Chapter 6
SIX
Most nights, when I came to Doris’, I kept to myself.
Never brought another person. Never made niceties with anyone but the servers and the owner. It was my perfect little paradise, leaving my name at the door and hiding away for a couple of hours.
But sitting across from Kinsley, a peace washed over me, even more than the one I usually felt sitting here.
She beamed as Doris brought over her stack of pancakes, piled high with every type of fruit and more whipped cream than anyone should ever consume.
By comparison, my omelet and home fries looked pretty pathetic.
When Doris placed the plate in front of her, Kinsley dug in, smiling broader than she’d done the entire night.
Her first bite made her moan—the sound so sensuous, I had to shift in my seat.
Fucking hell. My eyes kept tracking the movement of her lips, especially when a small dash of whipped cream lingered on the edge.
Without thinking, I reached toward her. She flinched at first, but when I pulled back, she leaned in, granting me permission to touch her, and damn, that was intoxicating.
That this woman—the one who seemed so guarded and on edge—allowed me to touch her seemed like a gift I didn’t deserve.
My thumb ghosted over the corner of her plush lower lip, taking away the smudge of cream.
When I pulled back, I popped the tip of my thumb into my mouth, sucking the sweetness away.
Kinsley’s eyes widened at the gesture, and it only made my dick harden more.
Her expression was so fucking sexy—seeing her drop her indifferent act long enough to show I affected her too.
“Delicious.” I smirked.
Kinsley narrowed her eyes. “Don’t get used to it. That’s the only taste you’re going to get.”
I grabbed my fork and dove into my plate. We ate in silence for a couple of minutes before Kinsley dropped her fork and stared at me. “Okay, I don’t get what we’re doing here. At least, what you’re doing here with me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…” She crossed her arms, leaning against the back of the booth. “We both know you didn’t come to the club tonight to watch me eat pancakes. So what is this, Jace? I already told you—”
I reached out, covering her hand with my own. Her skin was soft, far too soft for my calluses to glide against it, but there was something here. A spark. Something that intrigued me enough to want to stick around. I wanted to see that sparkle in her deep brown eyes as they met mine.
“Do you question everyone’s intentions?”
“Always,” Kinsley said back, the word instantaneous, but it lacked that defensive bite, instead almost coming across as sadness. This woman was a mystery, and each moment I spent around her only made me want to dig in deeper.
I cleared my throat. “When I first got drafted, my dad warned me to be careful about who I let get close. That, with a lot of teams, I was just a stack of numbers, only as valuable as my stats on the field. Beyond that, when people find out you make a good living and have some fame attached to it, you can never tell who’s there for the right reasons. ”
“Sounds like a real joy.”
“You have no idea.” I smirked back. “He loves to pull up his old tapes and show me how I’m failing compared to him. Tells me I’m letting down his legacy.”
“What an asshole.” Kinsley’s jaw tightened, and her hand clenched underneath mine. But as she lifted her gaze, her eyes widened when she realized what had slipped out. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that about your dad.”
“Nothing I haven’t said a million times.”
Clearing my throat, I took in the woman across from me.
Kinsley’s gaze was fixed on her plate, lost in thought.
Soft freckles lined the bridge of her nose onto the apples of her cheeks.
They were pale enough that they weren’t visible in the dimmed lights of the club, yet now, they consumed me.
Did they cover the rest of her body? Could I trace them along the lines of her curves, committing the pattern to memory?
Fuck. Get your shit together, Jace. The girl was sitting here as a friend, not another jersey chaser from the club. Yet, once the idea entered my mind, nothing else seemed to matter, especially when she brushed her free thumb along her lower lip, leaving a flush of color in its wake.
“I have an idea,” I said. “Tonight, how about we leave all that shit at the door? Forget about our problems and enjoy a few hours together. No pretending. No presumptions. Just Jace and Kinsley.” I reached out with my fork and stole a piece of food from her plate. “And the pancakes, of course.”
She lifted her head, staring at me for a long moment. Kinsley’s lips pursed, and a blush broke out along her neck. But right before I walked my words back, she smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
After we had our fill at the diner, Kinsley offered to drive me back to my car at the stadium.
