Crashing the Net (11 page)

His smile must have been as wicked as his thoughts, because Alexei appeared downright alarmed after glancing over at Mike. He drove faster, barely letting the warehouse doors open wide enough to admit the truck before he squealed into their makeshift garage.

Mike hadn’t released his seatbelt before Alexei flew out of the truck and slammed the door behind him.

Mike sighed and chased after him. “Will you slow the fuck down and tell me what’s wrong?”

Alexei stepped into the elevator and yanked down the door. Mike dove in after him.

“Jesus, Alexei. You almost took my head off. What the fuck is your problem?”

“You!” Alexei barked. “You’re my fucking problem.”

Mike swallowed and reminded himself he’d been expecting it. Sort of. It still didn’t feel very good. And the mixed signals, back-and-forth shit was killing him.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said honestly.

Alexei seemed to deflate. “No, I’m sorry.” Alexei rubbed a hand over his shoulder and Mike realized he’d been doing it off and on since they’d left the ice.

“Did that asshole Larsson hurt you?”

Alexei’s hand dropped. “It’s fine. Just a bruise.”

Mike resisted the urge to tug aside Alexei’s collar to look for himself. He watched Alexei as he lifted the massive door to reveal their hallway. He didn’t see any signs of pain.

“Why was that guy all over you?”

Alexei stepped into the hallway. “He’s my ex.”

Mike’s brain stuttered. “What?”

“Stupid fucker ended it years ago, then tried to come back a few months ago and I said no. At our last game he actually tried to flirt with me
on the ice
, and I made it very clear what I thought of that shit. Guess he’s not too happy about it.”

“Wait. How long did you two date?” Mike asked while he dogged Alexei’s heels to his apartment door.

Alexei stopped and Mike was alarmed to see his shoulders slump. “Almost two years.”

Another brain stutter. “Two years?” Shit, why was his voice so high?

“Yeah.”

“What happened?” Mike asked with a mix of curiosity and dread.

“He got traded.”

“So?”

Alexei stopped looking at something over Mike’s shoulder and met his eyes. “He figured that meant it was over.”

And you didn’t.

“Did you love him?” Mike asked quietly.

“I thought it was going that way,” Alexei answered, and for a moment his eyes narrowed on Mike before he looked away again. “Turns out it wasn’t.”

Two years seemed like an awful long time to Mike for two people to still be thinking about being in love. Mike had only had sex with Alexei two days ago, and already he was—well, he was feeling pretty strongly about the guy.

But he supposed the different timetables didn’t really matter. What mattered was that Larsson had hurt Alexei. Mike regretted, more than ever, not knocking out a few of the bastard’s teeth.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what?”

“That he ended up being an asshole.”

“Eh. In hindsight I can admit he kind of started that way, too.”

“I’m also sorry he convinced you that dating another player was a bad idea.”

Alexei sighed. “Actually, I knew that before I dated Erik. He just added more proof.”

“I wouldn’t leave.”

“What?”

“If I was dating someone, if I loved him, I wouldn’t end the relationship just because I got traded away.”

Alexei’s expression stayed perfectly neutral. “Good to know.”

“Yeah, well, I just thought I’d mention it.”
And, you know, way overplay my hand.

Time to change the subject. Though he did have one more related question.

“Do you have a lot of exes?” he asked as casually as he could manage. It wasn’t easy when he was still plotting when he could go out and run over Larsson with his fucking car.

No, better, he’d take Alexei’s truck—

Alexei smirked and turned to unlock his door. “A few.”

“And they’re all men?” Because he was starting to think he’d need a reinforced bumper.

“Did Erik Larsson look like a girl to you?”

Mike smiled. “You really want me to answer that? I wouldn’t want to insult your taste in men.”

Alexei rolled his eyes and threw open his door. Mike could have sworn he heard him mutter “you’re one to talk” under his breath.

Alexei chucked his bag in the corner and made a beeline for the fridge. He needed a fucking beer.

Mike was killing him. Every time Alexei had turned around today, there Mike was. And no, that wasn’t actually different than any other day, but today it was making Alexei crazy. And it was his own damn fault. What the fuck had he been thinking last night when he’d crawled into bed with Mike? Never mind this morning when he’d blown the guy.

