Off Season (Off #6)

By Sawyer Bennett

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2014 by Sawyer Bennett

Published by Big Dog Books

ISBN: 978-1-940883-23-6

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review.

Find Sawyer on the web!
www.sawyerbennett.com
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Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue

This one is for Rose
Holub… for everything you do to help make my work beautiful.
Many hugs!!!

Cady

December 24, 2014

Have you ever
thought about doing something that was just plain crazy? And although
you may have had some fleeting doubts, deep down… right inside
the middle of your gut… you know it’s the right thing to
do?

You know that if you
just have the fortitude to make that decision, put your fears aside
and really go for it… it could represent that one thing in
life that will make you happier than anything else will. It will
bring you what you desire most and even the things you are actually
sacrificing to get it will pale in comparison.

So yes… I’m
really thinking about doing something that is wild and completely out
of my comfort zone.

Many say that
Christmas is a time for miracles.

This year, I say
Christmas is a time for some crazy.

Cady

August

Four months earlier…

I bolt straight up
in bed, the sheets clutched to my chest. Panic fills me as I take in
the bright sunlight filtering in through the windows. I turn my head
slowly, dread filling me as I make eye contact with the alarm clock
beside the bed.

10:03 AM.

Phew! My heartbeat
settles down immediately as I realize I haven’t missed my
flight back home, which is scheduled for late afternoon. And while
the panicked feeling has been immediately eased, I take stock of the
fact that my head is pounding, courtesy of a hangover I fully
expected to have. Grimacing, I swing my legs to the side of the bed,
intent on searching my purse for the bottle of Excedrin I know will
assuage my suffering.

My body freezes when
I feel a hand snake around my waist. A large hand. Rough… yes,
I feel the calluses scraping against my skin, and then I’m
pulled backward into a hard body.

For a split moment,
my mind is blank, and I search in vain to remember why there is
someone else in this bed with me.

Then it all comes
back in a rush.

Zane.

Sexy as hell,
professional hockey player… Zane Kavanaugh.

I groan loudly as
the back of my naked body connects with his front… hot skin,
the scrape of his chin on my shoulder, and a very stiff erection
poking me in the backside.

“Where are you
going?” he asks, his voice all rough and raspy.

I take a deep breath
in and let it out slowly, but it does nothing to relax me. My body is
stiff and unyielding in his embrace. “Just to get some headache
medicine. I think I drank one too many last night.”

Zane chuckles and
plants a soft kiss on my shoulder, then follows it up with a nip of
his teeth, which causes a jolt of pleasure to spark through my body
and I melt back into him. “I thought you said there’d be
no regrets,” he murmurs near my ear. “Your voice is
sounding regretful.”

Sighing, my hand
comes up to rest over the arm wrapped around my waist. “You’re
right. We agreed… no regrets.”

But damn, I regret
every bit of it as I lay here in bed with a practical stranger who
will officially become my first one-night stand ever.

But oh God…
what a night. It may be a one-night stand, but it certainly wasn’t
a one-orgasm night. I may have started off partially inebriated when
his lips first touched mine, but I sobered up quickly when we had our
clothes off and were rolling around naked on my bed.

No…
correction… not my bed.

Linc and Ever’s
bed. Their guest bed to be precise and I groan out loud again.

“What’s
wrong now?” Zane asks softly as he moves his arm from around my
waist, only to caress his hand over my hip.

Turning abruptly in
the bed, I face Zane to tell him exactly why I just groaned, but my
thoughts scatter when my eyes lock onto his. How is it possible I
forgot how insanely gorgeous he is? It’s the eyes…
bright green, flashing with heat and intelligence, and a bit of a
cocky attitude. Full, generous lips, a surprisingly straight nose
given the nature of his work, and golden blond hair that’s
unfashionably long and unruly. Oh, and let’s not forget…
a body that was built by the gods themselves.

Zane’s hand
travels over my backside, where he squeezes my ass cheek and pulls me
in closer so his erection now lays pulsing and hot between my legs.
He leans in to kiss me, and my heart rate zooms away. Just before his
lips touch mine, I come to my senses and push him back. “Wait…
you’ve got to get you out of here before Linc finds you in this
room. We can sneak you out the window.”

Cocking an eyebrow
at me, Zane scoffs. “I’m not sneaking out the window.
Linc won’t care that I’m here.”

“Yes, he will.
I distinctly remember last night him warning you that he’d kill
you if you harmed a hair on my head before he left.”

“And have I
hurt you in any way?” Zane counters.

“No, but you
know what he meant… he meant for you to keep your hands off
me.”

Zane chuckles and
pulls me back closer. “Relax, Cady. You’re a grown woman,
and you can make your own decisions. You and I had a great time last
night. We both knew what we were getting in to, and you don’t
answer to anyone but yourself. I sure as fuck don’t answer to
Linc.”

“I know you
don’t answer to Linc,” I say quietly as my fingertips dig
into his chest muscles with anxiety. “But you are teammates.
Buds. Friends. This is just awkward.”

“Awkward for
you? Because it’s not going to be awkward for me to have him
see me walk out of your bedroom.”

I’m silent,
digesting what he says. I
am
an adult. While it may not be
something I’ve ever done before, if I’m truly honest with
myself, I really don’t have any regrets about sleeping with
Zane last night. I can’t explain it, but I’ve never had
such an intense and chemical attraction to someone before. Yes, the
alcohol may have lowered my inhibitions, but I was completely sober
by the third time we’d had sex last night, and I knew then—as
I know now—this was not an experience I could ever regret.

