Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) (2 page)

Pushing the depressing
thoughts aside, he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist,
kissing the side of her face. She turned to him with her beautiful smile and he
forgot all about Marco
Rousch
and the SHL.

“Hi!” she breathed.
“I’m sorry about the game.”

“Nothing I could do,”
he said lightly.

She stared up at him
curiously. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He
shrugged. “It’s a bummer it had to end this way, but this team is going to be
dangerous next season.”

“You were awesome!” she
whispered, leaning up to kiss him. “You were undefeated this season.”

He smiled down at her.
“It was only 17 games.”

Kate was like a breath
of fresh air in his life. With her full, pouty lips and beautiful round ass, he
could lose himself in her all day long. It killed him when she put herself
down, asking if he thought her dress was too tight or if her legs looked fat.
He loved her body and cringed every time her mother called and lectured her
about her weight. He wished her mother and sister would just leave her alone;
every time they called, it would take him at least a day or two to make her
believe that he loved her body just the way it was. He hated seeing her unhappy
because she brought him so much pleasure.

“You want to get out of
here?” Kate asked, sliding her hand into his.

“Yeah, I’m beat.” He
ran his hand through his long blond hair and pulled her towards the door.

There was a commotion
ahead of them as a film crew made their way into the lounge. Somewhere behind the
mélange was a tall blonde, smiling brilliantly for the camera. She strode into
the room as if she owned it, waving to several players and winking at Marco,
who for once seemed as baffled as everyone else.

“Karl!” The blonde
strode towards him purposefully and Kate heard Karl mutter, “You have got to be
kidding me,” just as the woman reached him and threw her arms around his neck.
She pressed her lips to his as flashbulbs exploded around the room.

Kate’s mouth fell open
and she took an inadvertent step back, pulling her hand from Karl’s.

“What the hell are you
doing?!” Karl hissed under his breath, stepping away from the blonde and
glaring at her. He was always acutely aware of his behavior in front of the
press, but he really wanted to slap his ex-girlfriend.

She turned to smile at
the camera. “Say hello, Karl! I’m taping a new reality show!”

“Okay, no one got
permission to film anything in here. Excuse me!” Becca Hernandez, the head of
Media Relations for the Sidewinders, stepped in front of Karl with a scowl that
reflected she meant business.

The blonde narrowed her
eyes at Becca. “Excuse me—I’m Karl’s guest! Tell them, darling!”

Karl arched his
eyebrows in annoyance. “Therese, I haven’t spoken to you in years. I had no
idea you were coming tonight; you’re not my guest.”

“I think you need to
go,” Becca said quietly, also aware that the press would be paying close
attention, and trying not to make a scene.

“Karl, you can’t be
serious!” Therese was glaring at him now. “I came to surprise you!”

“Therese, what is this
all about?” Karl spoke to her under his breath, aware that his teammates and
their families were whispering and staring at them. He didn’t want to attract
attention to the situation with so much media around, but Therese was getting
on his nerves. “You and I broke up six years ago!”

“But you didn’t mean
it.” She smiled, reaching out to touch his face.

Karl removed her hand
and took a step back. “I don’t know what’s going on, Therese, but I’ve got a
girlfriend.” Karl realized Kate had moved away from him and he looked around in
frustration. She was standing with Erin and Suze, looking shell-shocked, so he
reached out his hand to her. She met his gaze in confusion but slowly reached
out to take it and let him pull her close.

“Really?!” Therese looked
Kate up and down and burst out laughing. “This little cow is your girlfriend?
What is this, a pity fuck?!”

Several gasps went
around the room, but Kate couldn’t seem to react; she just stood there next to Karl,
blinking rapidly to retain her composure, grateful that Erin and Tiff moved
closer to her.

Karl’s face tightened
and he looked at Becca. “You need to get her out of here.
Now
.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Becca
nodded at Therese. “I don’t know how you got in here with a film crew, but none
of this better appear on your show or you’ll be getting a cease and desist
order from our attorneys before you can say ‘reality TV’!”

Therese just laughed
and blew a kiss to Karl. “I’ll see you soon, Karl. And you should call your
mother—she’s quite upset with you.”

Karl took a deep
breath, wondering what the hell she was talking about, but didn’t say anything.

“Who the fuck was
that?!” Drake whispered in his ear.

“My ex,” he said with a
sigh.

“Did you know she was
coming?!” Kate was still blinking back tears as she stared at Therese’s
retreating figure.

