“I told you—we’re not talking about this.”
“Ugh, fine.” Cerys took a sip of her orange juice. “Well, you didn’t miss anything last night. And I won’t tell anyone about your night of debauchery.”
“Thank you.”
Behind Cerys, Erin walked into the room. She didn’t have too much of a limp, but she favoured her left leg as she made a beeline for a mug of tea. Lia was already on her second coffee. Running on three hours’ sleep when she had a full day of training ahead wasn’t her smartest idea, but Lia wouldn’t take it back.
How could she, now that she knew the taste of Erin’s mouth? The feeling of her skin? The arch of her hips as she came?
Tea secured, Erin turned—and caught Lia’s gaze. Everything around Lia melted away. Cerys was saying something, but Lia couldn’t hear a word, lost in the sea of Erin’s eyes, memories of the previous night flooding her brain.
Erin’s tongue slid along her bottom lip. Beneath the table, Lia clenched her thighs to fight the throb of desire that shot through her, thinking of the sinful things Erin could do with her mouth.
“Oi.” Cerys clicked her fingers in front of Lia’s face. “Are you listening to a word I’m saying? What’s got you so distracted?” Cerys glanced over her shoulder, following the path of Lia’s gaze to Erin.
At the attention, Erin tensed, her eyes narrowing into thin slits, so at odds with the tender way she’d touched Lia a few hours ago.
“You’re staring at Finch?”
“Just seeing how she is.” That was a reasonable thing to say, wasn’t it? “It was my pass that hurt her yesterday.”
“That was an accident. Though the way she’s looking at you, she might blame you.” Cerys leaned forward to give Lia’s hand a sympathetic pat. “But don’t worry about that. I’m sure Finch will forgive you soon enough.”
A shadow fell over their table, and Lia swallowed when she glanced up and met Erin’s gaze. From the look on her face, she’d heard the mention of her name. And she did not look happy about it.
Surely, she wouldn’t think so little of Lia that she assumed she was gossiping with Cerys about the night they’d spent together?
“Can I talk to you?” Erin ignored Cerys, entirely focused on Lia. Somewhere along the way, she’d lost her mug, and Lia found herself wishing Erin had at least finished it before marching over. Maybe with caffeine in her system, she wouldn’t look so murderous.
Knowing she hadn’t done anything wrong, Lia met her gaze. “Sure.”
“I’ll go.” Cerys looked between them, no doubt sensing the tension. “You can have my seat, Erin.”
“No need. We’ll go outside.” She strode off without waiting for Lia’s reply.
“Maybe she won’t be so quick to forgive you after all.” Cerys grimaced as Lia clambered slowly to her feet. “Yell if you need me?”
“I’ll be fine.”
But as she followed Erin’s rapidly retreating back, noting the rigid way she held her shoulders, Lia wasn’t so sure.
* * *
Though the thought may be irrational, Erin felt like Cerys’s eyes followed her out the restaurant door. Irritation pulsed through her, her hands shaking as she came to a stop in the hallway beside the hotel’s spa.
Hopefully, none of their teammates wanted an early-morning massage; this was not a conversation Erin wanted anyone to overhear.
When Lia’s footsteps sounded at her back, Erin rounded on her. “Did you tell her?” She all but spat the words but couldn’t do anything else—not thinking of the way Cerys had turned in her seat and caught her staring at Lia across the room, lost, for a brief moment, in the memory of Lia’s thighs rocking against her lips.
Disgust washed across Lia’s face. Her arms were folded across her chest and her jaw clenched so tightly, that a muscle in her cheek twitched. “Are you fucking kidding me? You really think that I couldn’t wait to skip back to the rest of the team and gossip about last night? Are you serious, Erin?”
“I…” In the face of Lia’s anger, Erin’s own irritation faded. She had jumped rather quickly to that conclusion, hadn’t she? But no—she had her reasons! “What else was I supposed to think? Why else was she staring at me? And you were talking about me when I came over.”
Lia rubbed her hands over her face. “She was looking at you because I was. Because I was momentarily distracted when you walked in. I said it was because I was curious how your injury was, which is why you heard your name—as if I would tell her it was because I was thinking about being in your bed. Give me some credit, Erin.”
“We can’t afford to be distracted.”
Disappointment stared back at her as if Lia couldn’t believe that was the thing Erin had taken from what she’d said. “Like you weren’t looking at me and thinking the exact same thing?”