I have been in the
States for the last two weeks, visiting my family here. My trip
started in New Jersey, staying with my aunt and uncle, Nora and Nick
Caldwell. My dad, Keefe, is Nora’s older brother, both siblings
having been born and raised in Dublin. But Aunt Nora moved to the
States going on close to thirty years ago and stayed because she
married a Yank. That would be my Uncle Nick. I spent a week there,
hanging out with them and my cousin, Flynn, who I don’t get to
see enough of as I live across The Pond in Dublin, where I was also
born and raised.

It was a whirlwind
week. Flynn is a firefighter just across the river in Brooklyn and
along with his girlfriend, Rowan, took me out in the Big Apple a few
times, showing me all around the touristy sights. I also spent some
time with my other cousin, Nix Caldwell, and his wife, Emily. Nix is
sort of my cousin… by marriage anyway. His dad, Hank, is my
Uncle Nick’s brother, and the Caldwell kids all grew up
together. Nix, his brother Linc, and my true cousins, Flynn and
Renner Caldwell. We came to visit the Caldwell clans every few years,
and since we were all close in age, I was just as close to Nix and
Linc as I was to Renner and Flynn, although being as Renner was the
only girl, I was obviously much closer to her than I was the boys.
Which works out nicely for me now that she lives in Dublin with her
rock star boyfriend, Cillian, and I get to see her all the time.

Nix and Emily live
in New Jersey and my nights with them were quiet, consisting of
family dinners and lots of catch-up talk. I had a great time with
them, but before you knew it, I was flying out west… to
Phoenix, to visit, Linc and his fiancée, Ever Montgomery. He’s
the star goalie for the Phoenix Coyotes and because it’s the
off-season, he had nothing better to do than hang out with me during
my visit, which was a wonderful end to my vacation. We mostly chilled
out at his home, and I soaked up the hot Arizona sun by lounging
outside by Linc and Ever’s pool. I read books, listened to
music, and was basically a slug. It was the most relaxed I’ve
ever been, and it was just what I needed before returning to Dublin,
where I’d be entering into my second year at Trinity College,
working toward my master’s in Education.

“You’re
thinking too much,” Zane says, and I raise my gaze to his. His
brow is furrowed in worry. “I see regret in your eyes that you
promised me wouldn’t be there.”

“No,” I
hastily say as I smooth the anxiety out of my face. Giving him a
smile, I say, “I don’t regret last night at all. It was
amazing. It’s just a little awkward for me facing the ‘morning
after’. I thought one-night stands usually ended with one party
slinking out of the other’s bed to make a hasty escape.”

Zane laughs, his
green eyes sparkling, and he lays a swift kiss on my lips. “You
crack me up, Cady. It’s one of the reasons I’m insanely
attracted to you.”

Now, that’s
nice, but it makes me feel shallow because I was initially attracted
to those eyes… and that body.
Oh, geez. Wanton hussy here
,
I think as I mentally point to myself.

Last night was
intense. Linc and Ever suggested going out clubbing as a memorable
way to send me back off to Dublin and celebrate my last night of
vacation. I was all for that. Linc also mentioned that he happened to
invite a few of his teammates. And how could I argue with that? I
mean… what girl doesn’t want to be surrounded by
gorgeous, professional hockey players?

I’ll admit, I
know next to nothing about hockey. We play rugby in Ireland… a
real man’s sport, but I wasn’t let down in any way as I
met all of Linc’s friends at the nightclub he took us too. They
were all handsome… most in a charmingly rugged way. But when I
met Zane, my fate for the evening was sealed. He captured me with
those eyes, and then proceeded to sinfully flirt with me for the next
hour, causing Linc’s gaze to harden and Ever to roll her eyes
at his antics.

As drink after drink
went down, as I danced with Zane song after song, my attraction to
him increased tenfold. By the time Linc and Ever were calling it a
night, because Ever had to go to work the next morning, I was
seriously trying to figure out how I could get in Zane’s bed.

Me! Cady Dunne…
nice girl… studious, serious girl… trying to figure out
how to seduce a professional hockey player for the night.

Turns out… I
didn’t even need to. As Linc and Ever were saying their
goodbyes, Zane turned to look at me, leaning in close, and said,
“Don’t go home with them. Stay out with me tonight. Let’s
keep having some fun.”

I didn’t
hesitate a second, giving Ever an intent look as she walked up to me.
“I’m going to stay out with Zane. Just leave the door
unlocked for me.”

She gave me a
knowing smile in return.

Linc growled at Zane
that he better take good care of me, and that he’d kick his ass
if he harmed a hair on my head.

And yup… just
as Zane pointed out, he had not harmed me in anyway. Unless you
counted the fact I was slightly sore from the numerous times we had
sex last night.

“So, what do
we do now?” I ask Zane, tapping my index finger in the center
of his chest. “Walk out all nonchalantly, or have you make a
beeline for the front door?”

Zane smirks and then
wraps his arms around me, pulling me in so every bit of my body from
my chest down is mashed up against his. I can feel his dick twitch
against my leg.

“I say you let
me fuck you one more time before you leave,” he murmurs, just
before brushing his lips against mine. “Just one more time so I
have something to remember you by.”