by Kat Bammer
Julie opened her eyes and looked out the single window of the cottage. It was indeed dark outside, but this time of year it got dark so early so that didn’t mean anything.
When Julie’s phone started ringing somewhere on the pile of clothes on the floor in front of the bed, she groaned. Kevin gave her a quick kiss on her forehead and withdrew his arm out from under her. He stood up and walked naked to the recliner where her coat was. Julie sighed when she watched Kevin walk through the room. His body was perfect. Chiseled and hard. The muscles in his legs and ass worked under his skin and made Julie’s mouth water. “Come back to bed. I’m not done with you yet.”
Kevin looked back at her ogling him and grinned before he snatched her phone and meandered back to her. The view of his front was no less spectacular than his backside. He handed her the phone before he got back into bed. He resumed his former position, his arm under her head, his fingers drawing lines on her back, and they kissed. Julie moaned and her eyes closed of their own volition until her phone rang again.
“Who would call on Christmas?”
She opened her left eye to read. “Home” was flashing in bright big letters.
“Shit, it’s the parents.” She accepted the call. “Hey, Mom.”
“Hey, where are you? It’s getting late, and dinner was ready half an hour ago.”
Julie covered the speaker and hissed at Kevin who’d started touching her with his magical hands. Apparently it was later than she thought it was. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“Where are you?”
Julie’s mind scrambled to come up with a logical answer, but she should have counted on her mother who wasn’t the best listener when she was agitated. “Kevin isn’t here, as well. Did you tell him a different time or something, because he sure didn’t seem to be a person who’s late.”
Julie scrambled out of bed and fished for her clothes in the pile.
“I’m just at the studio and I lost track of time. I’ll be there in a few minutes and I’ll call Kevin and ask why he’s late.”
Apparently this was good enough for her mother because Julie could end the call without further questions.
“Up, up, up—go get dressed. We’re late for dinner. My mother is not amused.”
She watched Kevin’s narrowed eyebrows and his pinched mouth but whatever his problem was, Julie didn’t have time for it right now. “Come on, move.”
It took them about ten minutes to reach the front door of the Brooks’ house. Maybe Julie should have taken more time to hop by the studio, consult a mirror, and get her act together.
Her father opened the door before Julie could do it on her own.
“Your mother is very stressed out, so hurry.” His eyes flitted from Julie to Kevin and back to Julie’s hair, and his eyebrows rose high enough to nearly touch his gray hairline. “Nice hair. May I suggest you fix it before your mother sees it?”
Julie cringed and left Kevin with her father. She darted up the stairs, and in her bathroom she finally looked at herself in the mirror.
Oh God. She had bed head. And her father had seen her like this. Julie palmed her face and groaned.
Then she brushed her hair and tied it into a bun. Nothing she could do about it now. Now that she was up in her room, she changed into the same nice dress she always wore for Christmas. There wasn’t enough time for makeup but Julie hoped the dress was enough to appease her mother.
When Julie came down, her parents and Kevin were already seated, waiting for her. She could feel her mother’s disdain even though she didn’t say a word. Oh, the power of nonverbal motherly disapproval.
“I’m really sorry, Mom. I lost track of time. I hope I haven’t ruined our Christmas dinner.”
Her mother’s face transformed, and a small smile appeared on her lips.
“It’s okay. So now let’s have a great evening and celebrate.”
Julie ate but hardly tasted anything. The entire dinner she avoided looking at Kevin. And luckily conversation flowed easy. There was one uncomfortable situation when Julie’s mother asked Kevin about his swollen and red knuckles. But she immediately bought into the story Kevin told her about slipping in the woods.
Kevin didn’t look at Julie either. Which had her worried until his thigh pressed against hers under the table. And when his hand crept into her lap after they finished eating, she was shocked about his naughtiness until he grabbed her hand and just held it. Julie’s stomach dipped with the sweet gesture. He gave her comfort and security, in a strange kind of way. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea, after all… Maybe… But most likely it was. For one, he was still her client, which, if she wanted to be the professional she claimed to be, she should make him off-limits, and second…he would leave and go back to his life being the star NHL goalie, who dated top models. Not normal people…like her.
