Ryker Read online

  Brian turns to Zack and gives him a nod. Zack swallows hard, wipes his hands on his pants, which indicates they're a wet, clammy mess, and turns to Kate. I can tell by the look on her face she has no clue what's going on, but when Zack clears his throat, she realizes with utter clarity that there can only be one reason Zack is the one talking in front of the entire organization.

  Poor Zack...his voice comes out almost in a croak, and besides Kate, I may be the only one who understands how monumental this is to Zack. How important the sanctity of marriage is to a man like him, and how Kate is truly his soul mate.

  "Kate," he rasps, then gives a cough as he takes her hands in his. "I've been trying to do this forever now, and something always seems to happen. I was going to propose when we went to the Bahamas, but I dropped the damn ring down the bathroom sink right before we left."

  Everyone laughs, because no one really knows about his failed attempts other than me. Kate's eyes go wide before crinkling with amusement, and then fill up with warmth and love as she tilts her head to the side as he continues to talk.

  "Then that balloon ride," Zack says as his gaze lowers for a moment. "The words marry me had been mown into an old cornfield, but then we got blown off course."

  "Oh my God," Kate says with a laugh. "Are you serious?"

  Zack looks up and nods at her with a smile. "I wanted to do something big. I didn't want there to be any doubt in your mind how much I want you to be my wife. How much I want you to be Ben's mother...officially, that is."

  Kate looks like she's going to melt into a puddle of goo. I slide my eyes over to Gray and I'm stunned to find her watching me. It's a safe enough move, because all eyes are pinned on Zack and Kate. She lowers her face shyly with a subtle smile, then raises it right back up a bit to take another peek. I give her a return smile and then turn my attention back to the main attraction.

  Zack drops to one knee. "So Kate...beautiful, adorable Kate...who was put on this earth just for me. Will you be my wife?"

  Zack slips his hand into his pocket to grab the ring and Kate appears poised to shout yes. We all wait for it, when suddenly Zack's hand comes out and he says, "Shit! There's a hole in my pocket."

  Ben's eyes go round. "Daddy...that's a bad word."

  Zack surges up, gives Ben a quick apologetic look, and then starts rummaging in all of his pockets, trying to find the ring. Everyone watches with bated breath and a healthy dose of concern in their eyes.

  Not Kate, though...her eyes are twinkling with suppressed laughter.

  Ben tugs on his dad's suit jacket, but Zack is so frantically looking for the ring that he ignores him.

  "Daddy," Ben says, tugging again.

  "Not now, buddy," Zack mutters. "Daddy's in the middle of screwing up this engagement again."

  Several people chuckle and Kate's hand comes up to cover her mouth to stop from laughing. But for the panicked look on Zack's face, it would be outright hilarious. My heart starts to really go out for the guy, but then Ben finally turns to Kate because Zack won't look at him. He reaches into the pocket of his little khaki pants that were paired with a light blue button down and navy jacket--fucking adorable actually on the little dude--and pulls the ring out.

  He hands it up to Kate. "Here. Dad bought this ring for you because he wants you to marry him."

  Zack freezes, one hand stuffed deep in his pants pocket, the other stuffed inside his suit jacket. Kate reaches out a wobbly hand and plucks the ring from Ben's hand, who turns to his dad. "I found it on the living room floor before we left so I kept it for you."

  "Jesus," Zack huffs out with relief, and then pulls Ben into a quick hug. "Thanks, buddy."

  As Zack takes the ring from Kate and slowly slides it on her finger, I turn my back on them. I don't need to see or hear the rest to know that she's saying yes at this very moment. I'm so happy for them, but I knew this was coming and it was a foregone conclusion in my mind that she'd accept his proposal. While everyone surges forward to congratulate the couple, I head for the bar, where Brannon hired three bartenders to keep the drinks fresh.

  After I'm replenished, I move myself off to the edge of the crowd and people watch as the Christmas music starts playing. I'll make my way over to Zack and Kate soon, because I'm ready to leave after this drink.

  Just as I'm taking a sip, I see Gray weaving her way through the partygoers, nodding greetings, accepting pecks on the cheek from others. Her eyes rise to mine and she walks directly toward me.

