Chapter 26
Twenty Six
Taylor
I wake up warm, wrapped up in arms that are solid and enjoying the rise and fall of the person beneath me.
The bed makes me feel like I’m floating, and the sheets feel like I’m sleeping in a field of cashmere.
I stretch and then curl back up into the person, who sifts as I move, but their breathing remains the same.
It’s comforting, and as I crack my eyes open I catch the sunlight starting to come in through the cracked curtains.
The room has white walls, and the sheets are a soft heather grey.
Eloise looks ethereal with the way she’s curled on the pillow, her hair splayed across it.
The upturn of her nose and the pouty upper lip catch the light.
Her eyelashes are splayed across her cheekbones.
She hums in her sleep, pulling me closer, and I enjoy the way every curve of our bodies matches, settling against each other like we were made for each other.
I was missing this for eight years?
I thought Frank was the man for me?
Shit, how could I have been so wrong?
I rest my head against her chest, enjoying the way it rises and falls, and trail my hands along her arms. She shifts, arms twitching as I continue to trail feather light touches along her skin.
“Tay, if you don’t stop, I’m going to spank you,” she mutters hoarsely, twisting herself so she can bury her face into my neck. Each breath of hers tickles my skin, setting my hair on edge as I shudder at the threat.
“I don’t think that’s the deterrent you think it is,” I mutter.
She snorts, kissing my neck, slow soft kisses trailing up my body to my jaw.
She groans against my skin when I let my hands pull her hair.
Her lips meet mine, and despite the fact that we haven’t brushed our teeth yet, something I would never have done before, we kiss, and it’s the best kiss I’ve experienced in my life.
Shit, I didn’t know that it could ever feel like this.
It’s a slow, languid kiss. One that has the promise to allow us to explore each other’s bodies and has made me realize how much I think I enjoy being touched and loved and learned. Each time we come together, she learns a little bit more about what I like when I kiss, what I want to feel.
What I don’t like.
Not that there’s much, apparently.
She pulls back, and her brown eyes are molten in the morning. “Good morning,” I pant, my eyes trailing back to her lips.
She sheepishly tucks her hair behind her ear, but it still becomes a curtain, trapping us in our own little world. Each freckle on her clear skin deserves a kiss two times over, but she pulls back before I get the opportunity.
“I’m making coffee, and then we’re going to place some ground rules.”
“Ground rules?” I whine, sitting up on my forearms while she rolls out of bed. The warmth that she provided is gone, and I watch her walk out of her bedroom, bedraggled and still sleepy. She limps slightly, and as she turns, I can see the shape of the bruise around her knee.
That looks like it hurts.
“Ground rules,” she says sternly, leaving the bedroom door open so that I can hear her in the kitchen. I throw my head back onto the pillow, letting myself flatten out for a moment before I follow her out.
The apartment is chilly, and I try to wrap myself around her as she’s making coffee to keep warm, but she laughs, gently pushing me away as she grabs two coffee cups and hands one to me, filled with milk and sugar.
My cheeks warm when I go to sit down on the stools on the other side of the island.
The warmth of the coffee is everything I need to thrive as I watch her lean against the counter on the other side.
“You’re so far away,” I pout, making her laugh.
The laugh is alluring, pulling me further into the orbit of Eloise.
“If I were closer, would you listen to a word I’m about to say?”
I bring my mouth to my hand to hide my small scowl. She’s right. I wouldn’t listen. I’d be too distracted, which is a shame because I’ve enjoyed listening to everything she’s had to tell me. Well, after she laughed at me and my harebrained ideas to keep her at arm’s length.
A.K.A. make her leave the team.
Yeah, I think I’m just lucky she was already set on being here; otherwise, I would have missed out on this.
“But it’s our first morning together,” I mutter into the cup, sipping the creamy sweet coffee.
“We’ll have more, I’m sure,” she says, with a twinkle in her eyes that has my heart skipping a beat. She wants more.
She wants me.
“But, ground rules first, and then we have to get ready for the day. You have a skate and I have a meeting with Olivia.” She raises an eyebrow.
“But that sucks,” I mutter.
“Again, more time later this week.”
