Page 17

Chapter 17

MICAH

E ven in the dim light of the bar, her cheeks were pink. She nibbled her lower lip, and I wanted to drag her over the bartop and thrust my tongue down her throat. Fuck. I’d missed her. And who knew that riling her up would turn me on almost as much as actually fucking her?

“Can I at least have one kiss to hold me over?”

Her eyes twinkled. “I mean, I guess.” A tiny smile played on her lips, and I wanted to take her into a back room or something because one kiss was not going to be enough.

“You look like you want to devour me,” she rasped, her eyes flaring with desire.

“It’s your fault for being so damned delectable. Fuck, I wish I could spread you out on this bar and feast on you, but no one else gets to hear you cry out my name except for me. Those sounds you make are for me alone.”

Her lips parted, and I couldn’t stop my smirk. Damn, I loved turning her on.

“Could you just kiss already? You know, before you set my bar on fire.” Simone’s voice cut through the haze as I spotted her out of the corner of my eye, walking behind Josie.

Josie’s cheeks turned a darker shade of pink, and I chuckled.

“Dammit, Micah,” she bit out, but there was no malice in her tone, just a breathy sound that went straight to my hard-as-steel dick.

I cupped her jaw and leaned over the bar, planting my lips on hers, swallowing her soft moan as my tongue swiped against hers. She’d opened for me immediately, just as she always did.

My thumb dragged along her cheek, and she hummed, the vibrations rocking me down to my toes. I would never get enough of kissing this woman.

***

“He’s going to be here tomorrow,” she said as I walked through the front door four days later after morning skate.

Her purple hair was up in a messy bun, and I wanted to tug it free and sink my fingers into it.

I dropped my gear bag near the door, strode toward her, pulled her into my arms, and my hips instinctually rocked against her body. I relished the shudder that went through her when I leaned in and nuzzled the spot between her neck and shoulder.

She weakly pushed her hands against my chest.

“Micah.”

I lifted my head. “Oh, should I stop?”

She glared at me. “Ray’s going to be here tomorrow, and all you can think about is getting into my pants.”

“I mean, you could solve that problem by not wearing pants.”

She laughed, shaking her head at me. “Sometimes it’s weird when you tease me. So off-brand.”

I nipped the side of her mouth. “Not off-brand with you. You make me feel playful. Fucking blissed out and happy.”

“Micah,” she said softly, her hands cupping my jaw.

I twisted my head, kissing her palm. “We could just tell him, you know. At least that you’re living here.”

She sighed. “Part of me wants to. But it’s so soon. He’s going to think I’m just jumping from one guy to the next.”

“I resent the hell out of that. I’m not just some guy.”

Raking one of her hands through my hair, she smiled at me. “No, you’re not. But we’ve never even discussed what this is. Ugh. I didn’t mean for us to have some deep conversation the day before my brother shows up.”

I walked her backward into the living room, then I shifted us around and sat down on the couch, pulling her into my lap so she could straddle me. Setting her heated center flush with my hard dick was probably not the best position to be in for a serious conversation, but I wanted her as close to me as possible.

Was I playing a little dirty?

Maybe.

Did I care?

Not one fuck.

“Ooh.” She rocked her body against mine.

“Let’s talk,” I said.

She quirked a brow. “Talk? Doesn’t feel like you’re in the mood for talking.”

“I just want you in my arms, and maybe a little bit at my mercy, when I tell you that I’m falling for you.” Yeah, I hadn’t said the words out loud, but they’d been floating around in my brain for much longer than I wanted to admit.

“What? You’re playing dirty.”

“Yup. To get what I want—which is you, by the way—I’ll absolutely use any advantage I have.”

“I think you’re scrambling my brains. You’re falling for me?”

I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and held her gaze. “How could I not?” It stung a bit that she hadn’t said it back yet. She had to feel something—unless I was completely off base.

No. She felt something.

“Am I freaking you out?”

She didn’t drop my gaze, which had to count for something.

“Maybe a little. We’re having fun, and I drive you crazy, and we’re total opposites.”

“And we haven’t been doing this for long. And you don’t stay in one place for long.”

“I don’t,” she whispered.

“But I don’t care. I probably should, but I want to see where this is going. I want you to know how I’m feeling. And maybe…” I paused.

Fuck. Being vulnerable sucked.

Her breath was audible, but her smile widened. “This is crazy, but I’m falling for you, too. Turns out you’re not as boring as I thought you were.”

“It’s my naughty mouth, isn’t it?” I teased, trying to lighten the mood. I didn’t know a lot about her past relationships. Not that I wanted to, because I felt an overwhelming urge to kick each man she’d been with in the balls and then shake their hands for being idiots and letting her slip through their fingers.

