Page 24

Chapter 24

Annie

NOVEMBER | Balance: $49,382

Nick Oberbeck read me to sleep. He brought a paperback I’d been reading at his house on his road trip and picked up where I’d laid the book down. He’d put a bookmark in it so he didn’t lose my place. He read until he noticed I wasn’t fully awake anymore, then whispered a “goodnight, angel.”

I hummed out a “goodnight, bubby,” and we hung up.

He was miles away in Las Vegas, but somehow it felt like we were closer than Roger and I ever were. Any of my partners, really.

Why did Nick have to be my client? And my client that I desperately needed, my highest dollar client. I couldn’t just slough him off to somebody else. I was waiting for my next paycheck when the goalie school commission would come through. That commission alone would wipe out my highest interest medical bill. Another bill paid off, another step closer to being free.

Don’t get me wrong. My other clients were important too. But Nick brought the fattest paychecks.

I hated that I had to think of him that way. I didn’t like our relationship being muddled by my financial dependence on his performance and decisions.

It was a Saturday morning after a long week, the weekend before Thanksgiving. Nick was back and well, but we were both busy and hadn’t had a chance to get together. I’d been traveling a lot, scouting at high schools and colleges for potential clients.

We’d penciled in our first in-person experiment date thing for that night. It would loosely follow me stopping by the goalie school event in the early afternoon, needing to show my face to the Goran Skate rep. Maybe I could get them to do deals with Romelski too.

So there I was, sitting on the toilet lid waxing the edges of my bikini line when my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Annie. I hate to bother you on a Saturday, but I’m supposed to be the photographer at Goran’s goalie school today. My kid broke his arm last night and I won’t be able to make it. Is there any chance you can step in?”

I tried not to cry out as I ripped off my latest wax strip, breathing out hard through tight lips. “Oh, I’m sorry that happened to you! There’s no backup photographer?”

“I already called them. They’re booked for a wedding. If you can swing by my house, I can leave a camera on the porch for you to take.”

Logistics were worked out, and I stood, stunned, in front of my dresser.

I was tragically terrible at ice skating. Like, miserable. Kitty had tried to make me go a few times in high school, and even on perfectly fresh ice, I was a mess. How was I going to be able to take pictures with an expensive camera on ice ?

I picked out an outfit that would be easy to move in, but still casual. I put on a white tee and ripped jeans, plus a sweatshirt since it would be cold on the ice. It was hair washing day, and if I were following the original plan, I’d have been able to show up with freshly styled hair. Now with me subbing as the camera person, that wasn’t going to be happening. I didn’t have enough time to wash and dry, or wash and air dry. No air drying at a frigid ice rink. With dry shampoo, a backward hat, and a prayer, I slipped out the door and hurried to pick up the camera.

Things were just getting started when I arrived. Nick stood at center ice, the kids kneeling in a circle around him. My heart warmed at the sight: the kids hanging on his every word, and his calm, assured tone as he walked them through what they’d do. It was a perfect picture if I could just get out there. People walked on the ice in sneakers at games, right? Surely I could do it.

While Nick had his back turned, I quietly opened the barrier to the rink and stepped out, steadying myself as I toed my way out there. I was just figuring out how I’d crouch down when my foot gave way, sending me flying. Like in a cartoon, my feet must have sailed fully above my head before I bit it, landing mostly on my shoulders with a thud. A murmur issued from the kids, and I heard a hurried “’scuse me.” The scrape of skate blades came toward me and Nick was on his knees at my side in a second.

“You okay, Annie?”

There I was, looking up at the rink’s ceiling, Nick’s sweet face hovering over mine, concern knitting his brow. The camera had hit my stomach hard, bruising my ribs with its weight. The brim of my cap dug into the back of my head. My back hurt from the sudden slam. I was stunned.

“Annie? Can you hear me, baby? Say something.”

That’s when the giggles hit me. And not cute giggles—those gurgly ones that start at the back of your jaw and almost make a fart noise with their force. Nick cracked a relieved smile and laughed along with me, looking far too sexy with a ballcap framing his face. The hat cast shadows over the beautiful crinkles around his eyes.

“Jesus, Markham, hell of an entrance.” He offered me a hand to pull me up to sitting. “Easy does it. Does your head hurt?”

“Just where my hat bill hit the ice. Probably saved me,” I said, shaking ice off the back of my sweatshirt.