The next few hours were filled with laughter, easy conversation, and stolen kisses that tasted like her mother’s Christmas cookies, whenever they could sneak away for a second or her parents left the room.
At one point her father fell asleep in his recliner and Kevin rose from the couch.
“I’d better get going. It’s late and I have a training session in the morning. My therapist is brutal, you know. Didn’t even let me take the holidays off.”
Julie’s mother laughed hysterically. Clearly the one glass of wine, which turned into several, had gone to her head.
Julie’d just had one. Her stomach was jazzed without the added effect of alcohol. And it just took one deep, long look of Kevin’s to make her feel light-headed. Julie got up, as well, while Kevin kissed her mother goodbye and exchanged a handshake with her reawakened father.
“Hey, I’m gonna visit the girls at the Inn for a minute. Wish them a Happy Christmas. Don’t wait up for me.”
It was a lame excuse. What Julie really wanted to do was follow Kevin into his cottage and snuggle up to him all night. The only question was if Kevin felt even remotely the same. Or if he’d had enough of her after they had sex earlier. Well, she would find out soon enough.
They crossed the snow-filled parking lot of the Inn, when Kevin grabbed her hand. “You really going to visit the girls, or you coming with me?”
There it was and she didn’t even have to push. “I’m coming with you.”
When they entered his cottage, Julie closed the door and then jumped him right then and there, which wiped away the cocky smile on his face. “Easy, tiger.”
Julie grinned when his strong arms banded around her waist and he slowly carried her to the bed. Once there, she took her time. She took it easy. Super easy. She slowly undressed him and devoured every inch of skin she unveiled…from head to toe. She even turned him around to caress his back, his remarkable ass, and his thighs. When she turned him back, she took the time to follow the scars of his incisions on both knees, and she got him writhing in bed when she discovered he was ticklish on the inside of his thighs. Then he turned the tables on her and when his hot mouth touched her core, she was the one writhing. Then he pushed inside her and they turned up the heat and the speed.
The second time they made love was even better. Who would have thought this level of intimacy, joy, and ecstasy was possible? Outside of romance novels of course. Completely spent and exhausted, Julie lay next to Kevin on her belly, his hand heavy on her bottom.
The way he looked at her, unflinching, was a little unnerving. “So, do you have a middle name?”
Kevin smirked. “Do you?”
“I asked first, but okay, my full name is Julia Lee Brooks. So, it became Julie.”
Kevin softly rolled her name on his lips. “Julia Lee. Beautiful. My middle name’s Leonardo.”
“After DiCaprio?” Julie pursed her lips.
Kevin’s grin widened. “More like Leonardo DaVinci. But whatever.”
There was a comfortable silence between them and Julie’s eyes turned heavy.
“Did you have a pet as a kid?”
Julie opened her eyes again and look
ed into Kevin’s. His face was somber, turned inward.
“We had the best childhood ever. I had a rabbit and Paul had a guinea pig. At least until he thought it needed a little exercise. It made a beeline for the woods and we never found it again.” Julie chuckled. “All the neighborhood kids joined in with our search party. We even had Lisa’s dog Cookie sniff at his cage, but she wasn’t the best tracking dog. Paul cried like a baby and that was the end of his career as a caretaker.”
Kevin smiled. “It’s hard to envision Paul crying over a lost pet.”
Lisa grinned. “Oh, he was a softy as a child. But when he became a teenager he somehow turned into a badass.”
Kevin nodded and silence built between them.
“What did you want to be when you grew up?”
Kevin had his eyes closed and Julie wasn’t sure if he was already asleep or if he just took his time to answer. “I always wanted to play hockey. Nothing else. That’s my dream. To play hockey. I’m thirty-four but I think I have a few years left in me. I just need to get this stupid knee to cooperate.”
