My starry-eyed reflection was soon interrupted.
“YEAH!” Mikey yelled. “WIENER!”
Scratch all those thoughts I had about them being grown up. They were still a bunch of jocks slapping each other with wet towels and doing helicopters in the locker room.
I stayed on the floor when the DJ played “Twist and Shout,” letting Colton hold my hands and twist me. I held back at first, afraid to cut loose with him. But like he always could, he got me out of my shell and had me screaming lyrics into his face in no time.
He hugged me close at the end of that song. The music was loud, but his voice was clear. “I missed you, Vi.”
My insides squeezed, my cheeks hurt from smiling, and everything felt so good and real and, for that fleeting moment, untouchable.
Like we never broke. Like the things that drew us together were still intact.
Because they were. For that night, we picked up where we left off, right before everything disintegrated.
The dance floor emptied slowly, couples pairing off and disappearing. A slow song came on. I could have made an excuse: go get another drink, go to the bathroom. But Colton stood in front of me, sweaty from whatever nonsense dance we’d just been doing, eyes unsure. He kept his hand close to his body, but flipped his palm up, the silent “may I have this dance?”
I couldn’t turn him down. I didn’t want to turn him down.
Because in my longest, loneliest nights, it was him I craved. His touch. His even breaths and warm, soft scent. The tiny kisses he’d dust wherever his lips landed.
Matching his nervous smile, I folded myself into his arms, my hands resting on his shoulder and his chest. Tentatively, Colt’s hand swallowed up my waist and the other carefully covered mine over his heart. He cocked his head back ever so slightly to check my reaction. My eyes flicked up to his, and my cheeks warmed as my smile broadened. I felt the soft puff of his chuckle against my ear as he pulled me closer. We were almost cheek to cheek, and a delicious melting sensation flooded every nerve ending in my body.
If that wasn’t enough, Colt added the cherry on top.
His lips pressed to my temple. The action stole my breath.
In the movie of my life, this would be a freeze frame.
I loved it, every fucking second of his lips on my skin. I wanted to fall into it. To believe. To pretend this was my future. To pretend the rest of my life could be full of moments like these. I let myself dream, to imagine the security of being in Colton’s arms as part of my every day. “This is nice.”
I looked up into his face, a half head taller than me in my wedding heels. “It is nice,” he agreed.
“Beautiful wedding,” I said, so softly I wasn’t sure he could hear me over the music.
His gaze swept over my face, a slight knit between his brows. “Yeah. Beautiful.”
Emotion thickened my throat. I wasn’t stupid. I’d seen enough Hallmark movies to know what was happening here. He was calling me beautiful. Like I never hurt him. Like he really did forgive and forget. But how? How could he forgive me, and how could I deserve this kind of affection from him?
I itched to change the subject. “When do you go back? Or I guess, where are you going next?”
Pro hockey players always have summers off and I knew Colt loved to travel. I wondered how many places he’d been since the last time I saw him.
“To my parents’. I think we’re going to the lake house. But no real schedule.” His eyes met mine. “You should come. Mom would love to see you. She still brings you up sometimes.”
Back in his presence for just over twenty-four hours and Colton was already inviting me back into his life. And I wanted that. I wanted it so badly I could taste it, sink my teeth into it.
But I was leading us down a dark path if I thought I could give Colton what he needed outside of this weekend. For one thing, my life in Boston was crammed to max capacity, and that doesn’t even include the potential drama layer that would come with being back together. My family surely hadn’t changed their stance on him. If I didn’t have anything else going on in my life, maybe I could say fuck it and do it anyway, consequences be damned. But now, I needed my family. I needed their support, disapproving as it was.
I cleared my throat, preparing to talk to the buttons on Colt’s shirt. “I’ll have to go back to the lab. Back to Boston.”
His lips pressed together and he looked somewhere behind me. “Next time, then.”
What next time would there be? Kitty had never been keen on having kids and men usually didn’t go to baby showers anyway. I probably wouldn’t be invited to Mikey’s wedding if he somehow locked down Jessie. What other mutual friends did we have?
But since the risk of having to make good on the promise was low, I agreed. “Next time.”
Colton didn’t say anything and my stomach tensed in the silence. I savored his body against mine, his broad shoulders and toned muscles that made him such a good defenseman. There was even a term for his hockey hits: “getting Jonesed.” I thought about how he used his brawn as protection for his team and, at one time, for me. Colt was my safe haven. He pulled me closer and stroked his hand down my hair. Just as I was about to lean my head on his pec, the song ended.
