“Yeah, I can’t even think about what could have happened if she had bumped into a fox or something worse.”
I take my phone out of the back pocket of my sweatpants. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. Wanna order a pizza? Or anything else you would like for dinner.”
“A pizza would be great. We’ve been dancing all day and I’m starving.”
“Do you have any preferences?” I open the app on my screen.
Taryn shrugs. “Not really. As long as it doesn’t have BBQ sauce on it or anchovies. I’m game for pretty much anything else.”
We settle on a supreme pizza and once that’s ordered, I lower myself onto the couch by Baety’s bed and pat the space next to me. “Come on, baby. Let’s choose a movie to watch.”
She sits close, our outer thighs touching. She’s warm and soft, and I barely resist the urge to wrap my arm around her shoulders.
“Hmm. Are you going to choose something with car chases and explosions?” She muses as I open my streaming app.
“Nope.” I smile. “I like action movies like the next guy, but I don’t mind rom-coms.”
Taryn’s eyes narrow skeptically. “Is that so?”
I grin as I give her the remote. “Check out my list and see if I’m lying to you.”
“Oh wow. I’m impressed, Tucker. You have a few action and disaster movies, but you also have a ton of rom-coms.”
My smile widens. “I grew up with two little sisters and two brothers. Family movie night was kept equal. And I’m not afraid to admit that sometimes I enjoyed the rom-coms more than the action movies. Actually, my favorite was when it was Mom’s turn to choose the movie. She always picked the best old movies. She still does.”
After a short debate, we decide to watchThe Cutting Edge.
We pause the movie when the pizza is delivered, and at the same time, I feed Baety some of the pellets I got from the vet.
The duckling goes straight back to sleep after eating and after letting Taryn pet her without biting.
“I think Baety likes you.” I smile, stretching my arms and resting them on the back of the couch, closer to her shoulders.
“I like her too.” I smile. “And I understand why you wanted to stay in tonight. At first, I wasn’t sure.”
I wonder what she means. “Why do you think I wanted to stay in? Oh.” It dawns on me as Taryn’s lips curl into a little smile. “You thought I planned to make a move on you?”
She looks straight at me. “The thought crossed my mind.”
I’d be lying if I said that it didn’t cross my mind too. “Can I be totally honest with you, Taryn?” Looking into the green depths of her eyes might be a mistake, because I’m sure how much I want her must be written all over my face.
“Please.” Her voice comes out lower, a little breathless as she leans slightly closer to me.
“I’ve been thinking about kissing you twenty-four seven. Since the second I saw you inside Joe’s and I bought you that drink. It’s been my first thought when I wake up in the morning and my last thought before falling asleep at night. I’ve been thinking about it when I’m in the crease and my only focus should be the puck. When I skate, when I hit the gym. When I eat, and in the shower. I can’t stop imagining how your lips would feel against mine, how you would taste. It makes me sohard that I fear I’ll pass out and I’ll be found in the shower with the hard-on from hell. So I have to take care of it. But the whole time, I imagine it’s you wrapping your hands around my cock and making me come.”
There’s a beat of silence; the air between us is cracking with electricity. For a second I wonder if I said too much. If I should have stopped talking before admitting what happens when I think about her in the shower.
“Then why don’t you?”
I blink a couple of times, unsure about what she’s saying. “Why don’t I what?”
“Why don’t you kiss me? I’ve been thinking about it too, Tucker.”
A part of me wants to jump her bones and never even come out for air. But I want to commit this moment to memory. So I scoot a little closer to her and cup her face with my hand. I close the distance between us gradually, slowly.
This is what I want, savoring every second of it. Her soft breath fanning over my lips; the tips of our noses touching as I tilt my head. And finally, the soft warmth of her lips.
The first contact with her lips is featherlight, a brush. But I’ve waited this long for this, and my patience is about to run out. I go in again, more fully this time. A little more pressure for a little longer.
