“Maddie, huh?”
“Yeah. Why?”
Robin laughed and said, “Nothing. It was just Madison last night. Now, it’s Maddie.”
“I call her Maddie sometimes. She calls me El.”
“The merch tent is over there.” Robin pointed about fifty yards away. “And, El?”
“Yeah?”
“You have a spring in your step that has nothing to do with this wind. I saw you a minute ago. You two looked happy.”
Elodie couldn’t hide her blush and said, “We are.”
“We?”
“Robin, I can’t right now. I need to get my archer ready.”
“Well, I’m taking off soon. I have an appointment back in Colorado that I can’t miss. I just wanted to remind you that I need an answer soon, El; from you, and from her.”
“The job?”
“I can only hold spots for you and Madison for so long. You know this is her best shot at making the Olympic team, especially if you two are more than just coach and athlete now.”
“I know,” she replied.
“But?”
“But, I guess I’m being selfish because I don’t want her to go now.”
“You can come with her.”
“I can’t. I’m a lawyer, Robin. I have two employees, a law office, and a house that I own waiting for me back home.”
“I’m not going to push you. I want people who want to work with us, but I can give you a few more days. Then, I need to know. Can you tell Madison the same?”
“I will,” Elodie said.
“Okay. I hope to hear from you soon, El. This is a big shot for both of you. I hope you guys take it.”
Elodie hugged Robin goodbye. Then, she walked hurriedly to the merch tent, bought the first hat she could find, and walked back to where she noticed Madison standing, waiting for her round.
“Will this work?” she asked, holding the hat.
“Yeah. Thanks, gorgeous.” Madison slid the hat on.
“Maddie!”
“What?” Madison asked. She looked around at the people standing nearby. “I don’t care if they know. Do you?”
“I’m your coach.”
“You’re more than that, and it doesn’t matter to me if anyone here knows that.” Madison leaned in a little closer. “But, if you don’t want people to know, I’ll keep it down.” She looked a little disappointed. “I’m just excited.”
“It’s not about you; you know that, right?”
“I guess. I know we need to talk after this whole thing is done, but I’m proud to be with you, Elodie Booker; whatever that means.”
“I’m proud to be with you, too, Mad.” Elodie cupped her cheek. She wanted to kiss Madison, but she removed her hand instead and glanced around. “We’ll talk about what’s next after this, okay?”
“Madison Fletcher?” a man said.
“Right here.” Madison raised her hand and then yawned.
“You okay?”
“Some hot chick kept me up all night,” Madison answered, winking at her and giving Elodie a cocky smile.
◆◆◆
Madison was off, and it was her fault. No, Madison was losing, and it was her fault. Madison was down two sets to none, and she needed to hit the ten to even tie this set and earn one point.
“It’s north-east now,” Elodie said.
Madison didn’t reply. The archers never did. She lined up her shot and hit the nine. That was it; she was out. Her opponent, Janice Morton, had won three sets to none. Madison shook her hand and gave her the good-game speech. Then, she turned around and looked at Elodie. She smiled, and it wasn’t forced or just a show for the people watching that she was being a good sport. It was a genuine smile.
“What are you smiling about?”
Madison laughed and said, “Normally, I’d be so pissed at myself.”
“Normally? You lost, Madison.”
“I know. I was there.” Madison continued to smile as they walked past the stands and toward the parking lot.
“Maddie, the wind was bad, but you were off today. You–”
“I am going home with you,” Madison said. “I had a shitty day because I stayed up all night making love to a beautiful woman.” She dropped her gear by the trunk of their rental car. “I will never regret that.” She pulled Elodie into her, threw off her hat, and sat on the trunk.
“Babe, this was worth points.”
“El, you’re worth a whole lot more to me than points,” Madison replied, wrapping her arms around Elodie’s neck. “Now, I don’t care if the people in this parking lot know that I want to kiss you. Do you?”
“Maddie, this is bad. We shouldn’t have–”
“Don’t even think about saying what I think you’re going to say.”
“Who are you, and what have you done with Madison?” Elodie placed her hands on Madison’s thighs, moving to stand between them. “You want the Olympic team.”
