Chapter 13 #2
My mouth had suddenly gone dry, so I grabbed my water and took a quick sip.
After I put the glass down, I decided to go for broke, and I put my hand over his.
The warmth of his skin beneath my palm made my heart race.
The way his fingers twitched and the corners of his mouth rose—fuck, could we start our vacation right now?
I held on to my dignity, though, and I cleared my throat. “I’d love to. And there are a lot of places we could go.”
His lips quirked in a way that had no business being that cute. “Well, I sometimes go to Spain for a few weeks. One of my teammates has a house there. I rent a villa nearby and spend part of the summer there.”
I cocked a brow. “Don’t you have to stay in condition during the off season?”
Madars laughed, squeezing my arm. “I do. There’s a rink near where we stay. We always get ice time.”
“Oh. So I should bring my skates?”
“If you want to.” From slight lift of his eyebrows, he was hopeful that I would.
“I’ll pack my skates.”
“Perfect. And there’s plenty of other things to do. I’ve been there three times and I still haven’t seen everything.”
“Great. You can show me around. And maybe we can go check out the things you haven’t seen.”
His grin made my toes curl inside my shoes. “Assuming we ever leave the house, you mean.”
I shivered. In that moment, I didn’t give a damn if I ever saw the outside of the place we rented in Spain.
After one more glass of wine apiece, we paid the bill and wandered out into the night. Snow was falling gently, and the street was mostly empty aside from some parked cars. As much as we could ever be in a city this big, we were alone.
I was going to take out my phone and summon a cab, but Madars turned me gently to face him, and my breath hitched when he touched my face. “I don’t know what we’re doing. I don’t have a clue.” He ran his thumb along my cheekbone. “But… I like it.”
I swallowed. “Me too. I like it a lot.”
“Too bad we live so damn far apart.”
“I know. But it isn’t like one of us lives on the moon.” I smiled, and my heart rate kicked up as I added, “And I’ll see you this summer.”
The way his expression brightened made me want to swoon. “You will. We’ll have nothing but time.” He paused, and a mischievous grin took over. “Time and lube.”
I barked a laugh and rolled my eyes, and I was rewarded with a chuckle from him. “So, pack plenty of lube, is what you’re saying?”
He half-shrugged. “I mean, you can buy it there, too, but it wouldn’t hurt to bring some.”
“I’m glad we can buy it there. I don’t think I can fit a fifty-gallon drum in my luggage.”
The way he threw his head back and laughed lit up the whole night. It lit up my whole world.
How did I ever drift away from you?
Hell, maybe we’d needed to drift apart and then find each other again as adults. Maybe we’d needed the time and maturity before we got more involved than we’d been as teenagers.
Whatever the case, we’d found our way back to each other, and I’d never looked forward to a summer like I was looking forward to this one.
Madars glanced at his phone and sighed. “We should get back. It’s late.”
My shoulders dipped. “Yeah. We should. Do you, uh, want to get separate cabs? Or…?”
He pursed his lips. “I think we can ride back together. No one will think much of it, will they?”
“I can’t imagine they will.” I took out my phone. “I’ll get us one.”
Our cab was there in minutes, and shortly after, she dropped us off in front of his hotel. Madars insisted on walking me back to mine, and who was I to object to more time with him?
All too soon, though, we were there, and my God, the temptation was strong to invite him upstairs. Even if we couldn’t fuck, we could spend the whole night together. We’d never done that before, and I loved the idea.
But no, we’d want to fuck, and we’d be frustrated all to hell if we were in the same bed and couldn’t do anything. We needed sleep. We both had to be sharp tomorrow. We had to be professionals.
No matter how tempting it was.
I turned to him, ready to say goodbye for the night, but something in his eyes brought me up short.
As we stood alone in the falling snow, Madars looked around the deserted street, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
There was a hint of nerves in his expression, but also determination.
When he faced me again, the determination had won over most of the nerves, and I knew exactly what he wanted when he tugged me in closer.
The last time we’d stolen a kiss on the streets of Prague, it had been hungry and needy, hidden down a back alley. I’d seriously entertained dragging him off somewhere so we could fuck.
This time…
Oh, hell. His kiss was as soft and tender as the way he cradled my neck between his hands. The way he gently slipped his tongue past my lips and made sure I knew nothing except the way he was delicately tasting me—how I didn’t melt like the snowflakes on our shoulders, I had no idea.
Soft and sweet or not, it left my knees shaking as much as his harder, more demanding kisses always did.
Though this kiss was subdued and tender, there was still no shortage of desire and heat simmering beneath the surface.
No, there wouldn’t be any sex tonight, but this wouldn’t be the last time we touched.
And the next time we did touch, this man was going to fucking wreck me.
Yes? Please? As soon as possible?
When he broke the kiss, a ragged breath escaped my lips. I met his gaze, and I found all that desire and heat in those eyes.
“Last night in town.” He licked his lips. “I don’t give a damn if I can sit comfortably on the plane.”
A shudder nearly knocked me off my feet. “Jesus…”
He laughed, a thin cloud of vapor rising between our lips. “You like that idea?”
“Uh-huh. Very much so.”
He brushed his lips across mine again, then let me go. “Won’t be long. I’ll see you soon.”
“You will. Absolutely.” I touched his face just because I could. “Good luck tomorrow.”
Oh, that smile was perfect. The sweet boy from my youth. The sexy man who had me tongue-tied and trembling.
“Thank you,” he whispered, and he kissed me once more, as if to make sure I didn’t have any balance left for the rest of the night.
No, I had no clue what this was, where it was going, or where I wanted it to go.
All I knew was that I didn’t want it to stop.
The semifinal game between Latvia and Sweden was wild. People joked that you paid for the whole seat but only needed the edge, and they weren’t wrong—I spent most of this wild ride on the very edge of my seat.
It was intense and there was a lot on the line. Whoever lost this game would play Czechia for the bronze medal in the final while the winner went up against Team Canada for gold and silver.
Nobody on this ice wanted to play in that bronze game. They were fighting hard, and it was easy to see how both teams had made it into the semifinals. Latvia’s offense was slightly weaker than Sweden’s, and Sweden’s goaltending mostly made up for the cracks in their blue line.
It was a wild, intense game that had the crowd roaring and booing with every shift in the action.
When Sweden finally scored near the end of the first, the noise was deafening.
When Latvia answered thirty-three seconds later, the crowd went so wild, my ears rang for the remainder of the period.
I needed that intermission just to catch my damn breath.
And even if the game had been a grind, I’d still have spent the whole thing breathless because of number forty-one in carmine red and white.
It was just as well we hadn’t fucked last night. The orgasm I’d had in the shower while thinking about him had nearly made me black out. Madars probably would’ve killed me. And when we were in the same bed in a couple of nights, he still might kill me.
What a way to go, I thought as I watched him heading back to the bench for a line change.
I grinned to myself. It had been way too long since I’d been this ridiculous over someone, and I couldn’t get enough.
This wasn’t love, but I loved the way it felt.
I loved the way my head spun whenever I saw his face or even his number.
I loved how a smile from him on the Jumbotron could make the world tilt, and a smile directed at me from across a table in a restaurant could make my heart melt.
I loved how when he skated past me during a stoppage, he glanced my way and gave me a little wink.