by Toni Aleo
She sends it my way, and then I watch as she reaches for the bottom of her shirt, pulling it up and over her body, throwing it down to the ground before stretching her arms up and behind her. I know what she’s doing. I’m not dumb, but I’m also not dead, and I drink in every single detail of her gorgeous, round tits. Basically drooling at the way her top is a little too small, causing the underside of her boob to hang out of the bottom of the left cup.
Unable to keep that to myself, I say, “Your boob is hanging out.”
Innocently, she looks down and actually fakes an “O” face. “Oh no, look at that,” she says before tucking it back in.
I can’t help it, I laugh, which in return pisses her off.
“What? Did you think you were gonna be able to distract me?” I ask, and she just glares. “I mean, it may work on some other dude, but not me, baby. You’re going down.”
She doesn’t say anything as I shoot, or even after I get it in three more times. As she downs the sixth cup, I chuckle as I twist the ball in my hand. She lays the cup down beside the other empty ones and glares at me, her chest heaving up and down, her body flushed with either the alcohol or maybe even with nervousness of having to spend time with me. I’m pretty sure she’s worried she can’t control herself.
Which is A-OK with me.
Shooting again, I get it in three more times before Jude comes up, slapping me on the back. He looks at the table and then across at Baylor. “Please tell me you didn’t let him go first.”
“I won at hockey; he insisted on going first,” she says sharply, and I love the anger radiating off her.
It’s adorable.
“Ah, well, you aren’t going to win this,” he laughs before shaking his head. “Jayden kicks ass at some beer pong, especially if he is sober.”
As he walks away laughing, I meet her gaze and shrug innocently at her glare. “I told you’d I win.”
“I mean, whatever, I haven’t even had a chance to play,” she counters.
“Sometimes, it plays out like that,” I say, before shooting and getting it in the last cup. “You have no clue how much money I’ve made from this.”
She nods as she looks down at the cup. “I bet.”
Reaching for it, she takes the ball out and downs the cup. She then starts for her cups, and deciding that I actually want her to be able to talk to me, I go over to help her finish them off. Reaching for a cup, I down it before reaching for another, but then I pause to look at her. She is pissed; it’s rolling off her in waves. She doesn’t like losing.
That’s obvious.
“I’m surprised you don’t want a rematch,” I note and she shrugs.
“I lost, fair and square,” she says simply. “And if I’m honest, it can’t be that bad to talk to you.”
I scoff. “That must be the beer talking.”
She looks up at me and smiles, giving me the girlie, fluttering feeling in my gut. It’s a true smile. The same one that I saw when she scored the winning goal against me. “Must be, eh?”
I grin before downing the cup. Soon all the beer is gone, and she looks up at me expectantly but also a little cautiously. “So now what?”
I pause, pressing my finger to my chin. She watches me, trying to fight off her grin before I look over at her. “I know, I’m supposed to say…BOOYAH!”
That has her laughing, and I laugh along with her as we both lean against the table, the sounds of the party overwhelming our laughter.
“I had that coming,” she says between her laughter, and I nod.
“You did.”
As my laughter subsides, I look up at the clear dark sky and suck in a deep breath, loving how relaxed I am and how much fun I’m having. The party is in full swing; people are everywhere and music is blasting. There is no way I can get to know her here. Also, there are people waiting for the table, so now the question is where do we go? Since I know suggesting my room will get me shot down quicker than a slap shot, I look around for a quieter spot. I see that only two people are by the bonfire, and I decide that’s where I want to go.
Looking over at her, I say, “No, really, I’ll go get my Jack and some Coke. Meet ya down by the fire.”
She glances over to where I’m looking and nods. “Sure.”
I eye her because for some reason, I have a feeling she’s gonna run.
“You aren’t going to run off, are you?” I ask her cautiously, and she laughs as she shakes her head.
“No, I’ll meet you there.”
“Promise?”
