"Sure," I tell her with a smile, and think to myself that I wouldn't mind if Alex came up right now to whisk me away. While I'm absolutely enjoying these women, nothing compares to alone time with Alex.

Speaking of which, I decide to go on the prowl for a black-haired, blue-eyed devil that I'm feeling the need to kiss. While the women all give hugs goodbye to Gina, I whisper to Kelly that I'm going to go find Alex and she gives me a wink before I walk away.

Leaving the sounds of soft Christmas music behind, I start heading toward a cacophony of loud male shouts and laughter, through a door off the main hallway and down a flight of stairs into the basement. In Mike Malone's man cave, decorated with Cold Fury memorabilia from top to bottom, I find Alex sitting at a bar with Garrett and a few other players I recognize but whose names I can't place. He's laughing at something Garrett said, his eyes crinkled in genuine happiness and camaraderie. It makes my stomach flutter a bit to see him so loose and relaxed around his teammates because I know that has been a work in progress.

I wind my way through the crowd, eyes pinned on Alex. When I get within ten feet, it's like he senses me because he turns three-quarters of the way around on the stool he's sitting on and lasers his eyes onto me. One corner of his mouth tilts up and his gaze slides over me like a warm blanket.

We stare at each other as I walk his way, even as Garrett is trying to say something to Alex, who is completely ignoring him. I vaguely notice as Garrett actually punches Alex on the arm to get his attention, but he remains neglected.

Then Alex is on his feet and with one step meets me the rest of the way, and I'm in his arms. He leans down to give me a soft kiss on my lips and I can hear Garrett and the other guys making snide remarks in the background. Even as Alex's lips start to pull back from mine, his hand comes up and he slides his fingers along to the side of my neck, his thumb grazing my jawline.

He looks at me with a smile. "Have enough female bonding time?"

"It was great," I tell him in a teasing tone. "Not as much fun as bonding time with you, but still enjoyable."

I didn't mean for my remark to mean anything other than a lighthearted poke at our insatiable desire for each other. But Alex takes it in a different way and I know this because of the fevered look that he gives me.

"Bonding time," he muses, his voice smoky and rich and full of promise, and I want nothing more than to leave with him right now to let him fulfill said avowal. His thumb continues to graze my jaw, and he's lost in thought at what I'm assuming is a reverie of what we could do during some serious bonding time.

"I'd kill to know what's going through that mind of yours right now," I whisper so only he can hear me.

His eyes search mine, flicking back and forth as if pondering the very deepest mystery. "How about I show you instead?"

Without waiting for me to answer, Alex's hand falls away from my face and grabs hold of my elbow. He spins me away from his cronies and pushes me gently, but quickly, back toward the staircase that leads up to the main level of the Malone house.

We pass other partiers, who give us smiles and nods of the head. One person tries to stop Alex to talk to us but he half growls, half utters an apology and propels me forward. Down a hallway, up another staircase to the second floor, and right into the bathroom at the top of the landing.

Flicking on the light, he pushes me in and closes the door behind him, turning the lock with a click. When he turns around, his gaze is practically lecherous and my blood begins to boil.

"Are we having some bonding time?" I tease, thinking surely he wants a quick and hot make-out session where we won't be disturbed.

Pushing away from the door, he stalks me...hunts me down. In just one step, he's grabbing my shoulders and pulling me in for a punishingly hot kiss. Now this is what I'm talking about...quality bonding time.

Alex kisses me deeply, biting at my lower lip before ripping away. He spins me around quickly and pushes me toward the sink until my pelvis comes to rest up against it. The move startles me and I look in the mirror, gasping at his reflection staring at me.

His eyes are feral...his breathing already shallow. This is way more than just a kiss.

Dropping his arms down, he grabs at the material of my long, black skirt and slowly starts hiking it up my legs. I watch the progress in almost a dream-like state, my head cocked to the side in curiosity. The air is cool as it hits my skin and when the edge of the material hits the bottom of my panties, I raise my eyes up to the mirror to look at Alex. As if sensing me, his own gaze rises to meet mine in the reflection and he gives me a wicked smile that causes a shudder to run through me.

"What are you doing?" I whisper.

He just arches an eyebrow at me, and yes, I know it was a stupid question.

"Just watch" is all he says.

And I do.

I watch as he pulls my skirt all the way up, bunching it around my waist.

I watch as his arm curves around me and his hand goes in between my legs, rubbing me through the wet silk of my panties. I suck in a lungful of oxygen and my body tenses all over.

"Someone might come," I warn Alex. "Need to use the bathroom."

He doesn't respond but just stares rabidly at the way his hand is moving against me.

The contact is not enough for him, though, and he slips his hand down the front of my underwear, sinking a finger inside of me, at the same time grinding his erection into my butt.

