Gloves Off: a marriage of convenience hockey romance (Vancouver Storm Book 4)

“My room,” I murmur against his mouth as he sets me down on his bed.

If we mess around in his room, it’s going to feel too—I don’t know. Like we’re married for real or something.

“No.”

Kneeling on the floor while I sit on the edge of the bed, he deepens the kiss, hot and searching, his stubble brushing my skin while he takes my heels off. It’s intensely familiar—did he do this the other night, after the bar? When my top comes off, his expression turns arrogant and pleased.

“Wearing the stuff I bought you, huh?”

“You know I like nice things. The designer did a good job.”

“The designer didn’t choose those, Hellfire.” He unbuttons my jeans and I lift my hips so he can pull them off. “I did.”

I blink. “You did?”

“Uh-huh.” His eyes trail down me, dark with heat and lust. The front of his pants tents—he’s hard again? “I told you. Buying you things makes me feel a certain way.”

He stares at my chest before his gaze drops to between my thighs, jaw clenching like he resents the lace for blocking his view. “Seeing you wrapped up in something I bought you, seeing you feel like the fucking knockout you are,” he rakes a hand through his hair, “I don’t know, Georgia. I like it too much.”

Oh god. It’s hard to remember why all of this is a bad idea.

“Alexei?”

Our eyes meet.

“Enough talking.”

“Agreed.”

Our mouths crash together again in a hard, fast kiss. While he kneels and I sit, we’re the same height, and my hands thread into his hair while he devours me. Every hot slide of his tongue pulls a noise from me, high and needy. Every tug of his hair has him making this low, addictive noise in his throat, like he can’t get enough.

He takes my bra off, pulling away to stare at my tits before he lets out a heavy, frustrated breath. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

His lips meet my collarbones, palming my breasts, weighing them, finding the stiff peaks, playing with them, winding me up as if I’m a toy. All I can do is sit here, eyes open but staring at nothing as Alexei lavishes attention on my tits.

Every pull of his lips on the peaks tugs on an intimate muscle deep inside me. Have I always been this sensitive? I don’t usually get wet from a guy touching my nipples, but no one has ever run their tongue over me with that expression—like I’m water in a desert. Like he’s discovering something new and life-changing. Like this is all he needs. Arousal gathers between my legs, and while he explores me, I do the same, pulling his shirt off, running my hands over the hard muscle of his shoulders and arms.noveldrama

I guess he likes that, because his eyes meet mine before he latches onto one aching peak, and he sucks hard. My lips part, my eyes close, and I sigh as heat spills through me.

God, this is fucking good. I should be furious that he knows exactly how to play me, that he’s just as skilled with my body as he is on the ice, but I don’t have the mental space to care.

He makes an impatient noise before I’m flat on my back, panties yanked down my legs and his thumb pressing against my clit. My hips lift—it’s too intense, too good, holy shit—and his mouth catches the high, desperate sound I make before he’s kneeling again between my legs, pressing my knees farther apart to make room for him as his lips brush up my inner thighs. He’s doing these little biting scrapes in between soft, open-mouth kisses, drawing breathy noises from me. His hands slip beneath my backside, palming and squeezing me. My clit aches, desperate for attention again, but he denies me, taking his time.

This is different, a tiny voice whispers in my head. Alexei treats me like I’m something rare, something to be enjoyed and savored. Something to remember. A pinch of fear disperses through me, but I’m too turned on to care.

He’s almost at the crest of my thighs when hesitation tenses through my body. I jolt, sitting up, reaching to push him away. His hands come to my wrists, though, banding them together.

“Alexei.”

“Mmm.” He sounds drugged, like he’s not in his right mind. “Don’t interrupt, Hellfire. Busy.” He’s a fraction of an inch from my center. The alarm blares louder, every muscle going taut.

“Alexei, stop.”

At the panicked edge to my voice, he freezes, looking up at me. Eyes glazed but alert. “What?”

His hands loosen around my wrists as I pull them apart and press into his shoulder, pushing him away, but it’s like trying to move a brick wall.

