Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) (12 page)

“Holy shit,” she
breathed, her face close to his. “Where did you learn to do that?”

He grinned. “Lots of
practice, baby.”

“Can we practice some
more?”

“Sure!” He found her
mouth and let her taste herself on his lips. She moaned, deep in her chest, and
his cock throbbed with need. She closed her hand around him, making him groan,
and she squeezed harder. Sliding her hand up and down, she fused her lips to
his, desperate for more of him—his mouth, his hands, his cock. She’d never been
this intimate with anyone before, not even Shay. Their lovemaking had been a
haze of alcohol and drunken emotions that neither had been able to articulate;
this was romantic, passionate and sensual. He made her feel like the most
beautiful woman in the world and she couldn’t even remember why she’d been shy
when they started.

“So hot, baby,” he
murmured, one arm wrapping around her waist and drawing her against him. They
were on their sides now, facing each other, her hand wrapped around his burning
erection, their lips barely a millimeter apart.

 “I need you,” she
whispered back, her breath warm.

He pulled her left leg
over his right and adjusted his hips so he could angle himself inside of her.
Her eyes widened as he thrust deep, one hand cupping her ass as he pulled her
pelvis against his. He shifted, plunging deeper, and her eyes started to
flutter closed.

“Eyes on me, baby,” he
said, his golden eyes piercing hers as their bodies moved together.

“Drake, I can’t…” Her
voice was raspy as she tried to focus on his handsome face. He was thick and
hard, filling her so completely she could feel herself stretching around him.
She had to take a long, deep breath to keep from begging him to fuck her
harder; she didn’t even know she could be this desperate for something so
carnal.

“Slow and easy, honey.”
His tongue danced with hers, his eyes never leaving her as he slid in and out
with a steady rhythm that was already making her whimper. God, he loved
watching her come alive when he touched her. She was so innocent in some ways
it made him want to protect her, keep her under his wing so that no one else
would ever touch her again. It wasn’t supposed to be this intense, this good;
all he’d been looking for was a one-night stand and less than two months later
she was under his skin and deep in his heart.

“Oh, Drake, please!”
When she called his name in a breathy little gasp, he growled deep in his
chest. She was writhing against him, one arm wound around his neck and her eyes
starting to close again.

“Look at me!” he
rasped, snapping his hips forward as he began to pump harder. Her eyes were
glassy as she met his and he flipped them over so that he was on top of her
now. “I want your eyes open when you come,” he grunted. He wrapped her legs
around his waist and went to town, plunging hard and deep, over and over. Her
fingers dug into his taut ass, keeping him tight against her. Their bodies
slapped together, her breath coming in tiny yelps as she raced towards release.

Drake kept his eyes on
her face, watching her struggle to remain in control, and it made him want her
that much more. She was panting, her face flushed from desire and need. He
moved faster, unable to keep from slamming into her. He felt himself tightening
up, aching to let go, and he found her hands. Threading his fingers through
hers, he squeezed tightly, pressing them into the mattress.

“Come for me, baby.” He
was lost as her blue eyes turned to liquid sapphire; she whimpered when he
stopped moving.

“Drake!” She arched
forward, desperate to feel him gliding in and out again. “Please…more!”

“Squeeze me, Erin—milk
my cock and come on me.” He saw her face burn red with embarrassment, but she
was too far gone to stop, her orgasm coming so hard and fast she shrieked.

“Drake!” Her cries were
lost in his ferocious kisses as he spilled himself inside of her. He couldn’t
remember ever coming so hard a primal growl escaped him, and for a moment he
was afraid he might break her fingers as he squeezed them. But she was right
there with him, her body bucking as the last of the spasms left her.

“Fuck, baby, that was
so good.” He pressed his mouth to hers tenderly, wiping wet tendrils of hair
from her forehead.

“Wow.” Her eyes were
closed now, a faint smile on her face. “How did I live without this all these
years?”

“I don’t know, but
you’re not going to anymore.” He rested against her heavily, wondering what on
earth he was going to do with her. It just wasn’t supposed to be this good this
fast, and it scared the hell out of him.

Erin couldn’t think as
they lay close together, completely entwined. She was beginning to understand
the intensity of his feelings for her, and she didn’t know what to do about it.
She liked him a lot, but she didn’t know if she would ever trust herself to
fall in love after everything that had happened. If she was going to do it,
though, it would probably be with Drake. He was so many things she didn’t know
she wanted.

Somewhere in her hazy
afterglow she could hear her phone vibrating on the nightstand. She’d heard it
while they’d been making love, but she hadn’t been able to think about anything
except his tongue on her—she shook her head, trying to keep her face from
turning red again. She’d only received oral sex once before, and somehow she
didn’t remember it being as intense as it had been tonight.

