Cage's Misconduct (NHL Scorpions #3) (18 page)

Ever notice how a nice hot shower can make you feel like a new person? That was how I felt as soon as that water started raining down on me. Even through the pain of movement, I felt the rebirth of cleanliness.

Shampooing was my biggest challenge. Cage would be delighted when I asked him to brush my hair, I was sure. Honestly, I could barely lift the towel long enough to even dry my hair. No way was I going to be able to brush it. I was going to be going with the natural, air-dried look for a while.

By the time I got back downstairs, I was exhausted again. Being so tired over nothing more than moving around was frustrating, and I sure didn’t feel like sitting back in that damn chair again so soon. Instead of heading into the living room, I made my way into the kitchen where I could hear Cage rummaging around.

“How was the shower?”

He looked adorable standing there, spatula in hand. Bacon sizzled in one pan, eggs in another. I could also see thick cut bread sitting in the toaster just waiting for someone to push it down.

“Wonderful, but I wonder if you could do me a favor.”

“Sure. Anything. Name it.”

All of the sudden I felt shy. Heck, Cage had been helping me get to the bathroom and now I was bashful about asking him to brush my hair? It was kind of an intimate act, though, you know? I thought it was anyway. I loved to have my hair played with.

“Well, I can’t brush my hair very well. I can almost do it, but I’m so stiff. Would you mind brushing my hair? I know it’s a girlie thing to ask, but—what are you doing?” Quick as a fox, he threw the spatula in the sink and turned off the burners.

“I’d love to.”

He stalked toward me with such purpose in his eyes it was unsettling.

“Are you okay, Cage?”

“Ignore me. I’ve had fantasies about getting my hands in your hair and—you know what? I’m not going to finish that. Let’s go.”

He gently took my hand and started in the direction of the living room. “Can we sit outside and do it? I’m tired of sitting in that chair.”

“Anything you want. Wait here for a sec.”

When he reappeared, he had a tall, padded, zebra patterned stool in his hands that I’d seen earlier standing in the corner of the kitchen. “You can sit on this. It’s taller so it should be more comfortable for you to sit on than the other deck chairs. I’ll stand behind you and brush your hair.”

I was all in. I loved the idea of him brushing my hair outside. Think about it. Cage’s hands running through my hair, the waves crashing on the shore, the cool breezes washing over me. I wouldn’t mind hearing more about that fantasy of his either, but I sure wasn’t going to ask. Not in the condition I was presently in.

Cage’s brush strokes were gentle as he worked the tangles out. While I had some of my own personal items there, my shampoo and conditioner weren’t among them. “You smell like me,” Cage said close to my ear.

My head turned slightly toward his as he spoke. “And you smell like KitKats. Before breakfast, Cage? Really?”

Careful not to hit any of my stitches, he used one finger on my chin to face me back to the ocean. “Eyes forward. And yes, before breakfast. There is no wrong time to eat chocolate. I think that might even be written in the Constitution.”

Laughter still took a bit of a toll on my stomach muscles, but it was getting easier. “The Constitution, huh? Well, I guess it’s okay then. When did you start your love affair with chocolate?”

His hands stilled for a moment before starting again. At this point, my hair was well brushed, but I didn’t tell him to stop. “I think it was when my father left. He kept a jar of M&Ms on his bureau all the time. It’s one of the things I remember about him that doesn’t piss me off. Mom always got a kick out of his love for chocolate.” His hands continued in their soothing manner. He was only using his fingers now. I wasn’t sure he even realized it. “I ate that whole jar the day after he left. I think I felt like it was a way to get back at him for leaving us. Stupid kid thoughts. Since that day I’ve just loved chocolate. Haven’t had another M&M since, though.”

His hands finally stopped and rested on my shoulders. “You sit out here for a bit and I’ll finish breakfast. Are you warm enough?”

The sun was out in full splendor now. “I’m plenty warm.” I slowly turned and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze. “Thank you.”

If he knew I was thanking him for sharing something of himself and not for brushing my hair, I was unaware, but he gave me a very non-typical shy smile all the same before he walked back into the house. I’d never had a sweeter breakfast.