“Of course not!” Karl
pulled her into his arms and stroked her back. “I’m so sorry, baby. I haven’t
seen her in years. I don’t know how she got in here, but we’re going to have a
talk with security.”

“You okay?” Erin was
asking Kate, noting the pain in her friend’s eyes.

“Yeah.” Kate looked
away, trying not to let them see how hurt she was.

“You’re gorgeous!” Dom
Gianni whispered to Kate, leaning over to brush his lips across her cheek.
“Fuck her and the horse she rode in on!”

“I second that!” Drake
said firmly, winking at her.

“Me, three!” Anatoli
Petrov
, one of the Russian players on the team, tugged a
lock of Kate’s hair. “And
Toli
is single—so now Karl
will probably kick my ass!”

“Vlad can hit also?”
Vladimir
Kolnikov
, a 20-year-old Russian player on
the team, flashed a grin in Kate’s direction. He didn’t speak a lot of English
but he understood
cow
and
pity fuck
, not to mention the universal
look of humiliation that had crossed Kate’s face. That much, he picked up on,
and didn’t like it one bit; he wasn’t big on relationships, but he agreed with
everyone else that Kate was beautiful.

“I’d prefer you didn’t
hit
me,” Kate chuckled. “But you can hit
on me
.”

Everyone laughed, and
Karl was relieved to see a soft smile on Kate’s face as his friends flirted
with her. He knew how self-conscious she was and was grateful his friends cared
enough about her, and him, to try to make her feel better after Therese’s cruel
remarks. Now he could only pray none of it hit the press.

“Let’s get out of
here,” Karl whispered to her, pulling her against his chest and looking into
her face.

“Yes.” She nodded.

Getting back to the
apartment, Karl tossed his bag into his room and kicked off his shoes. He
changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and then padded into the kitchen,
pulling a beer out of the refrigerator. Kate came out of his room wearing one
of his T-shirts and a pair of short stretchy shorts that gave him a great view
of her ass. He grinned, holding out his arm so she could join him on the couch.

“You look good enough
to eat,” he laughed, leaning in for a kiss.

“You hungry?” she asked
with a mischievous grin.

“Just for you.” His mouth
captured hers in a kiss that made her eyes cross and her breath come in gasps.

“Damn, I don’t know if
I’ll ever get used to that,” she whispered, her voice husky with desire.

“I have all kinds of
things for you to get used to,” he teased, his blue eyes twinkling with
mischief.

“So you’ve said.” Her
eyes met his hesitantly, hating to break the mood but knowing it would eat at
her if she didn’t. “Should we talk about tonight?”

“No!” he grunted. “God,
why would we? I didn’t invite her, I haven’t spoken to her in at least three or
four years, and I want nothing to do with her. I’ve already told you how sorry
I am, but I’ll say it again if you need me to.”

She shook her head.
“No, I just don’t understand what happened. Or why she said that about me.” She
looked down.

He reached out to lift
her chin with his fingers. “Baby, there’s no pity involved here. I didn’t have
to have sex with you the night we met, I definitely didn’t have to start dating
you, and I promise you, no one is forcing me to have you practically living
here.” He paused, waiting until she was looking directly into his eyes. “You’re
here because I
want
you. I’m crazy about you.”

“I know,” she
whispered.

“But you’re not acting
like you believe it,” he said. “What do I need to do to prove it to you, Kate?”

“It’s not you,” she
admitted. “It’s me and my insecurity. My mother reminds me every time we talk
that you’re probably only interested in sex and then your Amazon ex-girlfriend
shows up and asks if I’m a pity fuck. What does that say about me? It says I’m
too fat for a guy like you.”

He groaned. “So you
don’t trust me to know what I want? What I’m attracted to?” He shook his head.
“Kate, you’re not fat. I don’t know how to make you understand that.”

“Karl, it’s one thing
for you to like me just the way I am, but you can’t lie to yourself or to
me—I’m fat.”

“Seriously?!” He got up
in a huff and gently but firmly pulled her to her feet. “Come with me.” He
yanked her by the arm into the bedroom and put her in front of him, standing
facing the mirror over the dresser. He used his hands to lift her shirt to just
below her breasts. He ran a hand up one silky thigh and then across her
stomach. “Look how sexy you are,” he whispered, his mouth against her ear.
“Your tiny little waist and those beautiful thighs make me so fucking hard.” He
looped a finger along the side of her boy shorts and slowly drew one side down.
“Look at your hips,” he said, tracing the bone on one side with his thumb.
“Curvy and round, and they fit just inside my hips when I’m fucking you—which
is my favorite thing in the world.” He turned her head so that he could kiss
her, slowly.

