Chapter Six
Olle spent the next three days thinking about that kiss. It had been different than any kiss he’d had before and he’d liked everything about that. The stubble on Jamie’s chin, his broad shoulders and strong legs, and how he weighed so much more than any woman Olle had been with. But even more than those things, he liked the eager noises Jamie had made, the way he’d climbed into Olle’s arms. The way he’d fit there so perfectly.
By the time Jamie arrived at the door and politely asked a highly amused Callum if Olle was ready, Olle was jittery with anticipation. He threw a quick goodnight over his shoulder and ushered Jamie back into the hallway before anyone gave in to the urge to embarrass him. He could see it in their eyes.
Jamie leaned against the elevator wall and looked up at Olle through his lashes. “You look very nice.”
Olle made a note to thank Rupert for talking him into this shirt. “Thank you. You do, too,” Olle said.
He didn’t want to be creepy, but he was having a hard time not staring. He didn’t understand how he could ignore the dozens of naked asses he was exposed to literally every day, but would never get over Jamie’s butt in well-tailored slacks.
Olle swallowed to moisten his dry mouth and trailed after Jamie out of the warehouse. Jamie seemed to have a plan, and Olle was happy to walk beside him regardless. In a few short blocks, they ducked into the House of Lau.
Olle smiled, delighted Jamie remembered his weakness for Chinese food.
The maître d’ led them to a quiet booth in the back corner, surrounded by high banquettes and red velvet curtains to give them privacy. As soon as they slid in on opposite sides of the table, Jamie hooked his foot around Olle’s ankle.
Olle couldn’t control his grin. Or his dick, but that was hidden by the table, at least.
Jamie smiled back, and Olle realized this could end up being awkward, because he suddenly couldn’t think of a thing to say. But, of course, at the heart of it, they’d started as friends, and they’d become friends again. There was plenty to talk about, and if they ever ran out, there was always hockey.
Halfway through their appetizers, and right around the time Olle admitted he hadn’t dated anyone in a long while, he asked Jamie something he’d been wondering about. “When did you know?”
Jamie cocked his head. “That I’m gay?”
Olle nodded.
“I think I always knew,” Jamie said with a shrug. “It just…was. I figured out pretty early it was something I was better off keeping to myself, though I ended up telling my parents when I was about fourteen. They weren’t surprised. Worried, but not upset or anything.”
Olle nodded. He didn’t think his parents would be upset, either. No one seemed to care that his cousin was gay, and her girlfriend was the most popular member of the family on trivia night.
“You?” Jamie asked gently. “When did you know?”
“Um…about two hours after I met you?” Olle blurted, shrugging in the face of Jamie’s stunned expression. “I mean, okay, I knew before that. I thought about it for a long time, but I didn’t know what to do with it. You were the first who…”
“What?”
“Who I was attracted to and seemed to like me back? Or, at least, I thought so. And then…”
“You were right,” Jamie said, touching Olle’s hand. “You were definitely right.”
Olle thought they must have looked like a couple of huge dorks, smiling at each other over their boneless spareribs.
They ended up spending two hours at the House of Lau, throwing their meal plans out the window and indulging in an embarrassing amount of flirting for two people who saw each other all the time. When the bill arrived, Jamie snatched it up.
“What?” Olle asked, still reaching for his wallet.
“Put it away, big guy,” Jamie said. “I asked you on this date, so it’s my treat.”
Olle thought about that. “Okay, then would you like to go on a date with me?”
Jamie nodded, eyes sparkling. “Yes. When?”
Olle ran through their calendar in his head. “Thursday night?”
“Perfect.”
Jamie led them outside and turned toward the warehouse. They stayed closer than was necessary on the sidewalk, their hands brushing until Jamie laced their fingers together in the elevator on the way up to Rupert and Callum’s door.
“I had a nice night,” Jamie said softly.
“I did, too.”
Jamie stepped closer and slipped a hand around the back of Olle’s neck.
Olle bent without hesitation, kissing Jamie gently. He was aware enough of the warehouse’s security, and the extremely nosy natures of the residents, to wonder if they were on camera. It wasn’t enough to stop him, though.
Jamie stepped away far too soon. “Good night.”
“What?” Olle asked, his brain slow to catch up because of the kiss, and because it hadn’t crossed his mind the night might be over. It wasn’t even nine o’clock.
“I’ll see you Thursday,” Jamie said, pulling open the elevator doors and nudging Olle into the hallway.
“You’ll see me tomorrow morning in the gym,” Olle said, confused.
“That’s different.”
And it would be. But…
Jamie stayed on the elevator and Olle forced himself not to reach for him. To grab him and haul him close.
“Where are you going?” Olle asked, bewildered.
“Home.”
“But…”
Jamie hit the button to go back down. “We’re going slow, remember?”
Olle’s mouth dropped open, but before he could say anything, Jamie was gone.
Their date on Thursday went even better than the first. At least, Jamie thought so as he drove back to Tim and Chris’s place afterwards, picturing Olle’s face when Jamie had walked away. They’d kissed longer this time. Long enough for his tongue to slip into Olle’s mouth and twist with his. Long enough for Olle to drag him closer and slide a thigh between Jamie’s.
Unfortunately, the next date wouldn’t be for another week and by the end of the night they were both almost nodding off into their desserts and the waiter was sending them concerned looks.