“Is that your phone
again?” Drake asked, reaching out one long arm to grasp it from the bedside
table and hand it to her. “It’s been buzzing the whole time we’ve been in bed.”

She pressed the button
and was surprised to see four texts in a row from Kate.

Call me back!

Are you home?

Call me, dammit!

I need you to call me
now!

“Crap. Now what?” Erin
dialed Kate’s number.

“Are you naked?!” Kate
demanded.

“Did you seriously text
me four times to find out if I was having sex?!” Erin demanded incredulously.

“No. I texted four
times to figure out if I’m allowed to come home.”

“What?” Erin moved
slightly away from Drake. “What do you mean? Aren’t you in Ohio?”

“Big family blowout,”
Kate sighed. “Lots of comments about my weight and my mom and I basically
exploded.”

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry.”
Erin knew that Kate had been battling her weight—and her mother over the same
subject—for most of her life. “This is your home too. Of course you can come
home. Drake and I will just have to be quieter…and you might have to, you know,
wear headphones to sleep. But you gave up your whole life to take care of
me—there is never a time you can’t come home.”

Kate sighed. “I’m going
to come home, drop off my luggage, and leave again right away. I need a couple
of last-minute things from the store. That way, you’ll have some privacy to
finish what you’re doing and, you know, become decent again.”

“Whatever.” Erin
chuckled. “See you later.” She ended the call and sighed. “Sorry about that.
It’s a long story, but Kate comes from a beautiful, successful family and
although she meets all the other criteria, her weight has always been a thorn
in her mother’s side. She rags on her about it constantly, and I guess there
was a big blow up, but her apartment in New York is sublet, so the only place
she can come is here. I’m sorry if that messes up our plans.”

“I think you told her
she had to wear headphones to bed,” he laughed. “We’ll be fine. She’s your best
friend, and like you said, this is her home. I don’t have a problem with that.
I have a roommate in Las Vegas too.”

“Thank you for being so
wonderful,” she whispered, cuddling against him again. “About everything.”

“Any time, baby.”

Christmas Eve turned
into a fun, lighthearted evening. Erin had a Crock-Pot of beef Stroganoff going
all day, so by the time she and Drake had finished making more glorious and
heart-stopping love, showered, gotten dressed, and started boiling water for
the noodles, Kate came bustling in, making lots of noise as she did.

“Everyone decent?” she
called out tentatively.

“In the kitchen!” Erin
called back, laughing.

“Hi! Merry Christmas!”
Kate came bustling in, throwing her arms around Erin and hugging her tightly.
“I’m so glad to be home—I couldn’t wait to get out of there.”

“I’m sorry.” Erin
looked at her. “You know you’re beautiful, smart and successful, don’t you? The
fact that your mother and sister think you’re too fat to get a man is ignorant
and stupid.”

“I guess.” Kate glanced
at Drake worriedly. “I’m sorry I messed up your plans.”

“You didn’t mess up
anything,” he said with a smile. “Merry Christmas.” He reached out to give her
a big hug. “And for what it’s worth, I think you’re beautiful. I know a couple
of guys on the Sidewinders that would like you a lot.”

She raised her
eyebrows. “Athletes usually go for tall, skinny supermodels,” she said with a
grimace. “Although they’re happy to have a roll in the hay with the fat chick.
Learned that the hard way, unfortunately.”

“He wasn’t a hockey
player!” Erin interjected. “He was a baseball player—I mean, those guys aren’t
even real athletes!” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Seriously, I could snap
him like a twig.” She nodded in Drake’s direction. “Hockey players have
game
.”

He laughed. “We try.
But seriously, Kate, don’t listen to anyone. As an outsider looking in, I think
you’re beautiful. A few extra curves never hurt anybody. Don’t let anyone tell
you otherwise. And if you’re interested in meeting a nice guy, I can think of
two that would probably like you a lot.”

“Which ones?” she
asked, narrowing her eyes as she pulled out her phone. “Names?”

“Karl Martensson, our
back-up goalie,” he said, holding up one finger. “And Zakk Cloutier, although I
don’t know if you like them young—he’s only 23.”

“Karl is superhot,”
Kate murmured, looking up his picture. “Yikes, he’s 6’4”. I’d have to crawl a
long way up him, with my 5’5” self!”

Erin laughed. “What
about Zakk?”

“He’s even bigger,
6’7”, about 255,” Drake said.

“He’s just
too
tall,” Kate announced with a grin. “But I’ll take on both of them if they want
me!” She wiggled her eyebrows lasciviously.

“At the same time?”
Erin asked with a smirk.

