I nodded. No, as out of place as I felt in the world of hockey, I wouldn’t want him to have a separate life that I stayed away from, either.
Niklas looked back at me, and his expression softened. “What do you think? Why would a woman be interested in a relationship with a hockey player if I wasn’t after the obvious things, like money?”
I felt the blush creep up my neck, and I laughed. Yes, I could think of a couple reasons. Niklas must have felt my shift, too, and he smiled.
“Well?” he said, his voice a little lower.
“You mean besides the well-sculpted rears? I guess guys who play professional sports are known to be…” I searched for the right words. “Performance-oriented.”
Niklas let out a deep laugh, shaking his head.
“I hope I haven’t disappointed,” he said, still chuckling.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Are you fishing for compliments?”
“Hell, yes,” he said. “And I’m pretty certain I know how to get one out of you.”
I shook my head. No matter how long we were together, I was sure I’d never be as comfortable talking about sex as he was.
Niklas met my eyes, and the amusement turned into something more serious.
“Why, Caroline?” he said, quietly. “Why would a woman be interested in a hockey player when I doesn’t even like hockey, when so much is stacked against the relationship?”
In his voice was a hint of uncertainty and fear. There wasn’t a good answer. Why anyone would choose a relationship with a hockey player was beyond me. But in that thought was my own answer.
I kept my eyes fixed on him, wanting him to understand the depth of my feelings, despite my hesitation. “Because in the end, we don’t choose the person we fall in love with. Whether or not it’s convenient doesn’t seem to factor in.”
I had said it. The word I had held back from saying for all these months.Love.
He walked over to my side of the table and turned my chair to face him. He got down on his knees in front of me and cupped my face in his palms. He stroked my skin with his thumbs and coaxed me toward him for a slow kiss.
“Let’s just decide that nothing else matters for now,” he whispered.
I nodded. Because in that moment, nothing else did.
*
“Are you sure your neighbors can’t see us from here?” I asked, dipping my foot into the water.
The lake was still and warm in the thick night air. A scattering of lights shone faintly across the water, but the houses nearest Niklas’s were dark.
“No, I’m not sure,” he said. “But I don’t think anyone is home.”
“You’re not worried someone will catch us?”
He lay out a blanket on the grass and walked up behind me on the sand. He stroked up and down my bare arms, and his body skimmed against mine. He lifted my hair off my shoulder and kissed the base of my neck.
“Honestly, I’m not thinking about that right now,” he said, his voice growing deeper.
The trees shaded the grassy stretch of his property, but his little beach glowed in the dim night light.
“I think you’re the one with an exhibitionist streak, not me,” I said, smiling. “Are you forgetting Bondi Beach?”
“Bondi Beach was your idea,” he laughed.
I gave him a little shove. “Goingto Bondi Beach was my idea, not taking off our suits. That was all you, Niklas.”