And now he’d told him about Erik, of all things.

Jesus, he had no self-control around this man.

Like, right now he should send Mike back to his apartment, banish him from sight, but Alexei didn’t bother. He was afraid he’d only go looking for Mike in the end.

He spun to give Mike a beer and found him standing six inches away.

“Back off!” he barked.

Mike immediately stepped back.

Alexei sighed.
What the fuck am I doing?

“Look, Mike, this morning…the other night. It was nice.”

Mike made a face.

“Ok, fine, it was fucking fantastic. But it can’t happen again.”

“Why not? What part of
fucking fantastic
isn’t working for you?”

Alexei slammed his beer down on the counter. “You don’t understand. I’m not like you.”

“What does that mean?”

Shit.
He really didn’t want to have to explain this. “Just trust me. I’ve been around the block. A few times. You were a
virgin
the day before yesterday.”

“I never should have told you that,” Mike muttered.

He grabbed Mike’s arms and yanked him in close. “I’m glad you did, because—because otherwise—”
Otherwise, I might have been able to ignore all the obvious signs that we are not compatible. Because god, look at those lips. Right there. So close.
He shoved Mike away and took a step back. “You need to find a nice man who can make love to you the way you want.”

“And what the hell would you know about that?”

“Will you just trust me?”

“I’d trust you with my life,” he said looking Alexei right in the eyes, his gaze glinting with the determination he brought to all of their arguments. “But I’m not going to let this go.”

Alexei gritted his teeth. “That’s just it, Michael. You like to argue with me. Debate
everything
. And that doesn’t work for me. Not in bed.”

It would eventually be, Alexei was sure, the goddamn deal-breaker.

So why the hell was Mike suddenly kissing him? And why the hell was Alexei kissing Mike back?

God, Mike’s tongue. Lips. His taste. Alexei could kiss him like this all night.

With a frustrated growl, he shoved Mike away again. “Did you not
hear
me?”

“I heard you fine,” Mike said quietly, calm in the face of Alexei’s anger.

“Then why did you kiss me?”

Mike looked at him, into him, from where he slouched against the fridge. His hands pressed to the stainless steel. Cheeks pink, chin tucked, a little smile playing on his lips. Goddamn, he got under Alexei’s skin like someone had given him the operator’s manual.

“Because I knew you wouldn’t kiss me.”

Alexei gulped. “You have no idea what you’re asking for.”

Mike gripped the front of his shirt and towed him closer. “Show me.”

Alexei sighed and pressed his forehead to Mike’s.

“Alexei—”

“No, I’ll hurt you. I won’t be able to resist. I can’t…I can’t
not
hurt you,” he confessed, almost wishing it wasn’t true. To be with this man…But no, Alexei couldn’t change who he was any more than he would force Mike to do things he wasn’t comfortable doing.

Mike leaned back and cocked his head. “Like, whips and chains and stuff?”

“No, none of that shit. Just…
rough
.”

“Tell me what you mean.”

At long fucking last, Mike looked serious. Almost wary.

Dancing around the truth hadn’t worked, so Alexei went with brutal honesty. “I like to be in charge. I want you do what I say, as soon as I say it. I want you to feel me—my hands, my teeth—for
days
afterward. To know your ass is sore from my cock and glowing red from the palm of my hand. I want you to wince when you sit, and then think of me. Do you understand?” He looked down Mike’s long, lean body and took a deep, shuddering breath. “I could not possibly touch you again and not bite your perfect ass.
Hard
.”

Alexei watched Mike’s face, waiting for the distaste, maybe outright disgust, to show. His breath caught in his throat when Mike’s lips curved in a slow smile.

Mike wanted to laugh. Hell, he wanted to jump up and down and whoop and then tackle Alexei to the floor and beg him to have his way with Mike. Instead, he smothered his grin—while still not being able to completely mask his smile—and watched the mixture of frustration and determination on Alexei’s face turn into panic.

It didn’t take a genius to figure that Alexei had believed Mike would run screaming when he told him the truth.

That wasn’t going to happen. Not when Mike wanted exactly what Alexei wanted. Jesus, Mike was
so fucking lucky.
Maybe this was some attempt by the universe to restore balance, a little slice of karmic payback for the shit in Quebec City.

