“Well, yes it does,” she says, and then to make it clear this is a serious conversation she intends to have, she rolls over and lays her body right on top of mine. Her pelvis traps my cock, which can’t help but lengthen even more now that it’s pressed against her pussy.
She ignores that, though, bringing her arms to cross over the top of my chest as she looks down at me. “Why don’t you like Gray?” she asks curiously, with no condemnation.
“I like her just fine,” I say evasively. “She’s a fantastic general manager. One of the best.”
“No,” she says firmly. “There’s something about her you don’t like. Or maybe it’s that you don’t respect. I can hear it in your voice.”
“Look, I don’t want to get into it,” I reply just as firmly. “She’s your sister.”
“And you probably know her better than I do,” she throws back at me. “Please tell me so I can understand.”
With a sigh, I bring my hands to Lexi’s hips and squeeze them as I tell her, “Gray doesn’t like me. Not personally, and sometimes not professionally. It’s just one of those things, and frankly, because she doesn’t like me, I kind of don’t like her.”
“I don’t understand,” Lexi says, her eyes filled with concern. “How do you know she doesn’t like you?”
“You remember the day we first met?” I ask.
She nods.
“Gray brought me in to tell me that I needed to change my ways or I could potentially be benched or even released from the team,” I tell her bluntly.
“By ‘change your ways,’ you mean—”
“I mean everything,” I tell her grimly. “On the personal side, lay off the partying and loose women, quit making a public spectacle of myself. On the professional side, rein it in…stop getting suspended.”
“Are those unreasonable requests?” she asks me hesitantly.
“Not on their face,” I admit with candor. “But it’s more than that.”
“Explain it to me,” she says softly, and I can tell by the tone in her voice she’s not holding any judgments about Gray or me.
So I try to put it in terms she can understand, not wanting to paint Gray in a bad light, but also making my feelings clear. “I get the personal stuff. I’m a bit of a hellion and always have been. I’ve never answered to anyone, Lexi, not since I was a young kid. I grew up alone with absentee parents and have made my own rules for forever and a day. And as long as my actions don’t hurt anyone, which I never intentionally try to do, then I just don’t see how it’s any of Gray’s business what I do on the personal side.”
“I understand that,” she agrees gently.
“Well, that part’s a bit moot right now, since I’m willing to give up my wild ways for you,” I tell her with a smile, and she smiles back. “But more than that is the fact that she doesn’t give me credit for the things I do as an adult that are antithetical to the things she disapproves of. I mean, I do more than just volunteer saving golden retrievers. I’m involved in a number of charities, I coach youth hockey in the summer, and I help underprivileged people from all walks of life. I spent a lot more time than most of my teammates giving back, because I feel that’s my duty as a means to show how grateful I am for all that I have. And if I sound bitter about it, maybe I am, because all that wonderful shit I do far outweighs the few little scandals that have seemed to surround me, and yet I get no credit from her for that.”
Lexi stares at me a moment, her lips pressing together in a sorrowful way. “I’m sorry. That just sucks.”
And now that the dam is opened, I can’t seem to stop myself from laying it all out there. “So as not to sound like a whiny bitch, I can even let all that personal stuff go. I’m confident enough in myself to know it really doesn’t mean anything. But on the professional side, she’s asking me to change my fundamental being as a player. Yes, I get penalized, but you know what? That’s my job. I’m an enforcer and you have to maintain that reputation. And yes, I’ve been suspended, but I just can’t control that type of passion out there on the ice. I take my job seriously, and that includes doing whatever I need to win. And the thing that really burns me up is that Gray knew all this before she ever offered me a contract. She knew what she was getting, and yet now she can’t seem to tolerate it. Now, it’s her way or the highway, and as I explained, I don’t do well when given those types of ultimatums.”
When I finish, Lexi immediately scoots forward a bit to put her lips against mine. She gives me a tender kiss and then pulls back to look at me. “I understand, and I totally get your frustration. I could perhaps talk to Gray—”
I’m shaking my head at her before she can even get the rest of her offer out. “That is one thing you will never do, Lexi,” I tell her sternly. “While it’s not prohibited, it presents a potentially sticky situation with me dating the owner’s daughter and the GM’s sister. You will never get involved in my career, you got that?”