What it would be like to kiss him…
And what it would be like to let down all borders withhim.
18. TJ
She threw those wide green eyes open at me and her cheeks flushed pink. It took all of me to suppress a groan… because damn it all to hell if I didn’t want to kiss her right then and there… If I didn’t want to pick her up and push into her against the wall… if I didn’t wantto-
I cut myself off from thinking any further.
I knew she wanted me too. I knew it by how she didn’t stop me. But I also knew I couldn’t be the first one to make a move with her…
Patience, man, patience. I forced myself to swallow down my desires. I couldn’t forget she was the same girl who barricaded her door this morning.
She scurried around her room grabbing things and throwing them in a tiny bag, seemingly avoiding eye-contact. When I thought she was all done, I started moving toward the door, but I could feel her shrinking back, hesitating.
“I’ll protect you! You think I won’t?” I questioned her with my hand on the doorknob. “Need me to lay on you again?” I started to push her back towards the bed. “Let’s get this over with I guess,” I chuckled.
“Stop it TJ, it’s not funny,” she said quietly, way less snarky than her usual self. She looked much smaller with her arms crossed in front of her, and I immediately missed her sassiness. I could tell there was a fierce independence and a scared uneasiness within her that battled at every interaction. I didn’t like when her strong, boss-bitch self was shrouded by anxiety.
“Where’s the feistiness?” I asked her. I took the opportunity to smooth her silky hair behind an ear. “I know this is out of your comfort zone, but how about you focus on keeping me in check. You love yelling at me, I know you do. Make sure I don’t do anything stupid like shake a baby,” Ismirked.
She was definitely trying to stop a small smile at that.
“There it is!” I said, “We’re teammates, okay? Linemates, like in hockey. You know what those are?” I asked. “When you go up, I hang back to have your back. When I go up, you pass and I get to be the hero,” I winked. “We work together and pick up each other’s slack, okay?”
“Linemates?” she asked, looking at me like I was a dork.
I nodded and grabbed her hand to go, and this time she didn’t pull back.
We drove in silence most of the way. I was driving Ellie’s little car, and I was pretty shocked she let me. The anticipation of the boat day was probably eating away at her brain.
In one way, I felt bad about pushing her out of her comfort zone; but in another, I was damn happy she was letting me do it. She had to be placing her trust in me to some degree if she’d go to a place where I was the only person she would know.
I looked over at her sunlit profile. Her serious eyes studied the tree lined drive, and the sun caught her hair, making it glow. It was almost like her hair couldn’t decide if it was gold, rust, brown, or red, and all colors were battling it out. Her shoulders were smattered heavily with freckles- that if I were to be so lucky one day- I’d kiss allover.
When I finally slowed to turn onto a gravel road, we were met with a large sign that read: “Welcome to The D Hockey.”
“I guess we made it to the right place, eh?” I asked her.
She nodded but kept quiet. I pushed my luck then- but hey, it’s not like she could jump out of the car- by reaching over to grab her hand. I was surprised by how much smaller and daintier her hand was than mine. I gave it a squeeze and didn’t chance looking at her and making it a big deal, and I was rewarded with her accepting the comfort.
When the house at the end of the drive finally came into sight, I think both of us were left speechless. It was the biggest, nicest, beach house I’d ever seen.
The house was three stories high and painted dark blue with white trimming and cultured stone added here and there in nice places. There was what looked like a guesthouse to the right that was built to look like a tree fort, and in between the two structures was a basketball and tennis court.
When I finally parked alongside about a dozen fancy cars, ranging from Range Rovers to shiny sportscars, me and Ellie turned and looked at each other.
“Well… this is…”
“Huge,” Ellie said with wide eyes.
“Biggest house I’ve ever seen,” I said, shaking my head. “The Vonnies aren’t used to this kinda style.”
She giggled then. “Me neither.”
I loved the sound of her laughter and would do or say anything to hear it again.
“Maybe they’ll have some boujee food. You like boujee food?” I asked her.