She looks at me, flabbergasted, and I have to say it’s quite cute. “How in the ever-loving fuck would me promising you do anything? We don’t even know each other!”
I smile, looking down as I shrug before glancing back at her. “Sure, but I feel like if you promise something, you won’t go back on it.”
Her hazel eyes soften a bit as her mouth pulls up at the side. “I don’t make a promise I can’t keep.”
“I know. So promise me you’ll be there.”
Holding my gaze for a moment, she then smiles fully at me before nodding. “I promise I’ll wait for you.”
I suck in a deep breath as I get lost in her eyes. It takes everything for me to step back so that I don’t kiss her, but the space doesn’t keep me from saying, “You’re quite possibility the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
She blinks, obviously a bit taken aback by my comment, and then scoffs. “I think you’re drunk. I’ll meet you down there.”
She turns before rushing down the stairs, but once her feet hit the stairs, she glances back at me. I smile and she shakes her head, a grin pulling at her lips as she heads toward the fire. I’m not lying. She is the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen, and it’s obvious she doesn’t take compliments well.
She’s…well… She’s something.
I don’t even think there is a word to describe her. I’m sure if I didn’t have seven cups of beer in me, I could find the word, but I’ll do that later. Right now, I need Jack and Coke. As soon as I step away from the table, it’s overrun by guys trying to prove their awesomeness. Someone even yells, “Where you going, Jay? You don’t want to hold your title?”
I laugh as I shake my head. It was Bryan, one of the guys from the team. “Nah, man, got someone who needs all my attention.”
“Pussy,” is his response, and soon I’m getting called that by most of the other guys, but I wave them off, going into the house. I reach into the freezer, getting my bottle and then a couple cans of Coke before grabbing two cups. When I turn, Jude is watching me from the table, his phone in his hand and his brow up.
“Why don’t you just take her to your room?”
I scoff. “She doesn’t want to go there yet.”
“But she will?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “I’d like her to.”
“I bet. She’s hot but a ballbuster.”
“True,” I say. “But I like it.”
He laughs and says, “Whatever helps you relax.”
I smile as I head out the door and down the stairs to the bonfire. Baylor could definitely help me relax. Hell, she already has.
Like I hoped, she’s waiting for me and looks a little anxious when I sit down, handing her a cup. Making us both a drink, I hold the Jack between my feet with the cans of Coke between us. The heat from the fire is warm and takes away the chill from the ocean. She must have been cold because not only does she have her tank on but also the hoodie she was wearing around her waist.
“Cold?” I ask, nodding toward her chest.
Her cheeks redden as she shakes her head. “I can’t believe I was desperate enough to win that I tried to use my tits to distract you.”
“Oh, so you don’t do that a lot?”
She rolls her eyes. “Never. I don’t have to. I almost always win.”
“Ah, guess you met your match.”
“In beer pong,” she points out.
“I don’t know, I think I could take yo
u down if there was a rematch to our road battle.”
She smiles. “Are you challenging me?”
I nod, meeting her gaze. “I am.”
“Fine, I’ll be here in the morning,” she says, holding her cup up to me. I hit it with mine, and I’m a little too giddy that she’ll be back tomorrow.
“When do you leave?”
“Tomorrow,” she laughs. “We are leaving around eight tomorrow night. My dad will flip if I’m not home by Monday morning. He’s already been texting me like crazy.”
I smile. “Not used to you being gone?”
She shakes her head. “Not at all. Everywhere I go, he goes, or the other way around. It’s always been me and him.”
She doesn’t mention her mom and I worry that it’s a sensitive subject, but I ask anyway. “Your mom?”
She doesn’t say anything or even move until she finally lifts her cup and downs it. As I watch her throat move with the liquid going down it, I know that she doesn’t want to talk about it, and I wish I could take the question back.
She then hands me her cup before saying, “Didn’t want us. Left when I was one day old.”