“Promise?” I ask, watching the way her cheeks colour a light pink. She nods, and I get the distinct feeling that she doesn’t trust herself to say more than what she had planned. “So, ground rules you said?”
She nods. “I want you to sleep over when you can. But we need to make sure we each have our own spaces and we’re not crowding each other.”
I nod, trying to argue, but she doesn’t let me get a word in edgewise.
“This is new to you. We’ve had at least three makeout sessions in the last few days and you haven’t gone running for the hills, but you’re going to.
Once you talk to someone outside of our little bubble, you’re going to wonder if you made the right decision.
I won’t be the best person to ask, so you’ll have to find someone to talk to. ”
“My sister,” I say and she nods.
“Good. Next thing—”
“Well, what if I want to—?” Her glare silences me for a moment as I take another sip of my coffee.
“Let me get these out and then we can go back to our talking points,” she pleads, practically forcing me to nod.
“Right, so you’re going to talk to someone outside of our sphere when you start to freak out.
The next thing—we can’t let this affect work.
I want to kiss you every second of the day, but I want to make sure that we have our priorities straight.
Work comes first, then games and the Cup.
If something happens in our relationship that we’re not happy about, we have to have open communication. Same goes on the ice.”
She’s pacing now as she continues, “You have to tell me when you want to go further. It has to be mentioned well in advance so that I can make sure I’m ready and you are too.
You’re going to want to rush in, but I want us to take it slow.
I want to know that I’m doing everything I can to ease you into a relationship and sex with a woman and how different it can be from a man, but in order to do that, you need to be honest with me about what you want to try.
I don’t want you to try to impress me in the first few months because your being a try-hard is hard to watch.
” She winks with a teasing grin. Unamused, I take another sip of my coffee.
“But every step is going to be methodically thought out, and we’re going to be on the same page.
But everything boils down to communication, I guess. ”
Her soft chuckle as she scratches the back of her head makes me smile.
“Any other rules?”
“Just that I want us to have fun, and if it isn’t, you’ll tell me?” She’s got a doe-eyed look that would have me on my knees for her any other day.
I pause at the thought, and maybe she is right. That I’ll need to talk to someone. Maybe I’m over-correcting my habits and sexual patterns to earn validation from her. Have I jumped into this without thinking? A little. But that’s also just the potential ADHD, right? Maybe more than a little.
“I promise that I’ll talk to you about everything every step of the way, but you have to promise that you’re reaching out if you feel something is wrong too.” I level her with a stare that she tries to match before she looks away.
She mumbles something, making me place a cupped hand to my ear. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you,” I tease in a sing-song voice.
Her small scowl is parted as she spits out a fine.
She’s just mad that I caught her off guard in her own game.
“I promise to also make sure that I’ve checked in with you about what I want and how we’re going to go about doing things, but I do want us to be spontaneous,” I say.
“Sometimes, the moment is going to feel right, and I’ll want to try more.
Anything hardcore and I’ll talk about it with you before we do it, but if I want to finger you or eat you out, or have you eat me out, could we just do a quick check in?
You know, enthusiastic consent and all that. ”
Her eyes are narrowed. “I’d prefer if we spoke about those at least a day before we tried it. I don’t want—”
“What if we talk about it all now?” I ask, feeling impatient.
She shakes her head. “A little down the line. Give it some time.” She sighs, shifting her weight.
I wish she were sitting on the couch or a stool to give her knee some more rest. “You’re jumping without looking, and I don’t want there to be a hitch or something traumatizing happening to you before we get there. ”
I lean back, arms crossed. “Fine. But just know that I want to talk to you about, you know, touching your,” I trip up on the word, my face burning with the realization that I just proved her right.
That I will need to talk to her about things beforehand so I don’t freak out.
“Clit play and fingering sooner rather than later,” I finally spit out.
She smothers a smile and tries to give me an exasperated look, but it doesn’t land.
“Alright. We’ll table that discussion for a day when we don't have practice.”
I raise a brow but she doesn’t give me a reason why.
Fine then.
“Do you have anything else you’d like to add?” she asks and I nod.
“Who do you want to know about this? HR will have to know, and Brynn and Winnie know already.”
She hums, moving from the back counter to across the island.
She’s almost within touching distance. I can feel the sparks of her body burn my skin the closer she is.
