Page 18 of Something to Prove (Smithton Bears #2)

I opened my eyes and blinked. “Uh…no, of course not. Wait. What are you?—”

“ Shh . Stay still. I’m gonna help you clean up.”

“I can do it myself.”

I attempt to sit, but Ty held me in place with a firm hand on my shoulder.

“Let me. We went pretty hard, and I want to be sure I didn’t hurt you.”

“I…you…that’s not—” My sputtering came to a halt when he spread my cheeks and gently wiped the excess lube.

“A little pink. Not bad, though.” He snickered at my incredulous expression. “What? I literally had my tongue in your ass. There’s no reason to get shy now.”

“Oh…my…God.” I closed my eyes briefly, swatting his biceps as I twisted to sit up and lean against the headboard. “No more talking. Do not open your mouth.”

Ty made a zipped-lips gesture and flopped onto the bed beside me—buck naked.

No jeans, no shoes, no socks, no obvious plan to escape posthaste.

He uncapped a water bottle and handed it over, then opened the second one for himself and pressed the bottle to his closed mouth, letting water dribble down his chin as he waggled his thick brows.

My indulgent smile morphed into real laughter at his playful antics.

Ty unzipped his lips a moment later with a comedic gasp for air and swiped at his mouth. “I can’t abide by the no-speech rules if you’re gonna stare at my junk, Woody. Probably feeling a little awestruck at my sheer bigness, and I totally get that, but I’m shy and?—”

“You’re not shy in the slightest,” I scoffed. “And I wasn’t staring. I just happened to notice that you’re wearing less clothing than you did when we…”

Ty waggled his brows again. “I know. I got cum on my jeans and overscrubbed them in the bathroom. Now it looks like I pissed my pants. I was going to give them a few minutes to dry, but if you want me to go, that’s cool. I won’t be offended.”

“No, that’s okay. I have a paper to write, but it can wait a bit.”

“I have hockey practice in like…” He checked his watch. “Forty-five minutes. The guys are going to want to know all about the diner episode.”

“You told them? I mean…of course, you did. It was your idea. You didn’t tell anyone about…”

My sudden inability to finish my sentences was almost as concerning as Ty knowing what I was going to say.

“Us?” He made a funny face and took another swig of water. “No. I didn’t think you’d want that either.”

“I absolutely do not. It would be extremely unprofessional to sleep with a guest.”

“Really? Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s just not something a serious journalist should do.” I set my water bottle on my nightstand and pulled the sheet over my legs, looking everywhere but at Ty.

“Not a big deal if you ask me, but I’m a fucking hypocrite, so what do I know?”

I tilted my head slightly. “How so?”

“I’m an out bisexual guy. How noble, right?

Except I know for a fact that most people are cool with the bi label as long as you keep the gay part on the DL, so I do because I have a contract with a pro team with expectations.

And yet I just had amazing sex with a man…

the same dude I told anyone who’d listen to me was on my shit list for outing my teammate last year.

So, yeah…I have no moral high ground whatsoever, and I think I should care about that more than I do. ”

“You know I didn’t out Jett on purpose, don’t you?”

Ty nodded. “Yeah. I know that now.”

“Good. Well, if you’re worried that I’ll get ideas or blab to anyone about…” I gestured between us. “I won’t.”

His sexy mouth twisted devilishly. “Are we negotiating? ’Cause it sort of feels like it. I won’t tell if you don’t tell and if neither of us tells, we can fuck like bunnies for as long as we want?”

“Was that a question?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “I’m in if you are.”

“Tempting, but too many people know us in Smithton. If we’re seen together?—”

“They’ll think we’re collaborating. And we are.

Or maybe that’s past tense, but it would be easy enough to sell friendship.

We have good chemistry. My agent likes us, and he doesn’t like anything.

” Ty furrowed his brow thoughtfully. “He thinks the Jackals should probably be paying you for your PR skills. You should look into that.”

“Good press works both ways.”

“So you said. For the record, you were pretty impressive at the diner today.”

I beamed. “Thank you.”

“Seriously. You know your shit. You must have been up all night studying milkshakes.”

“As one does.”

Ty snorted and drank the remains of his water bottle in one long gulp. “I bet you made a few practice shakes so yours would look like dessert art. C’mon…admit it.”