Making her another cup, I find myself saying, “My dad is a cheating bastard. My mom is amazing.”
I don’t usually talk about my dad, but I thought maybe it would make her feel better.
“Sucks,” is her answer as she takes the cup from me. “At least you have brothers.”
“Only child, then?”
“Yup, just me. Dad never remarried, always said he couldn’t find someone to complete him.”
“Wow,” I say softly. “That’s deep.”
“Yup, he always tells me, don’t fall for someone who can’t make you better. That won’t complete you.”
“Great advice.”
“I think so, but of course, my standards are through the roof,” she says with a laugh.
Looking down at my cup, I nod before taking a long pull. “They should be.”
I can feel her looking at me, and when I look over at her, she says, “That was kind of deep.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, but it shows what kind of dad you got. One who won’t let you settle for less than the best.”
She smiles. “Some people think he’s a dick.”
“Yeah, but some think you are a bitch.”
“Touché,” she says with a nod. “But obviously you think different?”
“I don’t go for face value. I’m sensitive, remember.”
That makes her laugh as she nods. “It’s refreshing.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I finish off my drink and make myself another as the fire crackles in front of us. Leaning back against the couch that Jace dragged out here, I let the alcohol course through my veins. I’m usually not a drinker, but I’m on vacation, so I’m gonna enjoy the buzz the fiery liquid gives me. Got me a good drink and a hot, complicated girl to keep me company.
Can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.
“Hey, sweetheart, wanna go for a dip?” someone yells. I didn’t even realize they were talking our way until Baylor sits up and glares.
“Fuck off,” she says, flipping whomever the bird, but I can’t see them because of the fire.
So I stand, and when I see that it’s my buddy Jeff, I give him a “What the fuck?” look. “Dude,” I say, and he holds up his hands.
“Sorry, man, didn’t see you there.”
I roll my eyes before dropping down on the couch. “Sorry about that.”
I pull a Coke out from under my ass as she says, “Guys are dicks.”
“They can be,” I agree, throwing the can on the ground as I blink slowly.
Getting up so quickly left me a little dizzy.
“I was walking over here and got hit on so many times.”
“It’s the tank, the sides of your tits were showing,” I say with a grin.
She grins back. “I don’t usually dress like this.”
“Thank God for small miracles then, because I’ve enjoyed the view.”
She giggles. “I would usually tell a guy to fuck off if he said that to me.”
I glance over at her and wink. “Yeah, but you like me.”
She gives me a look that says differently, but her body is basically singing for mine. Just in case the look didn’t let me know her feelings, she says, “I don’t like you, like, fuck you, like you, but I mean you’re cool.”
“Yeah, of course,” I say, playing along, but I know she’s full of it.
Either that, or I don’t know a female from a hockey puck.
And I know what a hockey puck is.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I say then, smacking my thigh.
She looks over at me confused. “Do what?”
“Pick your brain stuff,” I inform her. “Tell me your favorite movie.”
She smiles as she leans back, obviously relaxing. For the next two drinks, we go back and forth, talking about all our favorites. It seems that we are the same person. She loves Mighty Ducks, but then again, what hockey player doesn’t love that movie? Her favorite candy is Nerds, also my favorite. Soon though, the conversation leads to hockey. She’s pretty successful, but that isn’t what has my jaw hanging open. She is my hockey twin. She tapes her stick left to right like I do, and she also puts her right skate on first, like me. While I tape up my left wrist, she does her right.
“This is spooky,” is her reaction and I laugh.
“Right?” I say, shaking my head. “But cool.”
She doesn’t seem to think so. I can see the doubt and hear it in her voice as she asks, “Sure, are you sure you do all this? Nerds? That’s not normal favorite candy shit.”
I nod. “Been my favorite since I was a kid,” I say, and when I see Jace coming out of the ocean with Delanie, both of them laughing and looking like they are about to go have sex, I yell, “Hey Jace, what’s my favorite candy?”
