The best part about west coast road trips in the middle of winter is definitely the beaches. Because beaches mean sunshine and scantily clad women tanning themselves in the warm California air. Ask any hockey player and he’ll tell you, there’s nothing better than a west coast swing to break up the sometimes cold, long, and dreary hockey season.

For the Wild, it came at the end of January, right before the All-Star break when everyone was in the mood for a little R&R whenever possible. The trip was structured just right, the boys had enough down time to enjoy themselves, and some indulged a little more than others.

On a bright Tuesday afternoon, a few of the players hit the beach to catch a few waves and play some volleyball. Well, really most of them were there to pick up women and the games were just an excuse. Darcy Kuemper didn’t blame them, the women in California seemed to be made differently than they were in other places he’d been and yet none of them broke the mold. Dare he say it, he was almost bored sitting there watching the girls walk by, ogling the guys right back.

He smacked Dubnyk’s shoulder. “I’m taking a walk.”

The other goalie lowered his sunglasses to eye him up. “You sure about that? There’s some really nice scenery around here, man.”

Darcy laughed, but stood. “Yeah. I’ll be around, otherwise I’ll see you back at the hotel.”

Brushing the sand from his shorts, he tucked his phone in his pocket and started up the beach. The sun was hot and coming from Minnesota it felt like heaven. He pulled off his t-shirt and tucked it in the back pocket of his shorts, letting even more of his pale skin soak up the rays.

Slowly, struggling against the pull of the sand on his flip flops, he made his way up the beach, stopping once to snap a picture of the waves and taking the time to notice just how lovely this part of the country was. He was busy staring off into the horizon when he felt himself being pushed down, knocked over when he was caught unawares.

On his back now, a yellow lab was licking his face as if they were old friends and Darcy instinctually started laughing and rubbing the dog’s sides.

“Hello, friend. Are you lost?”

“Jasmine! Good God! I’m so sorry, are you ok?”

He looked up and there was an angel hovering over him. At least, the sun behind her head made it appear as if she had a halo and she was certainly pretty enough, so yeah, he was sticking with his first impression, definitely an angel.

She hauled the dog off of him by the collar and he stood, his massive frame making him tower over the short blond. She looked up at him, asking again, “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine. No harm done.”

“God, I feel awful! She was being so good and I turned my back for one minute…” He was just smiling at her and she suddenly found it very hard to follow her own train of thought. God, he was magnificent: tall, adorable, and built like something out of a dream. “Um…anyway. Sorry.”

“Nothing to forgive. I’m Darcy.”

She shook his outstretched hand, answering, “Mia. This is Jasmine, Jazz for short.”

Darcy squatted down to pet the dog, who was more than happy to resume her licking of his face, much to his amusement. “She’s friendly, eh?”

Mia nodded and asked, “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“What gave it away?”

“Besides the blindly white skin and your heavy accent, you also said ‘eh.’ We’re more ‘yeah’ people out here.”

Darcy had to laugh, grinning up at her and making her heart pound against her ribs. “You found me out.”

“Canada?”

“Born and raised, though now I spend most of my year in Minnesota.”

“Of course, hockey player, right?”

“Yup.”

He stood and she felt the need to take a step back. He was just so damn tall and…intoxicating. “You have more of a basketball build, if you don’t mind my saying.”

“I don’t mind, but it works for hockey, too. Height is an advantage for goalies.”

Her eyes lit up. “You play goal? I’m a goalie, too. For soccer, and not professionally. I just play in a bar league for fun. Been in net since I was about six.”

“No kidding? That’s so awesome! It’s the most noble of all positions, in any sport.”

“Spoken like a true goalie, Darcy. And as a fellow goalie, I won’t even disagree with you.”

They shared a quiet smile and he finished eyeing her up. She was definitely a California girl, but there was something about her that just gave off a different vibe. More cool, less desperate for attention, a little tomboyish in spite of how pretty and obviously feminine she was naturally. She had a similar look as him only in a more compact form: lean muscles, feathery blond locks, and a gorgeous smile. Her denim shorts barely covered her ass and her bikini top was solid green, her skin a luscious shade of light brown and he found himself wondering if she had any tan lines.

She finally pulled herself free of his intense gaze and looked down at Jazz. “It was nice meeting you, Darcy, but we gotta get going.”

“Work?”

“Bumming on the beach, actually. I just don’t wanna take up too much of your time. I’m assuming you hockey guys don’t get too many days off to bask in the sun.”

“No, we don’t. But if you’re free, I’d like to bask in your company for a bit. If that’s ok with you.”

