“I feel like I’m dreaming and at any moment I’m going to wake up to find out that it’s not real or as good as it seems.”
“That makes sense. Are you glad you’re taking the chance he’s giving you?”
“Yeah. I think we could make us last. Before, it always seemed like it was bad timing or things just weren’t like they should be for us to be together. Now, I think everything is lined up and we can do it as long as we don’t fuck it up.”
“Hope y’all can because I’m done finding you dates.”
I laugh. “Good to know. I’m heading to bed. I don’t know if Ian is going to try to call or not. I think he said they were flying home tonight, so if you hear someone come in, it’s him.”
“Good to know. Wouldn’t want to attack him with a crutch.” He picks up one of them and waves it around, causing me to laugh and shake my head.
“Night, Lo-Lo.”
“Night, Syd.”
“Babe, what’s Logan doing here?”
Ugh. It’s too early for questions. I roll toward the sound of Ian’s voice, keeping my eyes closed as I reach for him. Eek! My fingers touch a chilled chest. He’s not toasty and warm like the cocoon of warmth surrounding me.
“Babe.” If I felt like mocking him, I would. He’s annoyed with me for not answering his question? It’s who knows what hour in the morning, he woke me up from a dead sleep, I’m now cuddled against him, and the only thing he’s concerned about is Logan and why he’s here?
The hell with that. I pucker my lips. If he wants me to talk, he can kiss me. That’s the kind of hello I want. I wait at least ten seconds before he sighs, his breath hitting my chest, and his hand diving into my hair. A moment later, his mouth is pressed against mine in a chaste, polite kiss.
“That’s pathetic,” I say when he pulls away not two seconds later. My eyes are finally open and I’m not enjoying the fact that he has a smirk on his face. “What in the hell kind of kiss is that?”
“An obligatory one. Why are Logan and Savannah asleep on the living room floor?”
“Seriously? That’s more important to you than kissing me after you’ve been on the road? Especially when you rudely woke me up.”
“Just tell me and I’ll give you the kiss you want.”
“I don’t want the damn kiss now.” I roll back over and close my eyes to go back to sleep. I would be curious as to why he was here too if the roles were reversed, but I wouldn’t make that my first priority. If it wasn’t the middle of the night and if I wasn’t still half-asleep, then maybe I wouldn’t be so grouchy, but that’s not the case.
Ian grabs my hip and gives it a squeeze. “Okay, gorgeous. Turn around, so I can kiss you.”
I scoff.
But you see, the problem with having a professional athlete as your boyfriend is he’s in good shape. Ian has no problems using his body to his advantage. What’s worse is it doesn’t even take much to weaken my resolve. He presses that solid, six-pack show-off of a torso against my back. Puts that strong arm around my waist. Slips one of those large, all-muscle thighs between my thighs and nestles it against the very center of me.
“Babe.” This time, his voice is soft as his fingers dance across the waistband of my pajama bottoms. “Please.”
Damn Ian and his rare pleases.
I turn to face him. He captures my mouth the second he can, the pressure from his lips hard and his tongue thrusting in. It’s an all-consuming kiss that makes you forget your own name, much less anything unimportant. This is the kiss I was wanting.
“Missed you,” he murmurs.
“Missed you too.” Might as well tell him what he wants to know now. “We went over to have dinner with Carey and Logan. Savannah wanted him to come over for a sleepover; that’s why they’re there.”
He nods. “Let’s sleep. I’ve kept you up long enough and I definitely need it.” He kisses my forehead and quickly falls asleep.
In the morning, my intentions are to let him sleep in, but when I wake up, Ian isn’t in bed. I can hear Savannah giggling and smell the delicious aroma of bacon and biscuits. My stomach grumbles yet I pull the blankets up to my neck. I think what I miss the most about life pre-Savannah is the days where I could do absolutely nothing. It’s hard to do that now, if not completely impossible. Let me savor these few moments while I can.
Ian walks into the room with a plate. “Morning, gorgeous. Hungry?”
“Breakfast in bed?” I sit up as he sits next to me and hands me the plate.
“Yeah. Savannah’s in there finishing up with Logan.”
