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.
Chapter 2
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.