I grinned over my shoulder. “You okay?”

  “Uh-huh. Holy…” He sounded deliciously dazed. After he’d started to catch his breath, he carefully pulled out. “I’m, uh… I’m gonna go get rid of this.”

  I nodded. “Take your time.”

  As he left for the bathroom, I rolled onto my back. For a moment, I indulged in just grinning to myself. Getting booked by Parker had to be the result of the cosmos balancing out some sort of bullshit from the past. Maybe that dickhole CEO. Or that oblivious “socialite.” Maybe that guy I’d been with exactly one time who now had like six notes from various Gentlemen about how he wasn’t worth the bullshit unless you were charging at least third tier.

  Well, whatever. Guys like Parker were everything I loved about this job, and he could keep booking me for as long as it took him to feel confident in bed.

  He returned after a minute or so, and as he came into the room, he stared down at me, lips apart and eyes huge.

  Lounging against the pillows and touching myself, I grinned.

  Neither of us said a word. He just joined me in bed, and in no time, he was kissing me in that way I loved, and his hand had taken over for mine. It was this kind of thing that sometimes made me forget I was with a client at all. It really didn’t feel like work when I was pressed up against a hot, naked man who was stroking me slowly and kissing me like this.

  “Let me suck you off,” he mumbled between kisses. “That’s… I’ve been thinking about that for days.”

  My skin instantly broke out in goose bumps, but I played it cool. “Yeah? Don’t let me stop you.”

  He grinned against my lips and kissed me once more. Then he started down my neck, and I watched, my body still trembling from being fucked and now with the anticipation of his mouth on my dick.

  And oh, he did not disappoint. He was tentative at first, which I expected, but all it took was a few soft moans and murmurs of “oh yeah” and “that’s good” to egg him on. With that encouragement, he found his stride, and though he was still unsure about deep-throating, he was amazing at everything I liked better anyway. Licking the head. Stroking the shaft. Teasing my balls. Deep-throating was fine and good, but this was the good stuff.

  “Parker,” I murmured, spreading my thighs wider. “Use your fingers.”

  He looked up. “My fingers?”

  “Mmhmm. You already fucked me, so…” I pantomimed pushing in two fingers.

  He got the message. Shifting onto one arm, he brought his hand up and slid a couple of fingers into me. “Like that?”

  “Oh, yeah.” I closed my eyes, and I moaned as he teased me inside. Again as he started licking my dick. “Yeah, that’s it. Fuck.”

  He hummed around my cock, and though he was still a little tentative, he was gaining confidence with every stroke of his tongue or his fingers. He was such a fast learner. An eager one, too. Holy hell.

  I pushed myself up on my elbows so I had a better view. My God, he was sexy. He was anyway, but earnestly going down on me was a damn good look on him.

  Careful not to push his head down, I ran my fingers through his dark hair, which made him shiver and groan, so I did it again. The goose bumps were visible from here, and the way he doubled down on blowing me had me nearly levitating off the bed.

  “That’s good,” I breathed. “You like that?”

  The thrum of his voice against my sensitive skin was almost as arousing as the obvious affirmative. I murmured encouragement, though he didn’t seem to need it. Not with as eagerly as he licked and stroked and fingered me. Fuck, I lived for men who were this turned on by giving head.

  “You keep that up,” I said, surprised I could still enunciate, “you’re gonna make me come.” When he didn’t let up, I added, “You want me to come like this?”

  The sound he made was unmistakably a yes.

  I dragged my fingers through his hair again, still careful not to put any pressure on his head, and I whispered, “Keep doing that. Yeah, keep… Fuck.”

  Oh, he kept doing it, and he kept doing it so good. I’d been with guys who’d sucked plenty of dicks and weren’t this amazing. Skill and practice went a long way, but there was no substitute for pure, earnest enthusiasm. For blowing a man as if your entire life had been leading up to this moment. The way he moaned… The way his grip tightened whenever he shivered… The eagerness in those gray eyes whenever they flicked up to meet mine…

  My fingers twitched in his hair, and I realized a second too late that I’d probably pulled, but the low groan said that was a feature, not a bug. So I did it again. And he groaned again. His fingers curled just right inside me, and his tongue did something around the head of my cock that had my other head spinning so fast, it was a miracle I didn’t pass out.