“Maybe,” Kate pretended
to think about it. “But they’re both extra-large, so I might not be able to
take both at once. Might have to make them do each other first.” She folded her
arms across her chest.

Drake was gaping at her
until Erin burst out laughing. “She’s yanking your chain,” she nudged him.
“She’s never had a threesome in her life!”

“How do you know?” Kate
demanded, her brown eyes gleaming.

“Oh please. I’d have
heard about it 30 seconds after it was over!” Erin went to the stove to put the
noodles in the boiling water.

“True.” Kate sank into
a chair with a snort. “Yeah, I’m not nearly as cool as I’d like people to
think.”

Drake groaned. “You two
might be the death of me.”

“Oh, babe, wait till
you meet Liv.” Erin snorted as she looked at Kate. “Can you see her and Tessa
here with us too?”

Kate laughed. “There
would be so much estrogen in this room, you might lose your man card.”

Drake blanched.
“Alrighty then, let’s make sure
that
never happens.”

Laughing, they made
dinner and opened a bottle of wine. Kate put Christmas music on in the
background and they talked, drank and laughed until they cried. A game of poker
went late into the night, and it was close to 3:00 am before Kate fell asleep
on the couch and Drake carried Erin upstairs to her room. Laying her on the
bed, he kissed the side of her face before dousing the lights. She rolled into
his arms, breathing easily as she fell into the calmest sleep she’d had in
years. Watching her sleep, he wondered if her demons would come between them.
He was crazy about her, ready to do almost anything to make her his, but he
knew better than to move too fast.

With a sigh, he closed
his eyes and kept his arms around her tightly. Something deep inside made him
doubt he was going to be able to make this work, and unlike her, he tossed and
turned all night.

Sometime after 10:00 in
the morning there was loud knocking on the door. “Okay, you two, it’s Christmas
morning! Time to wake up and open presents and eat and shit. Are you decent?”

“We’re comatose,” Erin
rumbled sleepily.

“Oh good!” Kate threw
open the door and brought two cups of coffee to them. I don’t know what you
like in yours, Drake, so I left it black but I can get you cream or sugar.”

“Black is perfect,” he
took it from her blearily. “Thanks.”

“Ten minutes,” she said
firmly. “Breakfast is almost done!” She breezed out, closing the door behind
her.

“Is she always this
chipper in the morning?” he groaned, lying back.

“Yup. Always been like
this. Tessa and I used to want to kill her in college. But, she’s the reason we
never overslept!”

“Okay, well, I smell
something good and I’m dying to give you your present, so let’s get up.” He
leaned over and brushed his lips across hers, earning a tiny sigh of pleasure.

“Can’t we stay here?”
she murmured, wrapping her arms around him as she felt his erection pressed
against her leg.

“We could,” he
whispered, licking her ear. “But then Kate would come banging back in here and
that would be awkward.”

“Fine.” She smiled,
kissed him once more and then swung her legs over the side of the bed.

Fifteen minutes later
they were downstairs helping Kate finish getting breakfast ready. There was a
scrumptious casserole that appeared to have potatoes, bacon, cheese and other
various ingredients. Homemade cinnamon rolls were cooling on the counter, along
with a variety of pastries and other desserts.

“Holy shit, you girls
know how to eat,” Drake said, biting into a cheese pastry with relish. “Most
single women I know have refrigerators full of salad and fruit.”

“Ours usually is too,”
Kate laughed. “But it’s Christmas! Erin eats a lot better than I do. My problem
is that I’m usually out to dinner with clients three or four nights a week and
it’s hard to eat healthy when you go out that much. I’ve lost 30 pounds in the
18 months I’ve lived with Erin, though, and I only see clients a couple of times
a month or so now. That might have to change soon, unfortunately.”

“Are you thinking about
moving back to New York?” Erin looked over at her, pausing.

“My place is only
sublet until February. That’s when I came here and it’ll be two years this
February. They’re ready to move out and I need to get back to New York. You’re
doing so well, Erin. Don’t you think you’re ready?”

“I don’t know if I’ll
ever be
ready
,” Erin admitted with a sad smile. “But I know you need to
go, so I’ll be okay.”

“I’m a train ride away,”
Kate whispered, walking over to her friend and pressing her forehead against
Erin’s. “You know I’ll be here in a matter of hours if you need me.”

“I know.” The two
friends hugged tightly.

Kate gave her a final
squeeze and turned back to the counter. “Okay, who needs more coffee?”

“Me!” Erin held out her
cup as Kate refilled all of their cups and then they sat at the dining room
table and dug in.

Thoroughly stuffed and
feeling lazy, they ambled into the living room to open presents. Several had
appeared overnight and Erin looked from Drake to Kate suspiciously.

