“I’ll keep that in mind.”I let my fingers run over her right pigtail, pulling out the elastic as I go.I do the same to the other side and then bury my fingers in her silky hair, grazing her scalp.She shivers in that good way.
“God, that feels good,” she whispers— almost like she’s scared to admit it.
“Feels good for me too.”My voice is deeper than it’s been all night.I dip my head a little so my lips are closer to hers.Not close enough to kiss.She’s too short and still too far away, but that’s okay.That’s on purpose.I won’t be the one who makes the first move.She’s my teammates’ sister.My line mates’ sister.She’s a whole lot of complicated… and I’m not even sure what I’m doing anymore.Drunk Theo took his shots without a second thought.Sober Theo is… well… an over-thinker, like she said earlier.I don’t trust my own judgment here.
“I need a distraction.From the power outage.Something simple.Something easy.Something…” She tilts her head, and I wait impatiently for her to finish that sentence.“Can I kiss you?”
I have never been asked for permission before.Ever.At least I don’t think I have.“It would be a crime if you didn’t.”
She wraps both hands around my neck, lifts onto her tiptoes, and then Lola is kissing me.She isn’t shy about it at all.Her lips are soft but strong, and her tongue finds mine almost immediately.This is fucking magic.Ihavedonethissober, but it was a long time ago.Teenage years.Basically, every kiss since I turned twenty has been during some version of drunk.Right now, every single one of my senses is alert and aware.She tastes like apple juice, and I dig my hands into her hair again to keep her close.
My height advantage makes this difficult, and she must know it, too.Her neck tipped back so far it probably looks comical.She uses her arms to circle my neck to lift herself and wrap her legs around my waist.I smile into the kiss, cup her ass, and take one step to set her on the counter across from the candle.She doesn’t unwrap her legs, which I have no complaints about.I can’t get close enough to her.
Her hands move over my shoulders, and I break the kiss to taste more of her.Kissing my way across her jaw to her ear and then down her long neck.She finds the hem of my sweatshirt and sighs as she pushes her fingers underneath.They’re cool, but my skin heats at the feel of her hands roaming over my sides and stomach and then upward.“Your body is insane.”
“Do I make you feral?”I ask jokingly, using the word she used earlier.
“Shut up and take this off.”She’s pushing the sweatshirt higher.I reach behind my head and pull it up and off.Her hands are back on my skin before it hits the floor.
It’s nice to be touched again.To feel every one of her fingers explore.I’ve been so drunk during sex before that I was numb.I can’t count the number of times I never came.I mean, not that we’re having sex tonight.We aren’t.But this… is turning me on and I’m gonna have to find release somehow, even if it’s alone later.Itshouldbe alone later.It definitely can’t be together.Nope.Not together.
Oh.Fuck.I still and inhale sharply as she squeezes her thighs, and it brings our centers together.She’s pressing against my very obvious, undeniably hard cock now.I stare down at her.“So… umm… I should probably go walk in the snow again.”
“In a T-shirt?”
Her fingers brush over my nipples.“Naked.”
“Now that’s something I wouldn’t mind seeing,” she whispers.I need to stop this.So I do the only logical thing.I put my hand under her chin, tilt her head, and claim her mouth again.
The kiss is all kinds of filthy, which causes my cock to throb, especially when she bites my bottom lip.But yet, I manage to find the one calm, clear-thinking brain cell I have left and firmly put my hands on her legs and untangle myself from her.As her legs fall away, I take a step back and run a hand through my hair, leaning on the counter opposite her.
“Jesus… so that’s fun sober,” I say with a chuckle.
“Then why are you all the way over there?”Lola wants to know, and rejection flickers in her pale eyes along with the candlelight.
“Because you’re using this as a distraction from your panic attack,” I say and adjust my protesting cock in my pants.She watches my hand move over it, which does nothing to make the erection go away.“And because as much as I want to keep going and explore every inch of you with my tongue, and other parts of my body, it would be a rash decision.The type of reckless shit I used to do drunk.I need to make better decisions now.”
“I’m a bad decision?”
Well, fuck.That came out wrong.I grab my hoodie off the floor and tug it over my head as she hops off the counter and walks toward the front door.I follow.When she picks up her bag and reaches for the handle on the closet to get her coat, I grab her shoulders and turn her around so her back is against the closet door.“I’m not letting you go home now.The roads are worse than ever.The hallway out there is dark as hell, and now the roads have no lights either.Plus, that parking garage will be an abyss.”
The defiant determination on her face disappears.I put my forearms on the closet door on either side of her pretty head and lean in until our foreheads touch.“You arenota bad decision.But you’re one who deserves to be thought out.Plus, in case you didn’t know, you’re the sister of two of my teammates.My defense partner’s twin.There’s a code…”
She groans and rolls her eyes, sagging in mental exhaustion against the door.“Oh my God, the hockey bro code.I swear, being in this hockey family is my burden in life.”
She slips from under my tented arms and wanders back to the kitchen.Grabbing the candle, she carries it into the living room and puts it on the coffee table.Then she drops onto the couch.“For the record, that code is bullshit.You all break it anyway.My last boyfriend played with Callan in high school and didn’t ask if he could break the code.He just did.And my father and mother wouldn’t be together if he hadn’t dated his captain’s sister, who was also a team employee, I might add.Also, Landon is dating his teammate, who is the cousin of another teammate.And?—”
“Are you saying you want to date me?”I ask, and she flashes the cutest, most horrified look at me.I should honestly be offended, but it’s too cute.
“I don’t want to dateanyone.”She sighs and leans back into the couch, grabbing a pillow and bringing it to her chest.“Women can like sex, you know?We can want to have it without the extra emotional stuff.”
“I know that.Hell, if it weren’t for women willing to have meaningless hook-ups, I’d still be a virgin, in every sense of the word, not just the sober kind.”I follow her into the living room and sit on the couch next to her.She pulls in her feet so she doesn’t touch me.Ouch.“Casual sex is all I can handle at the moment.I need to focus on my game and keeping my life on track.”
“My first long-term boyfriend made it clear I’m not good at relationships.And my one hook-up, Pete, has made it clear I’m not good at picking a fling either,” Lola replies and combs her hair with her fingers.It’s slightly wavy from being pulled back in pigtails.“I should become a nun.”
“How long was your long-term relationship?”I ask because I’m weirdly fascinated with what type of man she’d commit to, and why she’s so anti-commitment now.
“Ryan was… he was on Cal’s hockey team, like I said.But he also took art classes, unlike any of the other jocks.I was into art in high school, so we had that in common.And he was a vegetarian, which I also am… but was actually vegan back then,” Lola says as she picks at the fringe on the pillow she’s clutching.I have a feeling her eyes are cast downward out of shame, not interest in whatever fluff is on that pillow.“We started dating at sixteen, and when he said he was going to Maine to play college hockey, I applied to Maine too.”