“What are you even doing here?”

“The photographer had to cancel, so I’m the photographer today.”

Nick stood and turned to the kids behind him. “Everybody, this is Annie. We’re going to make sure we treat her extra nice today. She’s gonna take pictures for all your moms and dads to be proud of. No stray pucks headed her way, got it?”

“Yes, Coach,” came the resounding response.

“Go stretch while I check her out,” he called.

A few kids went “oooh” and giggled, but mostly obeyed. Nick shot them a death look to silence them.

He crouched down again. “You good to stand? Would you rather have skates? The owner’s here. He could get you a pair.”

“No, I promise skates would be worse. It’s better this way, believe it or not.”

Nick narrowed his eyes at me. “What size shoe?”

“Ten and a half. Don’t make fun of my bigass feet.”

“You know I’d never, Annabelle.” He slid his arms under mine and like I was a feather, brought me up to stand. He gripped my elbows. “You good?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Just pretend I’m not here. I’ll fade into the scenery.”

He looked to the ceiling. “Like I could ever pretend you weren’t in the same room as me, Annabelle.” His cheeks went pinker as he chewed the inside of his lip. “Stay out of trouble.”

He skated off, splitting the kids into groups of skaters and goalies, setting up exercises on each end of the ice. It was a co-ed camp, and what I especially noticed was how much he treated the girls the same as the boys. He spent just as long giving them pointers, taking a knee to listen when they had questions. I got plenty of shots of the kids with their serious, focused faces, as well as them goofing off. Nick was so natural with the kids.

One of the kids took a hard hit to the throat guard, and Nick pulled him aside to triple-check for injuries. I was just close enough to hear them talking.

“It’s okay for that to shake you up. Shakes me up every time. You need a few minutes? Wanna switch to skating? There’s no shame in it. You’ve gotta have your head on straight between the pipes. Go grab some water, alright?”

He was so opposite of the toxicity that I experienced coming up in sports. None of the “shake it off” or “you’re fine.” He admitted that it scares him too. I flipped my hat around as I snapped pictures, trying to cover my hot face. I wished someone had been that kind to me as a young athlete.

The group broke for lunch, and I got my first blast of the notoriously rotten-smelling hockey locker room. I’d been in the Nashville locker room when I had some clients there, but those are professionally managed. These kids’ parents were the ones trying to manage some absolutely rank odors. I walked into the girls’ locker room, greeted by a wall of giggles.

“I wish he’d check on me like that,” one voice said.

“Oh, I know, it was so cute! She’s so pretty too.”

I’d have been vain to think they were talking about me, but the way the voices silenced when I came in told me everything I needed to know.

“Hi, girls,” I said, with a little wave as I headed into a bathroom stall.

“You ask her.”

“No, you!” came the whispers.

When I emerged to wash my hands, I felt all of their eyes on me. One girl got shoved forward by her friend.

“So, are you Obi’s girlfriend?”

I met her eyes in the mirror with a laugh. “No. He’s a friend. His photographer had to cancel this morning, so I had to step in.”

“Friend,” one of them laughed.

I cracked a smile. “What makes you think he’s not just a friend?”

“The way he watched you when you weren’t looking.”

I shook my head. “Y’all are looking for it.”

“Have you met his dog?” another giggled.

I dried my hands on a paper towel. “Everyone knows Greg.”

A couple of them gasped. “Told you.”

“Look, I just want to say that y’all look great out there today, and I think you’re badass for playing hockey. I was a volleyball player, and the fact that you can do anything on ice impresses me, much less stopping those crazy pucks.”

That started a barrage of questions about my volleyball career. We emerged into the hallway, where Nick stood waiting for the group.

“Was Annie talking your ears off?” he teased. “We’ve gotta eat and get back to it.”

The rest of the afternoon passed without event. I took pictures until the memory card ran out, then stood on the sidelines paging through and deleting a few so I had some room for wrap-up photos. I chatted with the rink’s owner, who handed me a pair of skates.

“Oh, no. Not for me. Did you see my grand entrance?”

“You can handle them. I’m sure Oberbeck would be more than happy to give you lessons,” he said. “Or me. I’m happy to. But something tells me he wouldn’t be too fond of me doing that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Everyone thinks that.”