  Hmmm. This is interesting.

  Gray does nothing more than come up to stand next to me, her own hand holding a glass of wine. She stands casually while we both watch Zack and Kate with huge, beaming grins on their face. We look just like two ordinary people who are members of the same organization having a polite chat.

  "That was quite the proposal," Gray says genially.

  I chuckle. "Poor Zack. I didn't think it would ever go right for him."

  "I'll admit that my heart was in my throat when he couldn't find the ring," she muses.

  I angle my head to take a quick peek at her. "So what are your big Christmas plans, Miss Brannon?"

  "Well, seeing as how tomorrow is Christmas Day and Dad has forbidden me from working, I suppose I'll be forced to relax."

  I turn back to watch the crowd, take a small sip of my drink. It feels odd to be standing here, making polite small talk. I want to take her in my arms and kiss her under the mistletoe. I want to bring her back to my cold, empty house and fuck her all night in my big king bed.

  But none of that is possible because for me, in reality, Gray Brannon is untouchable. I think she may only exist in my fantasy life.

  "I'm sure you're missing the girls," Gray says, and she sounds almost desperate to engage me in talk. Two of the hockey wives walk by, giving us smiling nods.

  "Yeah," I say, twirling the liquid in my glass with a sardonic smile. "It's amazing how much I've become used to them always being there. It's hard for me to understand how I let Hensley just handle all of their care when we were together."

  "I'm sure it's just the way things shook out," Gray says. "We all get comfortable in our roles and it's hard to move out of them."

  My head swivels toward her, because while what she says applies to Hensley and me, it suddenly sounds like a dire warning about what may come to be for us. I think given our boundaries, this thing may just "shake out" with Gray and we'll end up settling.

  Not ideal at all.

  For either one of us.

  So I decide to test her. Give her a push.

  "Spend Christmas Day with me," I tell her.

  I don't ask.

  Something flickers deep in Gray's eyes. Interest. Excitement. Fear? "I always spend the morning with my dad. We do breakfast...exchange gifts..."

  "Then come over to my house after," I press her. "We'll hang out. Relax."

  I lean in just a tad closer to her and murmur. "We'll fuck."

  Christ...her eyes flutter closed and it looks like she just orgasmed. When they open back up, they're sizzling. For a brief moment, neither one of us cares who's watching. Who's listening.

  She smiles. "Okay. I'll be there around noon."

  Chapter 14

  Gray

  I have no clue why Ryker likes to spend so much time with his mouth between my legs, but I can honestly say it's one of my favorite pastimes. I'm having a hard time concentrating on how much I love having him in my mouth as we try out the classic sixty-nine position for the first time in our budding new...relationship?

  His fingers dig into my skin, his mouth moves hard against me, his tongue is ruthless.

  All I can do is groan against his cock when I start to come, semi collapsing on top of his body with weakness. But he doesn't stop. He never wants to stop. He keeps at me and I'm so sensitive that I think I might crawl out of my skin.

  I pull my mouth from him and weakly swat a hand backward, striking at nothing but air. "Stop," I pant at him. "I can't take any more."

  He
chuckles against me, kisses the inside of my thigh, and then with his powerful arms, he lifts me off his face and swivels my body to the side so I'm kneeling on the mattress. He looks at me with a devious grin, while I keep up a slow stroke with my hand on him.

  "Want to keep sucking me off or want me to fuck you?" he asks as he puts his hands casually behind his head to stare at me. He looks glorious, lying on the center of his mattress. Ripped chest, rolling abs, long powerful legs stretched out straight with his erection beautifully straining in my hand. His eyes are heavy and sensuous as he waits for my answer.

  "Suck you off," I whisper, and I catch a glimpse of his eyes narrowing at me in appreciation as I bend my head back over him.

  --

  "Merry Christmas," Ryker whispers as he grazes his lips over my temple.

  I think he broke my body just now, and I'm pretty sure I put a good hurting on him.

  In the best of ways, of course.

  After he came in my mouth with his hands grasping on to my head tightly, he pulled me up the bed and into his arms, where we've been lying for the past half hour in comfortable silence.