Julie always wanted to be a princess. It took some time for her to cope with the reality that this might not be a career choice and to find her dream job. Kevin on the other hand—he obviously always knew what he wanted to do. And she would help him on his way. His knee was getting better every day. Soon he would be able to get back on the ice and then nothing would keep him here. He would leave Moon Lake and her and get back to his team.
There was a pain in Julie’s chest, and she closed her eyes.
This was just a fling. She really had to keep her feelings in check. There was no chance of a future together. Kevin would go back to his team and she would work hard to get her business off the ground.
She just had to remember this and keep herself from falling in love.
Don’t fall in love.
13
Over the holidays they fell into an easy routine. Therapy sessions in the morning and alternating strength-building or cardio sessions in the afternoon…and sexy times whenever they could fit them in. But somehow this felt too comfortable…too easy to Kevin.
At times Julie looked at him in a way that made him shudder. He’d never asked her, but deep down he knew they were on thin ice.
Julie had taken on two more clients who would start therapy at the beginning of the year so, most days, she was busy designing their therapy plans.
Blake and Peter had taken pity on Kevin and actively involved him in the preparations for the New Year’s Eve party at the Inn, which included multiple organizational meetings.
The meetings were mostly held at Blake’s bar, and it surprised Kevin just how well he seemed to fit in with the people of Moon Lake and how fast he’d gotten to know a whole bunch of them.
Peter and Blake were like lifelong friends to him. They had the art of talking trash, down to a science. Apparently being in the military wasn’t that different to being on a hockey team. Kevin felt right at home with them which made him miss his team less and less… Not good. Sheriff Travers, Richard, as he’d reminded Kevin again and again, showed up to their meetings, as well, and one day, after having scolded him frequently for decking Julie’s stalker, he even congratulated him and told him he would have done the exact same thing, if it had been his woman in question.
His woman…but not really. They were sleeping together…and spending time together…and he’d had more fun with her then ever with another woman. But that didn’t mean anything. Their relationship wasn’t even official. Julie went to great lengths to hide it…from everybody. Not that sneaking around wasn’t fun…but sometimes he just wished—nonsense. He wished for his knees to heal, and to get back on the ice. That was his number one priority. Everything else wasn’t important.
But Julie’s approval had been his ticket into the community. And feeling like he was part of this community, he liked—a little too much. Most likely if they knew he was sleeping with Julie they would treat him different. That, and if he wasn’t a somewhat famous hockey player working on his comeback. People were strange that way.
He took a sip of his beer and leaned back against the wall. He’d been introduced to a lot of people tonight. But remembered only half their names. Maybe because with one eye and ear he’d watched and listened in on Julie, surrounded by her friends. They’d been near but just out of reach. But Julie seemed to have the time of her life…without him. He watched Lisa and Claire laughing about something she’d said. Lisa’s pregnant belly was not quite as huge as Claire’s, but he steered clear of both of them anyway. Talking about pregnancy or babies wasn’t something he entertained voluntarily. Even though children were everywhere. He’d briefly talked to Blake’s sister Jessie and Alan who held her baby Seb and never left her side. Sunnie flitted by, then scooted to a halt and stood in front of him. She had fairy wings on her back and glittery eyeshadow, not only around her eyes but all over her face.
“You look bored—are you bored?”
Kevin chuckled. Sunnie had a way of looking at him that reminded him of himself at her age. Old, wise beyond her years but also curious and open and determined. “I’m not bored”—he shut his mouth—“just overwhelmed. A lot of new people.”
Sunnie nodded. “But you haven’t met Mathilda.”
Kevin smiled at the girl next to Sunnie. “No, I sure haven’t.”
“She’s my best friend in the world.”
