“Trust me, my mind is very open.”
“Your heart isn’t.” His tone was so gentle she suddenly felt like crying.
She drifted over to the railing, curling her fingers over the cool steel. Brody moved so they were standing side by side, but she couldn’t look at him. She knew exactly where this conversation was going, and she had no idea how to proceed.
“I think we have something really good here,” he said gruffly, resting his hand on hers and stroking her knuckles. “You’ve got to admit we’re good together. Sexually, sure, but in other areas, too. We never run out of things to talk about, we enjoy each other’s company, we make each other laugh.”
She finally turned her head and met his eyes. “I know we’re good together, okay?”
It was incredibly hard admitting it, but it was the truth. Brody made her body sing, he made her heart soar, and she couldn’t imagine any other man doing that. But she also couldn’t imagine them ever having a stable life together.
“But I want someone I can build a home with.” Tears pricked her eyelids. “I want to have kids, and a white picket fence, a dog. I did the whole hockey lifestyle as a kid. I don’t want to be sitting on airplanes for half the year. And when I have children, I don’t want to be home alone with them while their father is gone.”
He was silent for a moment. “I won’t play hockey forever,” he said finally.
“Do you plan on retiring soon?”
After a beat of hesitation, he said, “No.”
Disappointment thundered inside her, but really, what was she expecting? That he’d throw his arms around her and say, Yes, Hayden, I’ll retire! Tomorrow! Now! Let’s build a life together!
It wasn’t fair to ask him to give up a career he obviously loved, but she also wasn’t willing to give up her own goals and dreams. She knew what she wanted from a relationship, and no matter how much she loved being with Brody, he couldn’t give that to her.
“I wish you’d reconsider.” He shifted her around and moved closer so that his body was flush against hers. “Fuck, we fit so well together.”
She rubbed her pelvis against his. They did fit. Even though he was a head taller, their bodies seemed to mesh in the most basic way, and when he was inside her... God, when he was inside her she’d never felt more complete.
A soft moan escaped her lips at the delicious image of Brody filling her, and suddenly the tension of the day drained from her body and dissolved into a pool of warmth between her legs. Suddenly, everything they’d just been talking about didn’t seem to matter. Brody’s job, her need for stability—it all faded away the moment he pressed his body to hers.
“Let’s not talk anymore,” she whispered. “Please, Brody, no more talking.”
Her arousal must have been written all over her face because he ran his hands down her back and squeezed her ass. “You’ve got a one-track mind,” he grumbled.
“Says the man who’s fondling my ass,” she murmured, relieved that the tension had eased. The heavy weight of the painful revelations they’d just shared floated away like a feather.
Brody bent his head and covered her mouth with his. The kiss took her breath away, made her sag into his rock-hard chest as his greedy tongue explored the crevices of her mouth. Keeping one hand on her ass, he moved the other one to the front of her pants. He deftly popped open the button and tugged at the thin material. Pulling back, he pushed her pants off her body, waited for her to step out of them, then tossed them aside.
Goose bumps rose on her thighs the second the night air hit her skin. She wore a pair of black bikini panties that Brody quickly disposed of.
“Your neighbors can see us,” she protested when he reached for her thin sweater.
“Not where we’re going.” He quickly removed her sweater and bra, then lifted her into his arms and headed for the steps of the deck.
Laughing, Hayden wriggled in his embrace, self-conscious about her naked body being carried around in his backyard, but he kept a tight grip on her. Quickening his strides, he moved across the grass toward the gazebo, ascended the small set of stairs and set her on her feet.
Her heels made a clicking noise as they connected with the cedar floor of the little structure. She looked around the gazebo, admiring the intricate woodwork and plush white love seat tucked in the corner. When she turned back to Brody, he was as naked as she was.
She laughed. “Let me guess, sex in the gazebo is one of your fantasies?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ve wanted to do this since the moment this damn thing was built.”
“What, none of your hockey groupies ever wanted to do it in the wilderness of your backyard?” she teased.
“I’ve never brought a woman home before.”
She forced her jaw to stay closed. Was he serious? He’d never brought a woman home before? The implications of that statement troubled her, but she didn’t feel like dwelling on them now. Like she’d said before, no more talking.
Right now, all she wanted to do was fulfill this gorgeous man’s fantasy.
TWENTY-SIX
He’d startled her with his admission. He’d seen it in Hayden’s eyes the moment he confessed to never bringing a woman home, but fortunately that flicker of wariness had faded. Her eyes now glimmered with desire, and he loved that she wasn’t complaining about the way he’d stripped her naked and carried her out to the gazebo.
Christ, she turned him on in the fiercest way. He’d sensed the untamed passion in her the moment they’d met. Experienced it that first night when he’d fucked her on the hallway floor. Reveled in it the night she’d tied him up to her bed and devoured his body.
She was full of surprises, and he couldn’t get enough of her. He loved her sass and her intelligence and her dry humor, the way she challenged him and aroused him and made him feel like more than just a hockey player.
“So what does the fantasy involve?” she asked curiously, resting her hands on her bare hips.
He swept his gaze over every curve of her body, trying to put his needs into words. He had no idea how the fantasy played out, only that his hands tingled with the urge to fondle her full, perky tits and slip between her firm thighs.
The night breeze grew stronger, snaking into the gazebo and making his cock swell and thicken as the warm air caressed it. The wind also succeeded in hardening Hayden’s pretty pink nipples, which now stood up as if demanding his attention.
But instead of reaching out to touch her, he cleared his throat and said, “Lie down on the love seat.”
There was no objection. Her high heels clacked against the floor as she walked over to the small couch and draped herself over the cushions. When she reached for the clasp on her right shoe, he held up his hand.
“Leave them on,” he ordered.
