The Wildcat (Playing to Win, #2)

by Bella Matthews

“Fucking hell, Everly . . . You’re wearing my name on your back.” “I am,”

“Are you upset?” “No, baby.” Cross runs his hands up my thighs, and his fingers dig in to the globes of my ass. “Why would I be mad at my woman wearing my name and number? Christ, Everly, I want to fuck you so bad.”

“Oh, I’m not gonna be fast tonight, baby. I’m going to fuck you for fucking hours.” He pushes his tongue inside my mouth, and I press myself against him. “I’m going to take my time. Take your mouth and your cunt, and if you’re a really good girl, I’m going to take this ass that you showed the whole world tonight.” “Yes, please.”

“Good. Let’s go. I came here with Bellamy and Ares, but you and I are leaving alone. Grab your bag.” “But my family⁠—” “We’ll see them all tomorrow after the game when we go to dinner at your parents’ house,”

“I’m sorry, what?” I hop off the counter. “Like my whole family?” My voice actually cracks with that news. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” “Yeah well, your dad and I talked. I’m bringing the kids to the game tomorrow, and then we’re all going to your parents’ house for dinner. Now grab your stuff, and let’s get the fuck out of here.” Cross moves closer, his hand sliding down my back as he cups my ass. “And Everly . . . leave on the shirt.”

He shuts and locks the door, then prowls toward me like an apex predator stalking its prey. He knows I’m his. It’s just a matter of how he wants to take me.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to like this, Wilder.” “Then you don’t know fuck all about me, Sinclair. Because what you did tonight . . . Damn, woman.”

“I thought I’d be the one to claim you in front of everyone, and even then, I figured it would...

“I never figured you’d do it first. But then, you like to keep me on my toes, don’t y...

“Why’d you do it?” “Cross . . .” I whimper impatiently. “You want me to think with your face so close to my pussy?” “If you want my tongue inside that sweet cunt, you’re going to answer me, Everly.” “Oh hell. Because you’re mine, Cross. You’re mine, and I’m yours, remember?” “Good girl.”

“Okay, at first, it was that you said it. But then . . . then it was that I realized I wasn’t scared of what you said. I was scared because I felt that way too. And I didn’t know what to do with that.”

“You’re everything I was avoiding, Cross.”

“You’re serious. A father with a family. You wanted a relationship. A commitment. You’re an athlete and not just any athlete. You’re a professional hockey player. If someone asked me to paint a picture of the man I didn’t want to date, I would have painted you.” “Baby, I’m not sure how much more of this my ego can take.”

“But here’s the thing. None of it mattered. Not what I thought I wanted. Or assumed I needed. Not why I felt that way. None of it mattered once you walked into my life. Because suddenly, it didn’t matter what I believed. There was just you, and you didn’t play by my rules.” “I was never playing a game.” “I know that now . . .”

“I’m not sure when I figured that out, but in my heart, I think I might have always known it. You still scare me, Cross, but I’m so damn in love with you, nothing else matters.” “That’s good, baby. Because I wasn’t letting you go.”

“Any chance you can wear this outfit for me after every game?” “If you don’t put your mouth on me soon, I may never wear them again.”

“We’re doing this right tonight.” “Oh my God.” Cross takes the stairs two steps at a time as I hold in my excited giggle. “Pretty sure we’ve been doing it right all along. I’ve got no complaints.” “Such a brat.”

“I’m going to spread you out and eat you out before I make you scream for me, Everly. Then I’m going to fuck you until I’m the only god you pray to.” Oh fuck.

“Cat got your tongue, baby?” “Forgive me, father, for I have sinned, and I’m about to do it again. Hopefully over and over and over.”

A scream lodges in my throat. “The kids are asleep, and the doors are closed, Everly. But you’ve got to be quiet.”

“I’m going to fuck you with my name on your body, Everly.”

Tucked among the cluster of tattoos on his ribcage is a new one. The tips of my fingers gently trace the design. “Cross . . .” I have no words. “I had no idea when I met you how fitting Cinderella would be for you. For us. I’m no prince, Everly. But I will always search for you. Shoe or not. You can run if you have to. But I’ll always find you.”

“You put me on your body.” “You already own my soul, baby.” “I love you,” I tell him as I pull at his belt, desperate for everything with this man.

“I want forever, Cross.” “Forever, baby.” My own orgasm threatens, but it’s not my turn yet. “You and me. I’m never letting go.”

“Tell me you’re mine, Everly. I want all of you. Your body. Your heart. Your fucking soul, Everly, I want it all.” “Oh, God,” she pants. “Yours, Cross. Only ever yours. Now. Forever.”

I collapse next to her, and she crawls into my arms. Both of us so completely destroyed, there’s no going back. There’s no more running. No more chasing. It’s just us. Together.

“We’ve got our whole lives, Everly. Sleep now. I’ve got you.” “No more running,” she whispers and closes her eyes.

