CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sabrina
With the majority of campus still on winter recess, the bar wasn’t as packed as usual. Small groups of people milled around, but a few high-top tables were empty. I sat alone at one, my foot bouncing anxiously on the stool rung while I stared down at Finlay’s text. She and Caden would be there in five minutes.
The football team had just returned after winning their bowl game. Now they needed to prepare like crazy for their upcoming championship game in Georgia. But for the time being, I had my best friend back. At least, back on campus. I hadn’t seen her yet. She was unpacking her things at Caden’s since our dorm was still closed.
“Dance with me,” Crosby said against my ear, his minty breath sending chills up and down my arms.
I turned to find his blue eyes dancing playfully as he placed our drinks down on the table. “I’m having a strange case of déjà vu right now,” I said, stifling a smile.
I hopped down from my stool, and he guided me with his hands on my hips onto the dance floor. Beneath the dim lights, he slipped his arms around me and pulled me flush against his chest.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and we began moving to the slow song filtering into the bar.
“I’ve been wanting to make it up to you for the last time we were out here,” Crosby said.
“Why? I liked being out here with you.”
His head shot back. “Bullshit.”
I shook my head, my eyes never wavering from his. “I think I was fighting what I was feeling that night so damn hard I just needed you to do something to get me to leave.”
His lips curved, loving my admission.
The song switched to a fast song and Crosby grabbed my hand and lifted it over my head, twirling me around the nearly empty dance floor. I threw back my head and laughed, loving that this was the first time people were seeing us together and Crosby looked happy. He was happy. And so was I. He kept my hand in his grasp and tugged me back into him. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his arms slipped around my hips. But something changed on his face as his eyes lifted over my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“They’re here.”
My heart drummed a little faster in my chest, but I didn’t turn around. “Are they looking?”
“Yup.”
I slipped my hands to the back of his head, burying my fingers in his hair. Before I could urge his mouth down, his lips were already moving over mine. I hated PDA, but being on the receiving end of Crosby’s felt amazing.
I pulled out of the kiss and glanced over my shoulder at Finlay and Caden, staring with their mouths open. Crosby grabbed hold of my hand and walked me back to the table.
“You’ve both got some explaining to do,” Finlay said, a mix of amusement and anger playing in her eyes. Caden sat down beside her letting her do all the talking.
I slipped onto my stool. “Ummm.”
“Let’s just say she couldn’t resist Mr. Hockey anymore,” Crosby explained, slipping onto the stool beside me.
I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re so ridiculous.”
“Only about you, baby.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Don’t make me go back to hating you.”
“I thought we already agreed you never hated me. You’ve wanted my body since the day you laid eyes on it.”
Caden looked disgusted while Finlay smiled, her eyes jumping between the two of us. “I like this.”
“What?” I asked.
“The two of you. It makes me happy,” she said.
“It’s makes me happier,” Crosby said. “The girl can’t get enough of me.”
I shoved him so hard, I practically knocked him off his stool.
“Nice, Sabrina,” Caden said. “Keep him in line.”
Crosby looked to me. “Am I lying?”
Finlay laughed. “This keeps getting better and better.”
“You got that right,” Crosby said, his words meant for Finlay, but I knew he was referring to what was happening between us.
And I had to agree with him.
Since I arrived back on campus, each day had only gotten better.
* * *
The chill in the arena wrenched my breath out of me in white puffy clouds as I watched Crosby zigzag all over the empty ice with the puck at the end of his stick. He’d been practicing and working his butt off since he found out a scout would be at his next home game. He was determined to be at his best. Determined to stand out. And by the looks of it, he had nothing to worry about.
I’d seen him naked on more than one occasion, but the sight of him on the ice, moving with such grace and determination, was so damn hot. The way his legs carried him effortlessly across the rink. The way his arms maneuvered the stick as if it weighed nothing at all. The way he spun and swerved while remaining on his skates. A guy with those moves just knew what to do with his body, and I freaking loved it.
He skated to the side and stopped in front of the bench area where I sat alone. “Hey.”
“You look good out there.”
His cocky grin—the one I was becoming all too familiar with—slipped into place. “I look good everywhere.”
