Offside Hearts (Love and Hockey Book 1)

This is crazy.

Some part of my mind is aware of how insane this is, but it’s hard to pay attention to that part when Noah’s thigh is pressed right up against my clit. If I let myself think about the darkness pressing in around us or the fragile metal cables holding us up, I’ll dissolve into a panic attack.

So I don’t let myself think about the darkness, the cables, or even the bizarreness of this situation.

Instead, all I focus on is how good Noah smells, how strong his body feels against mine, and the delicious tingling that spreads outward from between my legs when I rock against him. The skirt of my dress is flowy and loose enough that it gives me plenty of room to move, and I can feel something hard pressing against my hip as I grind down on his leg, getting more friction.

“Fuck,” he whispers, breathing harder.

“I’m sorry.” I bite my lip. “I just need…”

“Don’t be fucking sorry.” He lets out a strained laugh, resting his forehead on the wall beside my head. “Do whatever you need to do. God, you feel…”

He doesn’t finish that sentence, but he slides his hands down to my hips, helping me find a rhythm as I ride his thigh.

I’m not thinking about how we’re trapped at all anymore. Okay, maybe that’s a lie. Part of me is still well aware that we’re stuck in a broken elevator together, but instead of making me want to curl up in a ball, that knowledge just pushes me to keep going. Because if the elevator’s emergency brakes do give out, and these are the last moments we have to live, then I’d rather spend them feeling like this than anything else.

My hands have been clinging to Noah’s back, wrapped around fistfuls of his shirt, but now they start to wander. One hand slides up into the soft, thick hair at the nape of his neck, and he shudders a little, his hips jerking forward to meet the next roll of my hips.

“I…”

The words I’m about to come on your thigh escape me, but that’s exactly what’s about to happen. Every bit of friction on my clit pushes me closer to the edge, something warm and sweet building up inside me like a gathering tsunami. I stop rocking against him and grind down hard instead, shifting a little from side to side. Noah grunts, one hand coming up to delve into my hair.

I blow-dried it into soft blonde waves for the interview, and I’m sure it’s getting totally mussed up, but I don’t care at all. In fact, when his hand tightens a bit, tugging gently at the strands, it sends little zaps of electricity shooting through me, joining the waves of pleasure radiating from my clit.

“I’ve got you,” Noah murmurs roughly, echoing what he said earlier when he first tried to calm me down. “I’ve got you. You can let go.”

The deep timbre of his voice wraps around me like a blanket, and although I don’t think I was waiting for permission from him, it does something to me anyway. I practically climb his body, one leg hooked around his while I go up onto the tiptoes of my other foot. His cock is hard and hot between us, even through the layers of our clothes, and the feel of it sends a little thrill through me.

Moving my hips again, I hump his thigh shamelessly as the bubble of pleasure finally breaks.

I come hard, my entire body shaking as my limbs flood with heat. A few little noises spill from my lips even though I try to muffle them, broken whimpers and moans that are nearly drowned out by the rush of blood in my ears.

“Oh god,” I breathe, and I can barely recognize my own voice. “Oh fuck…”

“Jesus. Keep going.”

Just like he promised, Noah doesn’t let go of me, one hand on my hip and one in my hair as I ride out the last few aftershocks. As the orgasm fades, my muscles and bones all seem to turn to mush, and I melt against him, wrapping both arms around his neck just to stay upright. He’s still got me pinned against the wall of the elevator, and we stay like that for a long moment.

His leg is still wedged between my thighs, and just the tiny movements of the two of us breathing together are enough to make my sensitive clit pulse. I have the distinct feeling that there might be a wet spot on the front of my dress, and a flush rises up in my cheeks at that thought.

“Holy shit,” Noah mutters after a second. He lifts his head from where it was resting on the elevator wall, and even though my eyes have adjusted to the darkness, I can still only make out the vague shadow of his face. “Are you okay?”

His question pulls me out of my post-orgasm haze, and I realize with a shock that after I came, my racing heart actually started to slow. It beats in a steady thump against my ribs now, slightly faster than normal, but nowhere near the nausea inducing pace it was thrumming with earlier. Even though I’m not over the fear of being trapped in here, the panic is gone—or at least, far enough away that I can deal with it.

Of course, that just leaves a perfect open space for embarrassment to come rushing in.