“Then maybe it’s true,” he said with a wink. He shoved a hot chocolate at me and sent me back out to take pictures as the group wrapped up for the day. The kids headed to the locker rooms after Nick dismissed them, coming to meet me on the bleachers. He reached for my cup. “Give me a hit of that.”

I held the hot chocolate out of reach. “Let me have one more sip before you taint it with your disease.”

“I’m all better!” he protested. I handed him the cup. “Hey, thanks for being here. I know you were just supposed to drop by and say hi. You gave up your whole Saturday.”

I grinned. “You know, I’m tired, but it was fun. They’re good kids.”

Nick nodded. “They are.” He gestured to the skates by my feet. “You lookin’ to try out a new calling, Markham?”

“Ugh, no. Eric made me take them. Told me to put them outside the office when I’m done. I was just gonna do that now.”

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easy. Come on, Annie. Lace ‘em up. Let’s go.”

“No, you’re tired,” I tried.

“I’m not. Let’s go.”

I whined, looking at him with puppy dog eyes for mercy. “I already fell once. I don’t want to get more hurt.”

He leaned so his face was close to mine, eyes flicking to my lips. We were just the length of his baseball cap apart. “If you think for one second that I’d let you fall again, you’re out of your mind. Skates. On. Don’t make me tell you twice.”

I was thankful for my sweatshirt, because my nipples instantly hardened into tiny, sensitive points. I hadn’t seen much of commanding Nick, and it was both surprising and delightful.

Naturally, I pretended to hate it, scowling as I slid my feet out of my shoes and into the skates. He watched as I laced them but reached down to take over.

“Let me. You need a good solid base to work from,” he said.

“Look who’s the teacher now,” I teased.

“This is my territory, Markham. And you’ve got a lot to learn.” He extended his hand to help me up, clomping with me to the ice.

I thought he’d speed off without me, but he held my hands as I stepped onto the ice. Immediately, I lost my balance, slipping backward then forward, cackling all the way. I landed against his firm chest.

“Nick, I don’t know about this.”

“You’re doing great,” he said softly, eyes glowing as he looked down at me. “Okay, stand on one foot. Prove to me you can.”

He stifled a laugh, trying to be polite.

“You can laugh, Nick. It’s fine. I’m comically bad at this.”

“Well, if I can teach you to skate, then you’ll have to teach me how to play volleyball next time.”

I looked up with a grin. It was nice being able to look up at a guy. Being 5’10”, I didn’t get that opportunity much. But Nick was tall. Very, very tall. “Deal.”

I was able to stand on one foot and pushing off didn’t go so bad. He skated backward, holding my hands the whole time.

"Too fast! Too fast!" I squealed at one point.

“I got you, baby. Don’t worry,” he said. There was a rasp to his voice that made my insides clench. He circled to get behind me. He put his arms under mine and my feet between his legs. “Lean back. I want you to feel the balance.”

Nick’s feet weaved in and out by mine, propelling us. I loved the feel of his chest against my back, his lips next to my ear, laughing softly. “There you go. You’re doing great.”

He propped me back up on my own and turned back to my front, holding my hands again. We made another circle, and his grip on my hands loosened. “I think you’re ready to fly solo, baby bird,” he said with a smirk.

“Don’t you dare let go, Nick Oberbeck!” I shouted. His hands had already dropped, throwing me off balance. I overcorrected forward, then backward, my hands flailing in the most embarrassing way possible and shrieking all the while.

He chuckled and skated in to try and catch me to no avail. I landed square on my ass. In his attempt to catch me, he came down with me, kneeling with his legs scissoring mine.

“You ass!” I cried, smacking his arm. “You said you had me!”

“You were doing so good. Sometimes you’ve just gotta let go.”

His green eyes shone, flicking between mine and to my lips. Want pulsed through me. Thoughts raced through my mind as I took attendance of who all was in the building. Eric, the rink’s owner, was still there. The Goran Skate rep was gone. It was just me, Nick, and the owner of the place, who was allegedly in his office doing work. But he probably had a camera.

The cold wet of the ice was soaking through my jeans, but all I could think about was the beautiful, sweet, kind-hearted man on his knees in front of me.

I raised my half-frozen hand, grabbing the bill of his hat. I turned it backward, because it was time. I wanted him, needed his goofiness and his attempts at dominance and his gentle sweetness. July was far, far too long ago, and I needed a reminder of what he tasted like.