“It’s so much more than that,” she murmured. Then she sighed.

“What?” I kept my palm along her jaw, needing the connection.

“Don’t be mad, but can we still not tell my brother? At least during this trip of his. We’re still new, and my family seriously judges everything I do. Ray’s not as bad as my parents, but he’s protective of you, especially after Amaya. And you’ve been his best friend since you were kids.”

“What we have is so much more than anything I had with her or anyone since.” My ex was so far in the past and had nothing to do with how I felt about Josie. “Wouldn’t it be better for him to see how happy you make me?” I tried to keep my frustration at bay. I guess I understood, but it still rankled that she didn’t want to just tell her brother that we were together.

“I just don’t want to spring this on him as soon as he shows up. I know it doesn’t seem like me since I do love a good shock, but this is important to me. You’re important to me. Is that okay?”

It was weird seeing her nervous, but a perverse part of me felt like she really must have deep feelings for me to want to guard what we had.

“Okay, we’ll wait. You’ll crash at Harper’s and we’ll just act like friends when your brother’s around, but fair warning, any moment that we’re alone or out of his eyesight, I will not hold back with how much I want you.”

Heat flared in her eyes again. “I’m definitely on board for that.”

“I know that Ray is my best friend and your brother, but this is our lives, not his. We’ll deal with whatever his reaction is when the time is right. I’m not walking away from you any time soon, no matter how he feels.”

She linked her arms around my neck and pressed her chest against mine.

“You’re amazing,” she said softly.

“The feeling is mutual, Josie. Fuck, you’re perfect.”

And then I leaned in and sealed my lips to hers, pouring everything I had into our kiss. I hoped I could wipe away any doubts she had about what was between us.

Yeah, I said I was falling for her, but I’d already fallen.

Hard.

I was in love, but I wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear that just yet.

I’d give her some time. I didn’t want to freak her out.

But I also wasn’t going to keep this to myself forever.

JOSIE

I was still in a daze the following morning as I walked Lola, Oscar, and Sheldon. I had a few hours until it was time to pick up Ray. My head was in a spin from my conversation with Micah and everything he’d said to me.

Yes, he’d agreed to keep our relationship—because that’s clearly what we had right now—secret, but I knew he wanted to tell Ray the truth. Micah wasn’t good at deceiving his friends, and I felt guilty for not wanting to out ourselves yet. I was nervous about what would happen when the bubble popped.

And I hated that I was nervous. I prided myself on being confident and going after what I wanted—case in point, Micah —but I didn’t want this to blow up in my face.

Freaking hell, being this nervous was super annoying.

Lola tugged on her leash, pulling my attention just in time for us to not walk into oncoming traffic.

“Shit. Sorry, pups. No more distractions,” I muttered.

Pretty sure Lola gave me side-eye. She was still annoyed that I managed to get her leash tangled up with her brother’s ten minutes ago.

It wasn’t long before my thoughts traveled back to Micah. We’d ended up making dinner together, with no injuries to either of us or the kitchen and then he’d proceeded to make me forget my name and date of birth in bed later. He’d said he had to get in all the orgasms he could to prepare his body for a dry spell.

I’d lost count of the number of times I’d come between last night and this morning before I headed out to walk the dogs. My body shivered, thinking about the heat in his eyes as he told me to come. As he described how he felt sinking his cock into my body. How he said I clenched around him so perfectly he never wanted to leave.

“Phew,” I breathed out, my body an inferno. Good thing it was so freaking cold out. Although, if I sat down in the snow, I might melt it.

I was bummed that our pregame nap was going to be short because I had to be at the airport.

Yes. The airport. Ray .

I was playing with fire. The odds of us not being outed by one of Micah’s teammates or my coworkers and regulars at Tipsy were slim. It wasn’t like we spent all of our time making out in public, but we weren’t shy about stealing a kiss or two. I knew Micah had asked his teammates to keep it quiet until we were ready to tell him.

Ugh. I really hadn’t thought this through at all.

But really, when did I ever?

***

My brother was going to walk out of those airport doors at any second, and I had my story as straight as it was going to be. He’d texted after he’d landed and then just now to say that he was heading out to meet me.

Micah had reassured me that everything would be fine and that, if the truth slipped out, it would be okay, but I was sticking with being stubborn. Not only was I mooching off of Ray’s best friend for a place to live, but when Blaine had bailed, I’d immediately reached out to Micah to let me crash at his place. And then fell into bed with him. Yeah, it wasn’t instant, but close enough.

And it was amazing, and we were in a relationship, but I knew how it would look. The next few days were going to be challenging.

After a few minutes of scanning the arrival area for my brother, I finally spotted him. I yelled out his name and waved my hand above my head to get his attention.

