Skater (Seattle Sharks 6)

“Thank you.”

“Hey, how are you?” Ivy asked as I made my way in from the garage. It was after ten p.m., and she was barefoot, wearing just her pajama bottoms and a tank top.

I didn’t speak until I had her in my arms, her sweet scent filling my lungs, her heart pressed to mine. “I’m okay, now.”

Her arms wrapped around my back, and she simply hung on to me, simply stood there with me.

“Thank you for picking Hannah up from preschool,” I whispered.

“No problem. Did you get Jessica settled?”

“Yeah. She swears she’ll stay clean long enough for a judge to let her sign over Hannah, but I don’t know. I can’t make her stay there. I can’t make her stop using. I can’t make her do anything.” The loss of control had my head ready to explode.

“I’m so sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”

“You are doing exactly what I need, just being you,” I told her, resting my chin on the top of her head.

“Glad to be of service.” She rose up and kissed me, stealing my thoughts one by one with each stroke of her tongue, until she was all I could think about or see.

“God, you kill me,” I groaned, sinking my fingers into her hair and pulling lightly on the strands.

“Good,” She answered. “Do something about it.”

As if she knew exactly what I needed really was her. To have her under my control, her pleasure my responsibility.

“The mood I’m in…” I warned her. “Are you sure?”

“I can handle any and all of your moods,” She promised as she gripped my cock through my jeans. “Now, handle me.”

Hannah was asleep upstairs. If we were quick...and quiet...

I attacked, kissing her breathless. Our tongues dueled, swept, and caressed until her hands were ripping my shirt over my head and we were forced to separate.

A few seconds later, I had her naked to all that silky skin, and she unbuttoned my jeans.

“Get them off,” she ordered.

I dropped them to the floor, and let my boxers follow shortly after.

Then I turned her around until her naked ass ground into my erection caressing it between the soft globes. I set kisses to her neck and shoulder, using my teeth at times all while holding her against me with one arm, and exploring her body with my other hand.

“Mmmm, yes,” she moaned, as I squeezed one breast and the other, plucking and pinching her nipples the way I knew she liked.

She braced her hands on the counter and pushed back against me, sending a jolt of pleasure from my dick up my spine.

“Fuck, you drive me crazy, Ivy. In the best ways.”

My fingers delved into her wet, slippery core, and I stroked her clit, applying pressure in the exact way I knew she needed to get off.

“Connor!” She groaned quietly, rocking into my hand. “I need you.”

I tested her with my fingers, stroking two fingers inside her wet heat. “Perfectly wet,” I murmured against her neck.

She pushed back again, and I gave her what she wanted, lifting her by her waist and bracing her against the counter. Then I surged into her with one long stroke, surrounding myself with heaven.

“Ah!” she cried.

I turned her head and kissed her, swallowing her moans as I pulled her off the counter just to get my arm between the hard surface and her soft skin.

“I need to fuck you,” I warned her.

“Yes,” she agreed. “Please.”

My other fingers worked her clit as I kissed and fucked her, pounding into this incredible woman with sure, long, powerful strokes, letting the pleasure eclipse everything ugly in the day.

Giving my entire soul over to her and hoping she could wash it clean with her body, and maybe one day...her love.

Because I loved her more than I loved my own life. My career. Anything.

“Harder,” she begged.

I obliged. The sounds of soft moans and slapping skin filled the kitchen as I worked her higher and higher. Her breathing changed, her muscles tensed, and her pussy fluttered around my cock as she came, taking me with her.

I spilled into her, letting the orgasm drain me dry.

Letting Ivy soothe every ragged edge.

We came down slowly, with tender strokes of fingers and lips, until I slipped free of her sweet, perfect body and handed her the clothes we’d strewn everywhere.

I slipped on my boxers, just in case Hannah woke up as we walked down the hall, and we quickly sneaked our way up to the master bedroom.

Once we were under the heavy covers, with her body tucked up tight against mine, I let the tension of the day fall away.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” she asked, kissing my bicep.

“For being you. I don’t know if I could make it through this without you.” The honesty of the comment startled me, but considering how much I loved her, it was the least of what I could have said.

I needed to tell her. Soon. Just not the night before I was headed off to Boston.

“You don’t have to. You have me. I promise.”

“That’s all I need.”

And it was. She was. We were.

Everything.

Chapter 17

Ivy

I jolted awake, panting as I tried to catch my breath.

The light purple of pre-dawn filled the room, the sound of Connor’s steady breathing at my side. I smoothed my wild hair from my face, wondering what had been chasing me in my dreams to wake me before five a.m.

Shifting slightly, I glanced at Connor, eyes closed, chiseled muscles loose from sleep. Muscles that had been coiled with tension until he’d finally passed out from exhaustion.

Yesterday had settled heavy on his chest.

Hope and hurt and the chaotic reality that was his sister’s condition.

I’d never been exposed to that world—but Connor had told me about it last night...poured his soul out, painting a picture so vivid it was like I’d been there. Close enough to see the darkness of that world. The shadows that stalked in the corners threatening to consume you if you took one taste. The powerlessness in the addiction, the desperation that smelled of metal and sugar and smoke.

Connor had seen the world more times than he could remember, and he never lost hope. Even when she’d left her little girl on his doorstep, he kept searching. And finally, he’d found her.

Hannah still didn’t know.

And it would remain that way until Connor believed Jessica and her desire for rehabilitation.

He wouldn’t put Hannah through a false hope, and neither would I.

But, I hoped for her sake that Jessica would be true to her word. If there was anything worth living for in her life, it was Hannah. The brilliant burst of life that came from the shadows of her soul.

Connor shifted, stretching his body as if he could feel me watching him.

The smooth skin that slid over his corded muscles.

The single tattoo he had hidden underneath his right arm—a date, Hannah’s birthday.

The way each muscle seemed connected to the other to construct the most mouthwatering body one could have.

“Was it a nightmare?” His voice, raspy from sleep, cracked the stillness in the room.

I lightly scraped my nails against his scalp, his silky hair sliding around my fingers. “No,” I whispered. “It happened.”

Slowly, he opened his eyes, and in an instant, his arms crushed me against him. “Thank you,” he said, his breath warm against my bare neck as he buried his face in it.

“For what?” I hold him to me, wishing I could do more than the simple physical action. Wishing I could make Jessica see just how lucky she was to have the family she did.

“For being here,” he said, rolling to his back, tucking me against his chest. “I’m not sure I would’ve been able to get through yesterday and last night, without you.”

“You’re stronger than you think.” I traced the lines of his muscles as I tilted my head up to look at him. “You’ve endured this for years—”

“Alone,” he cut me off. “Eric and Lukas were always there. Offering to help, and in their way they did. But I’ve never let anyone close enough to really see what was happening. Not like you have. I’ve never let anyone all the way in.”

“Why?”

He shrugged underneath me, and I continued to run my fingertips over his skin, up and down, smooth sweeping strokes that raised chills. Silently, I waited, giving him the choice to keep talking or change the subject. I know how hard it was for him to lay himself bare for me, and I wouldn’t push.

“Guess I was afraid whoever I showed would think I’d turn out the same. That it would scare them away.”

I shook my head against his chest. “You are good, Connor. A good man who has had an impossible responsibility in caring for a sister with such an affliction.”