Chapter 14
Ryan was putting his hockey gear on at the Pirates' training facility with a smile on his face. He couldn't help it. Preseason training didn't officially start until next week, but a few of the guys had begun to come in early to get a jump on the season and make sure they would be in the best shape for opening night.
The team's captain Jordan King was there, of course. Ever since he got the "C" on his jersey, he had taken his job as captain very seriously. He felt he had to lead by example, and that included coming in early to make sure the team was ready for the new season. So Ryan had to follow his lead and it was turning out to be a good idea.
His time with Lucy was also a good idea for him. Last night, he was alone in his apartment reading a mystery thriller by Sue Grafton, who wrote a whole series of books with each title starting with a different letter of the alphabet. He was only onB is for Burglar, but he was hoping to make it to the end of the alphabet by the end of the season. He was also hoping the end of the season would be in June with him lifting the championship trophy over his head.
He was just about to start a new chapter when he heard a quiet knock on his door. He wasn't expecting anyone so of course he was laying around in boxer briefs. But he had learned from that first morning with Lucy to keep an extra pair of sweatpants by his door just for something like this.
Ryan pulled himself off the couch and looked through the peephole of the door, a smile spreading across his face. He wouldn't need the sweatpants.
"Well, hello, Ms. Evans," he said as he swung the door open with a flourish.
Lucy's eyes went wide and she looked too stunned to even say anything. Then she quickly glanced down the hallway in both directions before hustling into his apartment. The door shut behind her as she pushed him up against the kitchen counter, shoving her tongue in his mouth in one of the hottest kisses he had ever had — and he had a lot of hot kisses from her in the past week.
But then she pulled away, looking rather hot and bothered.
"Why did you answer the door like that?" she asked him.
"Calling you 'Ms. Evans' you mean?" he asked with a lopsided smile. "Well, I was trying to be polite."
"I mean in your underwear. Is that how you answer the door for everyone now?"
He gave her an incredulous look. "Of course not! I only answer the door like this for you."
Apparently, that was the right thing to say because it led to her shoving off his boxers, pushing him onto a bar stool, and giving him a mind-numbing blow job. And being the gentleman he was, he generously reciprocated. The barstools were the perfect height for something like that and he had to give Lucy credit for her idea. To be fair, he also had to give himself credit for answering the door in his boxers. Now that he knew that was the kind of reaction he would get, he would probably be stripping all his clothes off before he opens the door if he saw Lucy on the other side of that peephole.
Of course, that didn't help so much this morning when she woke up early to untangle herself from him and roll out of bed to go to work. Still, there was something about that long hair of hers cascading over her bare back as she got up this morning that made Ryan start to think naughty things and wondering when he would see her again. Maybe he would text her after practice about dinner tonight.
There's a new barbecue place that just opened, he would tell her.
Then he would find a way to get some extra barbecue sauce and do what he wanted to do with her back in June by dripping some of that sweet sauce on her body and licking it off of her bre—
"McCloud!"
"What the hell?"
He looked up to see Logan Moore staring at him. "Hey, dummy. Are you going to come out on the ice or not?"
Ryan took a breath to compose himself and remember what was going on right now. He was wearing his gear at the Pirates' training rink and sitting in his locker looking like a complete fool daydreaming about a woman. But damn, it was a good dream.
"Yeah, I'm coming," he mumbled.
He pulled himself up and grabbed his jersey, yanking it on as he heard Lucy's voice echoing in his head from last night.
"Oh fuck, Ryan. I'm coming!"
If he wasn't so dedicated to playing hockey and winning the championship this season, he would be saying to hell with all of this and tracking down Lucy wherever she was in the city to do whatever he could to make her yell that out again. It wouldn't matter if it was on top of her desk at work or a janitor's closet or some stairwell. That woman was sexy hot and he couldn't forget that.
But for now, he had no choice but to push those thoughts aside and hit the ice. Maybe he would have to see the sports therapist Jordan brought in to get some mental relief from all this. Learn how to compartmentalize and keep his hockey life separate from his personal life. Because he was going to be way too distracted on the ice this season if all he did was scan the crowd looking for Lucy licking nacho cheese off her fingers.
Plus, for the first time since the end of the regular season, it felt good to be a hockey player. No more extra stress from the playoffs. No more feeling depressed and weighed down by the loss at the end of the season. He had hope now. He could feel the cold air rushing into his lungs as he started to do laps around the rink, his arms and legs moving in harmony together on his skates. This felt so natural to him. It felt like this is where he belonged again. So Ryan did everything the coaches and his teammates threw at him. Sprints. Puck handling. Shooting skills. Endurance drills. He did all of it and he loved all of it.
By the time he got off the ice, he was sweating buckets and worn out. He definitely needed a shower to get the stench of practice off of him followed by a trip to the training room to check with Andy on some possible abdominal work off the ice. Last year, Andy had to rush Ryan to the hospital when he needed an emergency appendectomy. It meant Ryan might need some extra workouts to strengthen that area of his abs after having major surgery to pull out an organ, albeit an apparently unnecessary one.
It was nice having a locker room that had hot water whenever Ryan wanted it. Much better than the rink he grew up playing in at home. He took many cold showers in that dump. Well, it was a dump until he made it to the NHL, became the good hometown boy, and started raising money to upgrade the place. He wasn't a prima donna about it and never made demands or anything, but he did ask that they spend some of the money raised that first year to upgrade the hot water heaters for the showers.
"McCloud."
