Face Offs & Cheap Shots (CU Hockey 2)

I roll onto my side and look down at where Beck is passed out on his back. His mouth is hanging open, and his big chest lifts and falls with each breath.

I lean down and brush a light kiss over his forehead, and my chest gives another little twinge. It’s not enough, so I kiss the bump in his nose as well, then brush the side of my thumb along the stubble on his jaw.

His arm closest to me snakes around my waist. “Why are you waking me up?”

Because I can’t sleep and haven’t been able to stop thinking about what the hell this is. “Horny.”

He grunts. “If you woke me every time you were horny, I’d never sleep. Do you have an Off switch?”

Not when he’s around I don’t.

I shift so I’m on top of him, preparing to launch into a serious talk, when he lifts his head and pulls me into a kiss. It’s slow and lazy, and I hug my arms around him tight. Considering how hard and fast our relationship has been so far, my thoughts are soft. Almost sweet. And even reminding myself this is Beck doesn’t change that.

He ends the kiss and leans back to look up at me. His hands cup my cheeks, and I swear his eyes are smiling at me. “That’s how you wake a man up.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

His face suddenly contorts in a grimace as he takes in the early morning light coming through my window. “Fuck, I better go. If Rossi sees us again …”

I mean to tell him not to worry about what Rossi or any of those assholes think, but then he lightly bites my shoulder and rolls me off him. It reminds me of that first bite and the shit I got, and now, it’s time for payback.

“Hey, come here.”

Beck pauses in his search for clothes and walks back over to stand by the bed. I swing my legs over the side and steer him to stand between them. Then I turn him around.

“What are you …”

I drag my fingers and lips down his back. “I have a favor to return.”

“Favor? Last night wasn’t a”—my lips brush over his tan line as I grab his ass roughly in both hands—“fuck, if you play around back there, I won’t be able to sneak out in time.”

I smile against his warm skin because this isn’t going to take long.

I drag my lips over the swell of his ass, and it’s so perfect it almost seems like a shame to mark it all up. But then I think of it being my mark, and my dick twitches.

I sink my teeth into his flesh.

“Argh!” Beck jolts at the sudden, sharp pain, and I quickly back off, dragging my tongue over the bite mark before inspecting it.

Oh yeah, that’s definitely going to last.

“You don’t think I was tender enough already?”

My smile is wide as I run a finger between his cheeks, and he jolts again. “Feeling sore?”

“My body doesn’t know what’s up. On one hand, my ass is clenching tighter than a bear trap, on the other, my dick is ready to make sacrifices.”

I laugh and kiss the bite mark before he turns around.

His eyebrow quirks, and he looks way too proud of himself for a guy who’s walking into a locker room in a few hours. “Are we even now?”

“We will be once the guys have seen it.”

“And you don’t think they’ll put together what those matching bite marks mean? They’re assholes, not idiots.”

“They’ll just assume we’ve been with the same chick.”

He frowns which sets little flutters across my gut.

“You don’t like that,” I say.

“Nah, it’s fine.” He kisses me before stepping back and tugging on his clothes. “I’ll see you at practice.”

I don’t bother to get up and check the hall like I normally would. I sit and watch as Beck peeks around the door, then quickly slips out.

No one notices it as we get in our practice gear, and I’m beginning to think Beck’s wrong. These guys are idiots. The mark is bright red against his pale ass cheek, and I can’t stop staring as he puts on his cup.

I quickly pull my gaze away before someone calls me on checking him out.

Practice is the smoothest it’s been all summer. We set the camp kids and some of the team up for a mini game that Cohen and Rossi referee, while Beck and I call out instructions. They hardly need it. Tamm in particular has caught my eye to be a potential mountain lion, and Simms, who’ll be a junior this year, has come a long way since last season.

It sucks we won’t actually be able to play with any of the campers on an actual team because by the time they’ll start here, Beck and I will have graduated.