Page 20

CHAPTER

TWENTY

JADEN

M y room smells like sex, sweat, and the sweetness that is Annalise—and it’s intoxicating. The clock on my bedside table says it’s almost six o’clock in the morning, and we’ve yet to find sleep. We’ve explored one another’s bodies all night long. No matter what the rest of my days bring me, I don’t think I’ll ever top this one. I’ve experienced unmatched pleasure and had more orgasms than I knew was possible with the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. Our tongues have tasted every inch of one another’s bodies. I’ve brought Anna to release when she was shattered with exhaustion and didn’t think she could come again. Our sexual chemistry is off the charts.

I’m ignoring the fact that I had Anna within my reach for a whole month. It makes me sick to know we missed out on feeling like this all that time. Though I’m not sure there was anything else I could’ve done. It had to be on Anna’s terms.

I hate that she’s leaving today, and more than that, it pains me that she insists on this being a one-night thing. Withdrawals from this connection will be tough, but I’d go through them a hundred times to experience what we did.

“When did you get this one?” She runs her finger over the skin on my rib where the tattoo of an orange koi fish resides.

“Two years ago, a group of the guys and I went to Japan. A couple of us got tattoos while we were there. In Japan, an orange koi fish represents wealth, prosperity, and fortune.”

“Did it work?” she asks.

“I think so. The year after I got it, we won the Cup. And talk about fortune. I just fucked Annalise Sterling until my muscles gave out. Can’t get more fortunate than that.” I kiss the top of her head.

She chuckles. “Oh, stop it.”

“What? It’s true.”

She points at a Chinese symbol on my bicep. It’s simple—small with black ink and not the same caliber as the rest of the ink that surrounds it, but it’s special because it was my first. “What about this one? What does it mean?”

“That is actually the first tattoo I got. It’s the Chinese symbol for the name of the girl who took my virginity.”

“Really?” Her voice raises an octave.

“No.” I laugh. “It is my first one, but it means champion or winner. My high school hockey team all got it the summer after graduation.”

“Do any of them play in the NHL?”

“No,” I scoff. “I heard somewhere like less than two percent of high school hockey players go on to play in the NHL. A couple of the guys played briefly in college. But none of them play now. Most are married or heading that way, working normal jobs.”

“Playing professional hockey isn’t a normal job?”

“Hardly.” I chuckle. “It’s up there with yours, I’d say. Most people don’t get paid millions to simulate sex on a motorcycle.”

“Hey.” She slaps my chest. “We’ve talked about this. That is the scene that shall not be named.”

“And I told you I don’t agree with that because it’s one of your best.”

She rolls her eyes. “What about this one?” She points at a blue-and-gray sandhill crane tattoo on my forearm that extends from my wrist to my elbow. She’s inquired about almost every tattoo on my body, interested in their meanings.

“I got that when I signed with the Cranes. It’s one of my favorites.” She wrinkles her brow, so I continue. “That’s a sandhill crane, a common bird around this area of Michigan. It’s what the team’s mascot is named after.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

I shrug. “Yeah, a lot of people, even those from around here, don’t make the connection.”

“It’s pretty.” She trails her finger down my skin. “I like the colors. Do you think you’ll get more tattoos, or are you all done?”

“I’m content with the ones I have now, but never say never. As you’ve heard, each one carries a memory or a meaning. So who knows what event in the future I’ll want to memorialize with some ink.”

“Are you going to move down to your legs?” she asks.

“God no.” I scrunch my nose in a grimace, causing her to laugh. “I hate leg tattoos.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I don’t know why, but I hate the way they look.” I scan my arms, which are pretty much covered in a sleeve of tattoos. “I have some more room on my front.” I motion toward my abdomen, which is free of tattoos. “And I have lots of space on my back. But I kinda like the look I have going on.”

Anna flings a leg over my torso and sits up to straddle me.

“Anna.” My voice lowers. “What are you doing?”

Her tongue peeks out to lick her lips. “Just looking,” she says with an innocent charm. She places her hands on each of my wrists and trails her palms over my arms and across my shoulders and chest where my tattoos reside. “I like the look you have going on, too.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Anna’s naked body atop me and the way she’s ogling me with want has my dick standing erect immediately.

She moves her ass back and grinds it into me. I grab her thighs, digging my fingers into her skin. “You ready to go again?”

Her eyes dart to the clock. “I think we have time for a quickie. I have to leave soon to pack for my flight.”

Not needing to be asked twice, I sit up and snatch a condom from the bedside table. I put it on before getting behind her. With both hands on her waist, I spin her around so she’s on her hands and knees facing the headboard. We’ve experienced each other in every position and tempo, but now, I want to take her hard and rough for the last time. When she’s back home, across the country, I want her to still be able to feel me and be reminded I was here.

One hand palms her ass while I slide my other hand between her legs. With one finger, I enter her and am consumed with need when I find her wet and ready for me.

“You are a fucking goddess, Anna,” I say on an exhale, aching with want. I remove my finger.

In one quick motion, I thrust deep inside her. She moans and presses a hand against the headboard to hold her body in place. I brand her with my touch as my fingers dig into her soft skin. Rocking her back and forth against me, I move inside her. She feels just as amazing as she did the very first time. Every nerve cell in my body is lit on fire with desire for this woman.

I pound into her hard, unable to get deep enough. I’m feral to come together again.

The sounds coming from her lips, the feel of her skin beneath my touch, the sight of her body glistening with sweat, and the silky tightness that consumes me with pleasure with each thrust cause me to ache so deeply with an intense need for her that it unnerves me. I agreed to one night, but I don’t know how one night could ever be enough. Hell, I don’t know how one lifetime could either.

The pace of her breath increases, and I can tell she’s close. Knowing this is our last time, I’m overcome with the need to get lost in her striking blue depths.

I pull out, and Anna moans in protest. She turns around. “What?” She starts to question, but when she sees me, she knows what to do.

Sitting, I prop myself up from behind with my hands, and Anna climbs onto my lap and lowers herself down until I’m back inside her again. We release a collective sigh of pleasure. She takes hold of my shoulders and uses them to steady herself as she rocks up and down.

I swallow the emotion in my throat and hold her stare. The ecstasy on her face as we move together owns me. Sitting up, I trail my hands up her back and lace my fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck, pulling her face to mine. Our lips collide, and our tongues clash in a soul-devouring kiss, a goodbye kiss.

The hypnotic spell of a kiss intensifies as our bodies move faster, chasing our next release. My entire body hums as my emotions spin out of control. I want to commit this entire evening with Anna to memory, but I’m out of my mind with sensations I can’t control.

Sliding one of my hands between us, it only takes one stroke of her clit, and we’re both convulsed with ripping orgasms.

Anna is still atop me, and our foreheads are together. We breathe in the same air as we come down from our highs.

Our naked bodies are still wrapped in one another, and Anna whispers. “I arranged to have a car pick me up. It should be here.”

Her lips find mine, and she kisses me so softly that my lips quiver against hers.

I sit motionless as she climbs off me and throws on her clothes.

There’s so much I want to say, but I’m frozen in a space and time that I never want to end. Only it does.

“It’s been fun. You’re the best fake boyfriend I ever had.” She blows me a kiss, and then she’s gone.

I remain. Speechless.

I’m torn by indecision. Emotions are flying at me at a record pace, and my mind is a convoluted haze of regret. After the night we had, my exhaustion is soul deep. My mind and body spent. At the same time, I’ve never felt more alive. Anna is the answer to everything I never knew I was missing.

Now that I know what it’s like to have her, there’s no going back to when I didn’t.