"Mara? Are you in here? Someone said they saw you come this way."
Astoria's voice. Clear and carrying and exactly six feet from discovering exactly what was going on.
Lex moved on pure instinct. She dropped behind the far row of lockers, crouching low, her heart slamming so hard she was certain it was audible. She heard Mara straighten, heard the rustle of clothing being adjusted, heard the zip of pants being pulled up, and then Mara's voice, steady and professional and betraying absolutely nothing.
"In here. I was checking the visitor facilities for our home setup notes."
Astoria stepped further into the room. Lex could hear her heels clicking on the concrete floor. "Why are the lights off?"
"I just walked in. Haven't found the switch yet."
A click. The overhead fluorescents snapped on, bathing the room in harsh white light. Lex pressed herself lower behind the locker bank, her pulse pounding in her ears. One step to the left and Astoria would see her crouching with her face flushed and the taste of Mara still on her lips.
"Great win tonight," Astoria said. Her voice was warm with the bright enthusiasm of a billionaire whose investment was paying off. "The team looked incredible. Lex's chemistry with Camille is electric. The way they combined on that second goal, the timing, the vision, it's exactly what I hoped for when I signed her."
"She's learning the system," Mara said. Her voice was the epitome of professional composure. Lex, crouching behind a locker bank with her heart about to explode, marveled at the performance. "Her hockey IQ has developed faster than I anticipated. She's a genuine talent."
"I told you she would be. Now, we need to talk about the playoff push. The win tonight puts us in a strong position. Let's debrief in the morning over breakfast?"
"Of course. I'll have the game analysis ready." Mara's voice didn't waver. Not once. Lex pressed her fist against her own mouth to keep silent.
"Wonderful. Get some rest. You've earned it." Astoria's heels clicked toward the door. "And Mara? Smile. You just won a big game."
The door closed. Footsteps receded down the corridor. Silence.
Lex exhaled. She stood up from behind the lockers on legs that were shaking from adrenaline and suppressed laughter and the residual electricity of the past fifteen minutes. Mara was standing at the far end of the room with her back against the wall and her hand pressed to her chest and an expression that was equal parts horror and hilarity.
Their eyes met across the empty locker room.
Lex started laughing. The absurdity was too much. The absurdity of it: crouching behind a locker bank while the billionaire owner of the team discussed playoff chemistry three feet from where Lex had just taken Mara’s orgasm in her mouth. The laughter was hysterical and infectious and Mara tried to hold it together for about two seconds before she broke, pressing her hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking, her blue eyes streaming with tears of relief and adrenaline and the dizzy, giddy terror of almost getting caught.
"Oh my God," Mara whispered. Her hand was still pressed against her chest, her breath coming fast. "She was right there."
"'Lex's chemistry with Camille is electric,'" Lex quoted, grinning. "If she only knew."
Mara shook her head, still laughing, still trembling. "I need a minute. I need several minutes."
"Take all the time you need." Lex walked over and pulled Mara into her arms and held her against the lockers, and they stood there laughing and shaking and holding each other in the harsh fluorescent light of an empty equipment room in Boston.
"I cannot believe," Mara said, pulling back just enough to look at Lex's face, "that I just had sex in an equipment room. I am a forty-eight-year-old head coach. I have a master's degree."
"And you were magnificent."
"I was reckless and irresponsible and I sounded like a teenager."
"You sounded like a woman who just won a hockey game and celebrated accordingly." Lex grinned. "Very accordingly."
Mara pressed her forehead against Lex's collarbone. "If Astoria had walked in thirty seconds earlier."
"She didn't."
"She could have."
"But she didn't. And instead she complimented your coaching and left. And you stood there with a straight face and said 'her hockey IQ has developed faster than I anticipated' while I was crouching behind a locker bank trying not to die." Lex was grinning so hard her face ached. "That was the greatest performance of your career. Forget the coaching. You should be in movies."
"I hate you," Mara said against Lex's chest, but she was laughing again, and the sound of it filled the room.
Lex pressed her face against Mara's hair and felt the laughter settle into tenderness. She tightened her arms around the woman she was holding and listened to Mara's heartbeat and felt, with a certainty that was no longer terrifying but simply true, that she was falling in love. Not the fast, hot, disposable kind of falling she'd done before. The real kind. The kind that changes you. The kind you don't come back from.
