Page 110 of Icebound Hearts
“You like that?” Theo sidles up to us with Becca on his arm, looking smug as hell. “That was my idea.”
I laugh, and when Reese offers to go grab his sister a drink, I go with him. It feels… strange, somehow, not being the one to bring her a glass. Not being the one taking care of her.
It bothers me.
“I’m glad you gave Vi the night off,” Reese comments as we wait for our drinks at the bar. “The whole team loves her, and even Grant likes her more than he likes most people. We don’t…” He grimaces, shrugging. “Well, we don’t really have much in theway of family besides each other, so I like to think of the team as her family too.”
My throat tightens, both at the reminder that Violet and Reese’s parents basically abandoned them when they went through their divorce, and because of the twisting guilt in my gut. I hate lying to Reese. He’s one of my best friends.
“Of course,” I say, a little stiffly. “We all care about her.”
The bartender interrupts our conversation, sliding our drinks over to us, and we go back to join the others. Margo has joined them too, and she and Callie are in the middle of a detailed discussion about wedding dresses that goes way over my head. The stiffness in my shoulders from my conversation with Reese slowly ebbs away as we all talk and banter, and I run my finger over the button that controls the vibrator, my gaze darting to Violet every now and then.
We’re deliberately not standing close to each other, speaking to other people—yet still, I’m acutely aware of her. Every small gesture she makes. The way her blonde hair shifts over her shoulder as she turns her head. The way her teeth shine as she laughs, her red lips parting.
Unable to hold back any longer, I press the button, turning on the vibrator.
Violet jolts slightly, a bit of her drink sloshing over the edge of her glass. Her free hand reaches out as if searching for something to steady herself with, and her mouth opens slightly?—
“Oh my god!” Callie blurts.
I tense up and quickly flick off the vibrator, worried for a second that she somehow figured out what’s going on with Violet. But then Callie points across the room, drawing our attention to something on the other side of the large space.
It’s Grant. Our 6’7” goalie is standing with his arms crossed over his massive chest as he talks to Margo’s sister, and he’s…
“Holy shit.” Noah lets out a low whistle. “So the motherfuckercanlaugh.”
I glance over at Noah, who has a bemused, slightly stunned look on his face. He’s not the only one. There’s something in Grant’s expression as he talks to Heather that I’ve never seen before, his usually gruff and stoic countenance softening a bit.
But whatever curiosity I have about what caused the shift in Grant’s demeanor falls to the side as my gaze lands on Violet, who still looks a bit dazed from the burst of pleasure that shot through her a moment ago.
Her eyes lift to meet mine at the exact moment I look at her, and I can’t resist—I press the button on the vibrator control again.
This time, she’s ready for it, and she hides her reaction better than last time. The only small indication that the vibrator is working is the way her pupils blow out, her eyes darkening as she holds my gaze. She drags in a slow breath as if trying to tamp down her body’s reaction, and I smile, my finger sliding upward on the small device in my pocket until I find the button that increases the intensity.
I press it once, and her nostrils flare, her lips parting just slightly. She deliberately looks away from me, as if she’s afraid she’ll give too much away if she doesn’t, and my cock twitches as I watch her delicate throat shift as she swallows.
Callie, Becca, and Margo choose that moment to draw her into a conversation, and I smirk as I watch Violet suppress a full-body shiver, a faint look of panic crossing her face.
Don’t worry, heartbreaker. I’ve got you.
As much fun as I’m having with this, there’s no way I’d let anything happen that would embarrass her. My protective instincts toward her wouldn’t let me.
I press the button to turn off the vibrator, giving her a bit of respite. Her cheeks are already more flushed than theywere when we arrived, and although I get sucked into a debate between Theo and Maxim about our odds of making the playoffs this season, I catch Violet subtly pressing a hand to her cheeks when I shoot a glance her way.
“Okay, people!” Noah calls out a few minutes later, drawing the attention of everyone in the club. “Gather round! Grant forbade us from getting him any presents, but he didnotforbid us from getting him a cake. So will you all please join me in singing Happy Birthday to our favorite grumpy goalie?”
As Noah speaks, several of the club’s staff members wheel out a table from the back with a massive cake resting on top of it. There are hoots and cheers from the gathered crowd as Noah makes a big production of lighting all thirty-four of the candles that have been stuck into the decadent looking frosting.
“Grant, get up here!” Theo calls, and our goalie emerges reluctantly from the crowd. His expression is once again set in its usual stony façade, almost making me think I imagined the way he was smiling and laughing moments ago as he talked to Margo’s sister.
Maybe we all collectively hallucinated the same thing, I think with a wry chuckle, recalling my teammates’ stunned reactions to the sight.
As Noah, Reese, and Theo try to convince Grant to give a speech—good luck with that, boys—I move subtly through the crowd until I’m standing just behind and to the left of Violet. I’m so attuned to her by now, having spent hours memorizing her body and its responses, that I can tell the exact moment she realizes I’m close. Her ribs expand with a soft inhale, and she lifts her chin a little.
“Everyone’s about to start singing, heartbreaker,” I murmur, my voice so low it’s barely audible. “But I want you to sing loudest of all. Be a good girl and come for me.”
She sucks in another breath, her shoulders tensing—and when the guys finally give up on getting Grant to make a speech and start leading the crowd in a loud rendition of “Happy Birthday to You,” I press the button to switch the vibrator back on.