“Karl…” Her voice came
out rough, her breaths short as he continued to touch her.

“Katrina Marie, you are
so perfect to me—I don’t see fat. I don’t see what size you wear. I don’t see a
number on the scale. All I see is you, and I think you’re beautiful. Don’t you
feel how much I want you?”

She turned so that she
could face him and he slipped his hands around her ass. He lifted her onto the
dresser and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he continued to kiss her.
His fingers dug into her hips as he pressed himself between her legs. The heat
seared both of them, right through their clothes, and she tugged at his shirt.
He yanked it over his head and smiled as she sighed with pleasure.

“How come you get all
breathy when I take my shirt off?” he teased.

“
‘
Cause
I think you’re beautiful too,” she admitted.

“You know, I had a girl
tell me once that I was so pale I reminded her of an albino.”

She snorted with
laughter, grinning up at him. “Really?”

“Yup. She told me to
get a spray tan.”

Kate rolled her eyes.
“I like your milky white skin,” she murmured, running her hands up his back. “I
like all of you.”

“And I like all of
you,” he kissed the underside of her jaw, making her head tip backwards. She
slid closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’ve got curves in
all the places I want them to be, baby. You’re not fat. Please try to believe
that. It hurts me when you put yourself down.”

Her eyes filled with
tears as she looked up into his sincere face. “You make me so happy,” she said
softly. “I didn’t know guys like you existed.”

“I guess we do.” He
pressed his lips to her eyes, one at a time, kissing away her tears. “I need to
make love to you, Kate.”

“You want to teach me
something new tonight?” She tried to keep her voice from quavering.

He returned her gaze
with interest. “Do
you
want to?”

“I’ve been thinking
about all the stuff you whisper when we’re in bed,” she said softly. “The
things you say you want to do to me.”

“I have so many new
ways to make you feel good,” he said. “If you’re willing to try.”

“Yes.”

He ran a gentle hand
along her cheek. “I enjoy a little bondage in bed, but I don’t want you to do
anything you’re not comfortable with. I’m okay if you don’t want to.”

“I know,” she said,
resting her forehead against his. “Or I wouldn’t have brought it up. Maybe we
could start slow?”

“Yeah?” He looked down.
“Would you let me tie your hands over your head?”

“Maybe.” She felt her
cheeks grow warm and wished she wasn’t so easily embarrassed.

“Hey.” He lifted her
chin. “We don’t have to. I like making love to you any way you’ll let me—the
minute I’m inside of you I can’t even remember what handcuffs are.”

She dipped her head,
flushed with pleasure. “I want tonight to be extra special.”

“Are you going to be
able to be quiet, with Erin and Drake in the next room?” he teased, knowing how
much noise she usually made during sex.

“Erin and Drake won’t
be home for hours—they’re going out.”

“Oh, really?” He raised
his eyebrows. “So you worked this out with Erin ahead of time.”

“Yup.” She ran her
tongue nervously along her lips. “Before all the craziness with Therese.”

“That’s kind of giving
me a hard-on,” he chuckled.

“That was the point!”
She slowly eased off of the dresser and held out her hands. He took them,
letting her lead him to their bed; it was just as much hers as it was his anymore,
even though they didn’t officially live together. She’d become such an
important part of his life, he found it hard to imagine them not being
together. Of course, she had no idea he was considering going back to Sweden,
and that would be problematic for her because of her job.

She owned a PR firm in
New York, and it was becoming more and more successful. She was proud of it and
he was proud of her for her accomplishments. He wasn’t sure he could ask her to
give it up and move to a foreign country to do nothing but sit at home waiting
for him; Kate wasn’t that kind of woman.

After making sure the
bedroom door was locked, he pulled off the rest of his clothes while Kate
watched him from the bed with open admiration. He was long and lean, with
six-pack abs and shoulders so wide he seemed to fill up the whole room. With
his shoulder-length blond hair and startling blue eyes, she was always a little
bit spellbound when she was with him.

“Someday, I’m going to
spontaneously have an orgasm when you do that,” she murmured, laughing.

He shook his head.
“It’s all about the body, isn’t it?”

“Maybe!”

