Face Off

by P. J. Trebelhorn

  Then don’t leave. It scared Savannah to realize how close those words were to coming out of her mouth. She started to pull her hands away, but Maddie stopped her by covering them with her own and holding them in place.

  “I’m going to kiss you now,” Maddie said. She must have seen the surprise Savannah felt because she gave her a lopsided smile and gave her an excuse. “You know, just for practice. I have a feeling Lisa won’t believe we’re seeing each other if we aren’t convincing at being affectionate.”

  “We have to be convincing,” Savannah said with a nod. She closed her eyes against the torrent of desire running through her. She leaned into the touch when Maddie cupped her cheek and slowly ran her thumb across her bottom lip. She opened her eyes again and saw the desire swirling in Maddie’s.

  Savannah felt out of breath, and if the rapid rise and fall of Maddie’s chest was any indication, she was too. Unable to hold back any longer, Savannah gripped her hips tighter and pulled Maddie’s body against her. Maddie snaked her arms around her neck and leaned closer, stopping only when their lips were a fraction of an inch apart.

  “You are so amazingly sexy,” she whispered, and then pressed their lips together softly.

  Savannah thought her knees were going to give out. Her last coherent thought was that she’d never been kissed like this before. Or maybe she’d just never let herself be kissed like this before. She parted her lips to allow Maddie’s tongue inside, and all thought ceased to exist. All she could concentrate on was the insistent throbbing between her legs. Oh, and the way Maddie’s body felt against her own, and the incredible things her tongue was doing to her. She finally pulled away when she realized she needed to breathe. She rested her forehead against Maddie’s and sighed.

  “Holy crap,” she said.

  “I’ll second that,” Maddie said. “And can I just add, wow.”

  “You can.” Savannah chuckled. She took a step back, knowing if they stood this close together for much longer, she’d have no choice but to pick her up and carry her to the bedroom. “I’ll call you tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. Tomorrow.”

  Savannah stood on her porch watching until Maddie made it safely into her own house. She went back inside and leaned back against the door after she’d closed it. Leo came over after a moment and began playing with her feet. She picked him up and kissed his nose.

  “I’m in so much trouble, my little man,” she said as she turned off the lights and headed toward her bedroom. He began to purr and swiped his tongue across her chin a couple of times. “So much trouble.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Are you busy today?” Savannah asked when she called Maddie a few days later. It was the weekend, and she had the urge to take a ride on her motorcycle. She hadn’t even hesitated to call Maddie when she thought about her going along.

  “Not at all,” Maddie answered, sounding happy to hear from her. “What did you have in mind?”

  “A ride, and maybe a short hike along a part of the Appalachian Trail,” Savannah said as she was filling up a couple of water bottles.

  “I’d love to. When do we leave?”

  “As soon as you’re ready just come on over.”

  It was only about twenty minutes before her doorbell rang, and her pulse began to race at the anticipation of seeing Maddie again. She opened the door and smiled at her as she motioned her in. Of course Leo was right there begging for attention from his new favorite person. Savannah had to admit while she was jealous of him, he did have impeccable taste in women. Maybe Lisa should have trained him to find her dates. He certainly couldn’t have done any worse than her.

  They stopped after walking the trail for about an hour and sat on a large rock just off the path. Maddie dug through her backpack they’d filled with their water bottles and some food. Savannah accepted the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she handed to her and took a big bite.

  “So, how is this dating thing going to work?” Maddie asked after swallowing a bite of her own sandwich.

  “Just like this,” Savannah said with a grin, her arms spread out to encompass the great outdoors. “Or do you not like this as a date?”

  “I think it’s fantastic,” Maddie said as she slapped a mosquito that landed on her leg.

  “I guess I should have remembered to bring bug spray. Sorry about that.”

  “No, I’m serious,” Maddie said, placing a hand on Savannah’s thigh. “I’d much rather be doing this than sitting in a movie theater or some dark restaurant. This is perfect.”