My fingers toyed with the little bit of hair that stuck out the back of his hat. Nick grinned and gave a soft laugh, his pupils going wider. Then I trailed my hand down his chest, which rose and fell with panting shaky breaths. His expression turned serious as I bunched his sweatshirt in my fist. There was no way his stomach wasn’t turned inside out and upside down because mine sure as hell was. His nerves were making me nervous.

We both spoke at the same time.

“Annie, I’m going to—” from him, and “Fuck it,” from me.

Our lips crashed together and his hand tangled in my hair. The kisses we’d had before when we first met, those were special. But this one was electric. I gripped Nick’s jaw and torso, unwilling to miss a second of contact with him. He tucked me more under him as his tongue met mine, his thigh driving into my crotch and making me moan into his mouth. Encouraged by my sounds, he writhed, rocking the seam of my jeans against my center and for once, I mentally thanked whoever invented jeans and their sturdy seams. With one hand on the ice, his other coasted down my back and to my unfortunately wet ass.

A door shut somewhere in the background and I pulled away, gasping. “We can’t.”

His gaze cast down. “Shit.”

“But I really want to,” I added.

Nick’s brow furrowed, then lightened. “Come with me.”

He pulled me to stand and towed me to the rink’s entrance, making a beeline for the locker rooms. He knocked on the wall as we entered the women’s locker room, waiting to listen for any sounds. We were alone.

Nick turned to me, talking to my shoulder instead of my face. “I, uh, I don’t want to screw this up. But I want you.”

“What do you want to do?” I asked, my voice going dark.

His voice was gravelly, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “I want to make you feel good. To touch you.”

“Then touch me.”

“Annie, I don’t want to mess up,” he started to protest.

“Do what feels right. Touch me. I’ll direct you if things go south.”

Nick’s Adam’s apple bobbed as his gaze combed over me, hungry and determined.

Then.

He tugged me into his body, our whimpers mixing as his mouth consumed mine. He raked both hands into my hair, knocking my hat to the floor. I threw off his hat as he spoke. “This fucking mouth, Annie,” he growled. “And all this gorgeous hair. I can’t be gentle anymore.”

“Don’t,” I panted before sucking his bottom lip between my teeth.

“God, Annie,” he groaned, grinding himself against me. His hands left my hair, and that’s when I noticed how much they were shaking. He was truly nervous. “What do I do?”

“The bench,” I said, gesturing with my head. “Take me there.”

His eyes finally softened at having some specific direction. He scooped under my ass, lifting me against his stomach as he backed up to a bench by the lockers. He sat, my knees straddling him. “Like this?”

I nodded and cupped his neck to pull him into a kiss. That was one area where he needed no coaching. Nick was an incredible kisser, pouring an intense sincerity into each motion of his lips and tongue.

I circled my hips against him and he pushed up against me, the full pressure of his throbbing erection palpable. I parted from him long enough to strip off my sweatshirt and t-shirt, fumbling to remove his too. My hands ran over his chest, fingernails tracing the lines of his abs to his hiss. Nick’s eyes settled anew on me, taking in my freshly bared skin before dropping kisses all over my chest. He sucked my nipple through my bra, something that doesn’t sound that great in theory, but was somehow the most wonderful thing in that moment.

“Is that good? Was that too weird?” he asked in a rush.

“It’s perfect. Keep going.”

“Do you want me to take off your pants?”

I shook my head. “This feels good for you?”

He smirked. “So good.”

“Let’s just stay like this. Grind me like you’re fucking me.”

Nick gave me a terrified look, and I stroked my finger over the cupid’s bow above his lips. “Just close your eyes. Don’t think. Just feel.”

His hands settled on my hips, and mine clasped the back of his neck for leverage. His face was between my breasts, his lips parted as our hips worked in concert. I glanced down to find his abs flexing as he curled against me, a smile moving over me as pleasure took hold.

“That’s it,” I whispered. “It feels so good, Nick.”

His hands shifted more to my ass, tucking my hips in tighter as he thrust. “Annie,” he breathed. “You’re so beautiful.”

His reverence had my cheeks burning from more than the exertion. “Nick.” I tightened my abs, working harder, shamelessly grinding in his lap. “You feel good?”

His chuckle was self-conscious. “You have no idea. You’re a dream come true.”

His lips disappeared into my cleavage again. “Push my bra up. Get in there,” I told him.

