Peter had needed this. Something to occupy his time, exert some physical effort and get Harmony off his mind, even if it was just for a little while. Denver had agreed to do this again next week if he wanted to, and after speaking to Andre during one of their breaks, Peter had set it up. Andre was cutting his visit short, and would be back early next week, having decided he could use a little tuning up before training camp hit as well.
Peter wondered if his friend was being completely honest with him, given the fact that next week was Andre's turn with the Stanley Cup, but he missed his friend, and therefore wasn't going to argue with him if he wanted to cut his trip short. Viktor wasn't due back for at least another two weeks, and though he had Sadie to fill the void, it wasn't the same. Peter was grateful to his teammates, all of them had been more than supportive, but he sorely missed Harmony, and would have given most anything at this point to see her again.
As he approached his motorcycle a few minutes later, a gentleman emerged from a beat up Chevy parked next to him. “Petrovsky Petrovic?” he asked.
“Da. I am Peter,” he replied hesitantly. He didn't see any cameras, but he was suspicious all the same. “You are with the press no?”
The gentlemen, dressed casually in tattered jeans and a t-shirt, shook his bald head, the sunlight glinting off the smooth surface of it. “No sir, I'm not with the press.” He reached into his car then, extracting a large envelope and thrusting it into Peter's hands.
“You want autograph?” Peter nearly grumbled, keeping his annoyance in check. The last thing he needed was to piss off a fan.
But the man shook his head again, saying “you have been served,” the moment Peter closed his hands on the envelope. Then he fled to the safety of his running car, something Peter hadn't noticed and sped out of the parking lot.
Served? What the hell?
Nervous, as much as truly annoyed at this point, Peter headed back inside, walking into Jean's office and laying the envelope, still closed on her desk in front of her.
“Man give to me just now. He say, I have been served. What is meaning of this?” He asked, still holding his emotions at bay as Jean looked up at him in stunned silence before opening the clasp on the back of the envelope and sliding its contents onto the desk.
Jean took a moment to look over the documents, her brow furrowing as she read each page, going over everything a second time to be sure she hadn't missed anything, then she met Peter's gaze, and the painful emotion that stared back at him was enough to make his stomach turn.
Peter felt sick. He had never seen Jean so stricken, not even at the press conference had her steel reserve wavered. This must be bad.
“Oh, Peter.” She began, laying the papers on the desk and removing her glasses before rubbing at her eyes. “You're being sued.”
Harmony had thought about Peter all night once he had left. And after going over the latest article several times today, she knew, that in so many aspects, he was right. She had been wrong to suggest that he pay her off. Was that not what this entire thing was about? Was it not possible, no, likely, that this girl had fabricated everything just to get money out of Peter? And if he paid her, would that not, as he had said, only encourage her, and perhaps others to continue to try these tactics?
The world had changed so much in the last decade. Years ago false claims of rape and sexual assault were unheard of. But the magnitude with which women accused men of such crimes these days was staggering. Of course, it wasn't just cases like these that were becoming more commonplace, it went far beyond rape or assault in the world of get rich quick schemes.
There were people that bought run down houses for near to nothing, did as little as possible to pass inspections and then turned around and profited greatly on the naivety of others. There were pyramid scams, western union scams, and fraudulent check scams were people convinced others to send them money or cash a check and send back the remainder.
And then there were personal injury claims galore. People causing accidents on the road, or slip and falls on properties belonging to the wealthy. Blackmailing was at an all-time high. Society was changing. Harmony felt empathy for women who had actually suffered at the hands of others, because of girls like this one, the police and the criminal justice system was hard pressed to find ways to actually win cases and get justice for those that were actually victims.
It seemed as though hockey players and for that matter athletes and actors everywhere were the newest targets for scam artists.
With those thoughts circulating in her mind, Harmony gathered the courage needed to drive over to Peter's house. It was time she apologized for her lack of support.
She was not, however, prepared for the onslaught of reporters she had to face as she pulled up into his driveway at the back of the alley. They swarmed her car, snapping off pictures and hovering in front of her door as though waiting for a comment. Alarmed, her first thought was to leave, back out of the driveway and just make a break for it.
But there were several people behind her car as well, effectively blocking her exit.
Peter drove up then, the sound of his powerful bike scattering the reporters just enough that she was able to jump out of her car and run into the opening garage before her. Peter hit the button on the remote, the door beginning to close before he was even inside himself.As he pulled off his helmet, shaking out his hair, the damp curls parting when he ran his fingers through them, he took one look at Harmony and smiled.