  “That’s it…” I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m gonna come. Gonna… Oh God.”

  And he pumped me just a little harder, and licked me for all he was worth, and—

  “Oh… fuck!” My hips bucked. My head fell back on the pillow, and I’ll be damned if Parker didn’t take me even higher with another throaty moan as he kept me coming until I didn’t have a damn thing left. “S-stop. That’s… That’s enough.”

  He lifted himself up, and as he slid his fingers from my ass, he grinned down at me. “That was fucking hot.”

  “Uh-huh. You’re telling me. Now get down here.”

  He leaned over me, but he hesitated. “I, um…”

  I grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him. I’d dated guys who didn’t like kissing post-BJ, but I wasn’t one of them, and Parker clearly didn’t mind. Now that I’d made it clear I liked it, he was all in.

  There is an incredibly lucky future boyfriend out there who has no idea what he’s in for when he finally meets you.

  We eventually separated long enough to get up for a shower. Of course, that meant even more of his lips and tongue, and afterward, tangling up and making out under the covers. Where were all the guys who liked kissing this much when I was looking to date? And how the hell was I getting paid for this? This was my job? My life was amazing.

  After a while, we did finally come up for air. Parker lay back on the pillows, and I turned onto my side next to him.

  He looked at me. “So you really watched my game last night?”

  I nodded. “Like I said, my friend is into hockey.” Kind of true, kind of a little white lie. Luca was into hockey, but I didn’t know how Parker would feel about me hanging out with one of his teammate’s boyfriends. “And I’m serious…” I slid my hand up the middle of his chest. “Watching you get all snarly and in that guy’s face was kind of hot.”

  Parker laughed, his smile making my spine tingle. “Oh God. Seriously?”

  “Yep.” I grimaced. “But holy shit, didn’t it hurt when he slammed you into the glass?”

  “Well, yeah. Why do you think I was all snarly and in his face?”

  I chuckled. “Oh, so that’s what that was all about?”

  “Kinda.” He shrugged, his grin somehow toeing the line between sheepish and wicked. “It was one of those things that had kind of been building for the whole game. We’d been chirping at each other, and—”

  “Chirping?” I arched an eyebrow.

  “Shit-talking.” He snorted. “No, we’re not out there chirping like birds.”

  “I was gonna say…”

  Parker laughed, absently running his fingers along my arm. “Anyway, we’d been chirping pretty much since puck drop. I don’t even remember what started it, or if anything did. He checked me pretty hard into the glass, but I did the same to him like two minutes earlier.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah.” He chuckled. “Dude was pissed about it. And then it just kept escalating, and…” He gestured at his face.

  “Hmm, well, I’m sure it wasn’t fun, getting punched like that.” I teased his nipple with my fingertip. “But it really was kind of hot to watch.”

  Parker laughed, rolling his eyes. “My teammate’s husband says the same thing about him.”

  “Does he?”

  “Mmhmm. Warner doesn’t get into fights very often, but he says whenever he does, Diego basically tackles him at the door.”

  “Oh, I can relate. And, um, if you ever want to get a little snarly and aggressive in bed…” I winked. “I won’t say no.”

  His eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Mmhmm. Getting rough is fun sometimes.”

  “Ooh.” He blinked. “I…”

  “We’ll get there.” I touched the unbruised side of his face. “Just saying, if you ever want to, you know where you find me.”

  Parker studied me. “So… Doing this again… You’re serious?”

  “I’m available for as long as you need me to help you be confident in the bedroom.” I smoothed his hair. “Any time.”

  “Especially if I decide to get rough?”

  I chuckled. “Well, I definitely won’t say no to that.”

