Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
LYDIA
When I came to Florida, I thought it’d be something new and fun to experience. My first major, national campaign for a swim company.
What I didn’t plan on? Walking in on Delaney getting off.
Should I have turned around and left the room? Probably.
But standing there, seeing her in the throes of pleasure? I couldn’t help myself.
I wanted Delaney more than anything in the moment and had to stay.
Licking her release off my lips, I rock back onto my heels. Kneeling between her spread legs, I can tell her entire body is blissed out. Diamond-hard nipples poke through the soft cotton of her T-shirt.
“What do you want to talk about?” she asks.
One hand is resting on her stomach and the other resting by her head.
“You. This. Us.”
One eye peers up at me. “Or we can feel good right now and not worry about bigger things.”
I smile down at her. “I don’t mind that at all.”
“Good.” Delaney sits up, crossing her legs under her. “Did you finish your shoot?”
I shake my head, hopping off the bed to open the sliding glass door. It’s warm in here now. My damp clothes are sticking to my overheated skin.
“Postponed until tomorrow morning.”
“Does that mean you have the night off?” There’s a hopeful note to Delaney’s voice.
“Yeah. I do.”
“Want to order room service?” she asks.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
I move up the bed and drop down next to her, kicking my legs out across hers. “On if you’re going to run out on me again.”
Delaney threads her fingers through my hair. “Sorry, but I can promise that won’t happen again.”
“Why not?” I lean into her touch.
“Because I was struggling with my feelings for you. Not so much anymore.”
“Good.” I steal a kiss. “Because I don’t think I’m struggling with my feelings anymore either.”
Delaney grabs the menu and phones in our order. The cool breeze blows in as the two of us roll around in the sheets.
Languid kisses.
Searching hands.
Arching hips.
Delaney’s weight above me is ratcheting up my need. But because a knock sounds on the door—one we both hear this time—nothing more can happen.
She slips on her underwear and fishes out a pair of shorts from her suitcase before answering the door and wheeling the tray into the bedroom.
“Always so good, Lyd,” Delaney says, handing me my salad. She pulls a silver cover off a pepperoni pizza with a side of fries.
“Yours looks better.”
“It will be. And if you’re nice to me, then maybe I’ll share a few fries.”
Laughter bursts out of me. I feel lighter than I have in months. Who knew bringing this woman to her knees for me would make me feel like this?
“Well then, maybe I’ll keep my questions light.”
“Questions? What questions?” Delaney asks, dragging a fry through ketchup and stuffing it in her mouth.
“Like what you’ve been doing the last five years?”
The storm outside picks up. Sitting cross-legged on the bed next to Delaney, I stab a fork into my Cobb salad and take a bite.
“The exact same thing you’ve been doing.” She laughs. “Hockey.”
“I know that. You have to have been doing something else since I last saw you. The only thing I know is that you still like Dirty Shirleys and to draw on yourself.”
“Technically, you were drawing on me.” She smiles.
“Same difference.”
“Really, hockey is all I’ve been doing.”
I sigh. “Same. Do you think that’s why we always got along so well?”
“Because we played hockey together once? No. You were easy to get along with and it was fun to be around you. I liked that. You always put everyone at ease. You still do. It’s why you make a great captain.”
I bite my lip to stop from beaming at her. “Thank you.”
“It’s true.” She nudges my leg with her foot. “When I first saw you were on the team, I was worried about having to coach you, but you’re the same old Lydia I remember."
“I hope some things have changed. I don’t think I’m that same twenty-six-year-old from back then.”
She shakes her head. “You’re a better hockey player.”
“And you’re a coach now.”
“Stating the obvious, Lyd.”
“Hey, I wanted to know what you’ve been up to. That’s new.”
“What else do you want to know?” she asks.
“Let’s do rapid-fire questions.”
She groans. “Do we have to?”
“Yes. If you refuse to tell me what you’ve been doing these last five years besides hockey, I have to get this out of you somehow.”
“Fine.” Setting her plate down, she scoots closer to me. “Hit me.”
“Travel by car or airplane?”
“Airplane. I like being able to multitask. I already know your answer.”
I wince. “Again, having a healthy fear of planes is completely normal.”
“Something that hasn’t changed about you.”
“Not at all.” I shake my head. “You saw me when we hit turbulence.”
“Do I need to assign you a plane buddy for away games when we travel?”
I nod. “You might have to. I wish it could be you.”
“I’m sure Parker or Skylar will be there for you,” she says.
“They would. Next question. What three things would you bring on a deserted island?”
Delaney points her finger in my face. “Okay, this one isn’t fair.”
“Why’s that?” I tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear as a gust of wind bursts into the room.
“Because you’ll never get stuck on an island since you don’t fly,” she points out.