"Oh, God," I moan and my head falls back onto his shoulder, my eyes helplessly pinned to his hand as his finger moves in and out of me.

"Need to be inside you, baby," he rasps near my ear and while my mind is thinking, No, we're in someone else's bathroom in a house full of people, my head starts nodding in agreement.

I'm not even sure Alex got my nod of assent but he makes short work of pulling my panties down, lifting just one of my booted feet up to quickly pull the material free.

With my unmentionables now pooled around just one ankle, Alex stands back up and bends me over the sink. I watch, spellbound, while he works at his belt and zipper, his movements quick and efficient because he knows exactly what he wants.

When he frees himself, seductively hard and pulsing with need, his eyes catch mine in the mirror one more time. He holds me...won't let me go, and we just stare at each other. So much passes through that mirror between us.

Need.

Desire.

Insatiability.

I don't look away...not once. Not even when he sinks into me with one fluid push and his eyelids flutter closed in rapture. He holds himself inside of me deep, his hands gently resting on my hips and his thumbs caressing my skin. Alex lets out a faltering breath, and then his eyes open, fixed intently on mine.

Then he starts moving.

Slowly at first, but before too long the fever builds between us like a volcano before eruption. I push my hips back as he slams forward, and I cannot help the moans that are now coming out of my mouth. I get so loud, at one point, Alex caresses his hand up my back and winds it round me, covering my mouth gently but firmly.

With one hand on my hip and the other stifling the sounds of my pleasure, Alex rides me...pushing both of us higher and higher.

To the summit, where both of us explodeaalmost catastrophically.

My cry of release gets blocked by Alex's hand, but he can't help the low moan of a curse that bursts out.

"Fuck, that feels good," he whispers with his hips still pumping in and out as he climaxes hard.

Alex moves his hand from my mouth and leans over me, pushing me down onto the sink with his chest against my back. His movements inside of me slow and then ultimately stop. Our breaths start to slow, and eventually Alex pushes up off me. Our eyes connect once more in the mirror and while the molten heat in his eyes is gone, there is a warmth there that makes me go gooey inside.

We just had animal sex in someone else's bathroom, yet it was wholly intimate, something that only the two of us could ever share. It didn't matter where we were, or what position we were in. We were immersed in each other, with no room for the outside world.

With no care for the outside world.

Alex helps me clean up, gently pulls my panties back into place, smoothing my skirt back down. He runs his hands over my hair and then kisses me on the forehead.

"Ready to head back out?" he asks, his eyes glittering with satiation and mischief.

"Not sure my legs can move, but sure...I'll give it a try."

"That's my girl," he says and then opens the bathroom door.

He exits quickly, holding my hand, and I follow right behind. As soon as he turns right to head back down the staircase, he stops suddenly and I run into his broad back. Peeking around him because I'm sure we've been busted by someone, my stomach drops when I see Cassie leaning up against the wall outside the bathroom.

She spares me a brief glance before turning her icy gaze back to Alex. "Nice. Fucking your whore in Kelly and Mike's bathroom. Real classy, Alex."

I start to open my mouth to disabuse her of the notion that I'm a whore, but Alex beats me to it. "Fucking? No, there wasn't any fucking. Not like what you and I did."

My face goes beet red over his proclamation and I almost jerk away from his hold. But he senses my discomfort and a thumb skims over my knuckle in reassurance.

"No, Sutton and I have something different," Alex continues in a low voice. "Something you would never be able to comprehend. Hell, I'm having a hard time comprehending it myself, but I know it's unlike anything I've ever experienced before and probably nothing I really deserve."

Cassie's eyes go large and round, disbelieving the conviction of what Alex is telling her. And it is with conviction he said those words.

Turning away from Cassie, so he's looking at me...only at me, he says, "You'd be so lucky, Cassie...to find something as real...as intimate, as what I've found."

I smile at him and he returns it for a moment, filled with so much emotion in place of those three words that he has yet to tell me, but in my heart I believe he feels. Then he turns back to Cassie. "I really hope you find it one day. Truly. But make no mistake...you talk badly about Sutton againain her presence or outaand I will rain so much misery down on you, you'll wish you'd never heard the name Alex Crossman. Are we clear?"

Cassie just stares at him for a moment, almost not understanding what he's saying. Then I see her swallow hard and a look of sadness comes over her face. "We're clear."

"Good," Alex says jovially. Pulling me along, we walk past Cassie and he shoots her a solicitous smile. "Have a merry Christmas, Cassie."

Now that we have had some one-on-one bonding time, Alex leads me back down into the party and never leaves my side the rest of the night.

Chapter 27.

