Page 30 of Replay (Toronto Blaze #3)

It Was All Coming Back to Me Now

Katie

I’d been closely watching the results of the game throughout my evening class. Pretty sure I wasn’t the only one, based on how many of the students had their eyes glued to their laps. I couldn’t call them out on it, since I was just as guilty.

We were all relieved when the Blaze pulled out a win. I texted Josh immediately.

Great game!!!

It deserved the exclamation mark. I knew how worried he’d been.

Josh responded later.

Thanks. When can we get together?

We’d been hanging out a lot and were near the end of our co-watch of the last season of The Mandalorian . I’d been expecting he’d want to wrap that up soon.

I’m free tomorrow night.

Can I come to your place?

Most of the time we’d met at Josh’s, because it was still a little weird that Madeline had brought Josh home.

Right now she was traveling again, so I agreed.

I even said I’d cook. My parents might not have let us take regular student jobs, but they’d made sure we were perfectly capable around the house.

Unlike Josh’s mom. But I pushed that thought aside.

I went with a simple pasta sauce and salad. Not too much to go wrong there, and I’d made it frequently enough that I felt confident. I made sure there was lots of beef in the sauce, because I was feeding a hockey player. I was cooking extra pasta too.

Even though it wasn’t a complicated meal, I was surprisingly nervous.

My nerves weren’t about the food. Josh had never been a picky guy, and despite that expensive restaurant we went to before the hockey game, he hadn’t seemed to be any kind of a food snob now.

But talking to Jayna and Callie had made me self-conscious about being with Josh. They’d thought we were dating. Was that a problem? Was Josh not hooking up with anyone? Not in the city, because I knew what he was doing here, but on the road? Was that why they’d thought we must be together?

I didn’t like thinking about that. Something else to brush aside.

The buzzer announcing Josh took me out of my thoughts. No one was making Josh spend time with me. He was here because he wanted to be. And it wasn’t my business what he was doing when we weren’t spending friend time together.

When I opened the door, it was amped-up Josh who was waiting on the other side. He was almost vibrating. His hands clenched and unclenched on the handle of the bag he was carrying, and he was bouncing on the balls of his feet. Probably because of last night’s game.

“Hey Katie.”

I stepped back. “Come on in. Still excited about beating Minnesota?”

“Oh yeah. I—oh, that smells good.”

“Thanks.”

“I brought a bottle of wine. I hope it’s a good one.”

I rolled my eyes. Like either of us were wine snobs. “I’m sure it’s fine. And congrats on the game again. I know you were worried about that one.”

He nodded jerkily. “Especially because they did play Mitch like I’d suggested.”

Josh sat on a stool to tell me about the game. It was nice, sharing his thoughts. I opened the bottle of wine and poured some into two of Madeline’s wineglasses. The less expensive-looking ones.

“That is amazing. See, you are smart. You figured out what the team was hung up on, and your idea got them over it.”

His cheeks turned pink. “I know hockey pretty well.”

“All the guys in the league must know hockey. But you thought of that idea because you know people as well.”

“Thanks. I’m feeling really good about that.”

“You should. Hungry?” His hand was tapping on the island, and I knew his feet probably were moving too.

“Yeah, but there’s something I need to ask you first.”

“Oookay.”

His mouth twitched as he watched me. I started to fidget too, like it was contagious. His gaze was intense. It didn’t feel like he wanted to ask a question about a TV show we watched, or if I’d come to another hockey game.

He cleared his throat. “Can I kiss you?”

My eyes blinked, but nothing else was moving. Had he really asked if he could kiss me? Josh wanted to kiss me?

I’d kissed him last month. And he’d said I could kiss him anytime, but that had just been a joke, right? Because we’d gone into friend mode after that and?—

“Katie?”

My mouth finally moved, dropping open, then closing again so I could swallow and speak. “You want to kiss me?”

He nodded. He wasn’t moving any longer, still and waiting. Like he was waiting for the puck to drop.

“Why?” I didn’t understand and my brain didn’t seem to be operating.

“Because I want to.” He paused, but yeah, my brain had skipped out.