Cage

I needed a minute before Karen came back in for breakfast to get a hold of myself. Just brushing her hair had me hard and hurting in an entirely different area than I’d been hurting. She was so damaged and hurt—I disgusted myself. But she was so …so beautiful. And I had my fingers in that glorious hair of hers like I’d dreamed of. I couldn’t help the way my body reacted to her.

Trying to quell those wayward thoughts, I turned all of my attention to re-heating the bacon and scrambling the eggs. I whipped those bad boys into a lather again right in the pan, splashing egg stuff all over. That was okay though, cleaning the stove would give me something else to concentrate on after breakfast.

Karen walked in just as I was setting our plates on the breakfast bar. She looked at her plate with eyes wide. “There’s enough here for two people, Cage.”

She may have been right. I wasn’t used to feeding women, so I just gave her what I’d eat. “Just eat what you want, I’ll eat the rest. Orange juice?”

“Yes, please.”

When I straightened up from pulling the OJ out of the fridge, I almost dropped the carton. Karen sat with her chin in her hand looking my way. Her dress was misbuttoned, and I could see about three quarters of a lacy covered breast. The uphill battle I’d fought to make myself flaccid again flew right out the window, and back came my raging hard-on in full force. Disgusted with myself once more, I stood there and continued to admire her lacy bra. How she even got it on, I can’t imagine. Man, my girl had a set of breasts. Damn.

“Cage? Are you okay?”

“Uh huh.” For a second, I thought about telling her she was putting on a small peep show for me, but why would I have done that? It would embarrass her and take my view away. I was nothing if not sensitive to her needs. Was I right?

I sat down next to her and sipped on my juice, still sneaking sideways glances inside her dress.

“Aren’t you hungry?” What a question for her to ask me.

“Starving.”

She pointed at my plate with her fork. “Well, aren’t you going to eat?”

“Huh?” Oh! She was talking about food. Of course she was talking about food. Shit. I picked up my fork and ate some eggs, not even tasting them. If just a hint of the curve of her breast made me this incoherent, I wasn’t even sure anymore if I really even wanted to get into Karen’s bed. The way I acted around her, I’d probably make a complete ass out of myself and come on her leg or something horrific like that. Such thoughts were not helping me any, so I forced my attention to my plate and ate my damn breakfast.

***

After having Karen in my house for almost a full week, I’d decided that I might go completely out of my mind. She was turning me into a girl. I was sure of it. The problem was I didn’t hate it.

A couple of days ago, I went back to her place and picked up some more of her stuff. She wanted to go home, but it was still too soon. In just four days her mother would be here, and she could go home then. Reluctantly, she agreed to stay with me until that time. Not that I’d given her much choice.

“This stuff is great.” I stuck my finger back into her jar of skin cream to lather more on my face.

“Don’t use so much!”

“What? Isn’t this a ‘dime size’ amount? That’s what it says.” I flipped the jar to read the back of the label to her. ‘Apply a dime sized dollop (
what the fuck’s a dollop?
) to your T zone.’ I sat in front of Karen on the couch with my whole face covered in the creamy white lotion. It smelled like cucumbers and made my skin look great.

“First of all, that’s about the size of a quarter. Secondly, your T zone is your nose and forehead, not your entire face.” Her laugh tinkled through the room like the wind chimes that hung on the deck.

“Oh well. I’ll buy you more.” I continued to smear the stuff all over my face to her delight. It was the happiest I’d seen her since the accident.

She shook her head at me, but kept smiling, and I went back to smearing more stuff on over my eyelids. “Guess what?”

“What?” I cracked my eyes open to look at her.

She laughed some more at my expense, still looking at the goo covering me. “I can’t talk to you with that on your face.”

“Well it’s not time to wash it off yet, so you’re gonna have to try.” Before she had a chance to tell me what she was going to say, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it. You stay put.”

Not even thinking about the skin conditioner on my face, I opened the door. Jody stood there, eyes wide as he took in my appearance. “Nice look you’ve got going there, Booker.” He brushed past me—without an invite I might add. Lacey, holding little Addie, followed behind him.

“Hi, Cage.” She patted the one clean spot on my cheek as she walked past me into the living room where Jody was already seated next to Karen, making fun of me.

“I can’t believe you’d rather stay with him than your own brother. Look at him. Using girl’s skin cream like a little puss—”

Lacey put her hand on Jody’s shoulder and said with laughter in her voice, “Jody, doesn’t that smell like the same stuff of mine that you use?”

