26. Ash
Even though I wanted nothing more than to stay with her in our new bubble of bliss, it wasn't very captainly of me to be late on a game day, but I might've been swayed if Liv hadn't needed to go into work early as well. She’d planned on coming to the game, but about an hour before puck drop, I got a message from her.
Olivia
Hi! I’m sorry I can’t make it to the game. There was an incident with the penetrometer, and I’ve got to stay late to figure it out. Good luck!
Even without my biggest fan present, winning the game still felt like the best aphrodisiac I'd ever experienced. At leastuntil I came home to find Olivia sprawled across my couch, glasses low on her nose with the TV still on ESPN and a book in her hands.
All the raging hormones spinning through my blood after the winning high ramped up even higher. “Well, this is new. I think I could get used to it.”
A massive yawn kept her from responding for a moment. “Hi. Polly let me in before she left. I thought I’d keep you company, but I guess I fell asleep. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Barnes, you could live on my couch if you wanted, but I think you’d find the bed more comfortable.”
The faintest hint of a blush stained her cheeks, and I wanted nothing more than to deepen it to scarlet.
“Probably. Good game, though.” Olivia closed the book and glanced over the glasses she only wore when her eyes were tired.
By now, I shouldn’t be shocked, or maybe I should—I didn’t know. But she’d been unable to attend and still watched me play. Something inside me imploded, and if I thought I wanted her before, it had nothing on how I felt now. “You watched me—I mean—the game?”
“What was left when I got here. I’m a big hockey fan now, didn’t you know?” When she pushed down the blanket to reveal—holy shit—the jersey I gave her, well, I was only a man, so I was almost instantly hard for her.
“This might be the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes, “the glasses and hair really make it.” Her hair twisted on top of her head in a floppy bun instead of its usual ponytail.
“You, Barnes. You’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t care less about your hair. I do love the glasses though.”
“So—so are you.” Her voice was small as she glanced down, almost like she was afraid to say it.
“Say it again, Barnes. At least look at me when you’re flirting.” There was no reasonable explanation for why I needed to hear it again, but I did.
The familiar questioning curve of her brow creased, but she met my gaze steadily. “You know what you look like. But.” A puff of breath stirred the hair around her face. “It’s… more than your looks for me.”
Holding my breath, I waited for her to continue. It seemed she had more to say but was choosing her words carefully.
“I think I—Ash, I think I—” The end of the sentence suffocated with its weight, and though she didn’t say the words, they might as well have exploded in neon lettering between us.
Olivia’s eyes darted around as if she was afraid to look at me, her body visibly tensing.
“And it scares me,” she let out in a final rush.
Dropping before her, I took her hands. She always had such an effect on me, this ability to bring me to my knees. “Don’t be scared. It’s new for me, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Me too. I mean, I feel the same.” Now I understood why she struggled to meet my eyes and let the words trail off. It flayed every nerve and somehow soothed them at the same time, ripping myself apart to show her the deepest hidden spaces I’d never examined with anyone else.
Olivia’s forehead rested against mine for a moment as her fingers slid through my hair to rest lightly against my nape. Until I couldn’t stand it any longer and crushed her to me, easing her backward and covering her mouth with mine, engulfing her body with mine.
Tension built along my spine, a far-off thunderstorm rumbling, growing deeper as it ate up the distance until electricity sparked in the air.
Each brush of her mouth, the slide of her tongue against mine detonated something in me until all that remained were the words still hanging in the air between us. I needed to show her how much I meant those words, even if we didn’t speak them.
Trailing my mouth from the soft skin of her jaw, I drank in her familiar scent.
A sound left her lips as she slid her hands lower, from my hair down to my shoulders over the lapels, where her fingers dug in.
The rumpled fabric was oddly fascinating, her grip so tight the black material strained with her touch.
My heart strained, hoping her ardor matched mine in the moment. I wasn’t sure I had better words to articulate how much her support meant to me, what it meant when she waited for me. What she meant.
Her name came out as a prayer as I hauled her close again. Olivia’s body went soft beneath mine as she wrapped her legs around my waist.
Then her fingers were tugging the jacket off my shoulders, then ripping open shirt buttons, then sliding over bare skin. All restraint left me in an instant; a groan slipped out at her touch.
The pants she stole from me were so large they came off with a sharp tug, revealing silky black underwear. Olivia moved to remove the jersey, but I grasped her wrists to stop her. “Leave it on. I like seeing my name on you.”
Olivia’s sky-colored eyes went round then soft then mischievous. “Isn’t your name on the back?”
“Yep.” I walked into that one.
“So, you can’t see?—”
“Not yet. But I will.”
“Oh, yeah? How so?”
“You’ll see. But first,” I nuzzled her neck again, sliding my hands over the smooth skin of her newly bared thighs.
“First, I’m going to show you how much I—” it was too soon to say it, the word that weighed too much in my mouth but tasted like wine.
“—appreciate you. I don’t think you realize how much it means that you watched my game. ”
Her nose wrinkled. “But I couldn’t be there, it’s not the same.”
“I know, and I know every game won’t be possible. But even though it wasn’t this time, you were supportive in another way. And that’s… important… to me.” There was no way to explain it other than to show her.