes raked over her. Grace was stunning — it was impossible not to notice.
If she wasn’t Vince’s baby sister, I’d say Jaxson might actually have a chance.
Then again, she did confide in me earlier at the hotel bar that she was seeing someone, so maybe it didn’t matter.
Still, I found it hard not to watch them as the night’s entertainment, especially when we went out to the first bar and Grace grabbed Jaxson by the hand, dragging him onto the dance floor. The look she gave me over her shoulder as she passed told me what my job was, and I pulled Vince to the opposite side of the crowded place, making sure to distract him.
It wasn’t much of a favor, if I was being honest.
Distracting Vince Tanev was my favorite thing to do.
• • •
“I don’t know how y’all do this during the season,” I groaned as Vince held the passenger side door open for me to crawl inside his Maserati. I never grew tired of the way that engine purred to life beneath me when he took his place in the driver’s seat.
“Stamina, baby,” he said with a wink, leaning over the console to kiss me. His hand slid over my thigh, and he kept it there after he broke the kiss, driving with one hand as he usually did when I was beside him.
It had been a fun weekend in Austin, but I was glad to be home, the lights of Tampa welcoming us as I smiled and watched the palm trees pass out the window. I was so exhausted from the long hours partying all weekend that I was in a daze, and I didn’t notice we were heading toward the beach until we were halfway across the Courtney Campbell bridge.
“Vince, you’re going the wrong way,” I said on a frown.
“Am I?”
His mischievous smile was all he left me with as he continued driving, and we crossed into Clearwater until we were right on the beach, pulling up to a massive, beautiful home guarded by a large metal gate. It swung open with the tap of a card Vince swiped out the window, and he drove the Maserati up the stone driveway to park in front of the beautiful home.
“What is this?” I asked, my fatigue fading under the excitement. “Did you rent us this place for the night or something?”
“Or something,” he said, cryptic as ever, and then he rounded the car and helped me out of it.
It was dark, but even still I gasped when we walked through the grand foyer, the layout of the house steering us right toward the expansive windows that provided an uninterrupted view of the Gulf of Mexico. The sand was white as snow, reflecting the moonlight above.
There was no furniture in the home, and it seemed brand new, the marble floors glossy and smooth. My heels clicked on them as I crossed the space and went straight out the back doors, inhaling the scent of the ocean, breathing in the salt air as the waves lapped at the shoreline.
“Do you like it?” Vince asked, wrapping me up from behind.
“It’s unbelievable,” I breathed, turning in his arms. “And very empty.”
“Well, that’s because I thought we should pick out furniture together.”
My heart galloped before sliding to a halt.
Vince took my silence as shock, which it was, and he held my hair out of my eyes as the wind battled against him. “I bought this house,” he said. “For us.”
“You… what?”
“Move in with me,” he whispered, just loud enough that I could hear him over the waves. “Let’s make a home together. Let’s make a life together. Right here, on the beach where you love to be, in a house where we make the rules.” He smoothed his thumb over my jaw, smiling. “No more driving back and forth. No more half of my stuff at your place and half of yours at mine. I want to wake up next to you every morning, Maven. I want to listen to you snore when you fall asleep.”
I swatted at his chest, but my eyes still glossed with tears, my cheeks burning from how big my smile was.
“Whatever plants you want, whatever garden you want to create — it’s yours.”
“Is there a space for your pottery wheel?”
He chuckled. “Yes. It’s ours, Maven. We can make it whatever we want.”
“Oh, does that mean we can have a kinky sex room?”
His eyebrows shot up. “If that’s what you want.”
“I mean, I have been daydreaming about that toy you used on me a few weeks ago…”
He groaned, capturing my lips as he pressed his hips against mine. I felt him growing hard already, likely at the same memory.
“Tell me that’s a yes,” he said. “So I can take you inside and christen every room of our house.”
“Our house,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck. I jumped, knowing he’d catch me, my legs winding around him next. “It does have a nice ring to it.”
“Woman,” he growled, nipping at my bottom lip.
“Yes,” I breathed, and I barely got the word out before he was hauling me inside, pressing me against the sliding glass door as soon as we shut it behind us.
I clawed at his shirt until he dropped me long enough to rid himself of it, allowing me to do the same with my dress. I peeled it overhead, making quick work of my heels, panties, and bra while Vince watched with an amused smirk at me hopping around, the layers flying like confetti in every direction.
I skipped toward the kitchen island when I was bare, hopping up and sitting my naked ass right down on the cool, brand-new granite. I slid back until my feet were propped on the counter, too, leaning on my palms and letting my legs fall open with a wicked grin.