I clear my throat, sliding down his thigh until both of my feet are firmly planted on the elevator floor again. “Um, yeah, I’m okay. Thank you for…”

The orgasm?

The wildest experience of my life?

Smelling so damn good?

“…taking care of me,” I finish.

“Yeah, of course.” His voice is still a bit raspy, and even though we’re not pressed as tightly together anymore, I can tell he’s still hard. But despite the arousal in his voice, there’s empathy and concern in it too. “I meant it when I said that panic attacks are the worst. Given a choice between one of those and… what just happened, I think option B was the right call.”

I laugh softly, although my cheeks are still so hot that I’m sure they’re bright red. I can tell he’s trying to make sure I don’t feel uncomfortable, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world to meet a stranger on an elevator and dry hump them until you come.

I open my mouth to say something in response, but before I can, an ear splitting wail rises up in the distance.

The sound is loud and sudden, breaking through the little bubble that seems to have formed around us in this confined space, and it makes me jump. Noah’s hands immediately move to my upper arms again, squeezing gently as he looks back over his shoulder at the elevator doors.

“Shit,” he mutters. “That’s not great.”

For the first time since we got trapped together, he actually sounds a bit worried, and my stomach clenches. “Is it—”

Another noise cuts me off. This time, it’s shouting voices from somewhere slightly above us. They get closer, and then there’s a loud thunk and a high-pitched screech. A beam of light floods the elevator, and I blink, squinting at the shock of it after so much darkness.

“You okay down there?” a voice calls from above. As I look up, I realize that we’re between floors. There’s a small gap in the doors near the top of the elevator, and peering in from the upper level is a man wearing a red cap and a yellow uniform. A firefighter.

Thank god.

“Yeah. We’re okay!” Noah yells back.

“Just eager to get out of here!” I add.

I hope he doesn’t read too much into my use of the word eager. But despite what we just did, I don’t want to spend any more time trapped in this elevator than I have to—especially with the alarm blaring like that.

“That’s what we’re here for. You’re going to have to pull yourself part of the way up,” the fireman instructs, “and then I’ll be able to grab you and drag you out.”

I shoot Noah a worried look. I’m in pretty good shape, but I don’t exactly have a lot of upper body strength. Not to mention, I’m still a little shaky from the strange combination of fear and pleasure crawling through my body. Without saying a word, he steps toward the elevator doors and holds out his hands, indicating that he’s going to lift me up.

“You should go first,” he tells me, giving me a reassuring nod.

Trying to cling to the sense of calm I felt in the aftermath of my orgasm, I move carefully across the small space toward him. My hands come to rest on his shoulders, and he meets my gaze.

“You’ve got this. You can do it.”

I nod, licking my lips. “Okay.”

He grabs my hips and starts to count down.

“One…” His blue eyes gleam in the dim light as he looks down at me. “Two…” His hands tighten around my hips, and a little shiver shoots through me. “Three.”

Then I’m being lifted into the air as if I weigh nothing.

I reach my hands out, flailing a little for something to grab on to, and the fireman catches me by the arms and hauls me through the small opening in the doors. I stagger to my feet, smoothing down my skirt, which rode up a little as I was being pulled to safety. The hallway is dark too, making it clear that the power must’ve gone out in the entire building, and a whole new wave of adrenaline crashes through me now that the reality of what just happened hits me. I turn back to look at the braced open elevator doors, but before Noah is lifted out, another fireman puts his arm around my shoulders and leads me away.

“You need to get out right now,” he says firmly. “There’s a fire. We’re evacuating the entire building.”

“A fire?” My heart lurches, and I glance over my shoulder to make sure Noah gets out okay. But now there are people in the way, two firefighters standing in front of the opening and calling out something I can’t make out over the wailing of the alarm.

“Wait—that man—”

“They’ll take care of him.” The firefighter next to me doesn’t even break stride as he hurries me to the emergency staircase. “We need to get everyone out. Come on!”

I hesitate for a moment by the door, and he shouts at me again.

“Seriously, lady, you have to evacuate!”

That snaps me out of my stunned stupor, and I finally lurch into motion. Tearing my gaze away from the elevators as the firefighter pushes open the emergency exit, I allow him to hustle me down the stairs as fast as my feet will take me.