19. Miles
Chapter 19
Miles
“ I can’t wait to see your lake!” she says, her eyes lighting up as she looks at me. “I can’t believe I’ve known you for years and we’ve only talked about this once.”
We’re getting ready to go visit my parents before we head back to New York tomorrow.
“I mean, it’s not something I bring up all the time. It’s technically my family’s lake. We just all have houses around it.”
“How are you saying this so casually? I love this city, and you live here…on a lake?” she grumbles dramatically.
She’s so damn cute, I can’t help but pull her into my chest.
“Can you grumble about this on the way to the lake? I want to fuck you first, and this isn’t exactly sexy-time conversation.”
“Fine. But only because I can feel your dick between us, and I’d prefer it was inside of me. But don’t think you’re getting out of this that easily. I’m about to play twenty-one questions about your life in the car.”
“I’m an open book, baby,” I tell her as I lift her up, her legs finding their spot around my body. In this moment, I realize not only does this feel perfect, it feels like where I want to be, and that’s something I’m not used to feeling.
An hour later we’re in the car, fully packed up and on the road.
Well, after stopping to get a Slurpee and road snacks, of course. I mean, I told her it wasn’t even a forty-five-minute drive away, but she insisted it still counted as a road trip which meant road snacks were a requirement. It was fine by me because I may have also snuck in a can of whipped cream…not for a road snack though, more for the dessert I’m hoping to enjoy later.
But that all depends on how the start of this trip goes. I mean, this is my hometown, where I grew up, and pretty much the only place I knew until I started traveling to play hockey. This is where my family lives, a place I’ve only ever felt love and comfort in. I’m bringing this woman here for the first time, and I know I should be terrified.
But I’m not.
I’m so fucking calm, yet somehow, I’m more excited than I’ve been since I was in the NHL draft nearly eight years ago. Who would have thought that giving in to my forbidden desires with this girl would bring me so much happiness.
But that’s just because you haven’t gone back to New York yet.
Fuck.
That’s not a thought for today. We’ll think about New York when we are in New York.
For now, I want to enjoy the rest of our trip, starting with the lake. I told Stella that if we were going to come out this way, that we should just stay the night. Today is our last day of the trip, and it’ll probably be an early night since we’re leaving first thing in the morning. This way, we can relax without having to worry about going back to the bakery before the airport.
Plus, I’m secretly excited to get to spend a little extra time back home. I know my parents and my grandpa will love having us there, and they’ll want to soak up as much of our time as they can—and I can’t wait.
I’d love to have extra time to spend with my family. I’ve missed them a lot. Plus, this place, our home—it recharges me more than any other place in the world, and I’ve been missing that…almost needing it. Being able to bring Stella here, something I’ve never done with any other woman in my life, feels special.
My parents have always bugged me about bringing a girl home, but that’s never seemed like an option for me. The girls that wanted to spend their time with me…they weren’t the girls that were interested in going back home to meet my mama.
Stella on the other hand?
I knew from the moment I met her that I’d let her meet my mama any time, any place.
But I haven’t told Stella any of this; it’s just not a box I’ve been ready to open up. I know the moment I mention that, I’ll have to elaborate on those emotions I told her I was feeling.
I downplayed it, not because I wanted her to feel anything less than important, but because I was afraid if I told her how I really felt then I’d scare her away. I was having some dreams…some thoughts about what my life could be like with Stella, and that scared me .
Not only that, but what the fuck do I do about Rex? I have to figure that out first. I respect my friend, and I already hate myself for the fact that we’ve been sneaking around and lying to him, even if I know we are grown-ass adults who don’t need to answer to anyone—he’s one of my best friends and he’s her brother, so it just feels fucked up.
But at this point, I’m already going to hell, so I’m just going to dance around and enjoy my sin. Starting with driving her home to meet my parents.
“It’s so beautiful here,” she says as she looks out the window. “I can’t believe you grew up out here. It’s so different from when we were in the city, like somehow forty-five minutes of driving has taken us to a hidden paradise.”
“It is pretty incredible. I lived here my entire life, well until I left for college,” I tell her proudly. “My parents live just a couple minutes away from the house my grandpa built for him and my grandma. When my parents got married, they had a house built on the property, just on a different part of the lake.”