“One day, you’re going to tell me who hurt you, baby. You’re going to let me shoulder that fucking burden for you. Because nothing should have as much control over you as you give this.”

“I woke up the next morning naked. Keith was lying next to me in bed. He was naked too. And I couldn’t remember anything. It wasn’t like a hangover. It was a blackout.” She straightens her shoulders and swallows. “I’ve been drunk before, Cross. But I’ve never blacked out. And I hadn’t had that much to drink. It wasn’t adding up, but it felt like my brain was muddled.”

“He tried to convince me we hooked up. No big deal, same as always. But the thing is . . . I knew in my heart he was lying.” “Everly . . .”

“I told him no, Cross. I know I did. But we’d been together for years, and he thought I was just playing hard to get. That’s what he kept saying. Don’t play hard to get now, Everly.”

“He drugged me, and he had sex with me while I was too out of it to stop him. And it was my fault.”

“It was not your fault, Everly. He drugged you, and he raped you. You said no while you could, and he waited until you couldn’t to take advantage of you. None of that is your fault.”

“No means no, Everly. And if you weren’t able to say no, then it shouldn’t have even been an option. No. It’s an entire sentence. It’s all you ever should have had to say, and if you couldn’t fucking say it, then it should have been automatic, baby.”

“He attacked you, Everly. Did you ever tell anyone? The girls? The police? Your family?” “Brynlee knows. But that’s it. My father . . . my brothers . . . the guys . . . any one of them would have killed him. Actually physically killed him, and I couldn’t live with the consequences of their actions on their lives and on my conscience. They would have killed him, Cross.”

“Cross.” “Mr. Sinclair,” I answer awkwardly. “Seriously, call me Declan.” “Okay.” He looks at me for a long moment. “Annabelle said I had to be nice.” “Remind me to thank your wife.”

“Daddy,” Kerrigan squeals again. “Look at Miss Evie. Look how pretty she looks, Daddy.” “She’s perfect,” I whisper, and Declan claps my shoulder. “Nobody’s perfect, Cross. But she’s pretty damn close. So don’t fuck it up.”

“Keith . . .” Keith who got drafted by Pittsburgh two years ago. “Keith fucking Dolan?” You’ve got to be kidding me. “Yeah, man. But seriously. Don’t sweat it. He’s good, but he’s no you. And like I said, she never even introduced him to Mom and Dad. That’s got to be one of those girl tests, right?”

Now I know why hockey is a problem for her. Keith fucking Dolan was a first-round draft pick the year they graduated. And I’m going to fucking kill him.

Kerrigan looks at me, like she wants my approval, and I smile back at her when I see a few of my little cousins outside. “Do not let a single hair on her head get hurt or I will castrate you,” I whisper to my brother and move Kerrigan from my hip to his. “Always so violent, evil twin.”

“Did you say Keith’s name? Like his actual name?” “Jesus, Evie. Chill the fuck out. Your man has been in the NHL for a decade. He’s not gonna get all freaked-out because your ex went first round in the draft.” “Did you use his name?” I seethe through gritted teeth. “He did,” a voice answers from behind me, and I cringe. This is so bad.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” “Tell you what?” I wrap my arms around myself defensively. “Keith Dolan?”

“I promise you, baby, there isn’t a single thing about this I find funny. I want to kill him. Like with my bare fucking hands, kill him.”

“This isn’t about you, Cross. It never was. I didn’t tell you who he was because I didn’t want you or anyone else to know. And what you just said is my number one reason for keeping it to myself. If you kill him. Or hurt him. Or do anything stupid . . .

If you do any of that, it ruins your life. It could potentially ruin the kids’ lives. And I have to go through the hell of reopening myself up to all this again. It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it. You are...

“I will always protect you. You and the kids. You’re my world. Making sure you’re safe will always . . . always be my number one priority. And this piece of shit made you feel unsafe. He took advantage of you. He⁠—” “Don’t.”

“Don’t say it. I know what he did, Cross. I’ve lived with it. I’ve dealt with it. I’ve moved on. You don’t get to be mad at me because now you know who he is.”

“Then why is he still walking around a free fucking man, baby? Why didn’t you go to the police? How could you not press charges?” he yells at me. Actually yells, and I shrink in on myself for a second before anger blooms and I fight back. “No. You do not get to decide how I handle this. You weren’t there,”

“This didn’t happen to you. It happened to me. And I don’t want the world to know about it. I don’t want to tell my family. I don’t want my father and my brothers to look at me differently. I don’t want people to pity me. Or some troll on social media to wonder whether I’m lying or trying to get attention. I choose what I want to do. And I dealt with it how I wanted to.”

“Baby . . . what would you do if someone hurt Kerrigan the way he hurt you? Wouldn’t you want him arrested? Prosecuted? Convicted? Wouldn’t you want to make sure he couldn’t do the same thing to anyone else ever again?