(In case you don’t know, David is the one on the left, but Frankie Vatrano is looking damn fine as well, so please enjoy that bonus content.)

Andela listened to David rattle on in Czech and it killed her not to break her composure and laugh. She reminded herself that she was the professional here and she had a job to do. At the same time, she knew she couldn’t translate what he had just said to the interviewer in English.

When he was done, he gave her one of those ridiculous smiles of his, waiting to see how she was going to handle his sassy retort to the admittedly obnoxious question.

She cleared her throat and tore her eyes away from his. “He says that he’s very grateful to all his teammates for the way they’ve helped him develop this year and that he looks forward to a lot of years learning and growing within the organization.”

Now it was David’s turn to bite back a laugh. In Czech he said to her, “That’s not at all what I said.”

She avoided his eye contact and responded, also in Czech, “Well, if you speak such good English, why don’t you answer the questions yourself?”

“Because I like to hear your voice, miláčku.”

Even though the interviewer couldn’t understand them and he was busy paging through some notes, Andela still felt her cheeks flush a delicate shade of pink at his term of endearment used in public. She was really more than happy to come and translate for him, especially if it meant hearing his own lovely voice speak the language she loved.

As already noted, the man spoke adequate English, but Andela had been contacted by the Providence Bruins to make sure he was comfortable on his first day. That had been the beginning of the end for both of them. As far as he knew, she was the only woman in New England who was fluent in Czech and even if she hadn’t been, she was decidedly the most beautiful.

To him, she was the most flawless combination of his old life in the Czech Republic and his new one in the States. She was American, but born of second generation Czech immigrants who made sure she was raised to be bilingual. She had studied Czech language and history in college and went to work as a freelance translator soon after. She wore her light brown hair just as his mother always had, just as her mother always had, in a loose, bouncy plait falling down one side of her head and over her shoulder.

When they met, she had never seen a hockey game before and he leapt at the chance to teach her everything. After spending his first day in the AHL together, he took her to dinner and things progressed as you might imagine. They fell into an easy pattern where they would lie together in bed, watching NHL and Czech national team games as he explained the rules, slowly, distracting them both with kisses down her exposed torso and wandering fingers that were always seeking the wet warmth between her thighs. By the time they would look up again, the game they had been watching was over, so they started a new one and he began her lessons over again.

He also taught her the Czech hockey terms she previously had no use for and became mesmerized by the shape of her lips as she repeated them back to him. The hard consonants and breathy vowels exposed the redness of her mouth and he couldn’t stop himself from running his thumb along her bottom lip as he corrected her. She’d try again, only to find his thumb replaced by his tongue and they were back to making love before she knew it. Eventually, she got the hang of the lingo, but it took many, many private lessons.

They worked together occasionally throughout the season, but mostly he saw her at her apartment where he could speak his first language freely and enjoy her cooking. When the team was in Boston, he was there practically every night, feeling unbelievably blessed to have found a place where he could be himself and be with someone who understood.

This day, they were working together one last time before the season was officially over. The Bruins not making the playoffs meant he only had to give one final wrap-up interview before he could sink into the long summer with his darling.

The interviewer broke up their playful staring contest. “You’ll be going home for the summer?”

Andela translated for him and waited for his response. Instead of answering, he asked Andela, “Will you come home with me?”

On the spot, she stammered, giving the interviewer an answer, she told him, “Uh, yes, yes, he will be, for a while.” To David, she said in Czech, “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I want to take you. Will you let me?”

The blush came back to her cheeks and she looked almost demure for a moment. “Ano. Yes.” To the interviewer she said, “Is that all?”

“I think so. Yeah, I’m all set. Thanks.”

The pair escaped to the hallway of the arena, David taking hold of her hand as she leaned up to whisper in his ear. “Let’s get out of here, please.”

He groaned, cupping her shoulder and hauling her against his body. “I can’t. We’re having a team luncheon. Mandatory.”

Freeing herself from his embrace, she started walking backwards in front of him as he moved forward. “Too bad. I wanted to say thank you for offering to take me to home with you.”

He lunged to grab her, but she jump backwards, practically running now. He broke out into a sprint and managed to snag her, hauling her against his body as his back fell against the wall of the building.

He kissed her playfully, nipping at her lips as she smiled and then pressing his tongue against her. She moaned, grateful for the contact and pulled him closer. Her voice was needy. “David…”

“Mmm, I know. I know, miláčku. Come here.”

He took her hand and they started hustling down the hall again. He tried a door they came upon and it popped open. When the lights were flicked on, it revealed a supply closet, shelves held stacks of neatly folded towels, water bottles, and practice pucks.

He grinned. “Good enough.”

“David, what -”

He cut her off with his mouth on hers. Pressing her against the cold metal door. She giggled against his kiss, but engaged with it as well. His hands stroked her hips and then her rounded ass, pulling her body against his and he simultaneously pushed them together against the door.

He kissed down her neck, muttering in Czech, calling her his miláčku and making her whole body glow. Her fingers sought out his shaggy blond locks, getting lost in the silky curls at the back of his head.

“David…darling…are we really doing this here?”

“You mean am I going to fuck you in a supply closet? Yes, yes, miláčku, I need you. Do you need me?”

“God, yes, I want you so badly. Please, David. Please.”

He freed her body and they both pulled off clothes, shirts and pants yanked away as quickly as possible until they came back together in their underwear, humping their bodies together and kissing each other madly.

He cupped her ass with both hands and pressed a thigh between hers. The heat of her pussy touched his skin and it almost burned. His fingers, pushed down her panties and she finished the job, shoving him back to step out of them and then tugging off her bra. His boxers were down and off and then he was pressing inside her, her leg elevated and wrapping around his thigh.

It was so bizarre, he thought, she always made him feel calm. Even here, in a closet, wrapped around his cock and making his heart beat beyond comprehension, still he felt calm. She could arouse his body past what he thought possible, but still his mind was calm, centered, focused. Now it focused on that vein running down her neck and his tongue moved over it, along her skin.

She bucked against him, tilted her head to welcome his kiss on her skin, panted out his name in time with his thrusts. He made her feel at home, no matter where they were. She had moved to Boston to be with him because even though he was on the road much of the time, she felt close to him here. And now they had all summer, weeks in the Czech Republic, in his homeland where she had longed to go for years. He was going to take her, they were going to go together.

It was good, so good as it always was, but he needed more. He pulled out, separating them as she gasped. He guided her down to the floor, their clothes providing a barrier between her skin and the cold tiles. She spread for him, opening up and letting him delve deep once more.

She held him close as his hips thrust between her thighs. “David, you make me feel so good.”

“Miláčku, you don’t know, you can’t know the sweet pleasure of your pussy around me.”

She thought that she was really the one who had it good, but she was feeling to lovely to argue with him. She licked along his collarbones and then nibbled his shoulder and bicep. He worked inside her so beautifully, quick, but it was what they both needed.

She started to tighten, nearly pinching his shaft as she came and moaned. He sat her up, pulled her into his lap and let her ride him to completion, kissing her as he finished. Then, he kissed her some more, more sweetly this time.

They smiled, dressed, and escaped the closet unnoticed. Walking her to her car, he left her there, much to his disappointment, but not without another couple of kisses and a promise. “We have all night tonight and I intend to use it. Get some sleep while you can.”

Andela licked her lips at the thought of long summer nights with him inside of her, here, there, wherever he wanted. “Spěchat domů, because I’ll be waiting.”

He absolutely would, hurry home to her, because there was nothing sweeter in this world than knowing his miláčku was waiting and that she was just for him.