Page 77 of Westward

We’d groaned in unison as he paused so I could stretch to accommodate him. It had been a couple of weeks, and no amount of phone sex or sexting would ever compete with the real thing.

We went slow at first, me taking every inch of him with each measure, and then it was hard and fast, both of us trying to breathe. He positioned us again, so he was sitting, and I rode him, his hands on my breasts, and I bounced up and down, trying to keep my rhythm. It was hard, fast, and I couldn’t think. All that mattered was that I had Atlas, and I wasn’t letting him go. No matter what random commenters thought.

He didn’t care, and I didn’t either.

And when I came again, my body shook, but I kept moving, needing him to follow. He finally came, filling me, and we both sat there, holding each other as we tried to catch our breaths.

“Baby,” he whispered.

“That’s one way to say hello,” I teased, kissing up and down his neck.

“I’m glad that I stretch before games, because we haven’t even started yet.”

I looked down at him, sweat slick and already a little tired from traveling.

“What?”

“What? Did you think that we were just one and done? We still haven’t had sex on every piece of furniture in this house. There’s that surface over there that hasn’t had your ass on it.”

I shuddered. “I realize you have a cleaning service, but they don’t need to know that.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

And then he was carrying me to the bedroom, and his mouth was on me, and I couldn’t think.

We’d had stolen moments, but this time we got to focus just on each other.

When he held me in his arms, and I came again, with him sliding deep inside me, I knew he was my home.

No matter where we ended up in the future.

I was only slightly nervous, okay, very nervous. This wasn’t my first game as the girlfriend of Atlas Carter, but it was still a little scary.

Atlas would be on the ice soon, and I stood in the family area with the rest of the wives, girlfriends, and family members of those on the ice and on the team staff.

“I’m so glad that you’re here,” Danielle said as she hugged me tightly. “Reynolds has been singing your praises, mostly because Atlas is on fire.”

“Seriously, whatever you’re doing to keep him happy, keep at it,” one of the other wives said.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m pretty sure Atlas could do this all on his own. But I am glad that I’m here. I love hockey.”

“I’m glad that you do, because you’ll be entrenched in it for a while now,” another woman said. I was still learning all of their names, but I would get it down. After all, I had countless students’ names to learn every year, so I would make this work.

This was Atlas’s life, Atlas’s family, and just like he had gone full tilt into my life in Ashford Creek, I would do the same for him. And if he didn’t retire, and he wanted to stay in Portland, this would be my home.

It wasn’t a sacrifice, not when I had my own life and authority. I wasn’t some young girl, following the dreams of someone else and not able to realize my own. I was no longer being left behind.

And no matter what others thought, this was exactly what we both needed.

“There’s more than a few reporters out there,” a blonde woman with sky-high heels and a perfectly done-up face said as she came forward and hugged me tightly. “We’ll make sure that they don’t get near you.”

“Thank you, Hannah. Seriously.”

“Don’t worry about it. They don’t get to come near the families. One of them tried to come near my kid once, and well, they’re just lucky that I have done my best to keep the Jersey out of me after all these years,” she said with a laugh. Others joined in, and I smiled.

“You’re the first woman that Atlas has ever brought around to us, and he always spoke of you. When he spoke of town, he spoke of his friends, and people that mattered, and you were it,” Danielle said with a shrug. “We protect our people. He protects you, and we make sure that our team is healthy.”

I looked around this group of women and felt a kindred spirit. Maybe my life would’ve been a little different if I had started out like this, and I’d had years with these people at my side, but that wasn’t how it was meant to be, and that was okay.