Off Season (Off #6) (7 page)

“According to
him, I broke his heart. He’s apparently devastated,” she
says drily. I don’t hear an ounce of sympathy in her voice that
she may have just decimated this man.

That makes me feel
good, in some respects, but in others, it makes me feel a little bad,
because maybe Cady was a lot closer to this guy than I originally
thought. Which means… maybe she had been intimate with him.

I carefully
construct my next question. My voice is quiet when I say, “I
hadn’t realized you two had gotten so close.”

Then I brace myself
for her answer, my hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

“See, that’s
just it,” she says with exasperation. “We weren’t
close at all. We’d gone out maybe a handful of times, the
conversation was always awkward, and he would never do more than give
me a kiss on my cheek.”

Then she adds on
angrily, “So how in the hell could I have broken his heart?
It’s so dramatic, right?”

All the muscles in
my body relax in unison, and I let out a relieved chuckle. “Yeah…
sounds a bit dramatic to me.”

But in reality, if
this guy felt even one ounce of the way I feel for Cady, I could
understand why this would have hurt him a bit.

“So, you’re
swearing off men, huh?” I ask as I turn the car on and slip it
into drive.

“Definitely,”
she says with confidence. “They’re too much trouble.”

Laughing, I pull out
of the parking lot and start the short drive to my house, which is
only a few blocks away. It’s only mid-afternoon here in
Phoenix, and I’m regretting having spent a part of my day off
holed up in some bar.

“So, do you
ever have that problem with the women you date?” Cady asks
hesitantly. “You know… they feel more for you than you
feel for them?”

I ponder her
question for a moment, but the answer is easy. “I don’t
exactly date, so that’s never really been a problem.”

I hear Cady faintly
suck in her breath as she understands what I’m saying. “Oh,”
she says with… is that
sadness
in her voice? “I
guess a guy like you doesn’t have to worry about that, huh?”

I navigate through
my neighborhood, one hand casually on the steering wheel, the other
holding the phone and Cady’s insecurities up against my ear.

“A guy like
me?” I ask in a teasing tone.

“Yeah, you
know… a player. Mr. One-Night Stand.”

Ouch… okay,
hard to argue against that since that’s how we met.

“I’ll
admit… I’ve always sort of thought monogamy was a little
overrated.”

I pull in my
driveway, shut the car off, and listen to Cady’s soft breathing
on the other line. She doesn’t say a word, and I can actually
feel her brain on overdrive trying to comprehend what I just said.
She remains silent though, and my conscience gets the better of me.

“But…
Cady,” I reassure her in a low voice, “I haven’t
been with another woman since our night together.”

“Really?”
she asks, and is that…
happiness
I hear in her voice?
Definitely awe, but maybe a little bit of happiness.

“Really,”
I affirm. “Haven’t wanted to.”

“So what does
that mean?” she asks hesitantly.

“Fuck if I
know,” I tell her as I open my car door. “But what I
really want to know is… what are you wearing right now?”

Cady

Opening my eyes, I
reach my arms above my head and stretch my body long, arching my back
slightly. I punctuate it with a huge yawn and then rub at my eyes. A
quick glance at my alarm clock shows I’ve slept in a bit late,
but no worries. I don’t have any classes today and no other
obligations, but there is something I’m feeling compelled to do
at this very moment.

Sitting up, I fluff
my pillows behind my back and then reach over to grab my laptop off
my nightstand. I wait impatiently for it to boot up, feeling the whir
and grind of the processors against my legs where it rests.

When my email is
pulled up, I immediately start a new thread with Zane. Because as of
this morning, things are different between us.

To: Zane Kavanaugh

From: Cady Dunne

Subject: Good Morning

Date: November 13, 2014

I just woke up
and even though I know you’re still sleeping, because it’s
only 4AM there, I just wanted to let you know that I think you may
have ruined me. I know you’re a morning person, and that you’ll
probably be getting up in a few hours. I also know you have a home
game today, and I plan on watching it at The Hibernian. Thus, you are
busy and I don’t expect a response back, so just take this
email for what it is… simply a way to say… Damn…
that was fun. Can we do it again sometime?