Panting from the unexpected exertion required to get into the closing garage and away from all the people outside, Harmony met his eyes and tried a smile of her own. She noticed however that the sensuous curve of his lips was gone, he studied her for a moment before turning and removing a large envelope from beneath the seat of his motorcycle.
His gaze level once more with hers, he said, “I am happy you are here... but perhaps now is not the best time.”
Harmony was at once both hurt and furious with Peter. “Well I'm not going back out there!” she snapped, pointing towards the door of the garage.
Peter nodded, forcing a smile as he stepped past her and unlocked the door to let them in.
Harmony wasn't sure what had gotten into Peter just now, for a second he'd seemed like himself, his mouth turned up in one of those devilish grins of his, but once he'd pulled whatever that was he was holding out of his bike, he'd become so stoically dispassionate that it frightened her. She had yet to see him appear so indifferent.
Was it because of yesterday? And just what did that envelope he was so closely guarding hold? The test results perhaps?
“Peter.” she said, her hand falling short as she reached out for him, “I uh.”
He turned to face her, setting the envelope on the counter in the kitchen and pulling a soda from the fridge. He held it out to her in offering to which she shook her head, and with a shrug, he said, “what is it Harmony?”
Harmony couldn't seem to take her eyes off the yellow envelope lying on the counter long enough to answer him though, her curiosity driving her mad. Following the direction of her interest, Peter scoffed, finally gaining her attention. “What is that?” she asked carefully once she caught sight of his icy glare.
Peter scoffed again, “I am being sued.” he replied with such malice, the strength of it nearly knocking the breath from her lungs.
“Sued?” she repeated, the single word sounding so hollow and yet the implication of its meaning far from lost on her.
“Sued.” he reaffirmed, his tone laced with an undercurrent of anger still, and the coldness of his glare never wavering as he continued to look at her. “Andre too.”
She gasped, “Andre too?”
He lifted his broad shoulders, and then indicating with his head in the direction of the envelope that sat ominously on the counter between them, said: “you may read if you would like.”
She didn't know what to think. Hell, she didn't know what to feel. A part of Harmony wanted so desperately to go over to him and put her arms around him, but she had to admit, that she was afraid. Not of Peter, she knew he would never physically hurt her, she feared instead that he would move away from her. That he wouldn't welcome such comfort, that was crazy though!
And yet, she couldn't force herself to move to him. She found herself reaching for the envelope instead.
Peter sat down at the breakfast bar as she opened it, watching through his now lowered lashes as she read and absorbed the contents of it. Her eyes flew up in shock to meet his once she was finished. She couldn't believe it! How was this possible? Given the facts of the case, which she now didn't doubt herself, how could this girl think to win?
“But how is this possible?” she heard herself asking.
She didn't think he was going to answer her, but after letting out a rather resounding sigh, he did. “I do not understand this myself. Jean has said we will speak with the lawyer tomorrow. But there is chance I am told that she could win.”
Shaking her head as though she hadn't heard him correctly, for surely she hadn't, Harmony stammered, “she could what? How could she win Peter? How is that even possible.” She began to pace the length of the kitchen now, ignoring the dog that padded softly behind her. “Why is she doing this now?” she wondered out loud. “The investigation isn't even complete; wouldn't she benefit from waiting for the results? Seeing this through to trial? I don't get it.” Harmony seemed unable to stop the thoughts as they formed into words, spilling from her still open mouth.
Touched by her concern, and the simple fact that she had sought him out, Peter came up behind her, startling her briefly as he placed a hand on her shoulder in an effort to stop her from pacing a path into the professionally distressed floors.
She whirled around to find him mere inches from her, their faces so close she could feel the warmth of his breath on her lips, her skin tingling as she inhaled the earthy masculine scent of his cologne. She placed a hand on his chest to brace herself, and the heat of his body instantly singed her. She gasped.
Unable to restrain himself when her lips parted and she inhaled quickly as their bodies made contact, Peter lowered his mouth to hers, snuffing out any protest she may have thought to make.
Harmony hadn't dared though, the instant his full sensuous lips brushed hers, she was lost. Her arms intertwined around his neck, her fingers digging into the back of his dampened curls. Their bodies melded to each other, Peter groaned as her breasts flattened and pressed against his chest, his hands snaking up underneath the fabric of her shirt, fingers digging into the silky flesh of her back.
