“No, no. Don’t do that. We can canoodle. I’m a great canoodler.”
“Lightcanoodling,” she emphasized. “No grabassery.”
I put my hands up. “This angel? Grabassing?”
“I’m sure you’re no saint under there,” she deadpanned.
“How dare you speculate about what lies under my robes, Miss Gennari. That’s not very canoodle-like of you.” I put my cider bottle on the washer next to her and extended my arms to help her down.
Violet’s giggle was tentative when she gripped my biceps.I loved how her eyes crinkled when I lifted her off the washer. “You remembered my last name. It’s not an easy one.”
I laced my fingers with hers and grabbed our ciders with my other hand. “It’s a name worth remembering.”
Violet wasan absolute monster at beer pong. Like, scrubbed the floor with guys who played six days a week.
She was also an excellent canoodler. As the evening went on, we got closer and closer. It started with a casual hand on her outer hip. On the first shot she sank, I pecked her shoulder. “Nice shot, babe.”
She shrugged coyly. “Beginner’s luck, I guess.”
Violet held my gaze for an extra second, but she looked up just in time to swat away an incoming ball.
Girl could be a damn goalie with those kinds of reflexes. She wasn’t even looking.
It was my turn to shoot, and in my overwhelmed state, I missed.
“Aw, that’s okay, babe,” she said with a pat to my shoulder. “You’ll get it next time.”
We were so dominant as a team that we never left the table. Violet’s cider was only about a third gone. The friend Violet came with said goodbye before she left for the night, and I was shocked Violet didn’t go with her.
“You’re staying?” I asked.
“I can’t leave while we’re winning,” she scoffed, like I was a simpleton for asking such a thing.
I really liked this girl. I liked her cuddles, her insane beer pong cannon of an arm, and this competitive edge that I never would have seen coming. She was back to what I assumed washer true self, the girl I’d seen behind the glass at my game. At ease, quick-witted, tenacious.
By the end of our fourth game, I had Violet fully caged into the table. While we waited for the other team to shoot, I wrapped my arms around her waist. She stiffened so quickly that I jolted away from her. She softened and leaned back against my chest to whisper in my ear. “Sorry. That felt nice. It just surprised me, I guess.”
I hovered my lips by her ear. “You’re the boss. You call the shots.”
With a sweet smile, she grabbed my wrists, wrapped my arms around her stomach, and nestled into me. She rested her arms on top of mine, and let out a sweet hum when I hooked my chin over her shoulder. She held the ping pong ball to shoot and twisted to meet my gaze. Her eyes flitted between mine and my mouth. Holy shit, was she going to kiss me?
Without letting her eyes leave my face, she sank an effortless laser of a shot. Cheers erupted around the room, but I was still stuck in her magnetic stare with a breath caught in my chest. I parted my lips and wet them with the tip of my tongue.
I wanted to fall in love so badly, to find the person who would stick with me as I moved into the NHL the next fall. This had to be what it felt like. The eruption of butterflies in my stomach, the drowsy smirk on her face, her sweet scent, the way her body fit so perfectly against me—could Violet feel it too?Nowwas she going to kiss me?
Right in the middle of my distraction, a ball landed in our third cup.
“Get your head in the game, Jones,” Violet drawled, fishing the ball out of the cup and handing it to me to drink.
The party started to peter out shortly thereafter. Our goalie, Pete Doyle, had already taken off after his girlfriend started some fight with him. This was standardoperating procedure, so I didn’t think much of it. Guy was presumably still with Kitty. Mikey and the “nurse” had disappeared. No one else waited to face us in beer pong.
Our opposition only had one cup remaining on the table, and Violet made quick business of ending that. When the signature plastic thunk-splash sounded for the last time, Violet jumped up into my arms to celebrate.
And I didn’t let her go. Her nose almost touched mine, her hands framing my face. “We did it!”
I was embarrassingly breathless, high on our victory and my personal victory: having her in my arms. Time slowed, and everything around us faded. Bright eyes, full lips, so close to her. I dropped my voice so only she could hear. “Kiss to celebrate?”
Violet’s grin widened with her gentle nod.