“That’s incredible. It’s like you have your own little compound. Which one is yours?”
“Well, I guess I lied again then. I don’t exactly have a house on the lake…yet. It’s being built currently, but hopefully, it’ll be done soon after the new year. Which should answer your question as to why we didn’t stay there. I just didn’t mention it because I don’t like to bore people with all that nonsense.”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous, Miles. That’s not boring to anyone. Especially not to me. That’s incredible and I’m excited for you. Plus, you should be proud of yourself that you’re able to own a place in New York City and build a new home in Nashville. That’s fucking amazing.”
I beam, smiling from ear to ear at the compliment because it feels so genuine that it’s hard not to be excited about what she’s saying. My family has always told me they are proud of me, but as an only child who’s never really had anyone who he’s been compared to, it feels amazing having someone outside my family compliment me.
We drive in a peaceful quiet for a few moments before I can’t take it any longer. I need to hear her voice.
“Tell me something about you that no one else knows,” I ask, not wanting to pose a typical stupid question like what’s your favorite candy. Yet somehow this one feels even cringier.
She sits for a minute, her pointer finger bouncing on her lips while she thinks, a little quirk of hers that I find adorable.
“I’ve never been in love,” Stella finally says, surprising the hell out of me with her bluntness.
Glancing over, I see her staring out the window, looking out as we drive closer to my home. She looks lost in thought, like this declaration is sad for her, and I hate that. I hate that she’s never been in love.
“Is it because you haven’t met the right guy yet? I mean, if you’d met the right guy, I’m sure you’d have fallen in love.”
“No, I don’t think it’s that, exactly. I mean, I dated someone in high school for quite a while, and I thought I was in love. Looking back, we loved each other, but we weren’t in love. Not even like young puppy love. We were two best friends who got comfortable and had so much love for each other that it worked…until it didn’t.”
“Why didn’t it work?” I ask, unsure why it matters to me about her ex, but I’m also curious why it didn’t work. What’s a deal breaker for this girl?
For research purposes…obviously.
“He met someone. Her name was Marina. They hit it off, and he ended things with me. It felt tragic at the time because we were two people who cared about each other so much and were sad things didn’t work out. But now they are married and have two beautiful babies. I still see them from time to time and go to their little ones’ birthdays.”
“That’s amazing. I’m glad you guys were able to stay in touch.”
“Like I said…it wasn’t exactly easy. It took some time to see our relationship for what it was, but once I did, I was able to see theirs for what it was.”
She smiles a happy smile that reaches her eyes as she stares out the window in what I can only assume is a moment of reminiscing. I understand the feeling. I dated in high school and college, but they were all short relationships. I stayed friends with all my exes because, thankfully, there were never any volatile breakups.
But that was mostly because we were trying to make something out of nothing, so we were never actually brokenhearted when things didn’t work out.
“Oh my God! What is that place?” Stella says, pointing out her window before turning to look at me in amazement. Smiling, I look out over the area past the houses, the water so beautiful and blue, leading up to majestic trees in an area tucked back away from reality.
“It’s my spot,” I tell her proudly. “This is the lake I was telling you about.”
“You said it was pretty, but I didn’t think it was going to be like this. ”
“What can I tell you? I know beautiful when I see it,” I smile, but my eyes stay locked on her as I pull up to my parents’ house. “Welcome to where I grew up.”
After getting out of the car, we make our way up to the porch, one my dad and grandpa built together that wraps around the entire house. This house is my parents’ house, and that was one of the dreams my mom had. She said she always imagined having a big porch that she could put rocking chairs on and watch the sunset while kids played in the yard.
Only right now, there’s no one outside. They’re probably eating a late lunch like usual, so we head into the house. I hear the normal chatting coming from the kitchen, so we head that way.
“Hey, Ma,” I say as I walk into the kitchen. My mom and dad are doing dishes, one washing and one drying, all while telling a story to my grandpa, who’s laughing while he’s finishing his sandwich.
A sandwich that has my mouth watering from just the sight of it because I could spot that bread from a mile away.
Oh, to be home again.