“Are you playing nice?” This is the first time he’s seen Logan since he snapped at him.
“Yeah. We’re good. You aren’t going to thank me for breakfast?”
“Thanks. Can I ask you something?”
“What is it, babe?” He grabs my biscuit and takes a bite.
“Would it be terrible of me to take Savannah to daycare, drop Logan off, and then come here and crawl back into bed?”
Ian tilts his head with confusion. “Why would that be terrible? You don’t have classes or anything today, right?”
“Nope. I was just thinking about how I haven’t had a day where I do nothing since before she was born and today seems like a good opportunity. But it doesn’t even sound right to say it.”
“Stay in bed, Sydney. I’ll take her and drop him off. You be lazy or take the card I gave you and go to the spa. Whatever you want. Logan will hopefully keep Savannah tonight for you to come to my game where the women will explain it to you. We’ll go out with everyone afterward.” His hand starts walking up from my knee. “Then come home for some fun.”
“You’re planning my entire day for me?”
“Do you want to hear what we’re doing tomorrow?” He raises an eyebrow, causing me to laugh.
“No, that’s okay. Update me tomorrow.”
Ian sits with me while I eat, occasionally stealing food from my plate. Every so often, he tosses out a suggestion for what I can do on my day off. Savannah’s little feet pound down the hall and a second later, she appears in the doorway. She must have dressed herself this morning because she’s wearing a colorful pair of leggings, but the top is a color that doesn’t match and it has ducks on it.
“Mommy! Look! Daddy’s here!”
“Yeah, I see that. He came in early this morning. Are you ready to go?”
“Yep!”
“You aren’t wearing shoes,” I point out.
“Oops!” She giggles and runs to her room.
“Did you notice she doesn’t match?” I ask Ian. It doesn’t matter. There are things worth fighting a toddler over and that’s often not one of them. But I do want to know what he says.
“Yeah, but she’s almost three and I told her she could wear whatever she wanted to. Does it really matter?” He started out sounding confident in his answer, but by the end, he’s looking at me for confirmation.
I smile at knowing he’s the one who let her make the decision. “No, it doesn’t.”
He starts to smile. “Was that a test question that I just passed?”
“Yes, and you passed with flying colors. I told you that you had good instincts.”
“Babe, you don’t have to pat me on the back every time I do something right. I feel settled and comfortable for the most part.”
“Okay. Go make sure she’s not wearing flip-flops or sandals. Tell Logan I’ll talk to him later. Thanks for taking them.”
“No problem.” He takes my plate, kisses me sweetly, and then leaves me behind.
I slouch in bed, pulling the covers up to my chin, and close my eyes, listening to the distant voices as they get ready to leave. This feels so wrong, but I’m going to enjoy it. A day almost all to myself! I can’t believe it! The spa sounds nice. Maybe get my nails done and get a massage. Do something to my hair. Oh, the options are endless! I should get a move on actually. The day will fly by.
After a long shower, I first go to the hairdresser. Lucky for me, walk
ins are welcome. I tell her she can do whatever she wants. I’ve come here before, so I trust her. My hair has gotten long, so she cuts it almost as short as it was when Ian reentered my life. She puts some highlights in it and then I’m off to get my nails done. I get shiny silver and navy colors for the Rebels.
The massage is ultimately my favorite thing. I may have really indulged by getting one that’s two hours long. I feel even more guilty when I make a stop by the mall and do a little shopping with Ian’s card. I’ve never had the freedom to spend money willy-nilly, but Ian suggested I go shopping, so… Here I am. I find Savannah some cute clothes and a new set of sheets and comforter.
When we moved to Ian’s, the only sheets I had were for a twin bed since that’s what she slept in at the apartment. But now, she has a full and her sheets and comforter are not exactly kid-friendly. I want to change that. Oh, I wonder if Ian would let me redecorate that room to make it kid-friendly. That could be part of her birthday present. She’s never had her own room. The one back at our old apartment wasn’t great because we weren’t allowed to do anything as far as painting. Not to mention, I was in there too. Half of the room looked like a kid’s room while the other half was clearly adult. Hopefully, Ian will let me spend his money on redoing that room.
