Fake Skating(88)
Not even slowing.
“I mean,” I managed, even though I didn’t make a move to untangle myself from him, “we don’t want the mojo to swing too far the other way.”
“Collins,” he murmured against my skin before lifting his head to smirk down at me with sleepy-sexy eyes. “Will you stop talking if I kiss you?”
“Only one way to find out,” I said, feeling daring all of a sudden.
“Hell, yes, there’s my girl,” he murmured as his smirk disappeared into something hotter and his lips slid over mine and then he was kissing me, kissing me like he appreciated my boldness, like he was fucking enthralledby it, like he wanted to devour every bite of it.
Oh my God, he kisses like he plays hockey.
His mouth was hot and wild as he released my waist and pressed his palms against the lockers on each side of me, caging my body between his and the lockers, leaning into me in a way that made me dizzy.
I gripped his hair, chased his kiss, but then a noise outside the locker room reminded me.
“Also, someone has to be coming soon to lock up the locker room,” I said, knowing it was true but unable to move.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he said against my mouth, and then he pulled back. His dark eyes and dirty grin didn’t help with the dizziness, especially when he leaned down and dropped the sweetest kiss on my neck—where it’d all begun—before straightening.
“Um, okay,” I mumbled, tucking my hair behind my ears and feeling out of it—is this what drunk feels like—as I looked at a spot on the lockers.
“Okay,” he said, sounding amused. “Give me five minutes to throw on a shirt and I’ll be out.”
“Perfect,” I said calmly, somehow managing to exit the locker room on legs that were weak and wobbly.
I didn’t see another person as I paced in the cold arena, waiting for him, and when he came out, Alec gave me a smile and grabbed my hand.
What the hell are we doing? I thought as I linked my fingers between his.
And yet all I wanted was for him to hold my hand.
* * *
The team dinner was at Alec’s house that night. The second I walked in, it felt like coming home, especially seeing Sarah and John in the kitchen with my mom there beside them.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” I said to her as I dropped my coat on the bench.
“Sarah asked me to help and it sounded like fun,” she said with a smile.
“Except you forgot to bake a cake,” Connor’s dad said. Connor was the freshman goalie who never played but seemed very nice.
“Is it someone’s birthday?” I asked.
“No, but your mom used to bake all the time in high school. Her German chocolate cake was always the best.”
“You baked cakes for people in high school?” I asked, shocked. As far as I knew, my mom didn’t bake.
Like, at all.
But now I was picturing high school Hannah with a cake-baking business, like a lemonade stand but with German chocolate cakes.
That couldn’t be right, could it?
It seemed far-fetched, but so had a freaking Fricklinhauger Fellowship.
“Sometimes,” she said with a shrug, and something in her smile told me it’d mattered to her.
“I’m starving,” Alec said, and I felt his big hand on my arm. “We should eat.”
“Dani!” Cassie yelled from where everyone was eating in the living room. “Get in here!”
And then Richie yelled, “Yeah, Collins, get your ass in here and bring your oversized man with you!”
Mom’s face was full of happiness as she laughed, and part of me wondered if this was where she’d always belonged.
In her hometown, in her best friend’s kitchen.
Maybe baking.
Guilt suddenly hit me hard, because what would she have become if she hadn’t gotten pregnant with me? Apparently she had a genius IQ, in addition to culinary talent, yet she’d spent eighteen years being an Air Force wife.
Because of me.
God, how could I even consider ruining her brand-new happiness by leaving?
“I need food,” Alec said, giving me a playful nudge. “Can we pleasego eat, Collins?”
“Fine,” I said, and I let Alec lead me out of the kitchen and into the other room.
And thankfully, the team dinner shook me out of that depressing headspace, as I realized that I didfeel comfortable on my own with those people. In this town, sitting next to Alec, and stressing about a hockey game I desperately wanted my team to win.
It felt like it was real, and I realized I kind of wanted it to be.
“Okay, listen up!” Coach Osman climbed on top of the kitchen table, and I offhandedly wondered if he’d asked Sarah or John for permission first. “I don’t need to remind you what tomorrow is or what it means.”
He started talking, and the house was dead quiet as every eye and ear in the place was on him. Including mine. “Southview has wanted the championship for longer than I’ve been alive,” he said. “Yet we’ve come up short every time. But not this year. This is our fucking year, boys. We’ve put in the work and done the time, and you arethe personnel to make it happen. So let’s finish our business, okay? Let’s show up tomorrow, punch our ticket to the X, and get this history-making started.”