“I did no such thing.”

“Su-re,” he drawled. “Then why was yours so nice?”

“You only think that because yours was more…childlike in its enthusiasm.”

Ty narrowed his eyes playfully. “Fair. When I was a kid, we used to make root beer floats and sundaes for special occasions, like good grades or a hat trick. If one of us did something noteworthy, we all got in on the action. My folks said it was important to celebrate each other’s accomplishments.

We went along with it for the ice cream.

They were like, ‘Yay, Meg got an A on her Social Studies final,’ and we’d rub our grubby hands together and say, ‘Well done, Sis. We’re gonna wreck that motherfuckin’ tub of vanilla. ’ ”

I barked a laugh. “How supportive of you.”

“You know it.”

“Are you close to your siblings?”

Ty nodded. “Yeah, my whole family is tight. We’re close in age, and we were sort of raised as teammates. We were taught to be supportive and look out for each other.”

“That’s nice.”

“Yeah, it is. Now, we’re all over the country.

My sister Meg lives in Baltimore with her husband and their two kids, Callie’s a hockey coach at Northwestern.

She got engaged last summer, and Jade is in Australia on a work visa.

My brothers are in college. Evan is at Penn and Lyle is a freshman at UCLA.

I’m the only one who’s still close to home.

I mean, Utica isn’t around the corner, but my folks can come to a few games and I can visit them or—” Ty shook his head in disbelief. “Okay…wow.”

I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

He scrubbed his eyes and laughed. “This is new. I can’t believe I’m lying next to a really hot guy with my dick out…talking about my family.”

I chuckled. “I don’t mind.”

“If you met those weirdos you would,” he snarked without heat, swinging his long legs off the side of the bed. “I should get going anyway.”

A better host might have gotten up and shown his guest out, but he was moving quickly now and I was happy to sit back and enjoy the view.

Ty stepped into his boxer briefs and wriggled into his jeans while I shamelessly drank in all that masculine beauty. Yes, we’d loosely agreed we were both interested in a repeat, but the logistics seemed contrived unless I suddenly became an avid hockey fan or…

“The video edit should be complete by the weekend. I can arrange a sneak preview if you’d like.”

“I’d like.” He pulled his tee over his head and smoothed his hair before perching on the edge of the mattress to put on his shoes and socks. “I have a game in Rochester on Saturday. Otherwise, I’ll be around.”

“Okay.”

Ty pursed his lips, his gaze roaming my body. I fought the urge to cross my arms, but that was silly. He’d seen it all and then some. “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

“I…”

He flashed another cocky grin, yet I caught a trace of pink on his cheeks and geez, I was charmed all over again. “I know that’s a strange compliment to give another guy. It’s true, though. I’m not taking it back.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Later, Walker. Oh, and by the way…” Ty paused, tapping his fingers on the doorjamb. “We gotta figure out a nickname for you.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why? Everyone needs a nickname. On my team, we usually use last names. Pritchard, Regan…and Gus is Langley. We call him “the animal” too, ’cause he’s a freaking party animal. I go with a simple ‘ster’ add-on too sometimes. Brady is Bradester. Jett is Jettster…you get the idea.”

“Yes, but…why me?”

“Because we’re friends.”

“I suppose we are.” I smiled.

Ty returned the gesture and continued in a faux-serious tone. “Walker is a serious name. Super sophisticated and professional. I like it, but I can’t shorten it to Walk or add an ie for Walkie. Neither works.”

“Definitely not.”

“And you don’t like Woody, or…are you warming up to that one?”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my grin in check. “No.”

“How do you feel about Red?”

“Too obvious.”

“Really? I like it.”

“Good-bye, Ty.”

He winked, and disappeared down the hall.

I listened to his footfall fade, and thought I heard him coo to Mabel before the door creaked open and closed with a thump .

I flung the sheet off and lay like a starfish, staring at the ceiling in wonder.

I’d just had sex with the hottest hockey player at Smithton.

Incredible, extraordinary, spectacular sex.

I lifted my balls and traced my swollen perineum as if reliving the memory of his cock stretching me, filling me.

I’d never had puck-bunny aspirations in my life, but look at me now.

I was smitten with Ty Czerniak, who’d somehow become a friend.

This couldn’t be good for me.