  “We should probably tell each other about ourselves. To make it seem authentic, I mean.”

  “What would you like to know?” Maddie took a drink of water and looked at her.

  “I don’t know,” Savannah said with a shrug. She wanted to know everything about Maddie if she was being honest, but how did she admit to that? “Favorite color, food, movies, music. You aren’t a Republican, are you?”

  “No,” Maddie said with a chuckle. “Never have been, and never will be. Let’s see, blue, pizza, all kinds of music, and I have a strange love for horror movies. They scare the crap out of me, but I love them.”

  “Horror movies, huh?” Savannah said, giving her a mock look of disgust.

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “No, I just never understood the appeal. They all just seem so far-fetched, you know?” Savannah found herself wondering if they watched a horror movie together, would Maddie allow her to hold and protect her? She gave herself a mental shake. “Give me a good psychological thriller any day.”

  “I like those too,” Maddie said with a nod. “Are you going to tell me your favorites?”

  “Green, steak, and my phone has a little bit of every kind of music on it.” Savannah finished her sandwich and leaned back, her hands on the rock behind her. “And don’t laugh, but I love The Sound of Music.”

  Right on cue, Maddie burst out laughing. Savannah stared at her. She wasn’t even trying to hide her reaction. Savannah leaned forward and frowned at her. She didn’t laugh at the horror films Maddie loves, even though she’d wanted to.

  “I told you not to laugh.”

  “I’m sorry,” Maddie said, shaking her head and trying to stop. “It’s just that I really love that movie too. I didn’t want to say it because I thought for sure you’d laugh at me.”

  “I would never laugh at that.” Savannah smiled, secretly thrilled to find out they had the same favorite movie. “You should probably know something about hockey too. You said you weren’t much of a fan, right?”

  “Well, I’ve been reading a lot about it, and I’ve watched some games on the internet.” Maddie seemed embarrassed to admit to it, but Savannah found it rather endearing to learn she was willing to go to all the trouble to pick up hockey knowledge on her own. “I know all about the penalties, but there’s one thing I haven’t run across.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The jersey you wear has a C on it. I know it stands for captain, I’m not that naïve,” Maddie said with a grin. “But in the games I watched, there were players who had an A on their jerseys. Does that mean they’re assistant captains?”

  “It means alternate captain. The captain and alternates are the only ones who can speak to the officials about calls made on the ice. There are alternates in case the captain isn’t available due to injury or if they’re already in the penalty box. For that reason, you don’t usually find the alternates on the same line as the captain.”

  It had been a long time since she’d needed to explain hockey to a woman, mostly because the women she spent time with couldn’t care less about hockey. Either that or they were already fans and didn’t need any explanations. It was nice sitting here on a lazy Saturday afternoon talking hockey with Maddie.

  “You must make a pretty good living at it, right?”

  “Are you a gold digger?” Savannah narrowed her eyes at her. “Just after my vast fortune?”

  “I wouldn’t care if a woman had any money at all as
long as she was a good person and made me laugh.” Maddie said, sounding and looking completely serious.

  “Good answer,” Savannah replied with a nod. In fact it was the best reaction she could have hoped for. “Actually, no, I don’t make enough playing hockey to even live on. I’m a veterinarian during the day. Well, during the season I’m on call and only go in for a couple of days a week. In the off-season, I work there full time. The woman I work for is pretty flexible with me because she knows hockey is my first passion, and she also knows I won’t be playing forever, so someday she’ll get me full-time all year.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “Tell me about your photography.”

  “It took me a long time to get to where I am now, which is working for myself.” Maddie put their garbage back in the backpack and took another drink of her water. “I started out working for a newspaper, and then a couple of magazines, but now I make a pretty good living doing things like publicity stills, which I’m doing for the Warriors, and I also did for the orchestra in Chicago. Once a year I travel to different places and take photos of nature, which I sell to magazines and as art.”

