Rafe slid one hand up her back and clasped her nape. Wrapped the other arm low on her hips and pressed his forehead to hers.
“Look at me, Mia.” His demand was soft, shaky. “I want to remember this moment for the rest of my life.”
Mia’s eyes opened, and her breath caught. Just when she thought she’d gotten her emotions under control, her chest expanded with a flurry of complex feelings. Her mind and heart spiraled with questions and confusion.
But before she could say anything, Rafe tightened the arm at her hips and drew her down. His cock impaled her in one swift thrust. Mia’s muscles tightened, and a cry of surprise, pain, and pleasure rolled from her chest. She fisted her hands in Rafe’s hair.
Almost instantly, the pain disappeared, leaving Mia with a decadent pressure where Rafe filled her.
Rafe. Filled. Her.
“God,” Rafe whispered. “So perfect, Mia. So perfect.”
He lifted his head and looked deep into her eyes. His expression was so soft, so affectionate, so filled with the same emotions filling her, and her heart broke a little. But she wasn’t sure why.
Then he rolled his knees under him while he held her in position. Once they were upright, face-to-face, he started to move. Using those muscled thighs that made him one of the fastest hockey players in the world, he drove his cock deep, leaving no room for anything but rush after rush after rush of intense, mind-bending pleasure.
Mia clung to his shoulders as he pummeled her, driving toward his own release. His features hardened and sharpened. His eyes hazed over with a level of lust that reached deep inside Mia and twisted.
And when he finally let his eyes fall closed, turned his face into her neck, and whispered, “Mia, Mia, Mia…” with a tortured kind of bliss, tears rose to her eyes.
She dropped her forehead to his shoulder and held tight, riding wave after wave of penetration with his name whispering past her own lips.
The way he held her, so tightly, so lovingly, the way he controlled his thrusts in long, deep strokes, as if he wanted to feel every inch of her, as if he wanted to draw out the moments he was inside her, made something elemental shift in her chest.
She’d never been loved like this. If this was a hookup, if this was purely sexual, then she’d been missing the boat all her life. Because no one had ever made her feel so wanted, so loved, or so cherished as Rafe did now.
And even when his thrusts quickened and his body vibrated with his impending release, when other men could think about nothing but sating their own overwhelming need, she was at the front of his thoughts.
He took hold of her chin, pulled her gaze to his, and demanded, “Come with me, Mia.”
Then he kissed her, mirroring the hunger of his body in his kiss. The combination of physical and emotional assault coalesced, and Mia broke with a scream. She buried her face in Rafe’s neck, her body still quaking with aftershocks when his own climax hit. His strong body twisted and bowed and shuddered in the fiercest, most stunning display of male sexuality Mia had ever witnessed.
They stayed wrapped in each other’s arms while their bodies settled and they caught their breath. And as Rafe pressed sweet kisses to Mia’s neck, she knew this exercise in letting go of her girlish fantasies of the boy from her past had not only backfired, it had created an even deeper need for the man he’d grown into. A need that would stretch long into her future.
7
Rafe shut off his car and jogged to the player’s entrance of the Verizon arena in downtown DC. Showing up late for the scheduled routine on a game day would set him back five grand, the Rough Riders’ standard fine.
But as he pulled the door open and started down the corridor toward the locker room, Rafe smiled. He’d overslept because Mia had held him to their agreement and they’d gotten lost in each other until they couldn’t keep their eyes open anymore.
The familiar sound of his teammates’ voices and the use of equipment echoed off the cement, but Rafe’s mind was still piling up memories from last night, making his grin grow even bigger.
If he did get hit with a fine, it would be worth every penny. Because today, despite his lack of sleep, Rafe felt like he was on top of the fucking world. His body sang with energy and strength. His mind was clearer and more focused than it had been in months.
He could breathe deeper, think faster, and settle quicker.
He turned the corner into the main locker room, found it empty and dropped his duffel on the bench. The guys were scattered, some with the physical therapists, some in the gym, some with the coach.
But as he changed into workout clothes, his mind drifted to waking in an empty bed and a Kick-ass in the game tonight note on the dresser. That was the only part of his night with Mia that didn’t sit quite right with him. He tried to smooth down the edge of nerves by remembering that quiet moment, deep in the early morning hours, while they’d lain tangled together, sweaty and sated, she’d mentioned meeting a couple of girlfriends for breakfast. And despite staying awake and active until nearly five a.m., she’d still been gone when he’d awoken at seven o’clock.