Page 95 of Defend Her Heart

Avery tilts her head back so she’s looking at the ceiling, clearly enjoying this as much as I am. My enjoyment is accelerated the moment a moan escapes her mouth.

“God, that feels so good.”

There is absolutely no way to hide what I’m feeling now. I have no intentions of going anywhere sexual tonight, but the woman of my dreams is naked in front of me, my hands are in her hair, and she’s moaning. I try like hell but it’s no use. Keeping my dick down is impossible.

Avery feels it rub against her back and laughs. This time when she turns to talk, her voice isn’t broken. No, this time it’s flirtatious. “Someone getting a little excited back there?”

I take my hand out of her hair and splash water at her. “Stop. It’s not my fault. You’re all wet and soapy and moaning. You set me up for failure.”

She laughs and scoots back a bit, not caring about the situation poking her under the water. I spend the next five minutes rinsing and conditioning her hair before I pull her back into my arms.

“You want to talk about it?”

She shrugs once. “Today has been a lot. And then we saw Bryan and he said some terrible things. It just brought me right back to that place when I was a sad, pathetic, scorned woman.”

This time, I’m the one making her turn to look at me.

“Don’t do that. You were only that way because of the verbal and mental abuse he put you through. You walked away. That makes youstrong.”

“I don’t feel strong. And I mean that both mentally and physically. I’ve cried in front of you more now than I ever did when we were kids, and I’ve lost almost all my muscle because of this stupid fucking illness.”

Her eyes cast downward and I grip her chin lightly, tilting her head back up to look at me. “Strength is so much more than how much you can bench press, Aves. And crying doesn’t make you weak. You’re not afraid to feel your feelings. Your days are harder now, but you still wake up every single day and make the world around you a better place. And if there are days you have a hard time waking up, those are the days I’ll carry the load for you. You don’t have to do this alone anymore.”

Avery falls into me, and I wrap my arms around her. I’m not sure how long I hold her like that, but eventually the water begins to cool. I’m about to tell her I’ll get out to give her privacy when she shoots up off my chest, sloshing water outside the tub. Her breasts peek up over the water and I look toward the ceiling, trying to be respectful.

“Oh my god! Our date! I ruined tonight for us.”

“Avery, I’m really trying to be a gentleman here. Can you get back under the water please?”

She laughs and turns, leaning her back against the opposite side of the tub. Our legs are intertwined under the water and I grab her foot gently with both hands.

“Connor. What are you doing? You hate feet.”

Finally, I look at her and see her shocked expression which only makes me laugh. “I don’t hate your feet. And to be fair, they’re under the bubbles so I don’t have to look at them.”

We both laugh and she leans her head back, enjoying the foot massage I would never dream of giving anyone but her.

“You didn’t ruin anything, by the way. We can go another night. And believe it or not, Iliketaking care of you, Aves. You couldn’t ruin anything for me even if you tried. As long as I’m with you, I’m good.”

She pulls her foot away and floats across the water to me slowly. Her face is within an inch of mine now and my eyes drop to her lips on instinct.

“You’reverygood with your words, Connor Smith.” Her lips turn into a seductive smirk and I clench my hands at my sides, fighting the urge to take her right here in the bathtub.

“Wait until you see what else I can do with this mouth.”

Avery inhales a sharp breath before she leans down and presses her lips to mine. Losing the battle, one hand reaches to the back of her head, the other grips her hip. I’m seconds away from pulling her on top of me when she breaks our kiss, biting my lower lip before sliding back to the opposite side of the tub.

This woman is killing me. But I can be patient because she’s worth it. She is so fucking worth it.

We just took the ice for warm-ups, and to say that my adrenaline is pumping would be the understatement of the century. I’d already been counting down the days until we played Avery’s ex-husband, but after last night and hearing Avery explain the horrible things he said to her, well, let’s just say I’m ready to spend some time in the penalty box tonight.

Our team is lined up on our end of the ice and we’re running a three-on-two warm-up drill to get our feet moving and work with our linemates. Jefferson fires the puck at Mack, ending the drill for our line, when something catches my eye.

A flash of emerald walks carefully on the ice and takes a spot in between both benches where commentators sometimes go during games. I know it’s her, but for some reason my brain can’t comprehend what she’s doing down here at ice level. She should be up in her booth preparing for the game. I holler to my defense partner that I’ll be right back and they should run the drill without me.

I weave between my teammates that are congregated in the neutral zone and skate right to Avery. Now that I can see her close up, I realize how fucking gorgeous she looks tonight. She’s dressed in a sleek emerald suit that dips down just atouch in the front so I can see just a tiny bit of her cleavage. Her black hair is pushed back out of her face by her headset, giving me the perfect view of those mesmerizing green eyes. As soon as she sees me, she smiles.

“What are you doing between the benches tonight?” I stop at the boards, leaning my hip against them, with my back turned to our opponents.