“What? I don’t use that stuff. It was only that one time after I had those stitches out.”

“I call bullshit. You don’t think I notice that I have to buy twice as much now as I used to?”

“Whatever.” Quick as can be, he changed the subject. “So how are you feeling, sis?”

“A little better. I can almost stand up straight, and I think I’m going to try to put on sweat pants today.” She looked down at her flowing house dress with a grimace. “Not that I don’t appreciate the lovely garments you got for me, Lacey.”

Lacey’s smile visibly put her at ease. “Believe me, I’m not offended. I’ll be glad to see you out of them myself.”

Still playing nice, I brought Jody a cup of coffee. “Are you drinking coffee these days, Lacey?”

“Only if it’s decaf. I’m fine though, thanks.” Jody put his cup on the table, and even said ‘thank you’. We were coming along nicely, huh? Time to try for some extra points with Karen.

“Are you guys planning on watching the game today?” It was an afternoon game, and the Scorpions needed to win it. We were down two games with five to go in the series. My backup, Andre Jacques, looked like he was scared shitless. I kept meaning to give him a call.

“Yeah, of course. It’s got to be killing you to be sitting out, huh?” If anyone could understand how I was feeling, it would be Jody. Another hockey player who had sat out before could truly empathize.

“I’m trying not to think about it too much. It sucks, sure, but what can I do about it?” I didn’t feel half as nonchalant as I tried to sound. If I let myself, I think I could almost cry over not being there for my team—but you already know that I don’t cry, right? Tough, badass guy, blah, blah, blah.

Jody gave me a half smile and nodded his head. He knew the real answer, but didn’t push. “Tough break for the whole team, Cage.”

“Yeah. If you want, you could watch the game over here with us. After the game I’m going to throw some chicken and steak on the grill. You’re welcome to stay.” Look at me being all domesticated. This was what it could be like if Karen wasn’t going back to Canada in a couple of months. Guess I shouldn’t get too used to it.

“Yeah, sure. Sounds good.” Jody got up and put an arm around his girls. “We’ll come back this afternoon. I’ll bring some beer. Anything else?”

“Nope. I can handle the rest.”

Lacey put her hand on my arm, and Addie’s tiny little hand followed. She was a cute baby. “I’ll make a pasta salad, too, if that’s okay.”

I patted the baby’s hand while I addressed her mother. “That’d be great. Thanks.”

Once they left, I made a list for the food store. While I was thinking about what I wanted to put in my baked beans, Karen strolled into the kitchen.

“Look. I did it.”

“Yes, you did. And you look great.” She had gotten into her yoga pants and a loose t-shirt. “How do you feel?”

“Tired. And tired of being tired. I was going to ask if I could go to the store with you, but I don’t think I’d make it. I need a nap.”

She looked so frustrated. All I wanted to do was make it better for her. I wished I could take her pain myself. “It’s only been a week, Karen. Cut yourself a break. I think it’s pretty amazing you’re wearing pants already.”

“To be honest, they kind of hurt.” She gently pulled the waistband down an inch or two trying to find a more comfortable position.

“Go put one of those dresses back on. There’s no reason for you to be any more uncomfortable than you already are. That’s crazy.” What, did she think she needed to dress up for me? Although her ass looked amazing in those yoga pants. Whoever designed those things was a friggin genius. I hoped he or she was a bazillionaire.

“Nah. I’d rather be a little uncomfortable for a while. We’ll see how the day goes. I’m going to pop a couple of Advil and see if I can lie down flat and sleep.”

I had a sneaky suspicion her bottom was hurting her from sitting and sleeping in the chair for so long, but I wasn’t about to ask about it. “That’s a good idea, but don’t use the couch. Go lie down in my bed. It’ll be a lot more comfortable for you. I’ll go shopping, and when I get back, if you’re awake, you can help me prep stuff for dinner.”

“I think I will. Thanks, Cage.”

I watched her walk away. She was still slow going, but the view was fantastic.

***

“Goddammit!” Jacques looked like shit in the first period. The Hawks scored two goals on him. That was two more than we’d scored. Watching hockey could be a ton of fun, especially with other people to watch with, but not when I should have been in the net—with my team—stopping the fucking puck!