Kevin reached out and shook Mathilda’s hand. The other girl had similar fairy wings as Sunnie and the same glittery complexion. Mathilda was the daughter of Karen, Lisa’s older sister who was somewhere around, as well. Obviously content, Sunnie turned around and the both of them half ran, half jumped through the room, pretending they were fairies.
His eyes went back to Julie, who was laughing and talking, surrounded by a group of women: the proper Dorothy, and Holly from the café, as well as Tara Patterson and her twin, whose name totally escaped him. Too many damn names.
Kevin left his spot, grabbed a snack in the kitchen, and proceeded to the reception area. He could sneak out through the door and catch a breath outside.
The lounge area by the reception desk was populated with the older generation, and he tried to slip by without them noticing.
“Hey, Kevin, have you met Mary, Peter’s mom yet?” Mrs. Brooks said.
No such luck. Kevin dutifully turned back and shook Mrs. Fisher’s hand. After some small talk and well wishes for his recovery—something he hated even more than small talk—he finally made his escape. But apparently he wasn’t the only one with that idea—and he should have taken his jacket. It was freezing cold.
After five minutes he grudgingly accepted defeat and went back inside, back to his starting point, leaning against the wall.
“Here.” Julie, who’d come straight from the kitchen toward him, handed him a beer.
“Thanks.” He stroked her fingers when their hands touched, but that was the extent of intimacy with so many people around. Most of the time Kevin felt like a teenager again, with them stealing kisses when nobody was watching or whenever he watched Julie sneak out of her parents’ house. But being a secret nagged at him. She was a grown woman, so why would she hide him?
Kevin shook his head. Because this wasn’t serious. This was just sex. Most likely—if circumstances were different, she wouldn’t have chosen him anyways. Their first time…it all started out with her being thankful. Not because she fell in love with him at first sight…or at all. So, if she wanted to keep it a secret, she had every right. This was her hometown. She had to live here for the rest of her life.
And he would leave in a matter of months. To go back to the only thing that mattered. Being accepted into the community, talking shit with Blake and Peter was just…noise. Distractions that kept him from focusing on what was really important. His career…his comeback…proof he still had it in him…that he still was worth something.
“Fun party, don’t you think.”
“Yep, seems to me li
ke the whole town is here.”
Julie snickered. “Not really.”
“Can we leave soon?”
“Again, not really. It isn’t even midnight. Don’t you want to watch the ball drop and everything?”
Not really. What he wanted was for Julie to follow him to his room and make love to her until all of his worries and self-doubts went away. That would be his celebration of choice.
But no such luck. The evening dragged on. He mainly talked to the guys, while Julie stood by the girls—always near but not near enough. An hour later, without saying goodbye to Julie, he just left. He’d had enough.
Midnight, he spent some time nursing a beer on the porch of his small cottage. He couldn’t wait to get back. Couldn’t wait to stop wasting his time and start doing what he was born to do. He went to bed, leaving the door unlocked. Maybe Julie would join him…or maybe not. He ignored the tightness in his chest…not important…just distractions… Those were his last thoughts before he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
“Okay, get up. Since you left the party early…and without saying goodbye, I’d say you’re fit to go.”
Kevin groaned. Then opened one eye. No, he definitely wasn’t fit to do whatever Julie had in mind. Especially not if she was in the mood to punish him for yesterday.
“Come on…I’m serious. We’re starting running today. You’ll love it, I promise.”
Running. That got Kevin’s attention. His knee was getting better and better every day. There was hardly any swelling, and the balancing exercises Julie had imposed upon him had gone from two-leg to single-leg action some time ago.
He groaned and when she poked his arm again, he snatched her around her waist, threw her onto the bed, and covered her with his body.
“Eeek. Kevin. Get off of me.”
He chuckled and kissed her instead.
“I’m serious. Get out of bed, get dressed, brush your teeth—we’re going for a run.”
Kevin kissed her on the tip of her nose, rolled off her, and stood up. “Yes, ma’am.”