  "Merry Christmas," I tell him back. "I'm glad I came over."

  "I know you're glad you came," he says licentiously. I give him a tiny elbow in the ribs and he laughs over his crude joke.

  "Seriously," I say as I stroke my hand over the smattering of hair in the center of his chest. "I'm glad I'm spending today with you."

  "And tonight," he says with simple command. As if I'd even think to argue.

  We fall into silence again, our heartbeats back to normal, our breathing slow and mellow. I love how he greeted me at the door about an hour ago. With a sprig of mistletoe in his hand, he held it over my head and gave me a sweet kiss.

  Then he dropped the mistletoe right there in the entryway, picked me up, slammed the door behind me, and carried me into his bedroom. And now, here we are.

  "Zack's proposal last night was pretty epic," I say, just to start some conversation. We've only been together a few times, and each time we've had sex or done some type of sex act multiple times. But there's also been a lot of conversation between us as we start to discover more about each other personally.

  "Yeah...didn't think he was going to pull it off for a minute," Ryker says with a laugh.

  "I'm glad to see him so happy. I really, really liked Gina, but seeing him with Kate...you can just see it so clearly. How they are meant to be together."

  "I didn't know Gina, but I can see what you see in Kate. She's amazing and she couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."

  "Did you feel that way about Hensley?" I ask him, and wait to see if he tenses over the question. While he's talked plenty about Ruby and Violet, who frankly scare me in a way that I can't quite understand, we haven't discussed his marriage much. In fact, I'm not even sure if he's legally divorced.

  Ryker doesn't tense and I find that causes my heart to crack a little wider where he's concerned. He's such an open book that it's easy to put faith in him. "I don't know, to be honest. Before I found out she was screwing Sutter, I would have said yes. I had nothing to compare it to, so the way I felt about her when we got married...yeah, it felt like she was meant for me. But now, something like that makes you question the truthfulness of your own feelings. You know what I mean?"

  "You know, I actually don't know what you mean," I tell him with a laugh.

  I feel him lift his head from the pillow to look at me so I angle my face up. He's staring at me with shrewd eyes. "You've never been in love? Or had a serious relationship?"

  Laying my head back down on his shoulder, I shake my head. "Never had time, I guess."

  Ryker snorts and I lift my head again to look at him. "What? I've been busy."

  "You've never found the right person," he says with a wisdom that perhaps I should have since we're the same age but seems to be failing me. "If you did, you would have made the time."

  I go ahead and push off of him, leaning on my right hip and locking my right arm to support myself so I can look down at him. My eyes briefly cross over the tattoo he has on his left upper arm. It's a partial brick wall in homage to his hockey nickname, but personalized with the words Violet and Ruby in graffiti-type lettering. It's tough and sensitive all at the same time.

  It's totally Ryker.

  Playing with the edge of the sheet that's pulled up to my hips, and keeping my gaze averted, I admit, "I don't think I really understand the concept. My mom died when I was so young, so I was raised by a single parent. I never saw my dad in love with a woman. He was always devoted to just me and his business. I really have no other frame of reference to go by."

  "But you've had friends, other family members in relationships?" he prods.

  I look up at him and give him a smile that says, Oh you gullible man, you.

  "Ryker...I was more interested in figuring out advanced physics problems by the time I hit puberty than boys. Even though my dad held me back a bit, I was still way far behind in emotional maturity than the people I went to school with. And once I sort of figured out what was going on, no one was really interested in the young, nerdy smart girl."

  "Nerdy my ass," Ryker interjects.

  "The point being," I talk right over him. "I didn't have a conventional upbringing. Some of this is just...foreign to me."

  He reaches a hand out and trails his knuckles over my bare breast while he stares at me thoughtfully. "I don't get it. You're vibrant, warm, passionate. You're the type of woman built for a relationship."

  "Except I channel all of that into my career," I point out.

  "Maybe it's time for you to change that," he counters with a cocked eyebrow and a lopsided grin.

  "With you?"