He chastised himself for using such a cheesy line, but it must have worked because she was grinning ear to ear. “Ok…yeah, sure, Canada Boy. You hungry?”

They found their way to a picnic table on the beach next to a food truck where they ordered burgers and beers. Darcy, having discovered that Mia shared his rather silly sense of humor, soon had her laughing until her stomach ached.

“He did not!”

Darcy held up his right hand. “I swear to God, Mia. I almost pissed myself when he said that.”

She was trying to get herself under control when another fit of giggles took her and she spit up some of the beer she was trying to swallow, which only made them both laugh more.

Letting out a deep breath, she shifted to face him as he sat next to her. “I wish our team had road trips. I can only imagine the trouble we’d get into.”

“Yeah, it’s…interesting. Most of the places we go the weather’s shitty so we just stay inside, pulling pranks. When we come out here though, you can’t keep us at the hotel for too long.”

“It is a luxury. I was born and raised near the beach so I guess I’m spoiled. I’d probably die in Minnesota or Canada.”

“Nah, you get used to it.”

She heard his phone buzzing in his pocket for about the tenth time and she swallowed down the rest of her beer before asking, “You have somewhere you need to be, Darcy?”

He ignored his phone, focused on her eyes. “Nope. Just here, hanging with you.”

“Game tonight?”

“Tomorrow.”

She nodded, obviously pleased. “You wanna go to a party? My friend just bought a house, we’re breaking it in. I can promise drinks, good food, and a lot of techno music.”

He licked his lips as he stated the obvious. “And you.”

“Yes, I will be there.”

“Then that’s all I need to know.”

Mia stood and he followed. “Let’s drop Jazz at my house and we can head out, cool?”

“Totally cool, California girl.”

She rolled her eyes, but giggled. “Alright, Canada boy, let’s go.”

The trio piled into her vintage VW Bug and she drove the few miles to her apartment, a old and shabby building with a view of the ocean because, as Mia told him, “I’ve got my priorities in line. Who needs a big, fancy place when you have the endless ocean on your doorstep?”

With Jazz settled, they headed out again, but not before Darcy asked, “Do I need to change?”

Mia had just pulled a baggy tank top on over her bikini top and now shook her head. She told him in a exaggerated, joking way, “This is Cali, bro. We keep it casual.”

He was grateful for that, but when they pulled up to the party he doubted everything, including his outfit. She had said it was housewarming, but this was a mansion, sprawling half the length of a city block with a massive yard wrapped around the whole thing.

“Your friend bought this house? What do you do for a living, Mia?”

“These aren't my people, really. I’m a dog-sitter slash walker. And I wouldn’t say this guy is a friend, more like an acquaintance of an acquaintance of mine.”

“And that means you get invited to these sorts of fancy ass parties?”

“Darcy, babe, just go with it. This ain’t Minnesota.”

Obviously. He said nothing and just took it all in. They drove up to the guard hut in front of the towering iron gates and Mia handed over her invitation. Once they were buzzed in, they eventually parked on the back law and then made their way up the path towards the house.

There were people everywhere, some dressed up like they were going to the Oscar’s, others, like them, looked like they just came from the beach. Everyone was tan and beautiful and enjoying themselves while eyeing up everyone else. For the first time in a long time, Darcy felt unsure of himself, like he didn’t belong. And house itself didn’t help either: massive and pristine, it was the sort of place he always imagined decadent parties were held.

But then, Mia took his hand and that was all he could care about. She felt small in his palm and fit nicely there. When they hit the kitchen, she found them drinks and they pushed through the crowd towards the living room where the DJ was set up and people were doing a good job of pretending to dance when really they were just dry humping.

Mia tugged on his arm so he would bent over and then she shouted in his ear. “You dance?”

He turned towards her, shouted back, “Only if I wanna make someone laugh.”

She grinned and downed the rest of her drink, setting her cup down on a bookshelf behind him. She grabbed both of his hands, “Make me laugh, then.”

She pushed people aside with her back as she pulled him along, he followed, but was shaking his head. “Mia…bad idea. I wasn’t joking. I’m terrible.”

She said something he couldn’t hear, but she wouldn’t repeat herself when he asked her to. Instead she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He had to bent down to make it work, but he did so, cradling her hips with hands.

Mia started to sway and his hands just followed her body around. The music was louder where they were in the thick of it and the pounding bass line made conversation impossible. Instead, Mia let their bodies communicate everything. Her hands made his neck sweat and she rubbed her palms through it. His eyes were so intense that she had to close hers as she pulled him closer, putting her pelvis right against him, just touching the tops of his thighs.

