Chapter 13
“Um, so are we going to talk about where the hell you were last night?” Cerys—thankfully—whispered the words as she settled onto the seat opposite Lia in the hotel’s restaurant, a full plate from the breakfast buffet in front of her.
Keeping her gaze focused on her own plate, Lia chased the scrambled eggs with her fork.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.
” She aimed for nonchalance but wasn’t sure she achieved it.
How could she be nonchalant about the fact that she’d spent the night wrapped in Erin’s arms?
Lia was half convinced she’d dreamed it, but the ache in her thighs was a visceral reminder of how she’d spent her evening.
Namely, trading orgasm after orgasm with Erin until they’d both been too exhausted to continue.
But no way in hell was she telling Cerys that.
“You disappeared from the hotel bar.” Disapproval lined Cerys’s voice. “I assumed you’d gone back to our room, so imagine my surprise when I got there and found it empty.”
“I needed to clear my head. I went for a walk.” Knowing it would make her seem more truthful, Lia finally met Cerys’s gaze.
Disbelief was written across her face. “All night?”
“No. I don’t remember what time I got back, but I was quiet.
You slept through it.” That wasn’t a lie, at least. Knowing Cerys was a heavy sleeper, Lia had inched her way into the room and crept into her bed at four.
And not wanting to face her—and her inevitable questions—Lia had set an early alarm so she could slip into the shower and be one of the first to breakfast.
Apparently, her plan for that had been foiled.
“That’s funny, because when I woke at three a. m. you still weren’t back. Where did you go?”
Lia shifted in her seat, deeply uncomfortable and thankful the room was relatively quiet. A handful of their other teammates had surfaced, but none were sat nearby. “Look, don’t worry about it, okay? I needed to blow off some steam, so I went out.”
“Oh my God.” Cerys’ eyes widened. “Did you get laid? Who with? Tell me everything!”
“Will you keep your voice down?” Lia hissed, fighting the urge to glance over her shoulder and praying Erin was still safely tucked in bed.
“Why? Don’t tell me it was someone I know. Have you not learned your lesson?”
Forcing herself not to wince, Lia instead opted for outrage. “Of course not! I’m not an idiot. The details don’t matter, all right? I don’t want to talk about my sex life over breakfast.”
“You’re so boring.”
“That’s me. Boring and vanilla.” Lia reached for her mug of coffee, hoping she’d done enough for Cerys to keep her mouth shut.
“I hope the sex wasn’t.” Cerys sniggered at her own joke. “Was this the first person you’ve been with since Hannah?”
“Yeah, actually.” Hannah had been the furthest thing from Lia’s mind last night, but Cerys was right: Lia hadn’t been with anyone else in over three years. When she’d considered putting herself out there again, a one-night stand hadn’t been part of the plan, but she didn’t regret it.
“Must’ve been good.” Cerys wiggled her eyebrows.
“I told you—we’re not talking about this.”
“Ugh, fine.” Cerys took a sip of her orange juice. “Well, you didn’t miss anything last night. And I won’t tell anyone about your night of debauchery.”
“Thank you.”
Behind Cerys, Erin walked into the room.
She didn’t have too much of a limp, but she favoured her left leg as she made a beeline for a mug of tea.
Lia was already on her second coffee. Running on three hours’ sleep when she had a full day of training ahead wasn’t her smartest idea, but Lia wouldn’t take it back.
How could she, now that she knew the taste of Erin’s mouth? The feeling of her skin? The arch of her hips as she came?
Tea secured, Erin turned—and caught Lia’s gaze. Everything around Lia melted away. Cerys was saying something, but Lia couldn’t hear a word, lost in the sea of Erin’s eyes, memories of the previous night flooding her brain.
Erin’s tongue slid along her bottom lip. Beneath the table, Lia clenched her thighs to fight the throb of desire that shot through her, thinking of the sinful things Erin could do with her mouth.
“Oi.” Cerys clicked her fingers in front of Lia’s face. “Are you listening to a word I’m saying? What’s got you so distracted?” Cerys glanced over her shoulder, following the path of Lia’s gaze to Erin.
At the attention, Erin tensed, her eyes narrowing into thin slits, so at odds with the tender way she’d touched Lia a few hours ago.
“You’re staring at Finch?”
“Just seeing how she is.” That was a reasonable thing to say, wasn’t it? “It was my pass that hurt her yesterday.”
“That was an accident. Though the way she’s looking at you, she might blame you.” Cerys leaned forward to give Lia’s hand a sympathetic pat. “But don’t worry about that. I’m sure Finch will forgive you soon enough.”
A shadow fell over their table, and Lia swallowed when she glanced up and met Erin’s gaze. From the look on her face, she’d heard the mention of her name. And she did not look happy about it.
Surely, she wouldn’t think so little of Lia that she assumed she was gossiping with Cerys about the night they’d spent together?
“Can I talk to you?” Erin ignored Cerys, entirely focused on Lia. Somewhere along the way, she’d lost her mug, and Lia found herself wishing Erin had at least finished it before marching over. Maybe with caffeine in her system, she wouldn’t look so murderous.