For myself, I buy a few new clothes since it’s been forever since I last did that. And because I’m spending Ian’s money, I make sure to buy a few sexy things to wear for him. I don’t know if he particularly cares for those kinds of things because so far in my experience with him, he just wants me naked as soon as possible. This very well may be a waste of money. I’ll find out tonight.
“Sydney! Come sit!” Sylvia pats the seat between her and Meredith the moment she spots me.
I walk through the throng of people in the box until I’m able to sit down. It seems like there are more people in here than normal. Lizzy pulls her headphones away to say hello, which makes me wonder why she’s wearing them to start with, but no one seems to think it’s unusual.
“We hear you want to learn the game,” Meredith says.
“Yeah. I guess it’s time I turn into a fan.”
“You know absolutely nothing, right?” Sylvia asks.
“Right,” I confirm. My cheeks redden. “I’m not even sure what Ian does.” Sylvia’s jaw drops and Meredith’s eyes widen. “We never talked hockey,” I add.
“Okay, first, Ian is a defenseman,” Sylvia starts as the guys line up on the ice. She briefly identifies their position as we stand for the anthem. Afterward, she explains each of their positions and what they do.
As the game begins, Sylvia and Meredith alternate on explaining the game as it happens. It’s a wonderful thing when all that movement and bumping into one another and penalties start to make sense. That jumbled mess I saw before doesn’t look so jumbled or like a mess for that matter. It’s cool to watch Ian block shots. At one point, he falls to the ice to stop the puck. All I can do is wonder if that will leave a bruise.
I like watching him help guard the net, too. Their captain, who I learn has the nickname Captain Hook, gets a penalty and Ian is one of the lucky ones on the penalty kill. Ooh, look at me learning all of this new terminology. Ian may keel over if I start using any of it and actually know what I’m talking about on top of it. Granted, I only know the basics. Ian helps clear the puck and shave off some time. Sylvia’s husband, Scott, is supposed to get the puck, but it hops over his stick.
At least it clears our zone. The first period comes to a close and I start to get antsy over the fact that no one has scored. Imagine that! Me getting antsy over sports! It’s a miracle.
“Have you ever been to Pittsburgh?” Meredith asks.
“Ah, no.”
“Are you excited about going?”
What? “I’m going to Pittsburgh?”
Sylvia swoops in to grab my attention. “She’s getting married, remember? She and Noah are from Pittsburgh. Ian will be invited, which means you are invited, which means you get to go to Pittsburgh.”
“Oh. Then, yeah, I guess I’m excited. I’ve only ever been here and to Minnesota. So, the guys are close enough to invite each other to weddings?”
Meredith raises an eyebrow. “One of the guys has been around your daughter, right? I’d say they are close. Not all of them are close to everyone, but in the words of Noah, we’re like a family. They are like a family. They spend too much time together not to be.”
I nod in understanding. “Do y’all come to all the games?”
“I try to come to as many as I can,” Sylvia starts. “I like coming and Scott likes having me here.”
“Noah likes having me here, but I’m not here as often as Sylvia. I do come often, though,” Meredith answers.
Lizzy has removed her headphones for the moment, so she heard my question. “I come either when I want to talk to the girls or when Marc asks me to come. Of the three of us, I come the least, but I have issues on occasion.” She holds up the headphones, but I’m not sure what that means.
Sylvia leans in and whispers, “She has panic attacks sort of related to the game. When it’s a rough day, she listens to the broadcast of the game.” Oh. Okay. That makes sense, I guess.
I mostly listen, but sometimes, I contribute to the conversation ran by Sylvia and Meredith. It’s odd that before she was obsessed with finding out the backstory between Ian and me, but now, she hasn’t mentioned it once.
“How come you’re not being nosy?” I blurt out.
That surprises Sylvia for half a second. “Because I know what happened now.”
“How?”
“The guys were curious, too. How do you think we knew about you in the first place? Ian talked about you. He told the guys the full story and they told us. Well, Scott wasn’t one of them, but Marc and Noah were and after a while, Lizzy and Meredith got tired of me hounding them, so they told me. Curiosity satisfied; I can move on and forget about it.”