Whatever it was, there was only one answer. One thing Mike needed to say.

“Yes.”

Alexei blinked. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, please?”

“You can’t mean—”

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

Alexei shook his head, scowling. “No.”

“Yes. And not because it’s what you want,” Mike said quickly. Honestly. He ran his thumb over Alexei’s cheekbone and wrapped his hand around his jaw. Because he could. And because he didn’t want Alexei to run away. “I’m not saying yes because I think that’s what you want to hear.” In fact, it was fairly obvious the opposite was true, though Mike still couldn’t quite figure out why. “I want this for me. This is what I’ve always wanted. It’s just beautiful fucking kismet that what you just said, the things you want to do, I want you to do that. To me.”

“Mike, you
love
to argue with me. You’re arguing with me right now.”

Mike smiled. “I do. I am.”

Alexei rolled his eyes.

Mike slid his hand down Alexei’s neck and chest, feeling a thrill of power when he cupped Alexei’s erection in his palm. “And you like it.”

“Not in bed, I won’t.”

“Not in bed,” Mike agreed, a shiver working down his spine. “I promise, it never even crossed my mind to argue with you then.”

“You were upset. I took advantage of that, and I didn’t realize you’d never—”

Mike stroked his hand over Alexei’s cock again, harder. “You didn’t take advantage of me.”

“I did. That was too rough for your first time. I should have—”

“I wanted it rougher.”

“You did?” Alexei sounded genuinely bewildered. Mike almost felt sorry for him.

“I did.”

“You can’t know what you really want.”

Mike fought the urge to grind his teeth. “I’m not a child. I know what I want. What I like.”

“But you haven’t been with anyone.”

“I’ve been with you,” Mike reminded him, watching how the flush on Alexei’s cheeks deepened. It was hard not to be distracted by that. By the still-solid erection beneath his palm, proving that Alexei didn’t mind Mike arguing with him sometimes. A lot of the time. “Let me ask you something. Your first time. Did you just lie there? Did you let him take charge?”

“No, I—” Alexei frowned harder. “That’s not the point.”

It was exactly the point. “I’ve never done a lot of things. Anything, really, that I couldn’t do to myself. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about it. What it would be like. How I’d like it to be done or do it.”

He let Alexei think about that for a long moment, trying very hard not to smile at how Alexei’s hands fisted in Mike’s shirt, effectively pinning him to the refrigerator.

“I’ve never given a blow job, for example,” Mike continued innocently as he ran his palm back and forth the length of Alexei’s shaft.

Alexei’s pink cheeks went red. “Is that so?”

“But I know I’d like to. Give a blow job, I mean. I don’t have to have experience to know that would really…do it for me.”

Alexei just stared at him, green irises glowing around pinprick pupils. Mouth hanging open. It took a nice, satisfyingly long time for Alexei’s eyes to regain focus and narrow on his face. “What are you waiting for, then?”

“For you. The man in charge.”

Suddenly Mike was pinned to the refrigerator. His pulse leapt, working double-time to pump blood into his cock.

He didn’t fight Alexei’s restraint. He fucking
relished
it. Was mesmerized by the fierce need etched into every line of Alexei’s face.

“Suck. My. Cock.”

Alexei released him and Mike was on his knees, both hands in Alexei’s waistband before Alexei had even managed to take a step away.

The determination he’d channeled into winning his argument deserted him, replaced with a desperation that made his hands shake, his whole body shiver as he fumbled with the button at Alexei’s waist and peeled the fly open. Coordination shot, he clumsily shoved jeans and underwear out of his fucking way.

Alexei’s rigid erection hit him in the face and he dove on it with a desperate whimper, dignity be damned. He wanted the taste of Alexei’s sweat and skin on his lips. The heavy weight of Alexei’s thick shaft on his tongue. Musk filled his nose, the scent stronger, richer,
sharper
than he’d dreamed.

He sucked in as much air as he could before he lunged down. And choked.

He backed off quickly, fighting the need to gag and the rude noises spilling from his throat. He was furious. Frustrated by his lack of practice that didn’t come close to trumping his desire, his
need
, to feel Alexei in his mouth. In his throat.