Every nerve ending is turned on and ready for her at any moment.
“I think that’s good for now? Let’s give it a month or two before we start telling the rest of the team. ”
“And family?”
She blanches for a moment. “Mom isn’t in the picture; sister is still in Ontario.”
“Who did you visit during the summer then, with Kenz?” The question is out of my mouth before I can even hear what I asked.
“Grandma and Grandpa. They took me in when I came out. Mom and Dad struggled with it.” She drops her eyes for a moment, her entire demeanour changing at the thought. I reach out to hold her hand, to show her she’s not alone.
“Oh. I’m sorry,” I say. She shrugs.
“It’s fine. I survived. But since your sister is your person to talk to outside of all of this, she can know, and maybe even your parents.“
“They’ll want to know who I’m dating before it’s even out of my mouth.
And Lucy will want to make sure that I’m not being an idiot, so she’ll try to schedule lunch with both of us soon too.
She already knows about my freak out kissing you the first time.
” Heat rushes through me as embarrassment settles into my chest.
Eloise’s hand is within touching distance. She’s so close, but she still holds herself at bay. I don’t know what type of self restraint she has, but I want it to break.
“Then we’ll cross that bridge once we get to it.”
I sigh. “That seems like a lot of bridges, El.”
She shrugs. “Good relationships have them. It’s easier to walk over them together than burn them.”
“So communication is key?” I ask. She nods. “Can you kiss me then?”
Her eyebrows furrow for a second before leaning in to kiss my cheek. The gentle brush of her lips against my cheek has my pulse racing. I’m sure she can hear it pick up, but she backs away, instead reaching for the fruit bowl to the side and throwing a banana at me.
“We can talk more later, but I think that was everything I needed to say for now, other than get your breakfast in before your skate.”
I bite my lip to keep from scowling. “You tricked me; I wanted a proper kiss.” I whine. Her smile is devious as she limps back towards her bedroom.
“Later!”
“I’m going to tell Brynn you’re torturing me!” I shout.
“She’ll tell you to get over it!” she calls out, closing the door.
Oh, I should let her know where I am. She’s going to be so pissed. “Do you know where my phone is?” I ask, but she’s already out of her room, throwing it at me.
“Good luck with that.”
Brynn Missed calls - 20
Brynn unread messages - 49
I look up at her, pleading as she closes the door again, and suddenly the phone is ringing in my hands again.
Brynn Calling.
Shit.
I’m going to die. She’s going to kill me.
Well, here goes nothing. “Hello?”
“Oh, she’s alive. Winnie, do you hear this? She says hello like she hasn’t kept me up all evening.”
Winnie snorts in the background. “I’m sorry, I meant to text you but I got distracted," I whine, watching Eloise’s door crack open. I can see her step into some bike shorts, and I have to stop myself from groaning at the sight of her thighs. Do I want to bite them?
“With what?” Brynn snaps.
“Pussy,” Winnie responds, making me choke on the coffee that I was taking a sip of.
“No, I went to see Eloise after the game.”
“Oh,” Brynn says. “Winnie was right?” She sounds so confused, and I imagine Winnie nodding with a deranged grin on her face.
“We didn’t do anything; we just slept,” I mutter. “And we chatted about what we both wanted, and now I just have to get dressed, and then we’re going to be on our way in.”
“I can’t believe you,” Brynn says in a pained tone. “You’ve only just realized you're bi, how the hell are you already in a relationship with a woman? I’ve been looking for years.”
Winnie snorts.
“What can I say? I’m just catnip for women, and now that I’m playing for men and women, I’m feeling pretty.“
“Catnip for women?” Eloise asks, padding into the room. Her hair is tied back, showing off her long neck that I have plans for later today.
“Aren’t I?” I ask, ignoring Brynn and Winnie shouting on the phone.
She laughs, kissing my cheek. “Go get ready; I’ll deal with her for a minute.”
“Now wait a minute—I’m not one to be dealt with!” Brynn says, her voice getting smaller as I hand Eloise the phone.
“Hey, Brynn,” she says, a bemused grin growing as she listens to Brynn and Winnie talk over each other. She shoos me off, not letting me watch her for a moment longer, and suddenly everything seems to be going right.