“It’s okay.”

He stares at me.

“We don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.” His tone and expression are confused. Irritated, even. Like I’m taking away his toy.

“I don’t.”

Heat rises to the surface of my skin. It’s an old bruise that never healed. I really don’t want to, Liam had said with a repulsed wince.

I haven’t done this since. Some guys have offered, and when I say no, they shrug and we move on to other things. Things where I’m not open and exposed.

Alexei’s eyes narrow with competition and challenge, like he wants to fight me on this.

“Fine.” His searching expression falls away, and I almost sink in relief.

Instead of climbing on top of me, he gets up and prowls out of the room. I stare at the empty doorway, thoughts suspended in the air—what’s he doing? Heavy footsteps. A drawer opens. Is he in my room? A moment later, he strides back in, holding my vibrator with a slant to his mouth.

“I knew you’d have something like this in your bedside table.”

“What else am I supposed to do when I wake up in the middle of the night, turned on from sex dreams about Dr. Handsome?”

His jaw flexes, and I press my lips together so I don’t smile.

“I know you’re messing with me,” he walks over slowly, and my gaze drops to his erection distorting the front of his pants, “but you’re still going to pay for that.”

Thrills run through me, landing at my center. The worry of what we almost did evaporates as he settles on the bed beside me, propped on his elbow.

“Here’s the game, Georgia.”

My stomach dips at the way he says my name. Possessive and dominant. For a moment, I forget to hate it.

“You say please, and I give you more.”

Another shivering thrill. His dark eyes roam my body before our gazes meet.

“Why don’t you just make me come, like a good boy?”

He laughs. I’m a tiny guppy picking a fight with a shark.

“That’s not how this works,” he tells me. “You do what I say, and I reward you.”

Another burst of heat pulses through me. I wish I didn’t like that so much.

“Why can’t we just fuck like normal people?” I ask, almost desperately.

“I have a theory. You want to hear it?”

“No.”

“Too bad. I think you need it rougher than you realize. You need to be told what to do, and rewarded for it. You need to hand control over to someone you trust.”

Someone I trust. I swallow hard. “That isn’t you.”

“We’ll get there.” He winks before he lowers his mouth to my breast and drags his tongue over me.

Molten heat rolls through me—it’s like there’s a tether between my nipples and my ladyparts, tugging and tightening as he works his tongue and teeth over my nerve endings. With his free hand, he explores me, trailing over my waist, stomach, the inside of my knee, inches from my center. My breathing turns rapid, my eyes close, and need trickles into my blood.

After a few minutes of this, I squirm with desire and impatience. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Do you need a refresher on the rules?”

“The clit is at the top.”

A quick grin before he nips the underside of my breast. “The word is please, sweetheart.”

He has me so worked up, so wet and frustrated, I can barely stand it.

“Fine,” I spit out. “Fuck. Fine. Please.” I stare at the ceiling, nostrils flaring. I hate losing.

The low buzzing begins, and he presses the toy to my clit. I arch, forgetting that I said please, forgetting that I lost, because pleasure races through me, sharp and sparkling, and it doesn’t really feel like losing.

It feels incredible. My nails dig into his arms, my forehead pressing to his chest as I breathe hard. He’s drawn this out so much that I’m already close.

“Was that so bad?” he murmurs in my ear.

“Shut up,” I whisper. “Just shut up and make me come.”

He pulls the toy away, and my hips lift, chasing it while his eyes spark.

“One more.”

I’m going to explode. “Alexei!”

“Come on, sweetheart. Indulge me. I love it so much.”

“I hate you.”

“Mhm.”

“Are you actually enjoying this more than me sucking your cock?”

He laughs into my neck. Not an answer. Annoying.

“Fine. Please.” The toy returns to my clit and I moan, back arching as a tight, crackling feeling swells inside me.

“Good girl.”

I’m starting to shake, tightening around nothing, getting slick all over my inner thighs. I wish we could go back to hating each other. Everything was simple and easy back then. He pushes me back down on the bed, and at the intensity in his gaze, I close my eyes, turning my head so I don’t give in to the urge to kiss him.

