I let out a quick laugh. Gotta love the honesty of a five-year-old. “I did suck for one of them, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” He nodded as he pulled back but didn’t take his arms off me. “I told Mom that and she said not to say ‘suck.’”

I rolled my eyes and chuckled under my breath. “Of course she did.”

He stared at me for a second, his big blue eyes traveling all over my face, before he cracked a tight-lipped smile and squeezed me again.

“What’s this one for?”

“I just missed you,” he muffled into my shoulder.

I closed my eyes and tightened my arms around him. “I missed you, too, bud. That’s why I came over tonight. I wanted to be here when you got up in the morning.”

“Do you have hockey tomorrow?” he asked as he wiggled out of my arms and sat on the edge of his bed.

“Nope, we have an off day.”

“Yay!” he cheered, pumping his little arms in the air. “Can we do stuff?”

I sat down on the bed next to him. “Sure. What did you have in mind?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Go out for breakfast, go to the park, go to the zoo, maybe the circus? Then lunch, the library, play catch in the backyard—”

“Wait a sec.” I looked at him in amazement. “You want to do all of that tomorrow?”

He nodded proudly. “Then if we have extra time, can we get ice cream?”

I shook my head incredulously. “Buddy, if we’re gonna get even half of that done, we both need to get some sleep.” I stood up and reached around him, lifting the blankets for him to crawl under.

I pulled the quilt up to his chin and then tucked the sides in nice and tight. “I’ll tell you what . . . you close your eyes and get a good night’s sleep and I’ll see what I can do about that list of yours. Deal?”

“Deal,” he agreed with a grin.

I leaned down and kissed his forehead before heading back down the hall to Michelle’s room.

 

As I pushed her bedroom door open and saw her curled up with her back to me, my poor dick wept with disappointment.

“No, no, no,” I whined as I crawled across the bed and tried to wake her. “How did you fall asleep that fast?”

“Hmmm?” she answered in a sleepy moan without opening her eyes.

I rocked her back and forth. “Come on, it’s been five days.”

“That’s fine, just put it on the counter,” she slurred, sounding like the weird little sleepy mouse from Alice in Wonderland.

I sighed, grabbed the remote, and leaned back against the headboard.

Apparently the only balls that’ll be bouncing tonight will be on SportsCenter.

 

 

Light kisses traveled down the back of my neck, setting every nerve in my body on fire and making my dick even harder than it already was. I fought through a sleepy haze to open my eyes just as Michelle lay back on the pillow next to me, flashing me a sexy smile.

“Good morning,” she said.

“Morning,” I growled into the pillow before closing my eyes again.

“Wait,” she exclaimed sadly. “You’re going back to sleep? Your eyes were just open.”

“That’s because you were kissing my neck so I thought I was getting laid. You stopped so I’m going back to sleep.” I opened one eye halfway, peeking at her, just as she pouted and rolled her eyes. “Plus, I’m mad at you,” I added.

“Mad at me?” Her voice rose in surprise.

“Yep.”

“Why?”

I lifted my face off of the pillow just slightly. “I believe your response was ‘Got it, boss’ when I told you not to fall asleep last night. Less than ten minutes later, I came back in here ready to bury my face in between your legs and you were sawing logs.”

Her bottom lip popped out in a pucker. “I’m sorry. I was so tired, I couldn’t keep my eyes open.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Well, the kids are still sleeping . . . I can make it up to you right now,” she said seductively, sliding her hand in between my stomach and the mattress. She gripped my morning wood over my sweats and her eyes grew wide. “Wow! Someone sure woke up ready to go.”

“I’m always ready to go when you’re around. I walk around with a constant hard-on, ready to strike at any moment, just in case you decide you’re in the mood.”

She planted a soft kiss on my cheek as she kept massaging my dick. “As cute as that is, we both know it’s not true. If you walked around all day with that, people would definitely stare . . . and talk.”

“Oh, yeah?“ I rolled over, giving her easier access. “And what would those people say?”

“Hmmm . . . probably that Viper’s girlfriend is the luckiest woman in the whole world.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that.” I sat up and kissed her neck. “I’ll be right back. Don’t. Move.”

She giggled as I walked over to the master bathroom. “What are you laughing at?” I called out.

“You. That. I don’t know how you pee when it’s like that.”

I leaned back and shook my head. “It fucking sucks. You think Matthew has bad aim? Come look at the bathroom wall in here in about a minute and you’ll see what I mean.”

She let out another small giggle as I closed the bathroom door. I wasn’t really mad at Michelle, but I wasn’t kidding about wanting her so bad. Over the last year since we started dating, it had been a learning process, mostly on my part. I’d been used to going to the bar on Friday nights and leaving with whomever I wanted to. When we’d gone out on the road for away games, I didn’t think twice about taking a hot little puck bunny back to my hotel room for a few hours. Women were constantly shoving their phone numbers in my face, and a year ago I would have taken them all home and put them in my kitchen drawer. Now . . . I threw them away. I went back to my hotel room after the games and called Michelle, and I almost never went to the bar, unless I was meeting up with Brody or something. Michelle had changed my life drastically . . . for the better.

I pulled my sweats up, washed my hands, and hustled back to the bedroom, ready to finally finish what I’d started the night before. Just as I crossed through to the bedroom, I froze. Michelle pressed her lips together and gave me a sympathetic smile as my eyes traveled down next to her . . . to Matthew curled up in my spot.