  “Very cool.” Savannah always wanted to travel somewhere other than the United States and Canada. Maybe someday she could go somewhere with Maddie.

  Damn it, she really needed to stop thinking this way. She needed to remind herself that even though they were dating, it wasn’t real. Even if she’d wanted to date her for real, it would never work. Not to mention she wasn’t sure Maddie would want to.

  A group of hikers was headed their way, and their tranquil afternoon seemed to be coming to a close. Maddie stood and looked down at Savannah.

  “Ready to go?” she asked, even though she’d be perfectly happy to sit here and talk to Savannah all day long. It wasn’t realistic to think like that. She had a feeling it was going to be difficult to keep in mind they were only faking this relationship, especially if they had many more dates like this one.

  “I guess.” Savannah sounded reluctant to leave as well, which caused a surge of happiness to run wild through Maddie. Was it possible Savannah could be thinking the same things?

  No, she told herself. Savannah was best friends with Kelly, who was so obviously a player, and that made the odds pretty good Savannah was as well. Especially given the descriptor of perpetually single Savannah had labeled herself. At best this was simply a fun diversion for Savannah, and Maddie knew she’d do well to remember it.

  “What about convincing people we’re together?” Maddie asked when they’d almost made it back to the parking area. “I mean, if we’re supposed to be dating, we’d be kissing and touching, wouldn’t we?”

  Savannah didn’t answer right away, and she was worried maybe she wouldn’t. They got to Savannah’s motorcycle and she was about to pose the question again when Savannah decided to respond.

  “I think the more time we spend together, the easier it would be to make everyone believe we’re dating,” she said with a shrug before unhooking the helmets and handing one to Maddie. “The more comfortable we are with each other the more convincing we’ll be, don’t you think?”

  “Maybe,” Maddie answered as she put the helmet on and got on the bike behind her. “So maybe we shouldn’t tell people until we get to that point.”

  “A good idea,” Savannah said over her shoulder. She started the bike and Maddie put her arms around her, clasping her hands against Savannah’s surprisingly firm stomach. Savannah placed a hand on top of hers. “Hold on tight.”

  That won’t be a problem, Maddie thought. She had the urge to let her hands wander up and cover Savannah’s breasts, but when they started to move, she was actually afraid to move them anywhere, and held on a little tighter.

  She was very aware of her breasts pressed against Savannah’s back, and Savannah’s ass pushed back tightly between her legs. She felt the first signs of arousal and shifted slightly on the seat.

  “You okay back there?” Savannah asked over her shoulder.

  “Fine,” Maddie replied, but she wasn’t sure she would ever be fine again. All she could think about was being in this same position, sans clothes. No, reminding herself this was all fake wasn’t going to be easy.

  Chapter Ten

  The next ten days or so flew by, and before Savannah knew it, Court and Lana had arrived in town for their wedding. Gail had asked her to pick them up from the airport, and Savannah was happy to oblige. She and Maddie hadn’t spent a lot of time together since Savannah had been keeping fairly busy at the vet’s office, not to mention Maddie stressing about shooting this wedding. Apparently, it was the first wedding she’d ever done, and she wanted it to go perfectly. Savannah hoped they’d be seeing more of each other once the nuptials were over.

  “So, Van, are you bringing a date to the wedding?” Court asked as Savannah pulled her car into traffic leaving the airport.

  “What?” Savannah glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “You know I don’t date.”

  “Yeah, I do, but I was hoping you might have changed in the time I’ve been gone.”

  Courtney Abbott had played nine full seasons with the Kingsville Warriors, and for most of that time Savannah and Kelly had been her line mates. The three of them had spent a lot of time together on and off the ice, and other than Kelly, Court knew her best. When Court had been traded early on in her tenth season, Savannah and Kelly had both struggled at first learning to play with a new center as well as losing their best friend.

  But happiness looked good on Court, and on Lana, the woman she was going to marry. Court was now the assistant coach for the Wolves, the women’s team in Chicago, and was on track to take over as head coach when the woman currently in the position retired after the next season.