When Jamie had suggested taking it slow, he hadn’t given enough consideration to their schedule. They were on the road more often than not, and that meant meals with the team, and drinks with the team, and bonding with the team, and…well, their team was great. And they clearly wanted Jamie and Olle to feel welcome. And Jamie was grateful, but honest to fucking god, by the time all the team activities were done, not to mention the actual hockey, he was lucky to finish jerking off before he passed out.
Hockey was fucking hard work. Hockey and incessant travel was exhausting.
And his dick was starting to chafe.
He and Olle grabbed quiet moments when they could, and those were amazing. Maybe linking their fingers for thirty seconds when they were alone in the elevator wasn’t much, but it meant something. And at least once per road trip, they made a point of waving off the team’s attempts at dragging them out somewhere so they could curl up together and watch a movie, or just talk. They reviewed game tape together, hit the gym at the same times, and managed to eat out alone on a few occasions.
For their fourth date, Olle had invited Jamie over for Movie Night at Callum and Rupert’s house, which was, apparently, a big deal. It was a command performance for the entire family, which included Alexei and Mike—who were definitely together, but, like Tim and Chris, not out to the whole team.
Though, honestly, Tim would have to take lessons in subtlety before the team couldn’t guess.
Movie night was fun from the moment he’d arrived to find Olle racing through the living room with Oliver on his back, pointing over Olle’s shoulder at his brother and bellowing about charging the line. Dinner was delicious and involved a near-constant barrage of affectionate insults and teasing. And Jamie wasn’t very embarrassed to cry at Frozen, along with at least half the other adults present.
Olle held his hand under the blankets, and Jamie felt stupidly happy—and achingly aware of Olle’s bedroom, just a few feet away.
This was another issue Jamie had not given enough consideration when he’d embarked on the whole going-slow thing. He lived in Chris and Tim’s guest room, just one thin—so fucking thin—wall away from their bedroom. Which was the same situation they’d found themselves in at countless hotels, surrounded by their teammates, often with connecting doors that were habitually left open. And Olle lived in the middle of Grand Central Station, for fuck’s sake, surrounded by children—who at least could be trusted to be discreet, unlike the rest of the household, who were bound to tease them for all eternity.
Jamie shuddered just thinking about it. Then he shuddered again, because he was fucking horny, and it would be worth embarrassing the hell out of himself if it meant he could get some relief and finally, finally be with Olle.
There had been kissing over the last couple weeks. A lot of kissing. And Jamie had made a study of every inch of Olle’s skin from the waist up. From Olle’s sharp collarbones to his sensitive nipples and ticklish flanks. Jamie hadn’t realized he’d be into being so much smaller than his partner, but god fucking help him, he was so into it.
Olle was always gentle, learning Jamie as carefully as Jamie was learning him. Recently, they’d spent the precious little time they could steal pressed close, their hips moving against one another, their hearts pounding. Olle’s hands shook sometimes, his hips stuttering as helplessly as Jamie’s, and Jamie thought they’d both die if they didn’t move things along soon. He was sure Olle felt the same way, given his long, frustrated groans when they were interrupted or ran out of time.
When date number…shit—Seven? Eight? There’d officially been enough of them that Jamie was losing track, which was awesome—finally happened, Jamie was hoping they’d manage at least a little alone time, even if he had to further his reputation as a man who liked bathrooms too much. He was bouncing up and down on his toes in the elevator, eager to grab Olle and maybe hit the House of Lau for an early-ish supper, then…hell, he’d ravish Olle in a fucking alley on the way home if he had to.
He lifted a hand, but the door flew open before he could knock.
“Oh, thank god, you’re early,” Olle said, breathless.
He looked disheveled, his hair wild, like he’d been running his hands through it. He glanced up and down the hallway, clenched his fist in Jamie’s t-shirt, and hauled him through the door.
A frisson of fear went down Jamie’s back, then Olle’s mouth was on his and Jamie no longer cared if there was any danger. The building could burn down around them. Be stormed by commandos. He was good.
Olle wasn’t messing around, either. His hands cupped Jamie’s face as he kicked the door shut and pressed Jamie against the cold wood. His tongue plunged between Jamie’s lips.
Jamie was definitely definitely better than good.
When Olle tore his mouth away to press biting kisses along Jamie’s cheek and jaw, Jamie tilted his head, trying to help and regain his sanity. “Where is everyone?” he gasped.
“Out,” Olle growled into his neck. “For at least two hours. Maybe more.”
Jamie shoved Olle away. “What?”
Olle was panting. “They’re out. For dinner and a movie.”
“We’re alone?” Jamie asked, hardly able to believe it.
Olle nodded slowly, studying Jamie’s face. “Is that okay?”
“Is that okay?” Jamie repeated. “Is that okay? Are you kidding?”
Olle laughed and grabbed Jamie’s hand, striding toward his room with Jamie in his wake. Jamie practically fell over his own feet in his eagerness to keep up.
As soon as the door shut behind them, Olle towed Jamie in and Jamie lifted onto his toes, his chin tipped in anticipation. He didn’t expect Olle’s hands to curl around his hips and cup his ass before lifting him right off the ground.
Jamie wound his arms and legs around Olle, and lost himself in Olle’s drugging kisses. Olle shifted Jamie closer, lower, until Olle’s erection pressed to Jamie’s and he could barely breathe, let alone kiss.