Page 61 of Hockey Nanny

I blinked, confused.

“Uh, any time you’re ready,” he added, the bar wobbling as his arms shook.

I moved, finally catching on, and positioned myself to help him lift the bar onto the rack just as it threatened to slip.

“That was close,” he said, coming up to sit.

I settled in front of him, straddling the bench so our knees touched. He tilted his head, eyes lingering on my chest, and I caught the glint of interest there. How he must’ve noticed the faint outline of the tips of my nipples through my camisole.

My stomach fluttered, heat creeping over me, liking that he saw me like this.

“What would you have done if I weren’t here?” I asked, teasing him a little.

He looked at me, and I could see the calculation there. “Whatareyou doing here?”

“I told you, I—”

“You couldn’t sleep, yeah. But what’s the real reason?” His gaze held mine, and I knew he wouldn’t let me get away with anything less than the truth. To my surprise, though, he made it easy for me. “Let me take a wild guess… It’s Dawson.”

I laughed nervously, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “What makes you say that?”

He leaned closer, the faint scent of him and sweat and unfiltered masculinity filling the space. “You’re worried about coming between him and Boone. Maybe a little worried that dividing your attention could turn them against you in the end.”

I couldn’t answer immediately, struck by how simply he’d articulated the truth I hadn’t been able to admit to myself.

“I’m not imagining things,” I said finally. “Dawson’s been distant, and I know it’s because of me.”

“Dawson’s default setting is distant. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you,” Gage said softly.

I knew he’d meant for the light touch of his fingers on my leg to be comforting, but all it did was awaken the fire brewing in me. The one he’d started in the pillow fort, when he chickened out of kissing me.

I hesitated, then forced the words out. “Then there’s Boone. He doesn’t hide anything about how he feels, and I just… I just…”

“Don’t want to hurt him,” he finished for me.

I dropped my eyes to my hands. He was quiet, but the way he listened, understood, made it easier to admit things I’d been holding back.

Gage shifted closer on the bench. A single finger lifted my chin, tilting my face so I’d look at him. The look in his eyes stole my breath—raw and uncompromising. His hand moved to my cheek, and I leaned into the touch.

“Everyone in this house loves you, and they’d all bend over backwards if you asked them to,” he said.

“Even you?”

“Even me.”

I turned my head, pressing my lips to the palm of his hand.

“Carissa…” he warned.

I pressed further, sliding my lips up to the inside of his wrist. “Tell me to stop and I will.”

He swallowed hard, gaze locked on mine. I knew that look, and a faint smile drifted onto my lips. I continued, kissing my way up his arm until I reached the crook of his elbow.

With a suddenness that made me gasp, he wrenched his arm from me, hooked his hands behind my knees, and pulled me right up against him so my legs dangled over his. My body hit his, every inch of us pressed together, and before I could catch my breath, his mouth was on mine.

The kiss was everything we’d been holding back. Aggression tempered by a sweet tenderness I didn’t know he was capable of. I became aware of every nerve ending, every pulse of him against me. His hands slid along my back, coaxing me closer, and I melted into him, my fingers tangling in his hair.

The kiss deepened, and it wasn’t just about lips or tongues. It was every part of him pressed against me, every heartbeatechoing through my chest. His hard-on strained in his shorts, and I felt the undeniable shape of him pressing against my pussy. I rocked my hips once, then again, grinding against him to feel more of that delicious friction that got me all hot and wet.