“Miles?” she says as she looks over her shoulder, all but shoving the plate into my dad’s chest as she throws the sponge down and quickly comes to give me a hug. “Oh honey, I knew you were going to come home to see us at some point, but I didn’t know I’d get to see you so soon!”
“Yeah, we were able to finish the renovations earlier than we thought, so I wanted to come show Stella the lake and see you guys.”
Pulling me into a hug, my mom whispers—not quietly, mind you— “You told me you were helping a friend, but you never mentioned that your friend was so beautiful.”
I feel my cheeks heat as Stella looks over to my dad and grandpa with a smirk that tells me she heard my mom, but she just goes over and introduces herself, both my dad and grandpa immediately chatting her up.
“How long do you guys get to stay?” my mom asks when she finally takes a step back.
“Just a bit. We head home tomorrow morning.”
“Well then, why don’t you take the leftover sandwiches I was just about to put in the fridge and go see the lake. Grandpa is convinced that it’s still going to rain soon, so he’ll probably give you a hard time, but go have a late lunch there and then we can all catch up later tonight.”
“Really?” I say, surprised she’s already pushing me out, but I like the idea of showing Stella around.
“Yes, sweetie. You go. Your dad and grandpa were just getting back to work,” my mom says, her voice getting loud enough they both turn around, walking over to give me a hug.
“What were you saying?” my dad teases.
My mom says hi to Stella, introducing herself before turning to look at my dad. “They’re going to go have lunch at the lake while you and Grandpa go finish working on the car in the garage.”
“But it’s going to rain,” my grandpa says right on cue.
“It’s okay, Pops. A little rain never hurt me,” I tell him with a smirk.
“Fine, but don’t come complaining to me when you catch a cold,” he grumbles, and I laugh.
After my mom all but shoves us out the door so that we could go have lunch—which I can only assume was to give her time to prepare for our surprise visit—we drive down the street further onto the property, toward the lake. Pulling into my usual spot, I park the rental truck and hop out, running around to her side and opening the door. Grabbing the food my mom packed for us, along with the cooler of drinks and blanket she somehow managed to whip together in less than five minutes, we make our way down the path to a small clearing. There’s a little cliff on one side, where you can go up to jump into the lake, and on the other side, you can walk right into the water.
My favorite part is that no one else comes here, especially when my parents know I’m here. It’s my special spot, all to myself.
And now with Stella.
Laying the blanket down, we each take a spot and dig in, neither of us saying a word as we take the first bite.
Oh my God; it’s as good as I remember—if not better.
Even better than the bread is hearing the cute sounds of enjoyment coming from Stella as she takes her next bite.
“You weren’t kidding,” she says as she licks her fingers, setting her sandwich down to grab her drink. “These are fucking incredible. Does she put crack in these or something?”
“Nah, I think it’s the homemade bread, but that could very easily have crack in it. I used to eat the bread by the loaf when I was younger. It used to drive my mom crazy that she would work hours on a loaf of sourdough, and I’d demolish it in less than fifteen minutes.”
“I can see why that would be frustrating, but I don’t think anyone would blame you. This is delicious.”
“Nah, but Ma always got so mad because I didn’t always do the best at making sure everyone got some. Well, me and my partner in crime, but that’s a secret I’ll take to the grave,” I tell her with a laugh, remembering how mad my mom used to get when my grandpa and dad used to eat it all. “I always took the blame—a little deal my grandpa and I made. I would take the blame for the bread so that she didn’t ban him from the kitchen. Instead, I got kicked out, which meant I was always stuck with the dishes while my grandpa was free to sneak as many delicious snacks as possible.”
“Well, you’re a good grandson.” Stella laughs, leaning back to look out at the lake, the sight so beautiful I nearly forget all the chaos surrounding us—and our decisions—but instead, I just decide in this moment that I’m going to stand by what I said earlier. We will deal with the problems waiting for us back home…when we are back home.
Until then…I’m going to spend the last day of this trip enjoying this gorgeous woman, in my favorite place in the world.
“This shit is so good,” Stella moans, snapping me out of my daydreams as she takes another bite of just the bread.
I stare, my eyes watching her mouth chew, her throat bobbing as she swallows, and listening to her cute little moans as the taste explodes on her tongue. Fuck me.