“I like being friends with you, but I want more. I have since I saw you again, but I thought I should show you that you could trust me again before I pushed you. But all this time, I’ve wanted more, and I need to know if that’s ever going to happen. ”

“Really?” That came out in a squeak. Josh wanted more? This new, improved, more confident and successful version of my high school boyfriend was interested in the not-much-changed math nerd that was me?

Not sure what was showing on my face, but he stepped around the counter, moving with slow steps till he was standing in front of me.

“I want you in my life. As a friend, if nothing else. But yeah, I really want more.”

I had a long list of reasons why this was a bad idea, focusing on school, his popularity, my own insecurities. The fact that he could get traded. But the way he was looking at me silenced them all.

I lunged at him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He was right there with me, pulling me close with those strong arms and meeting my lips. My brain might have been struggling to understand but my body was fully on board.

Kissing Josh was both familiar and strange. I knew what he liked, the sounds he made, the way he moved his hands over me as he kissed me. But he’d changed—bigger, stronger and more confident.

And my response was familiar and strange too.

He’d always been able to light me up and tempt me to more, always more.

But now there was nothing in the back of my brain on alert for sounds of someone like my parents breaking in on us.

Everything was swamped by that kiss, and I didn’t care if Madeline walked through the door or Norman asked for an autograph.

I finally pushed back, needing air. I was panting, my skin sparking like I’d been electrocuted, only in a good way.

Josh watched me like there was no one and nothing else around us. That laser focus on me, just me, was almost as arousing as the kiss. He leaned forward, and reluctantly I leaned back.

“Katie?”

“The stove is on. I’m going to burn something.” Something other than me because I felt hot and lit up, like I hadn’t in too long.

He dropped his head, taking a long breath. “Okay, if you want to eat now?—”

“Not a chance.” I stepped away from him and turned off the burners. “Can you wait for dinner?”

A slow smile crossed his face. “And do what instead?”

“Get me off.”

“Absolutely.”

* * *

Josh

Katie grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall to the bedrooms. Her door was open, and I paused in the doorway to see what her space was like now. I needed a moment to get some control back or this was going to end too soon.

Lots of books. She’d always loved books. She still favored blue too, since her bed had a blue duvet. There were some clothes piled on the desk chair, like she hadn’t expected this to happen tonight. She grabbed the clothes and threw them in her closet.

I stepped in, so I was in front of her when she turned around. “Don’t worry about that. I want to take off everything you’re wearing and throw it across the room anyway.”

She shivered, then looked down at herself. “Go ahead.”

“I might make a mess.”

“Don’t care.”

“Good to know.” I reached for the hem of her sweater and pulled. She raised her hands. I lifted it up, getting to see Katie’s skin for the first time in five years. A quick tug over her head and there she was, in a blue bra. Yep, she still liked blue.

Her tits were bigger, and she had a few freckles scattered over her skin that I didn’t remember. I lifted a finger to trace over her collarbone, where her chest was falling and rising as she breathed.

I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t think I’d forget this anyway.

“You now.” Her voice rasped.

I quickly grabbed my long-sleeved T-shirt and raised it over my head, throwing it on the floor somewhere. Her breath caught. I looked down, wondering what she thought.

I was broader now. More hair on my chest. I wasn’t one of those guys who shaved or waxed.

Was she okay with that? Then she ran her fingers through my chest hair and I groaned.

Her hands felt so good. She paused, then moved to my nipples.

Yeah, those were still sensitive. She remembered.

She circled, then ran her fingers over them, and like there was a nerve between those and my dick, it got harder, pressing against the zipper of my jeans.

“My turn,” I growled.

I reached around her back and traced over her bra till I found where it opened.

I brushed the straps down, and then finally got to see her boobs.

Pale red nipples, already tight and waiting for my fingers.

I echoed her movements, circling them then brushing across them.

She shivered, her fingers curling on my chest. A knot inside me relaxed.

I hadn’t been sure I’d remember how to please her, but it was all coming back to me now.

It wasn’t enough though. I grabbed her waist and carried her to the bed, dropping her on it. She laughed, but stopped when I opened my jeans and shoved them and my boxers off my legs. She pushed up on her elbows and stared at my dick.

I looked down, making sure there wasn’t anything weird going on there.

