Seduced by the Game (7 page)

While she prayed every
night that the Blackhawks chose him, she knew that was probably not going
happen since they were on the road to the Cup, and they wouldn’t get the first
draft pick. Karson wasn’t sure but he promised, no matter what, she would
always be the keeper of his heart. She was grateful for that and trusted him,
but she also knew that her man would probably go to some team that was
rebuilding somewhere far away. She believed that nothing could derail their
love. She loved him so hard that it was scary. The more she thought about it,
the more she knew that if he asked her to go, she’d go without hesitation.

Looking across the table
at her father, she smiled when he met her gaze. His mouth curved in a grin, and
it made her heart happy. Her dad had aged so much over the last couple of
years, and she knew it was her fault. She knew he loved her though, and that
eased the guilt a little bit, but she wished she could take the hard years
away.

“Daddy, can I invite
Karson to dinner next Sunday?”

Grady looked up as Rachel
glanced up, too. Rachel had been coming to Sunday dinners since Grady asked her
out, but Lacey hadn’t brought Karson yet. Even though they had been together
for two months, she figured it would be a tough pill for her dad to swallow,
knowing his daughter was involved with someone. He had always been so
overprotective. He knew about Karson and he seemed indifferent to it all, but
still Lacey wanted to include Karson in their family get-togethers.

“So it’s serious,
buttercup?”

Lacey’s heart kicked up in
speed as she nodded. “Yeah, Daddy, it is.”

“Do you think that’s a
good idea? I mean, they are saying he will be a number-one pick for the draft,
meaning he has a one-way ticket out of Chicago.”

“I know, but we feel we’ll
be fine. You never know, I might go with him. I could transfer schools.”

Grady’s brows shot up and,
unfortunately, so did her father’s as he asked, “Transfer schools? Leave
Chicago?”

Swallowing loudly, Lacey
looked down as she said, “I mean, I don’t know. It’s all up in the air, but I
know that I care for him deeply. I want him to be involved in our family
dinners, and I want you to get to know him. He’s an amazing person.”

“I know who he is. I’ve
trained him for the last two years. While yes, he is a great guy, I don’t think
he is the guy for you. I didn’t say anything when you two got together because
I figured it would end when he left, but you saying you want to go with him is
out of the question.”

Her father didn’t yell at
her, it was more of a very stern voice, but it scared her as much as if he had,
but she wasn’t going to be treated like a child.

“Daddy, I am eighteen
years old, about to turn nineteen. If I want to go, I will.”

“No, you won’t. I won’t
pay a penny of your education.”

“That’s fine, that’s why
there are loans. You are getting your blood pressure up for nothing though. I
don’t know what will happen. All I wanted to know was if my boyfriend could
come to dinner.”

He looked at Lacey with
eyes that told her the answer before he spoke it. But still her heart dropped
when he said, “The answer is no.”

Slowly, she nodded before
standing up. “If my boyfriend can’t come to dinner, then I won’t be here
either.”

“Sit down, Lacey. That is
ludicrous,” he said, setting her with a look.

Shaking her head, Lacey’s
eyes filled with tears as she said, “What’s ludicrous is that Grady can have
his girlfriend to dinner, but I can’t have my boyfriend. I am tired of the
double standards around here, and things better change before I change them for
us.”

With that, she turned and
headed for the front door. Her dad called her back, but she ignored him as she
put on her jacket and hat. Fighting back the tears, she glanced up at the
portrait of her mother and said, “Bye, Mom.”

Slamming the front door to
her house, she stomped to her car and drove off. She pulled her phone out her
pocket and dialed Karson. He answered on the second ring.

“Hey babe, you done with
dinner?”

“Yeah, can I come see
you?”

“Yeah, of course. I was
hoping you would.”

She worked her lip and
then asked, “Are you alone?”

She could hear the smile
in his voice as he said, “Well, yeah, Grady was with you. I don’t know if he is
coming back here. He might go to Rachel’s.”

