Avalanche Page 26

  “You’ll tell me about your knee? About the pros?”

  “About everything.” Damn the way my voice went hoarse.

  “About Alex?”

  “If you want. But maybe you should let him do that.”

  A beautiful smile lit up her face. “Home is where my heart is.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  I lunged at her, scooping her into my chest. She winced at the sudden jostling of her arm, and I pulled back, leaned down, and kissed the bare part of her shoulder.

  “How’s your knee?” she asked, glancing down at the ice pack.

  “Time will tell,” I muttered darkly, repeating the words the doc had said.

  Questions swirled in her eyes, and I braced for them. I wasn’t really ready to talk about this. Not here. Not now.

  But I would.

  If she asked, I would.

  I was saved when the door opened and Alex appeared, carrying three paper cups with lids. “Yo, look who I found,” he announced.

  Bellamy and I both looked up.

  My mom and dad rushed into the room.

  “Oh my God, Liam! What on earth happened?” Mom fretted, rushing across the room to my bedside. Her eyes went to Bellamy and widened. “Oh, you poor thing.” Her hand hovered toward her swollen cheek. “What’s happened to you?”

  “Mom, this is Bellamy. Bellamy, this is my mom, Holly.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Mattison.”

  Mom made a sound. “Call me Holly. And yes, I’ve been anxious to meet you. Everyone at the resort is all a twitter with the news of Liam’s new lady.”

  “All a twitter,” Alex echoed.

  I suppressed a smile.

  Mom gasped. “Liam! Your knee! Oh, what’s happened?”

  “Mom, what are you doing here? How did you know I was here?” Jesus, did the staff call them? That was a damn violation of patient rights or something, wasn’t it?

  The last thing I wanted was to freak my parents out, and I’d been trying to avoid the whole meeting my girlfriend right after a near-death experience thing.

  I glanced at Alex, wanting some kind of explanation.

  He shrugged. “Found them wandering around in the hall.” An odd expression rolled over his face, and his eyes cut toward my father who was standing off to the side, letting my mother hover.

  I sat up and looked around her.

  My brows wrinkled when I saw him standing there. “Dad?”

  Our eyes locked and this… look passed between us. He was wearing a hospital gown.

  “We weren’t wandering.” Mom hushed Alex. “We were looking for you. Imagine our surprise when we heard all the nurses giggling and going on about the local Olympic medalist being admitted.”

  “Imagine,” I said, looking back at Dad. “Why are you dressed in a hospital gown, Dad? What the hell’s going on?”

  Mom stopped fretting over me and went quiet, turning to glance at Dad.

  He came forward. “It’s nothing to be concerned about, son. I just had a checkup with my doctor this morning, and I was having some tests done. You know how they are in this place. They think everyone needs to wear one of these damn gowns.”

  “They’re very drafty.” Bellamy agreed.

  Dad chuckled and turned his attention toward my girlfriend. “That they are. So nice to meet you, Bellamy.” He held out his hand. “Liam speaks very highly of you.”

  “Of you as well,” Bellamy replied, looking a little shy. She glanced back at my mom. “Both of you.”

  Mom came forward again. “Tell us what happened.”

  I groaned. “It’s a long story, Mom.”

  Alex handed Bellamy a coffee, and she tucked her hands around it and sighed. I noted the goose bumps coating her arms and frowned. Snatching my zippered hoodie she’d worn on the way here off the bedside table nearby, I leaned up and draped it around her shoulders.

  She smiled as I tugged the neckline closer around her. “Shoulder okay?” I asked low.

  Her head bobbed. “Thanks.”

  “Liam?” Mom asked, trying to get me to spill.

  Fuck, I was tired. I just wanted to grab up Bellamy and shut ourselves inside the cabin for a few days.

  I knew I couldn’t.

  “What kind of routine tests?”

  “What?” Mom asked.

  “What kind of routine tests are you having done, Dad?”

  Alex shifted, and Bellamy took a sip of the coffee.