“Do you want me to go first then?”
She nods. “It seems only fair.”
“Fine.” I give her a playful smile. “If I could have three things on a deserted island, I’d bring—”
“Nothing hockey related. This has to be fun,” Delaney interjects.
“I wasn’t going to say hockey.” I finish my last bite of salad and set it down on the tray next to the bed.
“Good. Continue.”
“I was going to say my tablet, a knife, and maybe someone to enjoy it with.”
“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of, you know, a deserted island?”
“Well, if my boat washes up on shore, I’d hope you’d be there with me to entertain me.”
I can see her fighting the smile. “I’d be your entertainment?”
“Well.” I return her smile. “In more ways than one.”
“I see.” She waggles her brows at me. “Then I guess, if our boat washes up on shore, I’ll bring the vodka, a book, and the sunscreen. So we don’t get burnt.”
I burst out laughing. “You are so practical, D.”
“Hey. If you’re bringing me, that means I have three things to bring because you’ll already be there.”
“Fair.”
“Here’s a question for you,” Delaney fires back. “Worst date you’ve ever been on?”
“Taking notes for our next date?”
“Curious, is all.” She shrugs a shoulder. “I can’t imagine you having a bad date.”
“Oh no. I have had my fair share of bad dates. Men and women alike.”
“Worst one then?”
“One of the girls on the team set me up with this guy whose family owned a funeral home. They were friends from childhood. Her husband was friends with him.”
Her brown eyes go wide. “Oh God. I already don’t think this is starting off well.”
“Just wait. We go to dinner and I think it’s going okay. He’s cute and nice. But then once our dinner comes, I ask him about his work and he starts telling me how he makes people up when they die.”
“He didn’t!”
“Yes!” I shriek. “D, it was the wildest thing I’d ever heard. He asked me to go home with him and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
“That just sounds like the start of a true crime podcast. Hockey player murdered after date with man wanting to make her up.”
“You are not wrong.” I burst out laughing. “Now, tell me your worst date.”
“Please don’t laugh,” Delaney groans, burying her face in her hands.
“Why would I laugh?”
She rolls her eyes. “I don’t even know if it would qualify as a date.”
“Well, now you have to tell me.”
“One of the professors at school tried to set me up with one of her friends. She wasn’t big on first dates, so I thought if I planned something easy, it’d be good. Dinner downtown, maybe a movie after?”
“Sounds perfect to me,” I tell her.
“I thought so too.” She clears her throat, taking a sip of her drink.
“I was waiting for her outside the restaurant when she pulled up. It was a small place in Burlington and there was only street parking. She tried parallel parking four times before she gave up and drove off. Left me standing there looking like an idiot.”
“You’re kidding.”
She shakes her head. “Texted me after and said she believed since she couldn’t park, that we weren’t meant to be.”
“Let me get this straight. So because she couldn’t park, it was easier to leave?”
“Uh-huh.” Delaney nods. “When I was standing right next to the valet.”
I burst out laughing, tossing my head back. “Okay, you definitely win worst date.”
Delaney holds what remains of her drink up in cheers. “I think you win.”
I clink my water glass to hers. “Well, I might have missed out because last I heard the guy was married with two kids.”
“To each their own.” Delaney shakes her head. “I’m glad it didn’t work out with him.”
“Oh yeah?” I sip the rest of my water.
“Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here with you.”
“I guess that means you believe in second chances,” I tell her.
“I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t believe in them.”
“No, I guess not.” Grabbing her legs, I pull her close to me.
Her skin is warm and soft. The easy smile on her face has butterflies swarming low in my belly. I forgot how beautiful Delaney was. Maybe it was easier to forget so I wouldn’t think about her every single day we were apart.
Because Delaney is not someone you forget. She’s the kind of person that etches themselves into your soul, so deep that you think of them every day and the impact they had on your life.
I’m a better player because of her. She always pushed me. Ever the competitor, we were always striving to be the best. Hockey came naturally to me. But with Delaney on my line? We wanted to be at the top of our game.
“What are you thinking about?” she whispers, ghosting her fingers across my cheek.
Her touch is soft, but I feel it everywhere.
“You.”
“Yeah?”
“How you’re unforgettable.”
Her gaze is tender. “I never forgot about you either, Lyd. How could I?”
Our lips crash together in need and desire. Passion and excitement. Frenzy and heat.
I don’t know if I’ve ever been so hungry for someone. I can’t get enough of this kiss. Of Delaney’s taste. Of her tongue sliding against mine.
My hands roam over her body, pushing the thin T-shirt she’s wearing up and over her head.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever have enough of you, Delaney.”
“You already had me. I think it’s time I have you.”
Her words send heat sliding across my body. All I can thing about is this woman devouring every inch of me.
“Then have me.”