Vince groaned, quickly finishing his disrobing before he was palming himself and stalking toward me like a predator. His fist rolled over his cock in slow pumps until he was standing at the edge of the island.
His hands wrapped around my ankles, tugging me to the edge until my ass hung off it. He spread my legs wide, kissing down the insides of my thighs until his tongue was right where I wanted it.
I arched off the granite with a moan, legs already shaking as he licked and sucked and teased. He knew me more intimately than anyone ever had, knew all the right places to touch, the right pressure to lick, the right words to say to make me come undone.
Sometimes, Vince took his time with me. I’d had mornings where he’d prayed at the altar of my body until well after noon. Some nights were nothing but hours and hours of foreplay, of kissing and touching and learning new ways to make me come.
But other times, like tonight, Vince was an impatient, starved man.
He flipped me, smacking my ass once my feet hit the floor. I was bent over the island now, breasts pressed against it, and he grabbed my wrists and held them at my lower back in a vise grip. I was already panting when he slid inside me, filling me as we both hissed out a curse. I couldn’t move, pinned by his hands and his hips, and I reveled in the surrender of control as he slid out of me and then all the way back in.
“Look at you,” he said, slowing his pace. “Dripping wet, hugging my cock like such a good girl.”
I squeezed around him with the praise, smiling over my shoulder as I did.
“This perfect pussy was made for me,” he groaned, flexing in deep with a slap of his hips against my ass. “You were made for me.”
“Yes,” I breathed, moaning as he pulled on my wrists until I had no choice but to bow off the island.
Then, something cool and hard was slipped over a very specific finger of mine.
My heart stopped, along with our lovemaking, and Vince tentatively released my hands. One palmed my breast as the other wrapped around my throat.
He held me there with the perfect pressure, somehow twisting me so he could claim my mouth while he found a toe-curling pace behind me. Each time he thrust inside, I chased the burning stars dancing at the edges of my vision.
I would never get tired of this — this man, this home, these fucking hands.
“Vince,” I said, more of a question than anything as he flexed inside me.
“It’s a ring, Maven,” he said, answering what I hadn’t yet asked. His lips were right by my ear, his breath warm against my skin. “A big, expensive, shiny fucking ring.”
“You didn’t properly ask me.”
“You want me on my knee for you?” he teased, licking the skin at the back of my neck. Then, he twisted me, my back hitting the edge of the island as he knelt before me, holding my hand in his.
My hand that now sported a very large, marquise-shaped diamond ring.
“Marry me,” he rasped, his throat bobbing with the words — as if he was actually nervous, as if I could ever say anything but yes.
“That’s not a question.”
“And I didn’t stutter, did I?”
I bit my lip against a smile, pulling him back to his feet and finding his mouth with mine. I left my answer there on his lips, kissing him so deeply he groaned before I was being carried to whatever the next room on his list was.
We fucked in every corner of that house until the sun started to rise, and then, he pulled me out onto our private beach, and we went one more round for good measure.
When we were both so exhausted and sore we could barely move, Vince wrapped me up in his arms, our eyes on the water as the sun transformed it from dark blue to a turquoise masterpiece.
With my head against his chest, I held out my hand, the diamond glittering in the light, and I laughed to myself. Flashes of the last nine months hit me like a film reel. It felt like another lifetime, that first night I met him at the gala, but I smiled at how I could still remember the way he set butterflies free in my stomach and made me mad with rage at the same time.
I could still remember how light my chest was that first morning I showed up at his place, how I felt when I saw his pottery corner, saw him drinking coffee without a shirt on. I could still close my eyes and feel the heat from when he cornered me outside Boomer’s, how he kissed me even before I could admit that was all I wanted him to do. I hoped I’d never lose those memories. I hoped I’d always remember how it felt to fall in love with Vince Tanev against my will.
“What’s got you smiling like that?” he asked, kissing behind my ear.
I turned in his arms, framing his face as he wrangled my hair in his hands.
“You know how much I hate to say this, but I think you were right.”
He bit his lip on a moan. “God, that is such a turn on. Say it again.”
I poked his ribs, and he laughed, kissing my nose before he pulled back to watch me. The blue of the water played with the green in his hazel eyes, bringing it to life more than I’d ever seen before. Those eyes were mine to stare at now for as long as I wanted.
“What was I right about?” he asked.
I leaned into him, planting a kiss to his chin. “I really did meet my match.”
The laugh that barreled out of him was my favorite sound in the world.
And he was my favorite person.
