Pipe Dreams(8)

       
           



       

Years of anticipation pulsed through him. He shoved that bra out of his  way and sucked one perfect nipple into his mouth, while his hand popped  the button on her shorts.

She moaned his name and grabbed his ass. Both their hands became busy,  busy, busy. It shouldn't have been possible for the two of them to get  naked so fast given the confines of her sofa, but he was an athlete and  Lauren was an overachiever. She shed the bra while he yanked her shorts  down. He unzipped himself, and then Lauren shoved the rest of his  clothing off, kicking it away with smooth legs.

Then they were skin on skin. Finally. Nothing had ever felt so good as  pressing his erection against the cradle of her body, and feeling her  shiver with longing beneath him. He leaned into her curves, pressing his  tongue into her mouth, making love to her mouth the way he needed to do  to her body.

All the complications fell away. There was only this room and this woman  and his pounding heart. His love was like a tidal wave. He couldn't  have held it back one more second if he tried. He slipped a hand between  her legs and moaned at the soft slickness waiting there. "Need you so  bad," he murmured. It was the truest thing he'd ever said.

Panting beneath him, Lauren lifted a knee, opening herself up to him. "Mike," she begged.

The sound of his name on her lips practically did him in. He grabbed her  knee in one hand and, staring down into her flushed face, he pushed  inside her for the first time.

They both gasped. He could feel her heart thumping against his as he  leaned in for one more searing kiss. Maybe his heart was astonished that  the moment had finally arrived, but his body would not be denied. His  hips began to move in time to his throbbing pulse. He lost himself in  her kisses. It was all so bright and perfect that he hoped it would  never end.

But Lauren's breathing became ragged and her whimpers desperate. She  clawed at his back and sobbed out his name. Her body pulsed around his.

Then it was all done except for the game-over buzzer. His balls  tightened and his spine tingled. Then he was coming and groaning and  spilling himself inside her for the first time.

They lay there panting and sweaty in the August heat. No air  conditioning unit could ever match the explosion of pent-up sexual  energy that had just happened here. "Lo," he growled, kissing her neck.  "Look at me."

But she wouldn't. She bit her lip and studied the couch cushion.

"Hey," he whispered. "There's two things that could happen now. The  first one is I go home and spend the next year trying not to remember  this happened, or how happy it made me. I'll do that if you really want  me to. The second choice is that I carry you to your shower for a rinse  down, and then we do it several more times in your bed."

When she finally turned to look at him, her eyes were full of tears.

"Don't freak, honey," he whispered. "This wasn't an accident or a fluke. It was inevitable."

"I know."

"So why do you look sad?"

"I'm not the least bit sad. I'm just astonished."

"Why? Because it was good?"

"No. That it finally happened, and it was just as amazing as I knew it would be."

"That's because I love you."

Her eyes opened wide. "Mike."

"What? I can't say that? Like it isn't fucking obvious? There's probably nobody in your office who doesn't know."

Lauren looked stricken. "The gossip is going to be awful."

"Maybe. But do we care?"

She cupped his face, one thumb testing the grit of the stubble on his chin. "I might not even notice, so long as I have you."

"Mmm." He kissed the corner of her mouth, then slowly pumped his hips one more time. "Good answer, Lo."

She smiled against his lips, and they got lost in their kisses again for  a little while. "I'm not going home tonight," he announced. "I want to  lie in your bed and taste every inch of you."

Lauren made a little happy noise in the back of her throat.

He traced the pretty curve of her cheek with his nose. "Would this be a  horrible time to ask if you're, uh, on the pill or something?"

She tilted her chin to give him better access to her neck. "Lucky for you, I am."

"Good to know." He kissed her again, because it was so incredible to be  able to do that. "Obviously I'm a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later  kinda guy."

"I noticed that," she whispered. And when she smiled at him, it was with  the same smile he had held in his heart since the first week he ever  met her.





FIVE


LAGUARDIA'S MARINE AIR TERMINAL, NEW YORK                       
       
           



       

APRIL 2016


Lauren paced the airport terminal with her clipboard, checking off each  player as he arrived. The airline had warned her that they needed to  push back from the gate at precisely noon, because a storm moving into  the area would likely shut down some East Coast airports this afternoon.  Yet with ten minutes left before boarding, there were three names  unaccounted for.

So she paced, worrying.

Between the play-offs and Lauren's regular job at Kattenberger  Technologies, she was putting in fourteen-hour days. And in the wee  hours of the past week she'd somehow written the last sections of the  senior essay she'd turn in next month.

Meanwhile, in a move that surprised every sportswriter in America, the  Bruisers had won both of their Brooklyn games against the D.C. team,  which made the series 3 – 1 in Brooklyn's favor. So now it was back to  Washington for game five. They could actually win the entire series  tomorrow night, if only she could get all the players onto the freaking  jet.

A fresh-faced athlete she didn't recognize walked through the sliding doors next and looked around.

Lauren pounced. "Are you Silas?"

"That's me," the kid said just as several of the other players swarmed.

"Dude!" "Silas!" "Long time no see!" There were back slaps and high fives all around.

Lauren checked off Silas-a backup goalie she'd never met-on her list.  Apparently he'd been on the roster earlier in the season but got sent  down to the minors six weeks ago.

She tapped her foot while a few more players greeted the kid, and then  ran out of patience. "Silas, I'm Lauren," she said, elbowing her way  toward him again. "I'm filling in for Becca while she's out."

"Nice to meet you, Lauren," he said, giving her a sweet smile and a handshake.

Aw, at least the kid had manners. "Here is your team ID," she said,  handing over a laminated badge that would get him into the stadium in  D.C. "And your boarding pass. If you have any questions, you'll find me  in your Katt Phone under Lauren. And welcome back to the Bruisers."

"Thank you, miss," he said, taking the documents. "It's good to be back."

The kid looked nervous, though, and she didn't blame him. Backup goalie  was a tough job, and the team had struggled with the position this  season. The gossip Lauren had heard was that Silas had played well in  the fall but then lost his nerve as the team got closer to the  play-offs. He'd been replaced by Sullivan, who hadn't satisfied Coach,  either. Just after the team clinched the play-offs, and the pressure was  off, Sullivan had played badly during the two games they'd given him in  order to rest Mike Beacon.

And speaking of Mike Beacon-he was one of the names on the clipboard who  hadn't arrived. There were just eight minutes until boarding time.  Lauren did another lap of the room and pretended she wasn't looking for  him.

Castro appeared in the doorway next. Relieved, Lauren trotted over to  deliver his documents and check him off the list. That's when she felt  Beacon arrive. She couldn't even hear whatever it was he was saying, but  just the timbre of his voice made her skin feel prickly with awareness.

That's why this was so hard. Her subconscious was still tuned to the  Mike Beacon wavelength. This past week had been a long series of  uncomfortable moments. The sound of his laughter gave her goosebumps.  Whenever they were in the same room, she didn't know where to look.

Now she turned around and peeked over the top of her clipboard. Mike  wasn't alone. He'd been accompanied to the airport by a blond guy she'd  never seen before and by an impossibly grown-up looking Elsa. Gone was  the skinny little imp that Elsa had been when her father and Lauren had  begun seeing each other. In her place stood a tall young teen whose  sharp angles had morphed partway toward womanliness. Elsa's cheekbones  were shapely and her skin glowed.

Even though Lauren had been trying not to stare, the sight of Mike's  daughter was completely disarming. Time had marched on whether Lauren  had made her peace with it or not.

". . . To a dance party with my friends from my old school," Elsa was  saying. "Hans is driving me out to Long Island. It's my BFF's birthday  today."