When Aria Monroe lands her dream job as the new photographer for Los Angeles's professional hockey team, the last thing she expects is to work with the cocky, arrogant center Connor Holden who rocked her world five years ago during a one-night stand...
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Waking up this morning feels like a dream.
I keep trying to convince myself this is real life as I blink my eyes open to Aria sound asleep on my chest, her leg hooked with mine. After she disappeared on me that morning in The Maldives, I swore to myself if I ever found her again, I'd never take for granted being able to watch the sunrise with her.
Smiling softly, I brush my thumb over the scar on her forehead, following it down to the middle of her nose. She furrows her brows together in her sleep from my touch but thankfully doesn't wake. I want to admire her before this fantasy of mine that this is real between us comes crashing down. As much as I've got my hopes up, I can't read her mind. All I can wish for is that my effort to prove myself to her is working.
Why this scar brings her so much shame I haven't begun to understand yet, but I'm slowly putting the pieces together. The more I learn, the more Aria will let me in, and when that happens, no matter what worst-case scenarios her brain tries to conjure up, I'm not going anywhere.
A wrangled sort of snore that's cuter than it should be has Aria burrowing her head into the crook of my shoulder along with a soft whimper of contentment. The sound shoots straight to my cock, which now pokes at her inner thigh, and to my surprise, Aria's greedy hand finds it in her sleep.
She strokes me softly over the fabric of my briefs, and in seconds, I'm like a lion ready to pounce. Aria has no idea what kind of reaction she elicits from me. One touch from her has all my nerves lighting up like a damn Christmas tree.
And when that same hand of hers slips my cock out of my briefs? She's definitely not asleep anymore.
"Aria," I warn. My voice comes out more gravelly than intended, and it only seems to turn her on further. When she swipes at the bead of liquid formed on my tip with her thumb, whatever thread I was holding onto completely snaps.
I flip her onto her other side so her ass is pressed against my cock, knowing she hasn't wanted to have sex face-to-face yet. She said no emotions. No attachments. Luckily for her, none of that is on my mind right now. Aria is a tease in the morning, and she'll soon learn how riled that makes me.
"Thought you were worried about your period?" I mutter, my breath hitting her neck. She squirms against my cock in response.
"I am. I don't want to have sex on my period, but that doesn't mean I can't make you finish."
My fingers trail down her nightgown until I reach the end of it at her thigh, hiking it up to expose her. I'm pleased with the goosebumps on her skin. "And you said you were selfish..." Making a tsk tsk sound, she inhales a sharp breath. "You don't sound very selfish to me."
"Y-You don't know me well enough to determine that."
"Hmm, that's one theory." I move a large hand between her thighs until I'm cupping her over her underwear, jerking my chin out of the way when she throws her head back against my chest. "Why would it be fair for only me to get off when you're clearly so...eager to do so as well?"