Don’t feel
compelled to answer back right away. As I said, I know you’re
busy today and your head should be in the game, not thinking about
the things we did last night.

I, on the other
hand, think I shall just lay here in bed (I’m still naked, you
know?) and think about all the things you said to me last night, the
way you made me feel, and the things you made me do.

Yes, those are my
plans for today.

Yours,

Cady

I read quickly back
over my email, blushing at my forward nature, and feeling my blood
warm up from remembering what Zane and I did last night. Hitting
send
, I put my laptop down beside me on the bed and burrow
back under the covers.

Yes, I’m still
naked, because I had stripped down to nothing last night. I did that
because Zane demanded I do that, and how could I say “no”
to that rough-timbered voice and husky tone?

Zane threw me
off-kilter for a moment when he had asked me what I was wearing. I
was lying back on my couch and cast my eyes downward, taking in the
black leggings and long, cream-colored sweater along with my purple
Doc Marten’s.

Definitely not sexy
but I told him exactly what I was wearing. He replied, “Get
naked and get in bed. I’ll call you back in five minutes.”

Then he hung up on
me.

I stared at my phone
for a few moments, frozen in place. He wanted me to get naked? Then
he hung up on me?

Shaking my head in
confusion, but completely hypnotized by his commanding words and sexy
voice, I walked back to my bedroom and stripped down. I climbed under
my covers and felt completely awkward because I never sleep naked.
Not unless I spend an unbelievably exhausting sex-filled night with a
gorgeous hockey player who gave me so many orgasms that I didn’t
have the strength to pull on my pajamas.

True to his word,
Zane called back at the five-minute mark.

“Hello?”
I said stupidly, even though I knew it was him.

“Are you
naked?” he growled into the phone.

“Yes,” I
whispered, feeling my body start to heat up, beginning in that area
right between my legs.

“So am I,”
he murmured, and my phone chimed with an incoming text. “Put
your phone on speaker and then look at what I just sent you.”

Swallowing hard, I
did as he asked and had no doubt he heard my startled gasp when I
pulled up the photo he texted me.

It was of Zane…
gloriously naked and sprawled on his bed. It was a selfie and I
couldn’t see everything, but he took it by holding the phone
out to the side and I could see his hard chest, cut abs, and the
slope of his ass as it rested on his mattress. A bit of his thigh,
and yes… right there in the bottom left corner of the screen,
his hugely erect cock sticking straight up with his other hand
wrapped around it. His face was turned toward the camera and his eyes
were dark and heavy, lasered into me as I stared at the photo.

The warmth between
my legs went nuclear, and my empty hand strayed down my stomach.

“Send me a
picture,” Zane said.

“No,” I
said, my hand stopping midway. “I can’t.”

“You can,”
he asserts.

“I won’t.”

“You will.”

I didn’t say
anything… just stared at the sinful beauty of Zane Kavanaugh,
aching to be there with him.

“Please,”
he whispered, his voice thick with desire.

There was no way I
could resist his need, so I kicked off the covers, pulled up my
camera app, and positioned the camera. I arched my back a little to
push my breasts out and sucked in my stomach but, just before I
snapped the picture, Zane said, “Make sure your face is in it.”

My heart stuttered…
this man… he wanted to see my face. I knew he wanted to see my
naked body, but it was important for him to see my face. I almost
swooned at the thought.

I readjusted the
camera angle, and before I could chicken out, snapped the photo,
hoping my expression wasn’t too dorky.

Quickly texting the
photo, I laid back on the bed and just gazed at his picture a bit
more. Zane was quiet. Then he sucked in a harsh breath and murmured,
“Fucking beautiful.”

I smiled… my
soul feeling warmed by the reverence in his voice as he looked at my
photo.

“Okay, here’s
what we’re going to do, baby,” Zane said, and I pushed
myself up a little higher on my pillows in anticipation. “We’re
going to come together, but we’re going to do this slowly. I
want you to do exactly what I tell you to do, and in case you’re
wondering, I’m going to be telling you to touch your body. I’m
also going to tell you
how
to do it… exactly as I’ll
be envisioning it while I look at this sexy-as-fuck photo of you.
Okay?”