A second too late, my face blanches as I realize what this means. They most likely know that I kept Savannah from Ian. What do they think about me? Are they just being nice to me because Ian asked them to be? Sylvia puts a hand on my knee.
“We may be nosy, but we don’t judge.” She squeezes my knee and pulls her hand away, but a second later, she leans in. “Okay, I lied. We do judge, but it’s not our place to judge you for that. We like you and if you haven’t noticed, we don’t really talk to some of the other women. Since we do like you, we’d like to keep you in our circle. Does that work for you?”
She seems serious enough. Meredith is waiting for my response as well. The second period is about to start, so Lizzy has already put the headphones back on. “Yeah, sure.” Looks like I have new friends.
“Good. Okay, let’s test your knowledge and see if you retained anything from the first period.”
Oh, boy. She wants me to give her a play-by-play account of what’s happening on the ice? I spot my number eighty-five, take a deep breath, and figure I can do this. He’s my invested interest, the reason I care in the first place, so I’ve been paying attention. It’s time to show it.
Captain Hook rubs a hand over his hair from front to back and lets out a short puff of a sigh as he grabs the pair of boxing gloves, which he last received, and stands. The music is turned down and the room goes mostly silent. “I’ll make this short and sweet.”
“You? Sweet?” Tommy Boy interrupts, earning himself some chuckles and a glare from Brayden.
“He got the game-winning goal and he was the best D-man on the ice tonight. Good job, Bruiser.” Brayden tosses them to me and I catch them easily.
“Thanks, Captain Hooker. We all did real well.”
“Fucker,” he grumbles. He tolerates Captain Hook. Making it Hooker pushes it too far. I like to tease him every now and then. That’s all I’m willing to do. Brayden is usually an uptight guy, always serious, and I think in all the time I’ve known him, he’s smiled maybe twice. I don’t think he even smiles after he scores. It’s like the
re’s a permanent frown on his face.
Zane and Marc slap my shoulders in congrats as the rest of the guys hoot from their places across the room. A social media guru for the team comes in, so I hurry up and hang them around my neck for the photo she’ll take.
“Bruiser’s just showing off tonight because his woman came to watch,” Rams says.
“That makes sense,” Olsey nods. “He’s usually such a slacker.” He grins.
“Thank fuck he’s finally with his woman. He can focus instead of being on his phone all the damn time,” Marc adds.
“Shut the hell up. All of you.” Sydney had no effect on how I played. Thinking of her now, though, reminds me that I need to hurry the hell up and get out of here.
“Why do we have boxing gloves anyway?” Z asks, a bit quietly even though the music is turned back up so it’s unlikely anyone but me will hear him anyway.
“Ah, because Rebels are fighters? It’s symbolic? You gotta fight for what you want.”
“Kind of ironic though, don’t you think? We take the gloves off when we fight.”
I laugh. “Hey, I didn’t pick it.”
I make my way to the showers for a quick one and then get dressed, listening to the guys talk about our plans. A bunch of us are going to a bar. It surprises me a little that Brayden is going. He normally goes home if I had to guess. Which, it’s not like I always went out with the team because I chose Sydney instead, but when I did go, Brayden wasn’t there. Liam never goes either, and even he is going tonight. There are just some nights that brings those teammates out of their hiding places. This must be one of those nights.
“Are you going to the bar?” Zane asks me.
“Yeah. You?”
“Don’t think so.”
“How come?” He normally goes, I think, and especially if I go.
He shrugs.
“Come on, Z. You should go. It’ll be fun. Everyone else is going.”
In the end, I’m unable to talk him into going. I have a feeling it has something to do with Deanna. He should break up with her already. It’s going to end badly for him. I’m not sure how, but it looks like he cares too much and she cares too little. Not to mention, she’s for sure sleeping with other guys. Well, at least one other guy. Open relationship my ass. It’s not going to work. It really won’t work when Zane doesn’t like the idea of it, but he’s in it anyway because he doesn’t want to give up what little he does have. Damn. That almost sounds like part of my relationship with Sydney. I don’t think it’s the same.
It's Our Time (Carolina Rebels Book 4) Page 12