As her knees betrayed her, suddenly going weak, Harmony leaned heavily into him, Peter placed one hand under her legs, lifting her into his arms and setting her gently on the couch, their fevered kisses never ceased though. Peter instantly had his hands along the curves of her body. While Harmony continued to stroke her fingers through his hair, twirling the curls around them, moaning once, deeply into his mouth as his hands rubbed against the mound of her womanhood, the fabric of her jeans creating a delicious heat and friction.
Thought and logic fled from their minds, Peter was too keyed up and drunk on the taste of her to care about the reporters outside or the papers that told him he was being sued for millions of dollars for something he hadn't done. Harmony was so lost in the passion and the feel of his strong body on hers to care about anything else. It didn't matter that some twit had accused him of the unspeakable, nor did she care that he was being sued, or that as of tomorrow her face was likely to be splashed across every possible media outlet.
Right now, all that mattered to the two of them was each other.
Harmony's heart was beating to the rhythm of a thousand drums as Peter slid his hands all over her body. Though they were mad in the exploration of one another, their tongues both diving in and out, circling each other like two dogs on the attack, they neither cared nor thought to rush things. Peter was content with the feel of her heavy breasts in his hands, rubbing the soft fabric of her blouse over her puckered nipples.
And Harmony, finally pulling one hand away from his silken head of hair, moved between them, taking him in her hands, and rubbing his thick shaft through the stiff denim, delighting in the hardness of him. Peter broke contact then, groaning as he moved further down her body, his mouth wreaking a new havoc against the pulse beating at the base of her throat.
He nipped and kissed along the smooth column, his tongue flicking out like a snake's to sooth the subtle sting of his teeth as they scraped against her satiny skin. Harmony arched under his touch, pressing harder as she continued to stroke him through his pants. Peter's hands traveled lower still, stopping at the snap of her jeans, where he pushed one hand between her waistband and her now trembling flesh.
While one hand feathered over her moist center, his fingers delving into the heat of her body and stirring up a desire more intense than she had ever known, Peter used his other hand to knead and massage her breasts, continuing to kiss along her collarbone and down to her swollen breasts.
When it felt as though she might explode, Harmony began tearing at his pants, pulling the button loose and sliding the zipper down, she reached into his boxers and took the full length of him into her palm. His smooth heat pulsing as she squeezed and stroked it.
The fever between them reached critical mass, threatening to incinerate them both, and before either of them could contemplate what they were doing, clothes were removed and strewn about the floor. Sadie, having been kicked at after several attempts to join them on the couch, sniffed at the discarded clothes as they fell on top of her, and then with a soft doggy snort, headed up the stairs and away from the writhing and now grunting pair on the couch.
After guiding the length of him to her soft opening, where his bulbous head was now probing urgently, Harmony moved her body in a way that kept him just out of reach, her body becoming heated and moist with every missed stroke. She ran her hands along his muscled back, feeling with a sense of delicious greed the way his skin quivered under her touch.
Peter continued to pay special attention to her breasts and puckered pink nipples as Harmony moved agilely underneath him, it was all he could do not to beg while he continued to probe the core of her passion. He was driven to the brink every time he managed to slip inside of her an inch only to be forced out as she moved away. It was maddening, and yet such a sinfully magnificent sensation that he was loathed to stop her.
In the throes of passion though, their little game of cat and mouse became too much, all at once Harmony wrapped her legs around him, and as he prepared to slide into her yet again, she forced him to the hilt, rising on her elbows to take all of him into her body.
As the heat of her sheath enveloped him, Peter's head fell back with a groan and he began pumping himself into her. Sure and slow at first, then wild and fast as she lifted her body to meet him, bucking and arching her back when the first wave of pleasure rolled over her, forcing the air from her lungs in its ferocity.
Peter felt her spasm around him, her body clamping onto his as the climax shook her like a capsized boat in a violent storm. In another minute his own release overtook him, pulling every last ounce of energy he could expend from within him, leaving him to collapse on top of her.
Harmony welcomed his weight as she floated back down to earth. Her mind still fogged in pleasure, she used her hands to stroke long lines down his now dampened back, his muscles shivering and rippling under the pads of her fingers, causing him to jerk and spasm while her Kegel muscles clamped around the still hardened length of him. His chest heaved as he tried to pull in oxygen, his cheek pillowed on her breast, the impossible angle at which he was bent beginning to take its toll.