Alex

It's Christmas Eve, and Sutton should be here any minute. She was having dinner at her parents' house, to which I was invited and declined. I wasn't much in the "familial" mood tonight, not with my own dysfunctional family plaguing my thoughts. Truth be told, I'm not even in the mood for Sutton to come over tonight, but it's not like I can cancel plans with her on Christmas Eve, especially not when I leave tomorrow for a three-game road trip.

Cameron called me late last night to let me know that Dad had checked himself out of rehab after only nineteen days and well before his release date. I've heard from him twice more today. Each time he called he was fairly frantic because Dad had not gone home. He was nowhere to be found.

My worst fear was that he was drunk and lying in a ditch somewhere, which in Canada in December is a death sentence. The most likely scenario, and one that didn't bode well either, was that he was sitting in a bar somewhere...drunk.

The thought of him being out of rehab, of entering my life again as nothing more than a failed addict, causes my skin to itch so bad I have to restrain myself from clawing at it. Just when I thought maybe...just maybe I could have a chance at normal, my dad goes and starts to fuck it all up again.

The doorbell rings and I stand from the couch, wiping my damp hands on my jeans. Why I'm so nervous about seeing Sutton is beyond me, but I feel a little out of sorts...maybe a tiny bit out of control, since getting the news from Cameron last night.

Taking a deep breath before opening the door, I paste a smile on my face and pull the handle toward me.

There, looking fit and healthy, stands my dad. He's holding a small suitcase in his hand, but that's not what really gets my attention. It's the fact that his complexion has a healthy glow, he's gained a good ten to fifteen pounds since I last saw him and his eyes are clear.

I can't remember the last time I saw his eyes clear.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," John Crossman says to me.

Blinking hard, I open the door wider and motion for him to come in. "What are you doing here? Cameron called last night...said you'd checked out of rehab?"

My dad walks in and I shut the door behind him. He drops the suitcase and I get the not-so-subtle message. He's staying.

Turning to me, he starts to shrug out of his winter coat. "I'm doing great, Alex m'boy. Really got control of things. I wanted out. They wanted me to stay for a few more weeks. But it's my choice and I decided enough was enough."

My mind starts frantically taking in all of the places I have alcohol around the house. I'm not a big drinker, but I have a stash. A few beers in the fridge, a bottle of wine on the counter that one of my teammates gave me for my birthday, and a bottle of Jack Daniel's in the kitchen cabinet. I start thinking of how I can surreptitiously get those hidden.

I don't even know what to say. I want to chastise him for leaving rehab, but damn he looks good and I feel like I should praise him. I'm ill-equipped to deal with this situation, and my first reaction is to call Sutton because she would know.

Fuck...Sutton's on her way here, and I'm not prepared for them to meet.

And as if this day couldn't get any more stressful, the doorbell rings and there's no doubt as to who that is.

Stepping past my dad, I open the door and let Sutton's beauty infuse me with just a few moments of unfettered happiness. She's got her flamed hair loose, and it sparks hot against the coal black of her wool coat. She's wearing a dark green knit scarf and matching beret, and she's holding a large, red foil bag that I assume holds my Christmas present.

I just stare at her, wanting to pull her into my arms at the same time I have the crazy thought to shut the door in her face so she and my father won't meet.

He won't like her.

He won't like her for the mere fact that she provides a distraction from my game.

Cocking her head to the side, Sutton must see the indecision in my eyes. "Is everything all right?"

I give her a tentative smile and step back from the door so she can come in. "Of course, it's just...I have some unexpected company."

Sutton steps over the threshold and I close the door behind her. When I turn, she and my dad are facing each other. Sutton has an open, easy smile on her face and my dad's is stoically blank.

Running my hand through my hair and feeling as if I'm marching to the gallows, I say, "Dad...I'd like you to meet Sutton Price. Sutton...this is my dad, John Crossman."

I have to give her credit. Sutton doesn't even flinch. She knows he's not supposed to be out of rehab, but she never reveals the depth of her knowledge. Instead, her smile gets even brighter and she steps forward, holding her hand out. "It's so wonderful to meet you, Mr. Crossman. Did you just arrive?"

My dad shifts his gaze to me briefly and I can see a world of questions in that one look, but he is at least polite when he turns back to Sutton and shakes her hand. "It's nice to meet you too, and yes...I just got in for a surprise visit with Alex."

While my dad is courteous, the air is a bit frigid from the tone of his voice and Sutton can read the signals loud and clear. I suppose it's a bit of a benefit that she knows a little about my history with him, and she never hesitates.

Turning to me, she says, "Look...let's you and I get together another day to go over the outreach program and you just enjoy Christmas Eve with your dad."

She lies beautifully because we had no intentions of discussing business tonight. My intention was to spend a few romantic moments opening gifts and then taking her to bed to fuck her silly.

She pivots back to my dad. "Mr. Crossman, it was nice meeting you and Merry Christmas."