For the first time, she internally cursed their height difference, because she wanted to feel his cock rub against her, hard or not. He must have read her mind, because he dipped his hips and rubbed his front against her body, his groin finding her stomach and pressing himself against her, just how she wanted. And he was nice and hard, just as she hoped. Even through their clothes she could feel how hot and heavy his member was.

She let out a little gasp at the contact and opened her eyes to meet his. She pulled him down more, put his forehead against hers as she worked her body rhythmically against his. He moved his hands to the small of her back, his hot palms drawing even more heat from her body as he rubbed almost imperceptible circles with them. Mia’s mouth fell open, panting out rushed breaths.

Darcy, emboldened even more, bent his knee and eased it between her thighs until her pussy made contact with his massive quad. Arching her back, writhing forward to the beat of the new song, Mia rubbed herself against him, pulled him even closer, and then, tilted her head and leaned it back.

That was all the invitation he needed. Darcy’s mouth came down on hers, stealing whatever breath she had left in her body and taking it as his own. He kept one hand on her gyrating hip and used the other to cup the back of her neck. That wispy blond hair of hers was wet at the base from sweat and he felt the temperature of her skin rise even higher the more his kissed her.

He had the vaguest sense that there was a part going on around him, but all he felt was her, all he smelled was her fresh scent. He couldn’t hear it, but he felt her whimper against his lips, felt her the moisture between her thighs increase and she continued to ride his leg. They were both covered in sweat and it had little to do with the hot Cali air or the swell of the crowd.

When he finally released her mouth, she looked up and gave him a wicked smile. Breaking free of his body, she clutched his hand and led him along, through a sea of party goers and up the ornate staircase.

She tried a few doors, kept going until she found one she liked, shoving him inside. When she flipped on the light, he saw how huge the room was. The king sized bed didn’t escape his notice either. “Mia…we should go.”

She was ignoring him, busy trying to figure out how to lock the door, his heady kiss and the booze weren’t helping her puzzle out the damn thing. Darcy came up behind her, pushing his body firmly against hers as he brushed her hand to the side and finished the job. His mouth found the slick, salty skin of her neck, his hands retook their place on her hips. He said again, “We should go.”

“And yet, you’re kissing me like you want to stay.”

He bit down gently and she thrust her hips back against him while putting her hands flat on the door. His breath whispered across her skin, “This is someone’s bedroom.”

She turned in his arms, pulling his head back down towards hers, lifting her eyebrows in amusement. “I know. Not mine. Not yours. Very scandalous. Can you handle it, Canada boy?”

He kissed her a few times, stifling a laugh. “You make me sound like a superhero.”

“Aren’t you? We both can be. The Adventures of Canada Boy and California Girl. Episode One: fucking in a stranger’s bed.”

Her proposition made his cock throb and her mouth pressed firmly against his as he licked between their lips to find her tongue. While he busied himself with exploring her mouth, she was pushed him back towards the bed and he let her. This certainly wasn’t Minnesota, but that was a good thing. Maybe he needed to let go a bit more; Mia seemed to think so.

What the hell, he thought. He grabbed her ass, hauling her closer and when he found the bed with his backside, he jumped up and brought her right along with him. She climbed up, straddled his thighs, all without breaking their kiss. He scooted back a little more and she forced her hips closer, harder against his, rubbing herself against his cock once more. The plush purple comforter underneath them felt soft and probably expensive, he thought, and for just a moment, he felt sort of bad about what they were doing. But then, she was moaning again and thrusting her hips like she couldn’t wait to feel him press into her and he stopped caring about where they were.

She felt his groan and it echoed through her body, starting in her mouth and working its way down. With her hands and her chest, she pushed him down until he was flat on his back and she went back to riding him over their clothes, leaning down to kiss him some more, loving the taste of his mouth, liquor and lust mingled together.

“Mia…Mia, let me see you.”

She pushed herself up and then hauled off her tank top, untying and then tossing her bikini top to the side. “You wanna see me?” He was still admiring her breasts when she stood on the bed, head near the ceiling, and got rid of her bottoms before laying back down on the bed perpendicular to him. He pushed up on a elbow and then sat up to drink her in, rubbing his hand up her thigh gently.

He grinned like an idiot. “No tan lines.”

“That’s my super power. I’ve got others.”

“Like making men so hard it hurts?”

Laughing she sat up and reaching for his shorts as he peeled off his shirt. He came up to his knees as she pushed his bottoms down and grabbed hold of his cock. He moaned deeply as his hard shaft flexed and pulsed in her palm.

