Chapter 15
Otto
Victory and a Kiss
My teammates mob me in the locker room, giving me high-fives and backslaps for that awesome wrist shot that won the game. Even though it was an exhibition game, I bask in the limelight of being the hero of the game. The celebration lasts for several minutes and delays us from taking our showers and getting cleaned up. I’m just glad that Coach doesn’t feel compelled to give a long-winded victory speech.
“Ready?” Joey asks when he joins me in front of my locker.
I nod as I finish tying my shoelaces. Coach didn’t require us to wear a suit for this home game, so I’m sporting blue jeans, a henley, and tennis shoes. When I spotted Mia in the crowd, I almost swallowed my tongue. That woman rocks a pair of blue jeans even better than she does a suit. She sure wasn’t giving off a librarian vibe in that outfit.
As we walk to the friend and family waiting area, the security staff shouts out congratulations on my game winning goal and Joey’s almost perfect game as a goalie.
“Great game guys! Way to cover the net Svenson!”
“That was a twisted wrister Stagmeier!”
“Looks like the Stars are gonna have a terrific season!”
We smile and acknowledge their praise, but as we get closer to the waiting area, I start to feel a little nervous knowing that tonight, if everything goes as planned, Mia and I will have our first kiss. Finally.
The minute Joey and I enter the room, Levi strides over, gives us both backslaps, then we exchange brotherly hugs. “Great game!” he says, repeating it several times. The three women linger in the background waiting for us to complete our male greeting rituals.
“Congratulations on the framed Golden Stars jersey,” I say.
“Thanks!” he replies with pride in his voice.
I pivot and my gaze snaps to Mia. When she strolls towards me in those form fitting jeans, my heart beats like a kettle drum in my chest. There’s a glint in her eye and she’s wearing a confident smile. Expecting that she’s going to congratulate me on my game winning shot, I grunt in surprise when she stands on her tiptoes and wraps her arm around my neck. Determination leaks from her voice when she says, “I think that shot earned you this.” She leans towards me, her lips angling for mine.
“Stagmeier!” Coach’s raspy voice bellows in our ears, causing Mia and me to jump apart. “The media would—"
My frustration boils to the top as we are yet again interrupted during an attempted “first kiss.” I ignore whatever Coach is saying. Grabbing Mia’s hand, I urgently, but gently, pull her towards a door at the back of the room. “Be right back!” I shout over my shoulder, not giving Coach a second glance.
“Where are we going?” Mia squeaks.
“Here,” I say as I fling open the door and yank her inside. Not thinking, I slam the door shut, plunging us into darkness. My foot collides with what must be a bucket on wheels because it rolls across the floor and noisily slams into the wall. Bam!
Scrambling to find the light switch, I flick it on while my elbow accidentally bumps a mop, knocking it to the floor. As I inch forward to close the gap between Mia and me, I proceed to trip over the mop handle, sending the both of us crashing into a set of metal shelves where rolls of toilet paper rain down on our heads. Thankfully I manage to take the impact from the shelves, rotating my body at the last second so Mia lands against my chest. Holding her in my arms, I take several calming breaths trying to recover from my bull in a china shop imitation.
Mia giggles at all the noise we’re making. We can only guess what the group in the waiting room must be thinking with all the racket they’re hearing.
“Now that we’re in the janitor’s closet, what’s next?” she asks. Her tinkling laughter lets me know that I haven’t overstepped and that she’s one hundred percent in this game with me.
“Privacy and no interruptions!” I say, a little too loudly, forgetting to use my indoor voice. I tug her body close to mine, and without hesitation, plant a kiss on her lips, not giving the universe, Coach, or anyone else time to interrupt us. When our mouths meet, the attraction that’s been simmering between us for weeks flares to life like wildfire ripping across the prairie. We both deepen the kiss.
The sensation of kissingMia is exhilarating, like parasailing off the coast. Her kissis fireworks, the first sip of coffee in the morning, everything I’ve been missing, but didn’t know it.
I kiss her to make up for lost time, expressing feelings that I haven’t put into words or actions, until now. The air around us becomes electrified as the kiss heats up. I feel a shiver course through her body, and she laces her fingers in my hair, pulling me closer. We kiss frantically for a few more beats. It takes every ounce of willpower I possess to pull away before this gets out of hand.
Breathing heavily, I meet her gaze, and she swallows hard, then sways. Putting a hand on my chest to steady herself, she blinks up at me and whispers, “Wow.”
Just one word, but it slays me. I can’t resist touching my lips back to hers for another kiss. This time, our lips press softly together, stealing my ability to breathe or to think of anything but her. The world melts away around us and the kissgoes on and on.
Creeeak!
The door flings open, and we stare at a stooped man wearing blue coveralls and sporting a grizzled face. His expression instantly turns puzzled. “You folks about done? I need to mop the floors,” he says as if it’s a common occurrence to find a couple kissing in the janitor closet.
We slowly untangle ourselves from each other, not anxious to bring this kiss to a close. Mia runs her hand over her hair to smooth it—my chest swells with pride knowing I did a good job of messing it up—then she says, “Yes, we’re done, thank you!” She holds her head high, grabs my hand, and we waltz out of the closet as if nothing happened. We skid to a stop when we find the room empty.
“Your group went on to the pizza place,” the janitor says as he wheels out the bucket and mop I tripped over. One of the wheels wobbles and squeaks as he pushes it along the floor.
“Very well,” Mia says in a prim voice. “Shall we head out?” she asks me, as she begins marching towards the exit. When we arrive at my vehicle and are safely inside, we look at each other and burst out laughing. We laugh long and hard; my stomach hurts and I notice a few tears trickling out of the corners of Mia’s eyes.
“Oh my! With all that noise we were making, what did everyone think?” Mia says between peals of laughter.
“What else could they think? We were making out!” I say, a touch of pride makes my chest swell.
Mia smacks my arm. “How can we face them after that?”
I bark out another laugh. “Mia, even if we didn’t make a peep, they all knew what was happening in that closet.”
Her cheeks turn a darker shade of crimson. “But—” she sputters.
Leaning over the console, I intend to plant another kiss on those luscious lips but my stomach growls loudly, ending the moment and reminding me that we’re late for our pizza dinner.
“Sounds like you need food,” Mia says with a chuckle.
I rub my thumbs across her cheeks, lock eyes with her, and say, “That was the best kiss of my life so far. Hands down.”
Her eyes glow with happiness and a smile lights her pretty face. “That kiss was definitely worth waiting for, but let’s not wait so long for the next one.”
“We won’t,” I reply.
When my stomach rumbles again, I reluctantly start the truck and drive out of the lot.