  Parker laughed softly as he pulled me closer, wrapping powerful arms around me. “Maybe we’ll have to. You know, another night.”

  I grinned, and he kissed me, and oh dear Lord, he might not have been ready to get rough quite yet…

  But we definitely weren’t done tonight.

  Chapter 7

  Parker

  If there was one thing I rarely struggled to focus on, it was hockey. I’d been living and breathing the sport for so long, it was effortless for me to switch between hockey and not-hockey.

  Now, it was hockey, not-hockey, and sex. Specifically, sex with Cole. Was this how my classmates had been in high school and college? Zoning out and barely following along in class because they couldn’t concentrate on anything except sex they’d had and sex they wanted to have?

  Because holy fuck, my brain kept pulling me back to last night. It hadn’t been our first time together, but it had been my first time fucking someone, and… Jesus. Just the memory of watching my dick sliding between Cole’s ass cheeks almost sent me sprawling. This was really not something I should be thinking about while I was skating. Especially not when I also should’ve been… Wait, what was I doing?

  “Come on, rookie.” Vasiliev smacked his stick against mine as he skated past me. “Focus!”

  “Sorry. Sorry!” I looked around, trying to remember what the hell we’d been doing while my mind had been elsewhere. Skates… Stick… Oh, right. Just warming up before we got into some more intense drills. Because I’d only been here for about twenty minutes, hadn’t I? Fuck, where was my head?

  As if I didn’t know.

  The first night with Cole had been amazing. Last night? Oh my God. We’d fucked twice, and especially after that long, sweaty second round, it was a miracle either of us had been standing. Plus there’d been that moment while we’d been catching our breath after round one, and he’d looked at me and grinned.

  “I’m dead serious, by the way—you want to get rough, just say the word.”

  That sounded seriously hot. And seriously tempting. But I was still getting the hang of doing what we’d been doing—I didn’t want to take the chance of actually hurting him. We’d have to work up to that.

  Except working up to something meant doing this again. More than once. A lot more than once. He’d said he was game for that, and for as long as I needed him, but was he really? Or would he be like “dude, you’ve graduated obedience school—go play with the other dogs at the dog park.” I mean, I’d still be paying him, so there was that. Right?

  Hockey, man. Focus on hockey.

  Right. Right. Hockey. I shook myself and skated along the boards, grabbing an abandoned puck with my stick and concentrating on chasing it down past the goal at the other end. That held my focus for, oh, a minute. Maybe two. A twinge in my hip when I turned sent my brain right back to where it had been since last night.

  Someone skated up beside me in a shower of ice crystals, startling me so bad I almost stumbled.

  Somehow I wasn’t surprised at all that it was Smitty. “My spidey senses tell me someone has been using a certain app again.” His eyebrow flicked up in an unspoken, am I right?

  My face was instantly so hot, it was a miracle the ice didn’t melt beneath our skates.

  Smitty laughed and gave my arm a smack. “Nice, man. Still having a good time with those guys?”

  Guys? Like, plural?

  But I just said, “Yeah. It’s great. It’s…” I swallowed as a shiver went through me and— fuck him—he noticed.

  Chuckling, he winked, and as he skated away, he threw over his shoulder, “You’re welcome.”

  I just laughed, my face still burning. “I owe you a beer.”

  “Damn right you do!”

  I could’ve used a cold beer myself right then. Jesus. And I wanted to ask what he meant by “those guys.” There were a lot of guys on the app, but how many had he been with? Hell, he might’ve been with Cole at some point, which should’ve made me jealous, but it didn’t. As long as Cole wasn’t comparing the two of us in his head—or at least, he didn’t tell me he was—it was all good.

  I felt like Smitty was probably the reason Emerald City had a “favorites” function. Did he have a regular Gentleman? Or like a handful he rotated through? How did other guys do this?