“Fucking A, Darcy. How do you fit this in a cup?”

Now it was his turn to laugh as he grabbed her face and kissed her. “Very, very carefully.”

Again, she pushed him down by the shoulders, working her body lower until she faced his cock head on. She licked her lips and then licked at his bulging tip.

“Ugh, fuck, Mia.”

“Hmm…yes.” She pressed her lips around him, sinking down as far as she could, working him over with her tongue as he groaned repeatedly. The taste of him drove her on and she sucked at him more harshly, pulling at his shaft with the flat of her tongue.

Suddenly, he overpowered her and got her on her back, repaying her torture by licking through her slit until the tip of his tongue circled her clit and she shouted in shocked pleasure.

“Darcy!”

“Yeah, here’s my super power.”

She wanted to laugh, but he was right. He applied his talented mouth to her and it was too good to dispute. His rough tongue flicked against her entrance and delved deep. Mia spread her thighs, welcoming his hot mouth against her folds and thrusting up to meet him.

Darcy lick and sucked, tasting how badly she wanted him. He was lost to the sound of her moans and the way she muttered his name. Using his thumb to rub her clit, he licked and licked inside her until she was whining and pleading, just about to come. That was when he stopped.

Mia was indignent. “What…huh?”

He kissed up her body, not answering her protests. When he found her mouth again, he smiled at her frown, telling her, “I want you to come when I’m fucking you.”

“I could have done that, too, even if you had finished - oh, Jesus…”

He was pushing that beautiful cock where his mouth had just left and she was rendered uninterested in arguing anymore. His words were firm. “Yeah, but I wanna feel the first one, the best one.”

Mia gasped and met his gaze. “Whatever you want, Canada boy. Just make it worth my while, yeah?”

“Yeah.” He reared back and started thrusting into her, spreading her lips his cock and then filling her mouth his tongue. She was so wet, even his ample shaft was accepted easily and happily by her.

She said his name, dragging it out like no one had ever done, the sound of it in her throat driving him wild. He tilted his body to one side, bringing a hand between them to cup her breast until his fingers found her nipple and squeezed.

“Oh my God. Yes, yes, again.”

He rolled the nipple between his fingers, felt her pussy tighten around him, before she forced her muscles to relax and release him. He switched sides, working her other nipple and he brought his mouth against her ear. “Mia…I love the way you’re pulling at my cock. Don’t stop.”

“Mother of shit.” The man himself was hot enough, but dirty talk from the guy with the innocent baby face was almost too much.

As he chuckled against her neck, pausing only to kiss her skin, she squeezed at him again, pulling him deeper without moving and then going loose as he slid back out. They fucked each other this way, Mia letting him press in deep where she would clamp down around his cock, when his hips shifted back, she let him go, waiting for him to return again.

Finally, her muscles took over and she had no control as they flexed around him without rhyme or reason. Darcy sped up, bringing one hand back to her nipples, his mouth back to hers. He quieted her pleas with his tongue and fucked her until she came, eyes rolling back in her head as she screamed down his throat. He fell soon after, shooting off like a rocket and coming hard inside her.

“Jesus fucking Christ. God Bless Canada.”

Darcy just laughed, kissed her sweetly and then went to find their clothes. As they dressed, he couldn’t stop smiling and he told her, “I think you’re a bad influence on me.”

Mia grinned back at him. “My pleasure.”

The party was still raging, but they were both uninterested now. They went back to her place where Darcy put his mouth back on her cunt and finished showing her just how much talent he had. Then, he took her again, before falling asleep in her too small of a bed. He woke up early, nibbling her breasts until she stirred and then he had her again before he left.

Back at the hotel, he suffered the walk of shame and chirping from his teammate gladly; it had been so worth it. Before the game, she sent him a text, “Make Canada proud, baby, and maybe I’ll come visit you in Minnesota.”

He started twice on the trip and played better than he ever had in his life. Maybe she her text had a little something to do with that. When the press asked him why he had so much success on the trip, he started laughing, unable to stop himself from blurting out, “Uh, maybe it’s the California girls.”

Somewhere else in California, back on the beach, Mia was creeping on the Wild’s website on her phone and saw the clip of him giggling like a schoolgirl and she burst out laughing to herself, probably looking like a crazy woman.

She went to her contacts, sent him a text, “Tell me whens a good time to come north. I wanna see what Canada Boy and California Girl get up to in Episode 2.”

Notes

Also, a big fuck you to whoever requested this because now I'm in love with ANOTHER player. Look at this darling, I love him so much and I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT!!