Nope, didn’t want that. We’d only had two hours together, and it wasn’t enough.
Ideas crashed through my mind, of ways we could spend a little longer in this bubble we’d created.
Once she lowered her walls, Kinsley had shifted before my eyes, shaking free from that hardened exterior she clung to like a safety blanket.
She laughed more freely, smiled more easily, and with every stolen grin and snappy comeback, she buried herself further under my skin.
Doris bid us goodnight, and we walked through the front doors toward Kinsley’s car. Before she unlocked the doors, though, she paused and turned to me. “Can I show you something?”
“Anything.”
She gifted me another smile, one that took up the entire lower half of her face.
Without another word, we got into her car, and she drove us back out of town.
We traced familiar streets, Kinsley driving as if she’d taken the same path a million times before.
She flicked the blinker, leading us down a dirt road. “The lake?”
Erie City sat on the edge of one of the Great Lakes, which brought in a lot of tourists in the summer months.
It spread out to Canada and lined a lot of Western New York, but in this city, they’d built up the coast with McMansions, higher-end condos, and apartment complexes.
In fact, a lot of the guys on the team had invested in homes here, loving the view of the lake from their high-rise buildings.
A lot of private owners blocked access to the lake, though, which made me side-eye Kinsley a little more.
“Do you live over here?”
She snorted. “Not even close. Technically, I don’t live in Erie City at all. Not anymore, at least.”
Curiosity niggled at the back of my mind, wanting to know more about her. I wondered where she lived, what she did when she wasn’t at the bar, but before I asked, Kinsley pulled over to the side of the road, killed the engine, and hopped out. She called over her shoulder, “Are you coming or what?”
I leaped out, following her like a lost puppy. Kinsley ducked underneath bushes and climbed over a low wooden fence, turning to see if I was still there. I arched my brow at the sign on the wooden beam. “It says no trespassing, Kins.”
She rolled her eyes. “Live a little, hotshot. Besides, I highly doubt this is the first illegal thing you’ve done.”
Not going to argue with that logic. But my feet stayed planted. “Who owns this place?”
“Not sure,” Kinsley said. “But we used to come out here all the time growing up, and no one’s ever stopped me before.” She nodded over her shoulder. “Come on, Jace. You don’t want to miss this.”
I shook my head, ignoring the warning bells going off in my mind. Earlier today, the plan was simple—go to the bar, find someone to spend a couple of hours with, then head home and get ready for our next run of games this weekend. But from the moment Kinsley sliced my hand open, she’d ensnared me.
“I should have sent my location,” I grumbled as I trudged through the brush. “This seems like a great murder spot.”
“Ah, you’ve caught onto my evil plan,” Kinsley chuckled. “Get you to feed me and then get rid of you in the middle of the woods. Too bad Doris knows my face. Loose ends and all.”
“Don’t you bring Doris into this,” I chuckled as I caught up to her.
She stood at the edge of the lake in an area almost completely covered with trees.
There was just one place where they didn’t grow, giving us a perfect view of the approaching sunrise.
The sky was a swirl of dark purple, with the first rays of sunlight dancing along the horizon.
But I barely noticed when I shifted to Kinsley’s side, too transfixed by her to take in our surroundings. Her face seemed serene as her dark brown eyes took in the horizon, her lips parted as she let out a contented sigh. Where the hell had this woman come from?
I’d never believed in fate, never thought that our destinies were in anyone’s hands but our own, but as I stared at Kinsley, I couldn’t help but wonder if something had led me to her.
For the first time in my life, I was exactly where I was meant to be.
As I took in her wide, earnest smile, all I wanted was to earn more, to see her face at my games, because this stranger made all the pressure fade.
I wanted to know her—all of her, especially the parts she kept hidden.
But before I dove in too deep, Kinsley glanced over at me and chuckled. She reached out and pressed her fingers to my jaw, tilting my face toward the water.
The sun had just broken over the horizon, rays of orange and pink ushering away the night sky.
It lit up the entire world around us, washing everything in warm hues.
But as much as I wanted to see the view, I turned my head, watching Kinsley take in the sight in front of us.
She hummed as the birds chirped in the trees, and the waves crashed a few feet in front of us.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she whispered.
“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”