Caulder laughs. “No. Well, ugh. Yeah, kind of, but no. I just mean… all of this. I’m not even sure how to put it into words.”
My hand trails up his spine and back down. He grins into my neck and pulls his arms out from under me. One tangles in my hair, the other grips my ass cheek. I laugh.
Caulder sighs. “I just meanthis.It’s comfortable. Safe. It’s a level of trust I’ve never shared with someone.”
“I know, me too.” I hook my legs around his waist, locking my ankles together. His fingers dig into my ass cheek.
Part of me wants to suggest we stay another night. As long as I get on a plane tomorrow, I’ll be back in plenty of time for my game on the eighth.
But those words don’t leave my mouth. I’m dangerously close to catching feelings for this man. If I were honest with myself, I’d say that they’re already taking root. For now, I’m going to be in the practice of lying to myself instead, and try to convince my head that this isn’t feelings. It’s just indulgence.
“Me too,” I say again, turning my face into the side of his.
“You think we can text sometimes?” Caulder asks and I swear there’s nervousness in his voice.
I nip at his jaw. “Definitely. Chat sometimes too. Our time zones aren’t that far apart, though the distance kind of sucks.”
It’s probably for the best, though. Unrequited love would suck. Though it’s not lost on me that if I were ever going to have a relationship where we’re both happy to stay secret and hidden, this isexactlythe circumstances it would work in. Probably the only situation where both parties involved are on the same page. The same damn word.
I shut that down quickly. I will not point this out. Nope. We can totally be friends.
“We must play each other at some point,” Caulder muses.
“Maybe. We just had a game right before the All-Star. I’m not sure we have another.”
He hums. I can hear the disappointment in it. Hopefully there’s at least one more. A reason for being in the same place. After being forced to share a room, it’s reasonable that we’ve become friends. Therefore, it’s completely understandable that we would grab dinner and hang out after a game. Right?
Covertly, of course.
“Maybe we can get together,” Caulder says.
I wiggle under him, rubbing my soft cock against his stomach and feeling his brush along my ass.
He laughs. “Keep trying, but I’m not getting hard again,” he admits.
“Yes,” I tell him. “Definitely, we’ll get together if we have a game.” I’m almost certain we don’t. We’ve had two already and fucking Arizona lost both.
When my phone alarm goes off, telling us there’s ten minutes to check out, I’m really fucking close to suggesting we extend this one more day. It would be a full day together. Lounging on the bed like this, fucking when our dicks have had a long enough break.
Caulder’s hands flex. One in my hair and one on my ass. His mouth covers mine and for a minute, we kiss and ignore the obnoxious sound that’s increasing in volume the longer I ignore it.
Eventually, he sighs and pulls his mouth from mine. I contemplate not releasing him and keeping my legs locked around his waist, but I’m more mature than that. Or something. So I let him go and watch as he sits back on his haunches.
“For the love of hockey, turn that off,” he groans, his face scrunching.
Laughing, I roll over and reach for my phone, hitting the button that turns off the alarm. Without conversation, we get off the bed and dress. It doesn’t take ten minutes. Not even when we run wet hands through our hair to make sure we don’t look like we’ve been making out.
Once more, in front of the door, we make out. I grin because for right this second, I don’t care if we leave this room with swollen lips and looking like we’ve been fucking. There’s a good chance I’ll regret that decision later, but I really need to prolong this moment as long as I can. I need to taste him. To memorize everything about him.
We pull apart and another plea to see him again is on the tip of my tongue. This time, it’s a suggestion for over the summer. Once hockey’s over. Maybe we can sneak away and disappear into the woods or something.
I don’t say it. Even as we stare into each other’s eyes, I imagine there’s something he wants to say, too. Part of me wishes he would. Anything at all. I have a feeling my answer will be yes, in favor of whatever he asks.
But he doesn’t. Caulder gives me a small, half smile.
The knock on the door makes us both jump. Caulder laughs as he turns and reaches for the handle. He pauses, looking back over his shoulder at me. “Text me later,” he murmurs. “Promise?”
My stomach flips. “Yes. Promise. Be safe.” I step forward, pressing against his back and kissing his lips again. It’s much shorter than I want, but it’s all we have time for.