  “I am sort of seeing someone,” Savannah said, and almost instantly regretted it. Court turned her head and gave Lana a strange look. She saw Lana shrug when she glanced at her in the rearview mirror.

  “How do you sort of see someone?” Eric, Lana’s eighteen-year-old son, asked from the back seat where he was sitting next to his mother. Eric was a pretty incredible hockey player himself, having led his junior team to two straight Memorial Cup titles. He’d been taken by the Chicago Blackhawks late in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft just the month before.

  “It’s kind of complicated,” Savannah said with a sigh.

  “I think we need to hear this story,” Lana said.

  “Later, okay?” Savannah looked at Eric in the mirror and, without giving anyone a chance to respond, addressed him. “So, Eric, I guess you’re probably pretty excited to be in the Blackhawks organization.”

  “They’re my favorite team, so yeah,” he said with a grin. “But Philadelphia or New York would have been okay too, because it would be close to my grandparents. My uncle Joey has promised to bring them to my first game in the NHL though, so that’s pretty cool.”

  “The Flyers are my team,” Savannah told him with a grin of her own. “Even though they’ve pretty well sucked for the past few years. Where am I taking you guys?”

  “Lana and Eric are staying with her parents, and I’m staying with Lori,” Court said, referring to her younger sister.

  “You’re not staying together somewhere?”

  “My parents are old-fashioned,” Lana said

  “Don’t they know you live together?” Savannah asked.

  “They do, but they won’t allow it in their house,” Eric said with a chuckle.

  Lana leaned forward and placed a hand on Court’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “It will be good for Court to spend some time with her friends since she doesn’t get the chance to see you guys very often.”

  “You wouldn’t say that if you knew us better,” Savannah said with a wink directed at Court.

  * * *

  Maddie was nervous as hell. She’d made the trip to Lana’s parents’ house a few days earlier so Maria Caruso could give her a tour and let her see where the wedding was going to take place. She
’d never photographed a wedding before, and because it was such a huge event for any couple, she was afraid she was going to screw everything up. The yard was a good size, but considering the entire Warriors team was invited, along with people from Chicago and former Olympic teammates of Court’s, not to mention Lana’s extended family, she was worried there wasn’t going to be enough room. But, she told herself, it wasn’t really her problem. All she needed was room to set up her equipment, and some decent sunlight to take her photos.

  She was busy going over her list of things she needed for the wedding when her phone began to ring. Exasperated, she got up to retrieve it from the kitchen counter where she’d left it earlier. She smiled when she saw it was Lana calling.

  “Hey, lady, I guess you made it here all right?” she said when she answered.

  “Yes, safe and sound,” Lana said. “Savannah Wells picked us up at the airport and just dropped Eric and me off at my parents.”

  “Did you leave Court at home?” Maddie joked.

  “Yeah, I decided to marry someone else.” Lana laughed, and Maddie laughed along with her. “My parents won’t let her stay here with me, so she’s staying at her sister’s house until the wedding.”

  “That’s a little odd, isn’t it?”

  “Not if you knew my parents,” Lana said with a sigh. “Mom said you came by the other day. Does everything look satisfactory to you?”

  “That’s probably something you should ask the wedding planner, not the photographer.” Maddie moved from where she’d been sitting at the kitchen table and settled in on the couch. It didn’t take long for Duke, her three-year-old black German shepherd, to jump up and get comfortable with his head resting on her lap. She absently scratched behind his ear as she talked, and he sighed happily. “But everything seems fine for what I need.”

  Mary was the one who’d wanted the dog, but he bonded with Maddie, much to Mary’s chagrin. So, when Maddie had decided to move to Kingsville to be closer to her sister, there really wasn’t any question Duke would be going with her. He was nothing but a big cuddle-bug, which surprised Maddie, given the stigma so often associated with his breed.