“Being jealous of a piece of bread wasn’t on my BINGO card for life, but if you keep moaning while eating, I might have to throw hands with that sandwich,” I joke, but my eyes have yet to move from her mouth.
“If you fight the sandwich, you fight me,” she deadpans, but her eyes drop to my mouth before snapping back up to my eyes.
“Oh? Already choosing a sandwich over me?”
“Do you blame me? Besides, if you wanted my mouth, all you had to do was ask,” Stella says before wiping her mouth with a napkin, then leaning across the blanket to kiss me. It’s soft and innocent, but my cock doesn’t seem to care, waking up instantly.
I need a cold shower or something before I fuck her against a tree, right here out in the open. The thought of doing so only makes me even harder, but thankfully she pulls back.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she says as she takes a drink of water before leaning back on her hands, pushing her tits out and giving me the best view.
“Like what?”
“Like you want to eat me?”
“Maybe I do.” I smirk before standing up and offering her my hand. Surprisingly she takes it without question.
“What’re we doing?” she asks hesitantly as I walk toward the water, pulling my t-shirt off at the same time before dropping my jeans, her eyes widening in surprise as I leave just my briefs on.
“I’m taking a swim,” I say casually.
“But I don’t have a swimsuit.”
“Neither do I,” I tell her with a shrug.
She eyes me and the water for a minute before looking down at her outfit, only pausing for a moment before sliding down her shorts and taking her top off, leaving her in just a bra and panties, a sight that has me wondering if we’re going for a swim or back to the rental truck for me to fuck her. Without another thought though, she bolts toward the lake before running in, beating me to it.
“Well, are you coming or not?” She smirks as she wipes the water out of her eyes. Walking in toward her, I dive under at the last second and splash her.
We jump around for a while, splashing each other and laughing, enjoying the warm summer day at the lake, the perfect way not to stress about the realities of life. We’ll be heading back to the house shortly to go show her around and then have dinner with my family, but I’m thankful.
“If I lived on this lake, I don’t think I would ever move,” Stella says as she clings on to me, legs wrapped around my waist and her arms wrapped around my neck. “I think I would end up staying in the water until my skin pruned up, only to go to sleep and wake up to do it all over again.”
Chuckling as I kiss her cheek, I close my eyes as we float in the water. “That’s pretty much what I end up doing the entire week I’m here in the offseason. My mom usually has to come drive out here to yell at me that it’s time for dinner. I either swim all day or take a nap on a blanket on the shore.”
“That sounds like a dream,” she mumbles as she snuggles into my hold.
We float there for a while, until all of a sudden, little, tiny, water droplets start splashing on my head, slowly at first, but then picking up speed rapidly. Opening my eyes, I immediately see the gray clouds that weren’t there when I closed them, the rain pouring down on us.
The sound of her laughter is what I hear first, before the sudden crack of thunder has us moving out of the lake. With her body wrapped around mine, I get us onto the shore where we grab our things, throwing them in the picnic basket, and we take off laughing toward shelter.
Running through the sudden rainstorm, her tiny hand swallowed in mine, we make our way to the truck, and I can’t help but wonder if this is what life is all about. Or what it’s supposed to be all about. I’ve always thought life had to be perfect to be enjoyable…to be worth it…but what if that’s not it at all.
What if what we are searching for is the person we can weather the storm with. The person who makes every storm seem beautiful, every trial seem worth it, and every rainbow so magical it leaves you ready and willing to go through the next storm to experience it again.
As I stand in the pouring rain facing Stella, she looks so beautiful, her golden hair damp, clinging to her face as raindrops trace delicate trails down her skin. Neither of us makes a move to get into the truck, and I can’t help but wonder if she might be having the same thoughts. That maybe, just maybe, we might both want to weather the storm of life…together.
Leaning down, I press my lips against hers, taking a step closer until her back rests against the truck. Tilting her head back, I deepen the kiss, her arms wrapping around my neck as she falls into me, every part of her surrendering to me.
We stand there, in a random summer rainstorm, kissing each other with reckless abandon, and I know then that this kiss isn’t just a kiss—it’s everything we’ve never said. I know the second we’re back in New York, it’ll be time for some tough conversation. Because I no longer like Stella.
No, I love this woman.