“Look at me.” His voice is a low growl, his breathing ragged.

“Shut up, Volkov. I’m pretending you’re someone else.” I tilt my hips for more friction against the toy but he pulls it away.

His hand threads through the hair at the back of my head and he grips, hard, before he turns my head to face him. I shiver in pleasure.

“Look at me,” he grits out.

Our eyes meet, his dark, dominant, and clouded with lust. I hate being told what to do, but my toes curl. My hands fist the duvet. I can’t get a full breath, and around the base of my spine, heat gathers.

He presses the toy against me again, and a jolt of lust spikes through my body. He’s so different from every guy I’ve been with. Liam was lazy and selfish, and everyone since has been hesitant and deferential, letting me take the lead and control every aspect.

I hate that this works for me. I hate that nothing will compare to this.

The corner of his cruel mouth slides up. “Good girl. What a good wife you are.”

The pleasure spills over. My lips part, my scalp prickles from his grip, and I come hard around nothing, clamping down as waves of heat pound through me. My thoughts blank out, my whole body tenses, and my nerves tear apart as I ride out the wave, holding his eyes the entire time. His gaze sharpens, watching me come for him, flashing with possession I shouldn’t find so hot.

“A little longer,” he says when I think I can’t take it anymore, and I have the disgusting urge to do what he says. “Just for me.”

I make a high, desperate noise as the toy buzzes against me, holding on to the last shreds of myself, before he tosses it aside and I collapse on the bed. I’ve barely taken one heaving breath before he kisses me, hard and consuming. The kiss slows, turning gentle and soft, and I don’t have the brain cells to care that we shouldn’t be kissing like this. That we probably shouldn’t be doing any of this.

He breaks away, looking down at me with an expression I can’t read.

“Just to be clear, you’re not mad about practice tonight.”

I burst out laughing, and I catch the corner of his grin as he buries his face into my neck. That orgasm obviously knocked something loose in my head. We don’t joke like this. Maybe this is all a weird dream, with some version of Alexei conjured by my subconscious.

“Perfect, Hellfire,” he says into my hair, and my chest swells. “That was . . . I think I died.”

“I’m glad.”

“That I died?”

I laugh. “No. I’m glad you enjoyed it. And thank you for organizing the practice tonight.”

He pulls back to search my eyes, brows knitting together. “I didn’t do it because I wanted this.”

“I know,” I add quickly. “I know you didn’t.”

That just made me want to do it more.

“I don’t want this to be a transaction.” He swallows, holding my gaze. “Don’t do something unless you want it.”

I press my palm over his mouth. Yes, I lost the game tonight, but defeat had its rewards, and I’m overcome with the urgent need to make sure Alexei knows this. “I wanted to. I promise.”

He lets out a breath, studying my face, and my pulse does a weird gallop, off beat and uneven. Too intimate, the warning voice whispers.

I should go back to my bed. I start to get up, but his arm bands around me, pulling me to his chest.

“No.”

“I won’t sleepwalk tonight.” A rush of vulnerability hits me, and I’m glad he can’t see my face. He knows why I sleepwalk, and there was no game tonight. He didn’t get hurt, so I’ll sleep soundly.

“We shouldn’t risk it.” A scrape of teeth over my shoulder. “I’d feel better with you in here.”

I ignore the way my heart skips a beat. “You just want to fool around in the morning.”

He doesn’t care about me. This isn’t anything.

“I do want to fool around in the morning.” His mouth curves against my skin. “But I’d also feel better with you here.”

“You’re actually asking? What happened to the big bad enforcer? You said you were going to get rid of my bed. I’m surprised it’s still even there.”

He hesitates. “I’m trying not to make decisions about my wife without her input.”

A warm flush moves through me and I suck in a deep breath. He’s just doing this because . . . I don’t know. I’m having a hard time thinking of reasons, after that orgasm. “Fine.”

“Thank you,” he says, like I’m doing him a favor.

He pulls the duvet over us, tucks me against his warm torso, and in seconds, I’m out.