Chapter Thirteen Harrison #3
Another reporter jumps in with a question about faceoff percentage, and I answer it at lightning speed. Another asks about special teams. I give them the shortest, cleanest responses of my career. More than one person looks at me like I must’ve been hit in the head during OT.
Finally, Coach steps in. “Alright, that’s all for tonight.”
Bless him.
Chairs scrape, reporters pack up, and Blakely gives me a weirdly perceptive look like she knows something is up. I don’t care. I grab my phone, stand, and check the message.
Harper
Already here.
My stomach drops and lifts at the same time.
Fuck me, she came.
She’s waiting.
I’m halfway out the door before I remember to play it cool in front of the cameras. But inside?
I’m an excited kid on Christmas morning.
And the only thing I’m thinking is her name.
When I step out into the hallway afterward, still riding the high of that OT goal, everything stops.
Harper is there.
Standing in the middle of the corridor like she was carved straight out of a memory. Her hair a little mussed from cheering, cheeks flushed from excitement, eyes bright and full and locked on me.
God, she’s fucking stunning.
Connor is beside her, still vibrating with leftover adrenaline.
Antoni is standing a respectable distance away.
He spies me first and smirks like he knows something is about to happen.
I guess I never was very good at keeping a poker face because the second Harper looks up at me I’m gone.
I don’t even fucking think. I just move.
I stride forward, reach for her waist, pull her in, and kiss her.
Hard.
Fast.
Exactly like I used to.
Exactly like I’ve wanted to since the second she walked back into my life.
She tenses at first, her hands gripping my jersey immediately, but then she melts into me like muscle memory. The world narrows to the warm press of her lips and the faint taste of beer and her lip balm and the small, stunned whimper she makes before kissing me back even harder.
It’s perfect.
It’s reckless.
It’s possibly the best thing I’ve done in ten seasons.
I kiss her deeper. Harder. Like I’m trying to devour the decade we lost. Like I’m trying to brand myself onto her memory so thoroughly she’ll never forget this moment.
She arches into me with a soft gasp that vibrates against my mouth, and I thrust my tongue between her lips.
Every nerve ending in my body ignites at once.
My hands tighten at her waist, pulling her closer until there’s nothing between us but the thin barrier of my sweat-damp jersey.
The pressure of her body against mine sends heat coursing through me, my cock hardening instantly under my uniform.
I’m finally kissing her, finally tasting her again after all these years, and the way she’s kissing me back—hungry and desperate—is setting my goddamn soul on fire.
“OH MY GOSH HE’S KISSING MY MOM!” Connor’s voice cracks like he’s witnessing a UFO land. We break apart just in time to see him pointing at us with both hands like an air-traffic controller trying to direct a 747.
Antoni’s doubled over laughing and tries to cover Connor’s eyes, but he pulls away.
Harper is mortified, her fingertips still clutching my jersey like she can’t quite let go. “Oh…shit,” she whispers, bringing her fingers to her freshly kissed lips.
Connor gasps dramatically. “MOM. He kissed you. He just…he kissed you!”
I rub the back of my neck, trying not to look too proud, or too ready to do it again even though fuck yeah, I want to do it again.
“Uh. Yeah. I did.”
Harper groans. “Harrison…”
Connor looks between us, eyebrows inching up his forehead, a silly but shocked smile growing across his face. “You just kissed my mom!”
I glance at Harper. She stares back at me.
“Are you guys…is this…” His little face rotates between me and his mother. And for the first time in a long time, the response feels simple. Natural. Right.
“Is that okay, Connor?” I ask gently, crouching down to his level. “Is it okay that I kissed your mom?”
“Do you…do you like her? Like boyfriend and girlfriend stuff?” His eyes grow wide. “Like those pictures Mom has?”
I glance up at Harper whose eyes soften as she watches me with her son.
Our son.
“Yeah, bud. I do like her. I like her a lot. I’m sorry I guess I couldn’t help myself and I kind of got swept away in the excitement of our win so I kissed her without asking you first.”
Connor’s entire face lights up. “NO WAY! YOU LIKE MY MOM!” He brings a hand to his forehead. “THIS IS THE COOLEST DAY OF MY LIFE.”
Harper hides her face in her hands and I try not to laugh.
I try and fail.
I wink at Connor and give him a high five. “Well alright then.” I stand up and address all three of them, my hand sliding across Harper’s back, still feeling the high of the goal, the win, the kiss, all of it. “How about I get cleaned up and we get some ice cream. My treat.”
“Can we Mom?” Connor asks with hopeful excitement.
“Yeah, I think that would be okay.” When Harper finally looks at me again, cheeks still flushed, lips still kiss-swollen…I know without a shadow of a doubt.
Yeah.
The night couldn’t get any better than this right here.