They lay that way for a while longer, Peter finally forcing himself to get up for fear he might have been hurting her.
Harmony grabbed her clothes then, heading into the powder room to clean up a little. When she came back out, Peter already had his pants back on, and was now pulling his shirt over his hard packed abdomen, despite feeling sated by their lovemaking, watching the fabric slide over his glistening abs made her mouth water. She could spend all day naked in his arms had the circumstances been different.
And though she was not ashamed of what had just happened between them, would in fact not regret it in the least, she knew she could not lose herself so easily again. Peter had a lot on his plate, and she need not complicate things by distracting him from his problems.
Peter shook his head then, noticing the pain and the doubt in her eyes, “no Harmony.” he said, moving to her side and gathering her closer, his hands steady on her shoulders as he laid his forehead against hers. “Do not think badly of what we have done. It was beautiful.”
She smiled as he pressed his lips to hers, her tongue slipping out to gracefully tangle with his own. Groaning, he pulled away, adjusting the tightness of his jeans as he took a step back, “do you see what you can do to me?” he laughed, raking a hand through his hair.
Harmony placed a hand to her lips, smothering her own laughter as it fought its way to the surface. “I don't regret what we just did Peter.” She assured him, regaining her composure and reaching out to take one of his hands. “I just don't want to cause any more problems for you, there's so much going on already, and with those reporters outside...”
Rubbing his thumb over the inside of her palm, Peter nodded, sadness touching the depths of his clear blue eyes, “they will not stop, they come every day and take their pictures.” Peter looked down, almost ashamed now, color creeping into his cheeks. “I think they will put your picture in the paper too. I feel so badly for this.”
Crouching down so that she could catch his eyes, Harmony smiled weakly, “it's not your fault Peter, you didn't ask me to come here, I came on my own, and I got out of my car all by myself too.”
“But it is not fair.” he argued.
“Nothing ever is. What are you going to do about this lawsuit Peter? What can I do to help?”
His head jerked up, Harmony's smile touched her eyes, and her hand squeezed his gently. The tightness in his chest, the sense of despair he had been feeling now for weeks seem to dissipate even if only a little.
“I will let the lawyer handle it,” he said, though hope surged through him now. Perhaps it was not too late for him and Harmony after all. Had they not just made the most passionate love there on the couch?
“Is he any good?”
Her words cut into his thoughts, “Huh?”
“Your lawyer, is he any good?”
“Da. She is the best.”
Harmony seemed surprised by his answer. “A woman? Your lawyer is a woman?”
“Yes,” he said with a nod, was there a hint of jealousy in her voice? “She has been on, how say, retainer? With the Slashers for a few years now, I am told she is one of the best defense lawyers in the state. Jean has said she would make me to look very sympathetic, is the word? I think that is how it was said, she would help them to see me as I am and not as how that girl would have them think.”
“That's good. That's really good. And she knows about the lawsuit?”
“Da.” He smiled then, an easy smile as his lips curved upward, the fullness of them and his cheeks seeming to be an almost bashful gesture.
It was seductive in itself, Harmony looked unconsciously to the couch where they had just made love, then back at Peter, blushing as his eyes penetrated hers, his lips parting as the smile widened. Trying desperately to take her mind away from the gutter that it was so ruthlessly attempting to crawl back into, Harmony went to the window, looking out and noticing that the driveway was clear.
How long had she been here? She didn't know, couldn't remember what time it had been when she'd gotten here, but the reporters were gone, and if she didn't get out of here soon, she'd end up on her back again underneath Peter.
Not that the thought wasn't appealing, but if Peter were to go and see his lawyer tomorrow as he said he was, he'd need the rest of the night to get himself together. Best if she was not in his way, no matter how tempting the distraction would be.
She turned to find him watching her, his lips folding up in that seductive way of his as their gazes met, color stealing into her cheeks. “I should go,” she said forlornly.
Peter's smiled fell, his brow furrowing, “please will not you stay?” he asked pleadingly, his hands coming to rest on her shoulders as his eyes searched her face.
Harmony wanted to say yes, her body shivered under his touch, his gaze warmed her to core as the iciness of it deepened to the color of the ocean. “I can't.” she heard herself say, and before she could bare to have him protest, she wrenched away from his grasp and bolted out the door.