  Ryker's hand moves from my breast to cup me around the back of my neck. He tugs me down on top of him, slides his lips across mine. When he pulls back to look at me, he makes my heart clench. "I told you once I don't do flings, but I find it frustrating and odd that you and I work so very closely together, and yet we are still worlds apart."

  "Because our professional careers don't let us mesh our personal lives together," I finish.

  He doesn't respond to me right away and I can almost see his brain processing something within his eyes. Finally, he says, "If we both want it enough, we would find a way to make it work. And I know it would be very easy for me to just say, 'Fuck what people think about us being together,' but the truth is that I could never do anything to jeopardize your position as our GM. It's too important. Too historical. I think you're necessary to this team, and if being with me, in public, would hurt you or this organization, I will always step back."

  My eyes sting, because other than my father, I've never had another soul put my well-being before theirs. It's overwhelming to me. I place my hand on his chest. "I'm sorry that I can't give you more. I think I'd really, really like to see what 'more' with you would be like."

  "Me too," he says quietly, and then pushes me back onto the bed. His head dips and his mouth runs over my neck while his hands roam over my body.

  I slip my fingers in his hair and sigh over all of the amazing feelings this man brings to my doorstep. Not just feelings of body, but feelings of spirit. I'm so conflicted because he makes me want so much more, and yet how could I ever take that risk? This is just all too new for me right now to put my entire career and reputation on the line.

  "Oh, I forgot to tell you," he murmurs as he kisses along my collarbone, placing a kiss in between each word.

  "What's that?"

  "I invited Max to your yoga class on Friday," he says casually as he moves down my chest.

  My fingers tighten in his hair and I tug to pull his face up. I lift my own head from the pillow and look down at him with wary eyes. "You did what?"

  "Invited Max to yoga on Friday. He's a goalie. He's recovered from his injury. It's a great workout."

  I just blink at him in astonishment. "O-k-a-a-y."

  "Is that a problem?" he asks with seriou
s eyes. "Because it's just yoga. It's not like we're fucking in the studio or anything."

  I shake my head, immediately dismissing that thought. Having Max come to yoga would be a great thing for him, and it would actually be better to have both goalies there. That would help dispel any notions that Ryker was getting extra attention from me.

  Rubbing my thumbs along his scalp, I smile at him. "I'm just surprised you'd offer to help him. He's your main competition for the starting goalie slot."

  I'm immediately shamed by the chastising look Ryker gives me, but he follows it up with a quick smile. "Come on, Gray. It's a team sport, not individual. God forbid something happens to me, we need Max strong."

  And then I truly understand my attraction to Ryker. He is an unbelievably good man. He's a team player all the way. He wants the greater good for the whole rather than for the individual.

  That quality is sexy as hell, makes my heart flippity flop all over the place, and makes me really, really want to give him another blow job.

  "You're eyes just turned really hot," he says as he inches his way up my body. I can feel his erection pressing into my hip. "Whatcha thinking?"

  "About sucking your cock," I tell him coyly.

  He grins at me devilishly, leans down, and nips my lower lip with his teeth. "Okay," he says exuberantly, but then pushes up and rolls away. When his feet hit the floor, he reaches into the drawer of his bedside table and turns to me with a little gift bag in his hand. "But I wanted to give this to you first.

  I sit up straight in the bed, pulling the sheet up and over my breasts, where I clutch at the cotton material with a raw feeling of vulnerability.

  He got me a gift.

  A Christmas gift if the bright red paper and green bow is any indication.

  Ryker Evans stands there gloriously naked, completely unabashed with his huge erection pointed outward...holding out a Christmas gift for me. He looks like a kid when he climbs back onto the bed, settles in beside me, and snatches the sheet away.

  "Quit covering your tits," he teases me as he hands me the bag. "I want them always on display around me."

  Is that my hand shaking as I reach out to take the bag?

  I'm equal parts overwhelmed with happiness and dismay. Beyond happy, actually, that he thought of me in such a kind and sensitive way. I've never gotten gifts for Christmas beyond what my father and I exchange, and there is something about Ryker taking the time to buy me something that sets off all of my hormonal bells. But I'm dismayed just as much because I didn't even think to get him something. What does that say about me?