“Oh yeah,” she said,
feeling dumb. She decided that she would text Rachel to take Grady back to
their dorm, because she wanted to be alone with Karson. “Okay, I’m coming
over.”

“Sounds good, babe. See
you soon. Be careful.”

“I will,” she promised as
she hung up and headed toward his frat house. It was on the other side of
campus. She hated the drive, but soon she was there, parking beside his car.
Hopping out, she bundled up in her jacket as she headed up the stairs to the
door. Opening it, she was greeted by some of his teammates. She smiled and
waved as she headed up to Karson’s room. His was on the third floor, the last
room on the right. Being the captain and co-captain, Karson and Grady got the
best room. It was basically a suite. It was so big, and Lacey was jealous every
time she came over, since her and Rachel’s room was the size of their closet.

Knocking on the door, she
pushed it open when Karson said come in. In only a pair of shorts, he met her
at the door, kissing her softly on the lips. As they parted, Lacey found
herself breathless as she took in each ab and muscle in his chest. Her
boyfriend was gorgeous with clothes on, but it was easy to say she liked him
better without.

“Missing a shirt, I see?”

He laughed as he shrugged,
taking her jacket and throwing it on Grady’s bed. “I just got out of the shower
and didn’t feel like finding one.”

“Oh,” she muttered as he
wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in his scent and warmth. “Mmmm,”
she whispered, cuddling closer and holding on to him. She needed this. Needed
to feel him like this, especially after what had just happened with her dad.

“How did it go at your
interview?”

He shrugged. “Good, I
might end up going to Tampa. They like me a lot, and it would be fun to visit
Florida, right?”

She grinned up at him.
“Yeah, it would be. I love the beach.”

He smiled back before
saying, “I do, too. Never know though, we’ll see.”

“I’m excited for you,” she
said. He kissed her softly on her jaw before nibbling down her neck.

“I missed you,” he
whispered into her neck. “Did you have fun at your dad’s?”

“Not really, but I don’t
want to talk about it.”

“You sure?” he asked,
placing a kiss below her ear before pulling back to look into her eyes.

She nodded, running her
hands up his back and then down. “I missed you.”

His mouth curved into a
grin as he ran his nose along hers. He touched his lips to hers, his hands
sliding into the back pockets of her jeans as he deepened the kiss. Closing her
eyes, she moved her mouth with his and then slowly reached back to lock the
door. Pulling away, he eyed her as his grin grew.

“You know that won’t keep
him out.”

“I don’t care,” she
whispered as she returned her lips to his. She was ready for this. It was time,
and she wanted to share this moment with him. She wanted to take their relationship
to the next level. She loved and trusted him. Pulling away, she took his hand
in hers and led him to his bed. Karson’s eyes searched hers as she lowered
herself down and took in a deep breath, waiting for him to join her, but he
didn’t move.

Running his hand through
his hair, he asked, “Are you sure, Lacey?”

She slowly nodded. “Yeah,
don’t you want to?”

“Fuck yeah, I do, I just
don’t want to rush you.”

A smile pulled at her lips
as she hooked her finger at him. They had lain in his bed countless times,
watching TV and just fooling around, but this time was going to be different.
This time she was going to give him all of her and hope that he didn’t reject
her. Her heart was pounding and tears were gathering in her eyes, but she was
ready. She wanted him, needed to feel him in the most intimate way.

“You’re not. Now come on,
make love to me.”

That was all he needed to
hear because, within seconds, he was crawling on top of her, pressing his hard
length between her legs as he drew long, drugging kisses out of her. Running
her shaky hands up his back, she tried to still her wildly beating heart but it
was no use. Between Karson’s intoxicating kisses and the fact that he was about
to see her breasts, her heart was beating louder than a drum.

Parting only an inch,
Karson cupped her face in his hands as he held her gaze. “You’re shaking. Are
you sure, baby? It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’m just nervous.”

His brows cocked up as he
ran his thumb along her bottom lip. “You have nothing to be nervous about. It’s
just me. I love you.”