He laughed, trapping
her hands in his and holding them above her head as he moved in for a kiss.
Damn, she made him hard all the time. Admittedly, he was a sexual guy who
probably hadn’t gone more than a few weeks without sex in his entire adult
life, but with Kate it was all about quality over quantity.

He kissed her for
another minute before getting off the bed and going to the closet. He reached
up on the top shelf and dug around until he pulled out a package and then
turned to grin at her. He started pulling it open and took out two pairs of
brand new handcuffs with velvet lining the insides.

Kate’s mouth fell open.
“Are those
new
?”

“I was hoping you’d be
up for something like this one day, and the old pair was… well-used?” He
grimaced. “Since you’re not just another one-night stand, I thought it would be
disrespectful to use something I’ve used on other women with you. So I tossed
those and ordered these a few weeks ago.”

Kate smiled up at him;
he never failed to amaze her. “There’s a key, right?”

He laughed. “Yes.” He
held it out to her. She took it and played with it for a moment before laying
it on the nightstand.

“Just one thing…” she
said as he joined her on the bed.

“A safe word,” he said
automatically. “If at any time you aren’t having fun or you’re uncomfortable,
just say, ‘Karl stop.’ That’s all you have to do.”

“Okay.” She nodded, her
eyes shining as he kissed her.

He made short work of
the rest of her clothes and made sure that she wasn’t thinking about anything
except how good he could make her feel. Her willingness to please him, combined
with her lack of experience, was the biggest turn-on in the world. It had been
a long time since he’d been with anyone who wasn’t as worldly or experienced as
he was. Though he didn’t think any less of women who loved sex and enjoyed it
with a variety of men, there was something special about Kate. Her lack of
self-esteem when it came to her body frustrated him to no end, but he was doing
everything in his power to change that perception, and God, she was becoming so
in tune to his needs. He loved it when she initiated something new, even when
she had no idea what she was doing.

As he kissed his way
down her body, he couldn’t understand why men, or anyone really, didn’t love a
body like hers. Her legs were silky smooth, with toned calves and beautifully
rounded thighs. He loved burying his face between them, wrapping them around
his waist or just having them entwined with his. Her breasts were round and
full, and as he took one pert, pink nipple into his mouth, he thought they were
absolutely beautiful. Maybe they weren’t perfectly perky, but they were soft
and sexy, and he loved to palm them with his hands. He liked how they looked
when they peeked up from a push-up bra too.

He took the handcuffs
and gently slipped one end around her right wrist. “Okay?” he asked softly. She
nodded, watching him as he attached the other end to the wrought iron post of
his bed. She took in a deep, ragged breath and he kissed her again, coaxing her
tongue with his and then burying it deep in her mouth. She moaned with
pleasure, loving the way his rock-hard torso felt pressed against her.

When he reached between
her legs, she was already wet and he opened the other pair of handcuffs.
“Ready?”

She nodded again,
swallowing hard, trying to steady her breathing as he secured her hands over
her head.

“God, you’re so
beautiful,” he breathed, kissing her breasts until they were hard, tender peaks.
He used his tongue to lick a trail down her stomach, pausing at her belly
button. “You know what would be so hot?” he asked, glancing up at her. “A
piercing right here.” He slowly used his tongue to trace a circle around her
navel and then sucked on it until she sighed heavily.

He leaned back, using
his hands to spread her beautiful thighs, kissing the inside of one and then
the other. He gently nipped her skin, making her jump at the unexpected
assault. He glanced up at her face, glad to see the look of sheer rapture as he
taunted her senses.

When he slid his mouth
between her legs, she moaned, arching up to meet him. He took her legs and
brought them over his shoulders so that he would have complete access to her
hot, slick core. He found her clit throbbing and sucked it until he could feel
her starting to shudder beneath him. She was so fucking hot; he couldn’t
remember the last time sex had him as excited as a teenager. She jerked
suddenly, a small gasp coming from her.

“Karl…stop!” Her little
shriek of pain penetrated his lusty haze and his head snapped up.

“Did I hurt you?” he
asked, alarmed.

“Oh! Cramp! My calf!”
She let out a whimper of distress and he immediately sat back, grasping her
legs. “Right or left?”

“Right!” She squeezed
her eyes shut. “Ugh!”

“Easy.” He dug his
thumbs into her calf and felt the knot right away. He straightened her leg and
went to work, kneading the tight muscles until he felt the knot, and Kate,
relax. “Better?” He looked up at her and she nodded slowly.