“Did Santa come?” she
asked.

“Maybe.” Kate smiled
smugly. “A few things arrived ahead of time that I had hidden in my closet. If
I hadn’t come home, Drake knew to sneak in there and get them before you woke
up—from me, Tessa, Mack and Liv.”

Erin grinned and
happily accepted the first one. It was like being kids again. They tore into
their presents—Kate had stopped and bought Drake a bottle of his favorite
bourbon and Mack had mailed presents from the family so he had presents too—and
laughed together as each was opened.

Erin got a cashmere
scarf from Tessa, books and a gift certificate for a spa day from Kate, and a
beautiful new Coach handbag from Jan. Mack had sent sterling silver earrings
with turquoise stones in them. There were also gift certificates from Liv and
the guys from her old unit for various places to eat and shop. Then it was
Drake’s turn and he handed her a small but elaborately wrapped box.

She glanced at him with
a smile and whispered, “It’s so pretty I don’t want to open it.”

“I think you’ll like
what’s inside better than the box,” he grinned. “But you can play with the box
if you want.”

“Don’t make me come
over there,” Kate mumbled, glaring at her.

Erin laughed and tore
into the paper. She opened the box and recognized the name of a well-known
jeweler on the inside. She glanced at him and he winked. Slowly she opened the
second box and gasped. “Drake! Oh my God, it’s beautiful.” The diamonds in the
tennis bracelet sparkled in the lights of the Christmas tree. “I’ve never owned
anything this beautiful.”

“You should always
shine with diamonds,” he said softly, leaning over to kiss her.

“God, it’s stunning!”
Kate murmured appreciatively. “I think you should keep this one, girlfriend.”

“The guy or the
bracelet?” Erin teased.

“Both!” Kate laughed.
“That must be at least six karats.”

“Eight,” Drake said
quietly.

“That’s so
expensive
,”
Erin looked at him.

“Do we have to have the
money talk again?” He gave her a look. “Big contract; small overhead?
Remember?”

She lowered her head.
“I guess I’m not used to it.”

“Yeah, Dickhead always
bought her shit for the house for Christmas!” Kate shook her head.

“Kate!” Erin looked at
her friend. “I don’t want to even think about him today!”

“Just sayin’!”

“Your turn.” Erin
handed Drake the box she’d carefully wrapped for him. He took it with a grin.

“Is it naked pictures
of you?!” he asked with an impish grin.

“No!” she paused. “Kate
said it was too soon!”

“I did not!” Kate
snorted. “I’d have been taking the pictures if she would’ve let me!”

They chuckled together
as Drake tore the paper and found another box inside, a familiar blue color
that made him raise his eyebrows. He tore off the white bow and slowly opened
the box. Inside was a sterling silver money clip with the initial “D” engraved
on it.

“All that money should
be kept in something special,” Erin said softly.

“From Tiffany’s,” he
said. “I never thought about buying myself something from there. Thank you.
This is amazing and thoughtful.” He kissed her again.

“Well, thank you for
the Amazon gift certificate,” Kate told Drake with a grin. “But I know you two
are dying to get naked, so I’m out of here!”

“Where are you going?”
Erin frowned at her. “You don’t have to—”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be
back for dinner,” Kate laughed. “I know you two need some time alone, so I
thought I’d do something useful with my lazy butt for once. I’m serving at a
homeless shelter for a few hours.”

“That’s a great thing
to do,” Drake said, reaching for his wallet. He handed her a hundred-dollar
bill. “Please make a donation on my behalf.”

“I will.” Kate took the
money and nodded at him. “Okay, I’m going to get dressed and get out of here.
You two have fun!” She disappeared up the stairs and Erin crawled into Drake’s
lap. She held out her hand and he hooked the clasp of her new bracelet
carefully.

“I want to see you
wearing nothing but that,” he whispered against her ear.

“I’m so
self-conscious,” she whispered back. “I don’t know how to be sexy for you.”

“You don’t have to do
anything, you already are.”

Memories flooded her
senses as she flashed back to the night before her wedding, the night Shay had
made love to her for the first time on the floor of her dorm room. Afterwards,
when they’d moved to the bed, she’d been completely overwhelmed, unsure what to
do or how to please him; Clay had always taken control in the bedroom but
always left her wanting more. Shay, however, was not a selfish lover and when
she’d whispered that she didn’t know how to please him, he’d whispered that she
didn’t have to do anything, she just needed to let him love her.

Now she had another man
telling her almost exactly the same thing, and she couldn’t help but wonder if
fate was giving her another chance. The problem was that she knew deep down
that she was going to have to choose between him and the Marines, something
that was going to break her heart one way or the other.