Knowing she hadn’t done anything wrong, Lia met her gaze. “Sure.”
“I’ll go.” Cerys looked between them, no doubt sensing the tension. “You can have my seat, Erin.”
“No need. We’ll go outside.” She strode off without waiting for Lia’s reply.
“Maybe she won’t be so quick to forgive you after all.” Cerys grimaced as Lia clambered slowly to her feet. “Yell if you need me?”
“I’ll be fine.”
But as she followed Erin’s rapidly retreating back, noting the rigid way she held her shoulders, Lia wasn’t so sure.
* * *
Though the thought may be irrational, Erin felt like Cerys’s eyes followed her out the restaurant door. Irritation pulsed through her, her hands shaking as she came to a stop in the hallway beside the hotel’s spa.
Hopefully, none of their teammates wanted an early-morning massage; this was not a conversation Erin wanted anyone to overhear.
When Lia’s footsteps sounded at her back, Erin rounded on her.
“Did you tell her?” She all but spat the words but couldn’t do anything else—not thinking of the way Cerys had turned in her seat and caught her staring at Lia across the room, lost, for a brief moment, in the memory of Lia’s thighs rocking against her lips.
Disgust washed across Lia’s face. Her arms were folded across her chest and her jaw clenched so tightly, that a muscle in her cheek twitched. “Are you fucking kidding me? You really think that I couldn’t wait to skip back to the rest of the team and gossip about last night? Are you serious, Erin?”
“I…” In the face of Lia’s anger, Erin’s own irritation faded. She had jumped rather quickly to that conclusion, hadn’t she? But no—she had her reasons! “What else was I supposed to think? Why else was she staring at me? And you were talking about me when I came over.”
Lia rubbed her hands over her face. “She was looking at you because I was. Because I was momentarily distracted when you walked in. I said it was because I was curious how your injury was, which is why you heard your name—as if I would tell her it was because I was thinking about being in your bed. Give me some credit, Erin.”
“We can’t afford to be distracted.”
Disappointment stared back at her as if Lia couldn’t believe that was the thing Erin had taken from what she’d said. “Like you weren’t looking at me and thinking the exact same thing?”
Erin swallowed, hating to be read so easily. Hating that, even now, when Lia was looking at her like she barely knew her, all Erin could think about was the softness of her lips and the heat of her skin.
So much for getting Lia out of her system. Instead of dousing the flames, she’d added fuel to the fire, the inferno blazing so brightly, it was hard to think.
“I know, okay?” Lia ran a hand through her hair. “We agreed. One night, nothing else. Forgive me for needing a second to process seeing you again for the first time after. I should’ve known it was a mistake.”
“What?” The last thing Erin wanted was for Lia to regret it.
“You don’t think the same? You were so ready to see the worst in me, Erin.” Tears shone in Lia’s eyes, quickly blinked away. “After everything we’ve been through. You don’t trust me.”
“I…” Erin didn’t know what to say. Because, yes, while she’d trusted Lia last night with parts of her she’d never let any of her other teammates see, Lia was right.
She had jumped to conclusions. She hadn’t given Lia the benefit of the doubt.
Instead, she’d marched over to yell at her for something she hadn’t done.
She’d shattered whatever had been building between them because she was too jaded to see that Lia would never hurt her like that, knowing how much Erin valued her privacy. “I’m sorry.”
“You know, considering you say you don’t do apologies, I’ve heard those words from your mouth almost too many times to count.” Lia gave her a sad smile. “But it’s not enough this time. I think I need some space. Maybe you were right—maybe colleagues is all we’re meant to be.”
Erin flinched, hating having her words thrown back at her by the one person who had made her question that philosophy. All of her philosophies. Deep down, however, she knew Lia was right. If things had already gotten so messy, it was best they stayed away from one another.
Still, she couldn’t resist asking: “Is that what you want?”
“I think it’s what I need.”
The words hit like a killing blow, but Erin refused to let it show.
This was why she kept her distance from everyone.
Her feelings couldn’t get hurt if she never put herself on the line.
Not that she had feelings for Lia. But she’d gotten used to having her around, to having another friendly face other than Alex to banter with.
And what the hell was she going to tell Maisie?
“Okay. Well, you’re in luck because they’re sending me home to recover back in Manchester.
My flight’s this afternoon.” Her father was taking her back to the airport.
It wasn’t quite the quality time Erin had been hoping to spend with him in Marbella, but at least she’d had dinner with him and Alex before she’d gotten reinjured.
Lia managed a jerky nod, already backing away toward the clamour of the restaurant and the safety of their teammates. “I hope your recovery is quick.”
“Thank you.” But Lia was already gone, disappearing around the corner and leaving Erin alone.
She leaned her head against the wall behind her and sighed. That morning, she’d woken boneless and sated with the taste of Lia still on her lips, worried her biggest challenge would be keeping what had happened between them from showing on her face whenever their eyes met.
Now the memory was soured, and she had no one to blame but herself.