  I didn’t ask, though. I was more than happy to keep booking the same guy. Well, as long as he didn’t mind if I kept booking him. How much was too much? Would that get weird? Was there a manual for this, and if there was, why was I willing to bet a year’s salary that Smitty had written it? And how ironic was it that the guy who’d pointed me in the direction of losing my virginity was also the biggest manwhore I’d ever met? Or, well, I got the impression that was what he was. Goddamn, I envied him.

  Though, I couldn’t exactly bitch about the one and only guy I’d been with, and with that, my mind was again showing me that seriously hot view of my dick sliding into Cole’s ass.

  Man. Was it too soon to see him again? Should I book him again at all? When would that start getting weird?

  And could I squeeze him in—could I book him before the team hit the road on Wednesday? I couldn’t decide if it would be a million times harder to concentrate for the next week if I did or didn’t spend more time between the sheets with Cole. Was I ever going to be able to concentrate again either way? Probably not. So I might as well book—

  “Hey! Dane!” Coach Henderson barked. “You doing this drill or not?”

  Oh crap. That was coach-speak for get your dumb ass over here and do this fucking drill before I lose my shit.

  “Yes, Coach!” I called out as I skated toward where my bemused teammates were gathering behind some cones. “On my way!”

  He glared at me, silently warning me not to lose my focus again. And as I joined the team, I did manage to focus on what I was paid to do.

  But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also thinking about what Cole was paid to do.

  Chapter 8

  Cole

  The Breakers had a home game tomorrow, which meant they were still in town.

  This was a fact that kept rolling around in my thoughts like the tune of a song I had stuck in my head. Every time my phone buzzed, I snatched it up, hoping like hell for that familiar push notification:

  You have received a booking! Please confirm your acceptance.

  It didn’t come, though.

  C’mon, Parker. Book me.

  I was pretty sure he was at practice right now. Another practice. Good God—were hockey players supposed to just live and breathe the sport 24/7? Maybe they were. That sounded exhausting. He seemed to enjoy it, though, and anyway, I supposed if someone was paying me that much money, I’d live and breathe the job 24/7 and like it.

  So maybe he’d book me after practice. Or not. I just hoped he did because I really wanted to spend one more evening in his bed while he was in town, and I doubted he’d want to do anything before or after tomorrow night’s game.

  I guess we’ll see.

  Right now, I was lounging in the living room of the house I shared with too many roommates. This early in the day in the middle of the week, the place was blessedly quiet. Those on night shifts were asleep, those with day jobs were at work, and students were either at school or studying. By mid-afternoon, there would be people and noise rattling the house off its foundation, so I always enjoyed the peaceful late mornings like this.

  As I was settling in with my second cup of coffee, a door opened downstairs. As footsteps came up, I craned my neck, and I smiled when Bryce appeared. He’d obviously just woken up—his eyes were puffy with sleep, his unshaven jaw making his face look even darker, and he was wearing those faded blue pajama bottoms he loved. The sight of him like that gave me a little nostalgia for when we were dating and would wake up in the same bed. Though the pajama bottoms were usually on the floor at that point.

  “Morning,” I said over my coffee cup.

  “Morning.” He gestured over his shoulder and scowled. “You weren’t kidding about that stupid furnace.”

  “Ugh.” I groaned. “That thing is the worst. I keep hoping the landlord will replace it, but…”

  “Bet if we broke it, he’d have to replace it.”

  I quirked a brow. “You want to bet on that this close to winter?”

  “Oh. Yeah. No.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He waved me away. As he headed into the kitchen, he called over his shoulder, “There’s coffee left, right?” Beat. “Ooh, coffee…”

  I laughed. Bryce was more addicted to coffee than I was, and his halfhearted morning grumpiness was seriously cute. It admittedly made me miss the days when we’d been dating. There was no going back—I’d come around to his realization that we were way better friends than boyfriends—but there was something to be said for sleepy mornings together.

  I wonder what that would be like with Parker.

  I nearly spat out my coffee. The fuck? Okay, I really needed to get a grip, because he was a client. End of story.

  A seriously hot client who was super eager to please and a lot of fun to have sex with, yes, but a client.