It was the first time he’d
said it outright like that, and it totally stunned her. Usually he would say,
he
was falling
or that
he was completely sprung for her,
but never had
he said those three words. Her stomach went nuts with butterflies, and her
heart pounded against her chest as she held his gaze. “I love you, too.”

His grin grew as he said,
“I thought you were going to leave me hanging.”

She laughed. “You know I
love you. Isn’t it obvious?”

Dropping his head to hers,
he slowly nodded before moving his lips along hers. “Yeah, I’ve known, but
hearing you say it is better than scoring the winning goal, Lacey. I love you
so damn much.”

He went to kiss her, but
she knew it couldn’t go any further without telling him. Placing her finger
against his lip, she whispered, “I need to tell you something before we go on.”

“Yeah?”

Biting into her lip, she
knew she just had to say it. This was going to happen, and giving him a warning
would be best. “You remember how I had breast cancer?”

He slowly nodded. “Yeah,
it didn’t come back, did it? Is that why you had a bad time at your dad’s?” he
asked, his eyes filling with panic as he placed his hands on the bed to push
himself back on his haunches.

“No, not at all,” she
said, trying to calm him down as she sat up, crossing her legs and placing her
hands on his chest to soothe him. “It can’t come back in my breasts, Karson…
Since I don’t have any breasts. I had to have a double mastectomy a year ago.”

Without realizing it, her
eyes filled with tears and she looked down at the bed to hide them. She
couldn’t look at the shock on his face. It hurt her too much because she wasn’t
sure what it meant. Was he thinking of an easy way out? Was he trying to figure
out how to get out of bed with her without hurting her feelings? As seconds
turned into minutes, she took in deep breaths and finally couldn’t take it
anymore. Looking up, she met his confused gaze as he asked, “What? What do you
mean? I’ve touched your boobs. I’ve grabbed them when we’ve made out.”

Her lip quivered as she
slowly nodded. “I have a bra on that looks and feel like real breasts, but they
aren’t.”

Lacey could see the
confusion on his face, but she could also see the pure love in his eyes.
Slowly, she reached for the bottom of her shirt and pulled it up and over her
head, exposing herself in a way that no one had ever seen. Not even Rachel had
seen her without clothing. She knew about the double mastectomy, so did her dad
and Grady, but no one had ever seen it except for the doctors and nurses. Not
looking in his eyes, she slowly undid the back of her bra and let it fall down
her arms, allowing him to see her as tears welled up in her eyes. Looking down
at her own chest, she hated the cancer that had taken away her breasts. They looked
deflated, only skin from where she had been a full B cup shriveled up against
her chest, with large, long pink scars going down the middle. She didn’t have
nipples, just skin, and she knew it was disgusting, but she hoped that Karson
would still love her.

Biting the inside of her
cheek, she knew she couldn’t prolong it anymore, so she looked up to find
Karson taking in every detail of her. When his eyes met hers, a single tear
rolled down her cheek as she whispered, “I know I should have told you before
this moment, but I was just so scared that you would reject me. I know they are
disgusting—”

“You’re beautiful, Lacey.
Nothing about you is disgusting. I love you, all of you. When I look at your
chest, all I see is survival. I see a second chance at a life, a life with me.
So please don’t apologize for something you couldn’t control. Just allow me to
make love to you, and please don’t ever forget how much I love you and how I
think you are the most gorgeous girl in the world.”

Relief and love exploded in
Lacey’s chest, as she looked deep into his eyes. Her lip started to wobble
before a sob escaped her lips but then Karson was there, kissing the sobs away.
She would never love a man like she did Karson, and she was fine with that. He
was her forever. Laying her back, he kissed down her neck and held himself up
as he looked down at her. Kissing her nose, and then a few of the stray tears,
he kissed her lips. Trailing his kisses down his jaw and neck, he placed one in
the middle of her chest. Slowly, he placed his lips on her left scar, kissing
it softly before doing the same to the right. Tears rolled down the side of her
face as she watched him and, when his eyes met hers, he smiled before saying,
“I love you, Lacey. All of you.”