I groaned, secretly enjoying his cockiness.
He laughed. “Stop acting like you don’t love it.”
I stared him right in the eyes. “I don’t love it.”
“Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder again.”
My eyes widened as I grabbed hold of the edge of the bench beneath me. “You wouldn’t.”
He stepped up into the bench area, towering over me on his skates. “Try me.”
“There’s a fine line between sexy and arrogant.”
“Glad to hear I’ve mastered both.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You ready to get outta here?” he relented. “I’ve gotta get to work.”
“Sure.”
“Let me go drop off my stuff and I’ll meet you by the door.”
“You sure you don’t need help?” I asked with bouncing brows.
“You trying to kill me?”
“Kill you? No. Get in your pants. Yes.”
He laughed as he stepped back onto the ice and skated to the locker room.
I sat for a little while enjoying the quiet in the arena. I couldn’t wait to be there with the place packed with fans so I could cheer on Crosby. It was a heady feeling to know the guy on the ice was the guy I got to see at his sexiest. At his most vulnerable. At his best.
A bout of sadness swept over me. His teammates would be returning tomorrow to get a practice in before they traveled to Tennessee the following day. Our time on the deserted campus would be over and reality would set in. And that sucked. I’d gotten used to having the place to ourselves. To having Crosby to myself. To having no one around to ruin what we had.
I eventually stood and moved to the entrance. The pitter-patter of raindrops hit the glass doors. I stared out into the dark night. The rain came down hard, bouncing off the empty parking lot and creating puddles everywhere. I pushed open the door and stepped out into it. The bitter air mixing with the cold drops pricked the hairs on my arms.
“What are you doing?” Crosby asked, stepping outside behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder as he pulled off his sweatshirt. He held it above me, trying to create an umbrella. I ducked away from him and twirled around the parking lot with my arms spread wide and my face upward.
“It’s fifty degrees out here,” he called over the spray of rain.
I closed my eyes and continued to twirl, enjoying the solace of the rainstorm. “Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the rain.”
His arms unexpectedly slipped around my waist from behind and he lifted me off my feet. I giggled, enjoying not only the rain, but Crosby sharing the moment with me.
“Do that again,” he murmured into the side of my neck.
“Do what?”
“Laugh.”
I craned my neck to look at him over my shoulder. “I laugh all the time.”
“But you did it because of something I did. I want to make you laugh all the time.” He twisted me in his arms. My hands landed on his shoulders before slipping around his neck. Our soaked bodies pressed against each other. “Sorry I didn’t before.”
“Before, you didn’t know me.” I lifted my hands to his cold flushed cheeks. “Now you do.”
He smiled, and the candidness in his smile dipped my belly. I pulled his lips down to mine and kissed him slow and soft, quite a contrast to the cold seeping into our skin and the rain ricocheting off our bodies. My tongue dipped inside his mouth, so warm and inviting. His fingers tunneled into my hair as he held me tighter, deepening the kiss in the empty parking lot in the middle of a rainstorm.
Our breathing was ragged when I pulled out of the kiss. “I want more moments like this with you,” I said.
“Done.”
I grinned. “Is everything that easy with you?”
“Yup.”
My head fell back and I laughed, the rain jabbing my face yet again. This time I slipped free of Crosby’s grasp and took off running. “Race you home,” I called over my shoulder.
“I’m already home,” he called.
I stopped and turned back to face him. His feet remained planted in the same spot where I’d left him. What he’d said and the smitten look in his eyes sent a shiver through my already chilled body. I swallowed hard. “So, you’re not coming?”
He pushed his soaked hair away from his face as he took a couple steps toward me. “I’m coming. I was just admiring your ass. I need something to get me through those long nights in Tennessee.”
“You’ll be gone for one night.”
“One night with you on my mind and Tennessee’s ass in the palm of my hand.”
“What is it with you and asses?”
He stopped in front of me and looked down with raindrops hanging from his long eyelashes. “Don’t worry. I don’t discriminate. I like every part of your body.”
I slipped my arms around his waist and stared up at him. “The feeling’s mutual.”