My legs kicked at
the remaining covers over me, baring my body to the cool air.

“Can I tell
you what to do to your body?” I asked, my voice coming out
raspy because my throat went dry the minute he said we were going to
come together.

“Not this
time, baby,” he said, and I could imagine the gentle smile on
his face. “I just want you to lay back, enjoy, and do what I
tell you. Trust me… it’s going to get me off too, but
this is my show right now.”

“Okay,”
I said in complete capitulation.

I put the phone down
on the pillow near my head so I could hear him, freeing up both my
hands. Because something told me… I’d need both my
hands.

Then Zane started
talking… his voice low, soft… sexy as hell. He gave me
excruciating detail as to what he wanted me to do to my body,
demanding every so often that I tell him what I was feeling. His
words were filthy, causing my breath to come out in sharp little
bursts and my hips to undulate off the bed. He could hear my
reactions and every once in a while, he’d let his own groan
slip out, so I knew that he was getting close as well.

And just as he said…
our sexual synchronization was perfect and we came blissfully
together. He gave a hoarse shout and cursed while I moaned long and
low, my toes literally curling because the pleasure was so intense.

Both of us panted
softly for a while, coming down off the climactic high.

“Did that feel
good, Cady?”

My hand reached for
the phone and I turned the speakerphone off, bringing it to my ear.
“Amazing. You?”

“That was the
hardest I ever came by my own hand before. Didn’t think that
was even possible.”

I giggled and tucked
one hand behind my head. “I’ve never done anything like
that before. It was so awkward at first, but then I just got lost in
your voice and everything became so intense.”

“Next time,
you’ll get to lead.”

“Let’s
get that puppy scheduled,” I said with a laugh.

He chuckled into the
phone, and then his voice dipped again… so fucking hot. “Next
time, we should do that on Skype.”

“No way,”
I exclaimed, my face burning over the thought of him watching me on
video.

“Yes,”
he asserted.

“I can’t.”

“You can.”

“I won’t.”

“Oh, you
definitely will,” he said ominously, and I knew damn well that
I would.

Both of us were
silent again, and the reality started to sink into me. I just had
amazing phone sex, and yet… that was all I’d ever have
with Zane. A wave of blue-tinged dejection washed over me, and tears
even started misting my eyes.

“So, when are
you coming to visit?” Zane says out of the blue. “Thanksgiving
weekend would be great because we’ve got a home game the day
after Thanksgiving that you could come to. I’d love for you to
watch me play live.”

“Visit?”
I asked, not in surprise at the idea, because we had talked about it
before via email. But rather more like a light bulb sort of went on
and chased away my depression. “Yeah… I think I could
swing that. Let me check the cost of flights, and as you suggested, I
could fly out on Thursday… maybe even Wednesday if I cut my
classes.”

Zane laughed. “I’m
such a bad influence on my girl.”

Smiling, I twirled a
finger in my hair. “Is that what I am? Your girl?”

“Yeah, Cady…
that’s what you are. From the moment I first fucked you.”

Zane

November 27, 2014

My nerves are
buzzing as I stand in the airport lobby, watching the flow of people
that come down an escalator from the upper level. I know Cady’s
flight landed fifteen minutes ago, and I know she’s only
bringing a carry-on, so I surmise that she’ll be coming down
that escalator probably any moment now.

Mere words can’t
describe my excitement over seeing her. Something happened between us
two weeks ago that’s changed everything. I’m not sure if
it was when I admitted to her that I haven’t been with another
woman since we met, or if it was that unbelievably hot phone sex we
had, or maybe it was when I told her she was my girl. I can’t
pinpoint the exact moment, but all I know is that I woke up the next
day and I felt committed.

Didn’t matter
that my girl was in Ireland and I was in Arizona. Didn’t matter
that I had no clue how to make this work, or if there could possibly
be a happily ever after for either of us. All I know is that when I
woke up, my first thoughts were of Cady and how right things felt.