Page 32 of No Rhyme or Roughing (The Golden Guardians Hockey Hearts #1)

He followed, his hand catching my waist and holding me still. “I can’t stop thinking about it, Syd.” His palm flattened against my stomach, and I fought the urge to lean into him, to let his fingers explore.

The rink lights dimmed—a sign that no one thought anyone was still on the ice.

“You’re thinking about it right now,” he murmured, his lips brushing my ear.

“Teddy—”

“Has nothing to do with us.”

“You wouldn’t have said that before.”

“Before I tasted you?” His teeth nipped at my earlobe, and I stifled a moan. “Before I knew what you sound like when you come? You’re right. I wouldn’t have. But now, it’s all I can think about. ”

His lips trailed down my neck, and when he rested his chin on my shoulder, his voice dropped. “You were so sexy today, teaching us how to dance.”

“That’s my job, Ryder. I like to think I’m good at it.”

I yelped as he spun me around by my hips, pressing me chest-to-chest with him. His eyes, an impossibly deep blue, locked on to mine.

He kissed one cheek. “Telling us what to do.” Then, the other. “You were so bossy.”

“What’s gotten into you?” I asked, my voice breathless. This wasn’t like him. Acting on his desires where anyone could walk in and see? Ryder was usually so private. Stoic.

“You. You’ve gotten into me. I spent the last hour hard as a rock, watching you surrounded by my idiot teammates.”

“This isn’t smart.” I turned my head so his next kiss landed in my hair. “We should get going.”

Stepping out of his grasp, I made a quick exit from the ice and into the darkened tunnel, heading for the locker room. The only light came from Ryder’s locker. Even the coaches’ offices were dark.

We were completely alone.

I knew the moment Ryder followed me because the hair on my arms stood on end. Cold goosebumps rippled across my skin.

He sat on the bench to remove his skates, his gaze steady on me. “Are you afraid of me?”

I hesitated. “No,” I lied.

His lips pressed together, and the next words surprised me. “Tell me a secret.”

Relief flooded me at the familiar game. It reminded me this was Ryder—someone I’d known my whole life. Someone I’d idolized growing up.

I chose the one secret that would make him stop pursuing me. “I’m not sure I believe in love. I definitely don’t believe in marriage.”

Silence stretched between us.

“Your turn,” I said, turning away so I wouldn’t have to see his reaction.

“I’m scared too, Syd. Of what happens next. In my life, in my career. I don’t have much more to give hockey. It’s almost over, and I don’t know what comes after.” The bench creaked as he stood. “But also here, right now. If I act on what every part of me wants, what then?”

“And what is it you want?”

His fingers closed around my wrist, pulling me toward him. “You. Fuck, Syd. All I want in this moment is you.”

When our lips collided, hesitation melted away. Most of my life had been spent around people who wanted me to hide, to disappear. But Ryder? He looked at me like I held all the answers in the universe.

There was no stopping now.

His hands slipped under my damp shirt, and I tried to pull away. “I’m so gross right now.”

“I don’t care.” He kissed me again.

“I do.”

“Fine.” He rested his lips against my forehead for a moment before lacing his fingers with mine and pulling me farther into the locker room. “There’s only one way to fix that.”

I was silent as I followed him, my hand never leaving his. We entered the shower room, where the tiled stalls had seen their fair share of naked male perfection.

Ryder reached to flip the light on, but I put my hand over his. “No,” I whispered. The dark held all our secrets, and I wanted him to have them all, to be surrounded by them.

A growl ripped from his throat as his lips found mine, and he backed me into the nearest shower stall. The tile was cold against my skin, and I reached for the handle to turn the water on.

It blasted down at us, and Ryder cursed at how cold it was.

I laughed, shivering under the onslaught as I fisted my hand in his shirt, yanking him against me.

The water warmed until it was almost scorching, but we both ignored it. Ryder brushed the sopping hair from my forehead and placed a kiss in the center. “Are you sure?” he asked, eyeing me.

I nodded as I drew my bottom lip between my teeth.

That was all he needed. He pulled my shirt up, discarding it in a soaking mess on the floor.

My bra landed on top of it, but I wasn’t bare for long.

His mouth followed his hands, teasing me, biting me.

I arched into him while my fingers worked to get his shirt up and over his head.

In the dark, I could only see the outline of him, the way the shadows melted into the ridges of his chest. My fingers chased those shadows to the waistband of his joggers.

It was elastic and easy to push down both the pants and his briefs past his ass.

He had my pants off almost as quickly, but then he was gone and only hot water hit my chest .

His hands returned lower than I expected. He’d dropped to his knees silently, and my breath stuttered coming out. “Ryder,” I breathed.

“I know, baby.” He gripped one calf, bringing it up and over his shoulder. “Hold on to me.” He tapped my other leg, but I didn’t move.

“No, I’ll fall.”

His eyes glinted as they cut through the dark, meeting mine. “Trust me, Syd.”

I did, I realized then. Trust him. His hands came to my ass as I lifted my other leg over him. He used the cool wall to support me.

“I’ve got you.” His words were closer now, his breath fluttering over the inside of my thigh. Then, he was there, right where I hadn’t realized I needed him. Tongue. Teeth. A vibrating growl.

The sensations built in me, but I wasn’t prepared to tumble from the cliff just yet, not alone.

“Ryder?” I slammed my head back against the wall as another wave of pleasure threatened to crash over me.

“Hmm?”

“Please stop.”

He froze, drops of water bouncing off the top of his head. And then, he lowered me to the ground, his movements stiff, less sure than before.

“We should get clean,” he said. “That’s what a shower is for, after all.”

“Wait just a fucking minute.” I pressed a hand to his chest. “What is going on right now?”

“You asked me to stop. It’s okay if you changed your mind. I’m trying to be a gentleman right now.”

“Well, stop.” I was angry now, but also even more aroused at how considerate he was.

“If I wanted a fucking gentleman, I wouldn’t be in this dark shower right now.

I only asked you to stop because I want you to…

fuck!” I could hardly even say it. I spent so long not talking about what I wanted, letting guys get their rocks off and pretending I had too, that it was ingrained in me to just be… congenial.

I felt the moment he shifted. It was impossible, but I sensed his smirk. “Say it again.”

“Say what?” I had no idea what was going on here.

He pulled me against him. “I love it when you curse at me.”

“Fuck?” I lifted a brow. “That’s what gets you hot?”

“When it’s you, yes.” Then, he kissed me, and I tasted his earlier efforts. He scraped his teeth along my bottom lip, and I almost came from the sensation. But it was nothing compared to him lifting me, forcing my legs around his waist as he tilted me back against the tile.

It didn’t take long once he’d entered me before I bit back a scream.

“Let it out,” he said. “I want to hear you.”

But I couldn’t. Make a scene, be too loud, too much. When my orgasm pulsed through me, all worries about who I was, who I was supposed to be, faded away and I moaned. Loud. Long. Ryder’s name fell from my lips over and over, echoing off the low ceiling.

I’d just come back to earth when he came with a world-shattering cry of relief. My world, that was. Because when my name tumbled from his mouth as he lowered my feet, as his head collapsed onto my shoulder, I knew that world had shifted.