He gives me a look and then shakes his head. “Nerds, right?”
I look at her triumphantly and she laughs. “Fine, I believe you.” Grinning over at me, she says, “That was convenient too. Did you plan that?”
“What?”
“Your brother coming at the right moment to verify your claim.”
I nod. “Oh, of course. I knew that at this particular moment, we were going to talk about my favorite candy. And so I planned for him to frolic in the ocean with Delanie until I smacked my hands together twice. Then he was to come out of the ocean and answer my question,” I say, and I realize I’m talking a lot with my hands. “Yeah. Planned it all.”
She giggles as she leans into me. “Smartass.”
Unlike her, I’m wearing a tee, and when she leans into me, her warmth is all-consuming against me. But she moves away too quickly in my opinion. She then looks at me, her eyes dancing with laughter as the fire glints off her face. “I have to admit, I’m having fun.”
“Ha! Told ya. I’m not that bad.”
“Not bad at all. Kinda funny,” she adds and I smile.
“I try.” I lean back against the couch and shrug. “It’s really nice being out here with you.”
She looks back at me and then leans back too. I can see that she is holding back, but finally, she admits, “I was thinking the same thing.”
She doesn’t want to admit that either; I can read it all over her face. We share a smile, and I don’t think she realizes how much I need this. I’ve been so fucked up over my mom and dad. Worrying about everyone. But when I’m out here, nothing matters. It’s just her and me, the fire burning, a good drink in my hand, and I don’t have to worry. I can relax. It’s nice.
“Something is wrong. I can see it on your face.”
I look up from my cup and shrug. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“Wanna share?” she asks, and when I glance at her, she smiles. “Yeah, I don’t know why I asked since I don’t really do sharing feelings, but I kinda want to right now. So entertain me.”
I laugh as I nod and then I
say, “I worry a lot.”
“About?”
“My family,” I say, letting out a breath. “Since my dad left, things have been strained. He was the main money-maker, so my mom was kind of fucked. We all pull together to help out, but I feel like it’s not enough. You see, my mom is the most amazing person in the world. And Jude’s moved away, Jace has a one-way ticket into the NHL, my sister Lucy and her daughter will one day move out, and I want so bad to go into the NHL, but then I’ll be leaving too. She’ll be alone. Whoa, I really unloaded on you there. My bad.”
I sit up, taking in a deep breath before dumping out my cup. No more drinking for me. I need to give my liver a break, obviously.
Sitting up, she turns to me, her legs touching mine, and heat explodes between us. I want to place my hand on her leg. I want to feel her. Touch her. Consume myself with her. But before I can even act on my feelings, she’s talking.
“It’s okay,” she says, covering my hand with hers. “You needed to, and I’m good to do that too, since you’ll never see me again after tomorrow.”
“Unfortunately,” I say softly, and when I glance up, her face mirrors mine.
Disappointment.
She doesn’t say anything for a moment, but then she says, “I’m not supposed to agree.”
Perplexed by that, I ask, “Why?”
“’Cause there is no future for us.”
“No?” I ask, even though I know there isn’t.
“No, I live in Arkansas, you in Nashville. I am so obsessed with being in the NHL that I don’t have time to even have a functioning relationship with a female friend, let alone try to make one with you. I want to go upstairs and fuck your brains out, I do, and that’s not the Jack talking. But I’m not sure I can and walk away with my heart intact. I don’t know if I can be a one-night stand.”
Wow. I want to throw my arms up in victory at being able to read her, but at the same time, I can see the struggle on her gorgeous face. She’s working her lip and she is nervous. I make her nervous. I make her feel and I am enjoying that way too much.
It’s evident though, that she won’t act on it.
Nodding, I say, “I hear you.”
“Don’t think I thought that you wanted a future with me, that’s not what I meant. But I mean, I don’t… Shit, I don’t know. I’m drunk.”