  The door opened again. This time, a man in a suit walked in, followed by a woman dressed in a pencil skirt and dress shirt. Behind the pair was the police chief of Caribou.

  “Frank!” Mom exclaimed upon seeing him. Her hand flew to her neck. “Is this a police matter?”

  “I’m afraid so.” Frank agreed.

  The man in the suit cleared his throat. Bellamy shrank back against me. “I’m going to need a word with Miss Lane and Mr. Mattison.” He glanced around. “Alone.”

  “Now wait a minute. You can’t just waltz in here and take over my jurisdiction.” Frank cut in.

  The man flashed his shiny FBI badge. “Actually, we can.”

  Ah, so this was Agent Frost. Douchebag.

  “The FBI!” Mom exclaimed.

  I looked toward the ceiling. This room was becoming a shitstorm of people and underlying conversations that had yet to be had.

  “I’m Renshaw Mattison, Liam’s father. What’s this all about?” Dad stepped forward, sounding every bit the powerful businessman he was. The hospital gown he was dressed in seemed even more out of place.

  I frowned, and a sick feeling crawled around in my stomach.

  A doctor poked his head in the room. It wasn’t my or Bells’s doctor. “Mr. Mattison. I thought I might find you here.”

  “Doctor,” my dad replied stiffly.

  “I have those results if you wouldn’t mind coming back to your room?”

  “What’s going on?” I looked at Mom.

  She averted her gaze.

  Routine my ass.

  Suddenly, the pressure to start training this spring to take over BearPaw made a lot more sense. Realization smacked me in the face so hard I wondered if maybe my concussion didn’t just get worse.

  I started to get out of the bed. The ice pack on my knee hit the floor, and the bed scooted a little askew as I tried to get around Bellamy.

  “Liam.” She gasped, reaching out to grab me.

  “Son.” Dad appeared. “Get back in bed. Keep the ice on your knee.”

  “My knee is fine,” I snapped. “I’ll come with you,” I told him, finally managing to stand, most of my weight on my left leg. “I want hear what your doctor has to say.”

  “That’s not necessary,” my father replied quickly.

  I made a rude sound. I didn’t know why he bothered talking. I was going.

  I managed to herd my parents to the door, near the doctor who was standing there waiting patiently.

  “We’ll need you to wait outside while we question Miss Lane,” Agent Frost said behind me.

  I froze and turned to see him looking at Alex. I glanced between my parents and Bellamy, who was sitting on the bed alone.

  Fuuck.

  I couldn’t leave her in here with these vultures. I was one hundred percent positive these agents were going to try and scare the shit out of her to get her in the back of their government-issue SUV. She was already confused and scared enough.

  I had to be here. I wanted to be.

  “Just stay with Bellamy, son. You clearly have a statement to give to the police. Your mother and I are fine. It’s just routine.”

  “You can stop saying that,” I retorted, harsher than I intended. “We both know it’s a damn lie.”

  My parents fell silent.

  “Go, Liam. I’ll be here when you’re finished,” Bellamy said, understanding and patience in her voice.

  Turning to Alex, I said, “Can you walk down the hall with Mom and Dad. Make sure they get
to their room okay?”

  “My pleasure.” He nodded, then handed me the coffee I had yet to even touch. I took it and met his eyes.

  The look of understanding in those depths made me feel better. He’d keep an eye on my parents, make sure everything was okay.

  “I’ll come get you if I have to,” he said quietly.

  “I don’t take too kindly to my son hiring a babysitter,” Dad announced to the room.

  “I’m insulted you think so low of me, Ren,” Alex quipped.

  Dad made a rude sound. “Come on, then.”

  The doctor, Alex, and my parents moved out into the hall.

  “Mom,” I said, and she turned back. She’d been moving slower than everyone else because she knew I would call out to her.

  “How bad is it?”

  “Everything is fine.” She assured me.

  I didn’t believe her.

  When she was gone, I turned back. Agent Frost was trying to banish Frank.