If I’d been with the team in the locker room at a game, someone might have put some dye in my underwear or something, but it looked normal.

Hard, but normal for that. And not too much different from when I was last with Katie, I didn’t think.

I watched her looking at me, her eyes focused right there, and her tongue moved across her bottom lip. My dick throbbed. She got up on her hands and knees and crawled over to where I stood at the side of the bed.

“I’ve missed you.” She wrapped her hand around my cock and squeezed.

Something like a whimper escaped me. “He missed you too,” I whispered because fuck if I could think when she had her hand wrapped around me. She swiped her tongue up the underside and my knees almost buckled.

I put a hand on her cheek, pulling her back. I climbed onto the bed and stretched out across the bottom, legs hanging off the side.

“Comfy?” She raised an eyebrow.

“If you’re going to put your mouth on me, my knees aren’t holding me up much longer.” A big smile crossed her face, but I wasn’t saying it to make her feel good. It was the truth.

“You’re stable now?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Hang on.”

I did. I gripped her duvet with both hands as she demonstrated that her oral skills had only improved while we’d been apart. Or maybe it was just because it was Katie. Her mouth, her lips, her tongue, her hands—pleasure shot through my veins and I couldn’t keep quiet.

“Stop, please,” I finally said, sure I was going to come if she didn’t give me a moment. And I refused to do that before I was inside her. That was where I needed to be.

She pulled off my dick, her lips making a popping sound, and that alone almost shoved me over the edge. I squeezed the base of my dick and tried to get my brain back online. She sat up on the bed, naked from the waist up. I had to change that, because I needed to taste her pussy again.

I pushed up, grinning proudly as she stared at my abs. I’d worked a lot on my body over the past five years. “You’re overdressed, Katie.”

She leaned back. “Then do something about it.”

Exactly what I wanted to hear. I twisted so I could reach her jeans.

First, the belt, then the button and zipper.

I tapped her hip. “Lift up.” She shivered and raised her ass.

I was tired of waiting and pulled off the jeans and her underwear together, tugging them down quickly and getting them caught around her knees. She laughed again.

Such a familiar sound. We’d laughed a lot as we’d learned sex together. We’d had to make do with stolen moments and whatever locations we could find, so there’d been a lot of fumbles and a lot of mistakes along the way. But that had been okay, because we’d been together.

When her clothes were off, I took a moment to look at her.

All of her. She’d had her turn to admire me, and there were a lot of things I needed to see with her.

I wanted to know what changes the five years had done to her.

Her laughter died as she lay there, hair spread around her, arms to her sides, her legs stretched out beside me.

She wasn’t as thin as she’d been, but I liked the way she looked now. Curvier, older, better.

I must have spent too long staring because she brought her legs together, hiding her pussy and asking, voice tentative, “Josh?”

I couldn’t let her think there was anything wrong. There wasn’t. I ran a hand along each calf, gently easing her legs apart again. “Just enjoying the view.”

She shook her head. “I’m sure you’ve seen bet?—”

“Shhh.” I ran my hand up her legs, moving between them, eyes on her pussy. “Never seen anything better.”

I dropped my chest to the bed, gently pushing her thighs up and apart. Yeah, that was what I wanted. That pretty pussy, looking wet for me.

That wasn’t all I wanted though. I moved forward, till my face was right there.

“Josh?” she asked again, so I licked up from her pussy to her clit. She moaned and shivered. But she didn’t ask any more questions.

I took my time, getting reacquainted. Remembering her smell and taste and the things that made her noisy. I could tell she had her mouth covered, the way she’d had to back then when we couldn’t let anyone know what we were doing.

I lifted my face. She had her fist shoved in her mouth.

“You said your roommate was away?”

She nodded.

“Then be as loud as you want. I like it.” She slowly pulled her hand down. I grinned. “Lets me know I’m doing something right.”

She shuddered and I got back to work. Though calling it work wasn’t fair. This was flat-out a pleasure.

Not sure how long I spent using my mouth to make her squirm…and she did get loud. I kept that noise going as long as I could until she pushed me away.

“Katie?”

“Inside me. Now.”

I sat up because being coachable was a virtue of mine.