“I understand that,” she agrees gently.

“Well, that part’s a bit moot right now, since I’m willing to give up my wild ways for you,” I tell her with a smile, and she smiles back. “But more than that is the fact that she doesn’t give me credit for the things I do as an adult that are antithetical to the things she disapproves of. I mean, I do more than just volunteer saving golden retrievers. I’m involved in a number of charities, I coach youth hockey in the summer, and I help underprivileged people from all walks of life. I spent a lot more time than most of my teammates giving back, because I feel that’s my duty as a means to show how grateful I am for all that I have. And if I sound bitter about it, maybe I am, because all that wonderful shit I do far outweighs the few little scandals that have seemed to surround me, and yet I get no credit from her for that.”

Lexi stares at me a moment, her lips pressing together in a sorrowful way. “I’m sorry. That just sucks.”

And now that the dam is opened, I can’t seem to stop myself from laying it all out there. “So as not to sound like a whiny bitch, I can even let all that personal stuff go. I’m confident enough in myself to know it really doesn’t mean anything. But on the professional side, she’s asking me to change my fundamental being as a player. Yes, I get penalized, but you know what? That’s my job. I’m an enforcer and you have to maintain that reputation. And yes, I’ve been suspended, but I just can’t control that type of passion out there on the ice. I take my job seriously, and that includes doing whatever I need to win. And the thing that really burns me up is that Gray knew all this before she ever offered me a contract. She knew what she was getting, and yet now she can’t seem to tolerate it. Now, it’s her way or the highway, and as I explained, I don’t do well when given those types of ultimatums.”

When I finish, Lexi immediately scoots forward a bit to put her lips against mine. She gives me a tender kiss and then pulls back to look at me. “I understand, and I totally get your frustration. I could perhaps talk to Gray—”

I’m shaking my head at her before she can even get the rest of her offer out. “That is one thing you will never do, Lexi,” I tell her sternly. “While it’s not prohibited, it presents a potentially sticky situation with me dating the owner’s daughter and the GM’s sister. You will never get involved in my career, you got that?”

I know it sounds harsh, and I know this because her eyes widen in surprise. “Okay,” she whispers hesitantly.

“I’m sorry,” I mutter with frustration, my hands squeezing her hips reassuringly. “It’s just…I don’t ever want you in a hard spot, and frankly, I don’t need you fighting my battles. It’s this whole thing that I’m afraid I might lose my man card or something.”

“Okay,” she says more firmly. “I got it. No interfering or intervening. Let you handle your own battles. Be there to commiserate and support.”

“I might not be the one you commiserate with,” I remind her grimly. “You have a sister to think about too.”

“Well, I don’t really see why I can’t have both,” Lexi says simply, yet with so much optimism I can’t help but smile. “I can’t see why we can’t all get along.”

I snort and lift my head from the pillow to kiss her, because that really is cute if not a little naïve. “I think we should just all agree that Gray and I will probably never get along and may intermittently butt heads. I suspect that might be even more so now that this notorious bad boy is dating her sister.”

“We’re dating?” she asks for clarification. “Not just banging each other’s brains out, right?”

“We were dating the minute I heard you on that stage playing your ukulele,” I tell her. “Even if neither of us fully realized it then.”

“Awwww,” she says with a twinkle in her eyes. “That’s so sweet.”

“And since we’re dating, you can be assured that I won’t have any bad-boy behavior off the ice for Gray to worry about. Now I just have to figure out how to play the game and be true to myself and not do something that compels your sister to fire me.”

“I have faith in you,” Lexi says with a brilliant smile. “Roman Sýkora can do anything he sets his mind to.”

“Is that so?” I ask teasingly, my hands sliding from her hips to her ass. I press down on her so she grinds slightly on my cock. While it may have been in limbo while we talked, it immediately perks up with interest.

“So true,” she says huskily as her eyes start to go darker as my dick gets harder. If it weren’t for the need for a fucking condom right now, I’d just pull her up and settle her right down on top of me for a ride.

Instead, I charmingly ask, “Remember that conversation we had about drooling on me earlier?”

Her eyes flash, and then go sizzling hot. “I remember.”

“Think maybe we can do something about it?” I ask, my hands sliding from her ass, up her back and tangling in her hair. I push the top of her head suggestively.

Lexi immediately responds, starting to slide her way down my body, layering soft kisses against my skin as she goes. My cock swells with need and my balls already start to tingle in anticipation.

“Wait a minute,” I say gruffly, my hands tightening on her head.

She looks up at me, her eyes already clouded with lust, her mouth poised right above my navel. “What?”

“Swing your body around,” I tell her softly. “I want you on my face while you’re sucking my cock.”

Lexi lets out a swift breath and sucks in a larger one. She hesitates only a moment before she scrambling around on the bed and flinging her legs to either side of my head. There’s no hesitation as she lowers to my waiting tongue at the same time she takes me deep inside her mouth.

And oh yeah…this is the fucking shit. Sixty-nining it with my girl first thing in the morning, and I can’t think of a better way to start my day. I’m going to have to make sure there are many more mornings just like this.

Chapter 18

Lexi

I know it’s kind of shitty to just show up at Gray’s house like this, but I’ve learned that my sister is extremely busy and her time is limited, and I can’t wait to get this off my chest. I also know she’s at home because I called my dad and asked where she was. He informed me she was working from the house as she wanted to take Violet and Ruby into school this morning as a means to spend a little bit of extra time with them before she left with the team this afternoon for the West Coast games.