  “He stays,” I announced. My voice was hard and dark. I embraced a little of that darkness I always tried to keep put away. I needed it right now. “If you want any kind of cooperation at all, you will involve the local police chief who I trust implicitly.” I levelled a hard stare on Agent Frost. “Which is more than I can say for you.”

  Agent Frost looked as if he’d swallowed an ice cube whole, but he nodded to the woman with him, and she moved to shut the door.

  I went back to the bed. Bellamy stood to let me slide on, then replaced the ice pack on my knee and made sure the pillows elevating it were steady. When she was done, I pulled her beside me, anchoring an arm at her waist.

  Before submitting to the round of endless questions I was sure were coming, I glanced back at the door my parents had just left through.

  They had some explaining to do.

  Bellamy

  It was late by the time we arrived at the cabin. As the hours slipped by at the hospital, I became more convinced they were going to make us stay the entire night.

  I underestimated Liam’s power of persuasion and his popularity with the town. I knew he was an Olympic medalist, but it was something that barely ever crossed my mind until someone else mentioned it.

  He wasn’t Caribou royalty turned star athlete with medals and worldwide popularity. To me, he was just this handsome kid who once spent a few hours teaching a girl he didn’t know how to ski. A guy who flirted to make me less afraid of a ski lift… and the one who took my virginity.

  And my heart.

  Now he was a man who’d morphed from that ornery bad-boy appeal into a sexy man with sharp instincts and unwavering intensity.

  He still had my heart.

  I was beginning to realize it didn’t matter which version of Liam he was. It wouldn’t matter. I would love him no matter what.

  “If you were anyone else, we’d still be sitting in that hospital room,” I mused, taking off my boots by the door.

  He made a sound. “I’m just glad to be home.”

  “You should get off your knee.” I went over to his side, looping my good arm around his waist, offering to take some of his weight.

  He didn’t give it to me, of course. I didn’t really expect him to. I wanted him to know I would take it if he ever decided to give it.

  “I’m tired of sitting down.” He complained.

  “Want me to make you something to eat?” I offered.

  “You’re finally going to cook for me?” He teased.

  I laughed. “I’m not sure I’m up for making an entire meal,” I said as we went into the kitchen. “But I could probably at least make you a sandwich.”

  “Probably all I got in the fridge anyway.”

  “I’ll go to the store in a few days,” I said, leaving him at the island to open the large stainless-steel appliance.

  I’d barely gotten to glance at what he had inside before he reached over my shoulder and pushed the door shut. I spun, surprised, and he used his body to back me up against the cold metal.

  “I thought you wanted a sandwich.”

  Liam ducked his head so his lips were beside my ear. One palm was planted flat on the fridge right beside my head. I was completely caged in by him… and it made my heart race.

  “How can I think about food when you’re standing in my kitchen, talking about going grocery shopping?”

  “Uhh…” My heart was still fluttering, and every word he spoke brought the brush of breath over my ear.

  “I see you standing here, and I can barely believe it. Do you know how many times I imagined this? Do you know how many years I thought of you, girl who got away?”

  My lashes fluttered. My gaze tried to meet his.

  Dipping his face, he pressed a kiss against my neck. “Knowing you’re here. That you’re staying…”

  He kissed my neck again.

  My head fell to the side, and my fingers curled into the front of his T-shirt.

  “Knowing I’m going to cook for you,” I joked, but it sounded more like a moan.

  His throaty laugh tightened my nipples. The space between my legs started to ache. I didn’t know how he did this to me. How he could make me ache and want after being awake for over twenty-four hours… after everything.

  “You could hand me a pack of crackers, sweetheart, and it would be the best damn meal I ever ate.”

  “I love you.” My hands slid down the front of his shirt into the waistband of his loose-fitting sweats. The thick band of the Calvin Klein boxer briefs I’d watched him put on earlier today enticed my fingers further, and I pushed beneath it.

  His teeth nipped at my neck, and I smiled.

  “Forget the food,” he half growled and picked me up.

  I gasped. For two reasons:

  1. His hard dick rubbed me in all the right places when my legs went around his waist.

  And

  2. He didn’t need that extra weight on his knee!

  “Your knee!” I tried to get down.

