Tamara

The past two weeks with Ryan had been both amazing and frustrating. Since his season was over, his schedule was wide open. But mine? Not so much. I had less than seven months until the Olympic trials in Utah, and my mom was putting pressure on me to move out there early for training. I’d sidestepped the issue a couple of times, but she wasn’t going to let me avoid it much longer. Just that morning, she forwarded information for an apartment complex and two different rental houses within a few miles of the arena in Utah.

I needed to figure out where I wanted to live, and fast. It wasn’t a decision I could make by myself, though. Not when Ryan factored into it so much. I wasn’t a shy person normally, but I was having a difficult time bringing the topic up to Ryan. I only had the apartment the Cavaliers had rented for me for one more week, so I needed to pull up my big girl panties and ask Ryan if he wanted me to stay. But that had to wait until he came back from his trip to Vegas.

Rolling over on my bed, I yanked a pillow over my head and screamed into it. “I’m such an idiot. Why the hell didn’t I just go with him?”

Jason and Cee-Cee had decided to get married there. It wasn’t a normal elopement, though. They were getting married in a fancy hotel Jason’s mom had lined up for them, and a big group of their friends and family were all going to be there. Ryan had wanted me to come with him as his date, and Cee-Cee had also called to make sure I was more than welcome to join them.

The timing was worse than shit for me since I had two friends from the US Speed Skating team in town for the week so we could train together. I couldn’t exactly bail on them after I’d extended the invitation. They thought it was cool as hell that we’d been able to set up the short track on the Cavaliers’ rink. And they’d given me a hard time for dating one of the players since I’d always been adamant about not hooking up with athletes because they were conceited jerks.

“I miss my conceited jerk,” I mumbled as I turned over again.

My friends had left that morning, and Ryan wasn’t due back until the next afternoon. The wedding had been this morning, and other than a quick phone call from Ryan after the ceremony I hadn’t heard from him again. “The big jerk is having fun in Vegas and probably doesn’t even miss me, while I’m alone here wondering what’s next for our relationship.”

I jerked upright, clutching the sheets to my chest when I thought I heard a noise in the living room. I sat stock-still, straining to listen in case I was imagining things. But then I heard it again, and I quietly slid off the mattress on the side away from the bedroom door and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. I hit the nine and one button, and as I was getting ready to press the one again my door swung open and I heard a familiar male voice whisper, “You awake, baby?”

“You scared the shit out of me!” I yelled, jumping to my feet.

“Fuck, sorry.” He rounded the bed and pulled me into his arms. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay. I should have at least guessed that it could have been you since you’re the only person other than me who has a key, instead of freaking out and assuming it was a robber.” I tilted my head back to peer into his face. His hazel eyes were bloodshot, his hair was mussed, and his beard was extra scruffy. But he still looked sexy enough to melt my panties. “What’re doing back? I thought your flight wasn’t until tomorrow.”

“It was, but I changed it.” His hold on me tightened.

“Why? Are you okay?”

“I missed you.” I felt his lips press against the top of my head. “I’m fantastic, now that I’ve got you in my arms.”

“Missed you, too,” I murmured against his chest.

We stood there, holding each other tight without saying anything else for several minutes. “C’mon, get out of your clothes and come to bed.”

I stepped away, fixing the sheets and blankets while he stripped down to his boxers. He climbed in first, piling my pillows behind his back. When I crawled in next to him, he settled me against his chest and tangled our legs together.

“How was the trip?”

“Surprising,” he chuckled, his chest vibrating underneath my cheek.

“It sounds like there’s a story behind that.” I traced a heart shape with my fingertip on his abs. “Give me the details.” I gently yanked on his hair at his chest. “Or else.”

“Ouch.” He wrapped his hand around mine. “You don’t have to torture me to get me to talk.”

“Then spill it, Forrester.”

“Let’s see,” he drawled. “Cee-Cee and Jason ducked out of their co-wed bachelorette party early because she’s knocked up and needed her rest.”

“Yes!” I cried, tilting my head back to look up at him and flashing him a big smile. “My guess was right. I’m so happy for them.”

“How’d you know? Nobody else did.”

“I didn’t know know. But when we were in Pittsburg for your last playoff game, she wasn’t feeling great and I put one plus one together and came up with a possible pregnancy.”

“Smartypants,” he teased, slipping inside my pajama pants to palm my ass. His hazel eyes darkened when he encountered bare skin instead of panties.

“Focus, babe. The old saying about stuff that happens in Vegas doesn’t hold true when you go there without me. I need the rest of the gossip before you’re getting lucky.”

“Fine, but you’re getting the Cliff Notes version,” he grumbled. “Alec wanted to hit the Strip when Jason and Cee-Cee called it a night. Josie and Andrew bailed, too. So I was stuck hitting some clubs with Alec.”

“Stuck,” I snorted.

“Yes, stuck,” he echoed. “Because it just made me miss you even more. I wasn’t in the mood to drink or party, so I headed back to the hotel early and ended up missing all the excitement.”

I propped my chin on his chest and made my very best puppy dog eyes at him. “What kind of trouble did Alec get into? Was he arrested? Did you have to bail him out of jail so he didn’t miss the wedding?”

“Nope, he made the wedding alright.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Two of them.”

I jolted up, my jaw dropping while I stared at him. “Whose else got married?”

“Alec.”

“Shut up!” I shrieked as I bounced on the mattress. “You’re pulling my leg, aren’t you?”

“I wish I was,” he sighed. “Had I known that Alec was going to have such a wild night that it ended with him marrying some chick he’d just met, I would have sucked it up and stayed with him to at least try to be the voice of reason. But I didn’t know, so I got to meet his new wife at Jason and Cee-Cee’s wedding instead.”

“Whoa,” I breathed. “Now I wish I’d kicked my friends out a day early and met up with you guys instead. I can’t believe I missed all that.”

“In a way, I’m glad you weren’t able to make it.”

I hadn’t been expecting our playful conversation to head in that direction, and I slumped over in disbelief. My hurt must have shown in my expression because Ryan gathered me close. “It’s not that I wouldn’t have loved to hang out with you in Vegas, baby. I would. More than anything.”

“Then why in the world were you happy I wasn’t there?”

“Because it opened my eyes to how much I missed you.” He pulled me onto his lap. “The only other times we’ve been in different cities since we started dating was for road trips when you weren’t able to make it. I missed you during those, too. But this was different because I wasn’t distracted by hockey. It was just me with my friends, feeling like I’d left a part of me back home.”

The hurt was washed away, replaced by fierce joy. “And I’m the missing part of you?”

“You are.”

“Because you love me?” I whispered.

“Yes.”

A huge grin spread across my face. “Could you maybe tell me instead of just saying yes?”

“Only if you say it back.”

“Together on three?”

“Sure,” he chuckled.

“Three.”

I took a deep breath. “Two.”

And another. “One.”

I tossed myself into his arms as we shared in unison, “I love you.”

This countdown wasn’t a race, but we both came out winners in the end.