He lifted the wire over the bottom of my breast to expose my nipple. “Like this?”

I shoved his face against me, and he moaned as his tongue circled the rosy bud. Nick sucked, intensifying the pleasure.

I whined, getting pretty close. I was fully riding him like I would if there were no clothes separating us, my tits bouncing with the motion and his hands returning to their spot on my ass.

“Talk to me,” I commanded. “Something dirty.”

“Annie,” he whimpered.

“Just try. Don’t think.”

His breath was warm against the shell of my ear, clearly giving it some thought. I dragged one of his hands from my ass to my breast to distract him. It worked. “Fuck, Annie. You feel so good. I want to hear you come. You’re so sexy using me like this.”

My eyes bored into his, my forehead pressing to his. “You like when I use you?”

A smirk curved his lips. “Hell yeah. Make me your favorite toy.” His hand cupped my breast, his lips closing around my nipple again with a light nip from his teeth.

“Fuck, Nick, you’re going to make me come.”

He made possibly the sexiest noise a man can: that cocky, dark chuckle when they know they’re driving you up the wall. His voice when he spoke was deep and raspy. “Come all over this cock, angel.”

I mewled, needing more words from him. “More,” I begged. “Dirtier.”

His lips nibble up my neck as he continues the relentless grinding, feeling enormous in his pants. “You’re a needy little slut, aren’t you? You need me?”

Now he’s getting somewhere.

“I want it in my mouth,” I blurted out.

Another dark chuckle. “Next time, angel. This time, you’re coming like this for me.”

He resumed his work at my breasts, lavishing each with attention. His hands glided up my back, holding me steady as I worked short strokes at the tip of his cock. I met his eyes where he looked up from my breast, letting him know that it was happening.

“Nick.”

“Come on, baby,” he grunted, putting my hips where he wanted them and bringing us both over the edge, me first with a wheezy cry and then him with a long sigh.

“Everybody okay in here?” came a voice from the hall. I yanked my bra back over my tits, making wide eyes at Nick.

“Oh, yep, just getting my skates off!” I said cheerfully.

“Okay! I’m going to close up in ten minutes if that’s okay with you guys.”

I gaped at Nick. Was he acknowledging that both of us were in the locker room together?

“Yep! I’ll let Nick know when I see him,” I said, trying to cover somehow.

“I’ll be closing everything down. Just drop your skates on the counter.”

“Sure thing!” I chirped.

Eric’s footsteps trailed away as Nick laughed into my cleavage.

“How much do you think he heard?” I whispered.

Nick shrugged. “You know? I don’t want to know. But hey. I had fun.”

I cocked my head to the side. “You did pretty good on the dirty talk. Where’d you get all that from?”

He chuckled. “The guys.”

I flicked my eyebrows up. “If you’ve got their expert coaching, are you sure you need mine?”

Nick froze. “Do you . . . not want to do our arrangement anymore?”

“Oh, um, that’s not what I meant. Unless you don’t think you need me.”

He gripped my chin between two of his fingers. “I can assure you that I need you, Annabelle.” He puckered his lips for a juicy kiss. “The guys don’t give me kisses or have great boobs.”

I couldn’t help but giggle at that. He interrupted my laughing fit with a question that sobered me quickly.

“Come have dinner with me?”

“We can’t be seen out together, Nick. This was risky enough. He could have seen us kissing on the ice.”

“I don’t think he’s going to tell anyone if he did. We can go somewhere low-key. A dive bar with burgers.”

I searched for another excuse. “I never got to shower.”

“We can shower at my place after.” He pressed a kiss to my neck, sending an orgasm aftershock through me. “We can have dirty dinner. If anyone sees us, I can say I’m taking you out to say thank you for working today.”

I hesitated, and his expression fell again. “You’re right. We don’t have to.”

“No, I just . . . really wanted to shower. And have not-wet clothes.”

He glanced at the growing wet spot on his pants. “I mean, I guess me too.”

“Let’s both go home and shower and we can meet up after while?”

“After while, Miss West Virginia?” He grinned as he drew his index finger under my chin to beg for another kiss. “Yeah, let’s do that. A proper date.”

I put my head to the side, blushing with a wide smile. “A low-key, casual, not-date date.”

“Yeah,” he said with a smooch. “That. I’ll pick you up.”

I climbed off him. “Sounds good, dirty boy.”