He smiled, walking toward me.

“Nice wheels, Josie. Yours?”

I’d thought this through. How to explain why I was driving Micah’s truck when neither of us had mentioned to Ray that we had seen each other. I bit back a snort.

We’d seen a lot of each other.

Focus.

I hit the button to open the back so Ray could toss his luggage in. “So, it’s actually Micah’s.”

He dropped his bag in the trunk and walked to the passenger side door, then slid into the seat and leaned over, giving me a quick hug.

“Good to see you, sis. But, um, my Micah?” He pulled back and looked at me.

I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Um, yeah. Craziest thing. Blaine and I broke up. It wasn’t going anywhere, but since we were living with his friends, I needed somewhere to move.”

“So you’re living with my best friend? And he didn’t say anything to me?” His eyes narrowed.

I waved my hand and pulled forward with the flow of traffic exiting the airport. “Of course not, that would be silly. No, I took a bartending job, and the owner is super nice and everything. And I got friendly with her friends, and one of them is letting me stay at her place until I can find my own. I really like living in Denver.”

“So, how did you end up with Micah’s truck?”

“Oh, yeah. Well, this girl I’m living with is dating one of Micah’s teammates. A bunch of them live in the same building. So Micah offered me your truck because he knew that I wanted to meet you at the airport.”

I was going to need a bigger shovel for the hole I was digging. Holding my facial expressions neutral, I glanced at my brother. His eyes were still narrowed in question, but he seemed to be buying it.

“Didn’t he need his truck to get to the arena?” Ray asked. “And he already had morning skate. He’s there now to get ready for tonight’s game.” He chuckled. “You need to go to more hockey games. I bet Micah would get you tickets whenever you wanted them.”

Did my laugh sound weak? “Oh yeah, I’ll have to hit him up for a game or two. It was nice of him to get us tickets for tonight. And I’ve been to a few with my new friend, Harper. She’s dating one of the defensemen, Connor Horton.”

Dig. Dig. Dig.

“And he said he was going in with one of the other guys when he dropped off the keys.”

Non-cha-lant. Be non-cha-lant.

Or I could’ve just told my brother the truth: I was in love with his best friend, and we were getting down and dirty on the regular. I should probably leave that last part out.

I shoved down the heat that was currently churning through my body. Damn, I really was going to miss sleeping next to Micah for the next few days while my brother was here.

Micah was probably right; we should’ve just told him. But no, I had to hold back, and now I was bullshitting my way through this even as I knew it was just going to make things messier when the truth came out.

“Josie.” Ray’s voice broke through my spiral.

“Yeah? Sorry. Thinking about some work I have to finish tonight. Ready? We should go. Micah gave me an extra key, too, so I can let you into his place. You hungry? We could grab a late lunch or something? I have one more dog to walk today as well. You could come along if you want.”

“You’re rambling.”

“Am not. I’m just very busy today.” I tried to sound stern, but he reached out and tugged the side of my hair.

“So easily distracted.” There was no judgment in his tone this time; it was light, but it still stung. I was fully aware of how my family viewed me. Ray wasn’t nearly as bad as my parents, but he wasn’t immune to passing judgment, so I’d been waiting for it.

“You spending a lot of time with Micah?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Not really. I’ve gone to a few games, and the bar I work at is where the players hang out a lot, so I see him when he stops by after a game or whatever.”

And we make out every chance we get.

“I’m glad he’s here if you need help or anything.”

I would not bristle.

“I’m fully capable of handling my own life, Ray.” I couldn’t help the huff at the end of my statement. “But I’m sure he’s very helpful.”

I found his mouth and tongue, and various other appendages, very helpful.

Shit. I needed to rein it in and focus on driving the car, not thinking about Micah driving into my body.

“Are you okay?” Ray asked.

“What? Why? Yeah, of course.”

“You made a weird noise. You feeling okay?”

“Yup.”

“Come on, Josie. Don’t be mad at me. I didn’t mean anything bad by it. It’s just, you moved out here and didn’t know anyone except Blaine. Micah’s like another brother to you, and I’m happy he’s out here if you need anything. I didn’t say when.”

“I’m doing just fine on my own,” I muttered.

“I bet you are. So, tell me about these jobs. I know you’re dog walking and bartending. You mentioned doing work tonight.”

I smiled. “I have an Etsy shop. Mainly illustrations, but I also work on branding stuff for some authors. It’s a lot of fun.”

“Sounds great. You know, I could eat. Let’s grab a late lunch, and you can tell me all about it.”

I turned my head slightly and gave him a smile. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

And then we would go to the game, and I’d try my best not to drool over my boyfriend.

That still sounded weird.