  “You should make it feel better.”

  I glanced down, worry mixing with the want inside me. “What can I do?’

  He smiled. “Anything you want.”

  He carried me down the hall, despite my telling him not to. Charlie danced around like we were playing a game. Liam set me on the edge of the bed and reached into his nightstand for a giant chew bone. Charlie barked, snatched it out of his hand, and disappeared.

  Reaching back into the drawer, Liam pulled out some condoms and tossed them on the bed.

  I reached for his sweats and pushed them down his leg. They got caught on the thick brace around his knee, so I slid off the mattress and down his body to carefully work them off. When that was done, I did the same to his Calvins.

  I felt the heat of his eyes as I worked, which made me even hotter. On my knees, I glanced up his body as my hand closed around his rigid cock. Liam sucked in a breath, and our eyes met. I pumped him a few times, and the muscles in his lower abs rippled. I leaned across and licked them, then moved down and sucked his head into my mouth.

  With a groan, Liam’s body went slack. He bent a little, resting one of his palms on the mattress. I moved up and down his rod, sliding my lips along the taut, smooth skin.

  He made a sound and tried to pull me up, but I wasn’t done. I pulled back but kept my hand around his shaft as I kissed and sucked on his sack.

  He muttered a few curses, and I smiled.

  Standing up, I licked my lips, still tasting him on me.

  Liam’s eyes flashed silver. He began stripping the clothes he’d given me to wear to the hospital off my body. The second he untied the drawstring at my waist, the pants fell right to the floor.

  “You up for this?” he murmured, looking at my arm in the sling.

  In response, I took his hand and guided the thick fingers between my thighs, brushing them against the slick wetness.

  He shuddered the second he felt just how up for this I really was.

  I climbed on the bed. His palm covered my bare as
s, and his fingers slipped between my legs again. He stroked me, and I shuddered.

  After I patted the mattress beside me, Liam did my bidding. The second he was on the bed, I pushed him down on his back. He lifted an eyebrow, and I gently pushed a pillow beneath his knee, giving it some support.

  “How about you let me drive?” I asked, dragging a finger down the center of his chest.

  His head fell back against the blankets, and a satisfied smile pulled at his lips. Settling a palm on my hip, Liam tugged. I straddled him, but not his hips, his waist.

  Rocking against him, I shuddered. My desire coated his stomach, and his palms covered my breasts. “You are so goddamn beautiful,” he groaned, kneading the flesh.

  I let my head fall back, and he pushed up onto elbows so he could tug a breast into his mouth. I cried out and thrust against his abs again. Liam’s fingers bit into my hip, and he urged me to move again. My inner muscles flexed and spasmed, wanting something more, wanting to feel him inside me.

  I shimmied down his body, and he released me to grab one of the packets nearby. Our hands worked together, rolling the latex down his shaft, my fingertips lingering on his balls as he finished. When he was done, Liam held up his thick, hard length, and I poised above it.

  Our eyes met and held as I slowly, torturously slid down over him. My body accepted his inch by glorious inch. I had to force myself to go slowly because, really, all I wanted to do was push down and take him completely.

  When at last he filled me and our bodies where totally joined, he palmed my hips and rocked my body. Both of us moaned, and my head fell back. The long strands of my hair brushed the top of my ass, and my teeth sank into my lower lip.

  I began moving on my own, riding him the way that felt right. Liam moaned, his hands fell away, and I took control. Before I knew it, I was panting and the room was blurry. My palm slapped down beside his head, and I leaned over him. We kissed the way we fucked. Fervently, deeply, and at times, manically.

  The tension in my body became too much to bear, and I whimpered.

  Liam ripped his mouth free, grabbed my hips, and looked into my face.

  “I have what you want, sweetheart,” he growled, then lifted his hips off the bed, surging up inside me.

  I bore down, and pleasure exploded inside me. It was so overpowering that my eyes rolled back in my head and light burst behind my lids.