“And you,” Madison said, shrugging a shoulder. “What good is any of this if I don’t have someone to share it with, El?”
Elodie thought back to Robin’s comment at dinner the night before. She smiled and stared into Madison’s eyes.
“We thought we’d be here another night, so there’s no rush to check out of the hotel,” Elodie replied.
Madison’s grin turned wicked, and she said, “We should really make the most of it, then.”
They drove back to the hotel in relative silence. Classic rock blared on the radio. Elodie’s hand was on Madison’s thigh, drawing circles over her pants. She wished it was skin, but she’d have those pants off soon enough. Her plan was foiled, though, when they arrived at their rooms and noticed that both of them were currently occupied by the hotel maid staff.
“Well, this isn’t what I was hoping for,” Elodie said, staring into the wide-open doors of their rooms.
“What were you hoping for?” Madison asked in a tone that told Elodie she knew exactly what she was hoping for.
Elodie turned to her, pressed her to the wall next to the door, and said, “You in that bed, with nothing on.”
Madison grunted and said, “We shared the same hope.”
“What now?” Elodie asked, placing her hand on Madison’s hip and the other against the wall.
“I think we should go to lunch.”
“They should be done soon, right?” Elodie asked, kissing her neck.
“We’ve been putting off having a pretty important conversation, El.”
“I know.” Elodie took a step back. “Hotel restaurant?”
“Let’s go,” Madison said.
CHAPTER 27
Madison cleared her throat before she took a long drink from her water. She had just lost an important tournament that would have gotten her one step closer to her goal had she won or even placed in the top four. She’d been more than exhausted and distracted. The wind wasn’t even a factor, and she knew that. She’d been thinking about Elodie. Madison smiled at the woman now as Elodie was placing her order with the waiter. She was smiling as well. She looked so happy. Madison was so happy, too, which made no sense because she should be competing in a tournament instead of having lunch and thinking about having sex with the woman sitting across from her.
“So,” Elodie said.
“So,” Madison repeated.
“We’re supposed to be talking,” Elodie said, smiling at her.
“We’re doing a great job,” Madison joked.
“If we’re going to do this, Maddie, I don’t think I can be your coach anymore.”
“If we’re going do to what?” Madison asked because they hadn’t actually said it out loud yet.
Elodie leaned forward and said, “Be together, Mad.”
Madison blushed a little and said, “Together. I like that.”
“That’s what we’re doing, right? Going through all of this to have that.”
“It’s a pretty roundabout way of saying you want to be my girlfriend, El.” Madison placed her head on her o
wn hand and her elbow on the table, smiling at her.
“I haven’t had one of those in a long time.”
“Neither have I,” Madison said.
“And I don’t know that I’m done going through the stuff I’ve been avoiding for years. Are you sure you want to put up with that?”
“If it means I get to be with you, yes. I’m not done going through what I’ve been going through for years, either.”
Elodie took a drink of her iced tea and asked, “When was the last time you talked to her?”
“I talked to her about you yesterday, actually,” she replied honestly.
“About me?”
“When I got back to my room, I realized I didn’t bring her phone with me this weekend. I must have left it at Larry’s.”
“Can he send it to you?”
“I don’t even know if he’s found it. It’s just the last place I saw it. I’ll text him at some point and tell him that he can – I don’t know – reset it and use it, or just sell it, if he wants. I have all of our pictures, videos, and stuff backed up on my computer.” Madison sighed. “It was a crutch, but it’s not one I need anymore, El.”
“What did you tell her about me?” Elodie asked with a soft smile.
“That I found someone I want to be with, and that I hope she’s okay with that; wherever she is.”
“You think she would be?”
“Yes. I know she didn’t want me to be alone. I thought it would take a lot longer to find you, though. Honestly, I figured I’d be well into my forties before I let someone in again.”
“Well, as someone who is already into her thirties, I’ll tell you that I feel like I’ve been waiting a long time to meet someone like you.”
“El, I–”
The waiter dropped their plates in front of them, cutting Madison off. He disappeared after asking them if there was anything else they needed.
“What were you going to say?” Elodie asked her.
“That I don’t know what to do now. I’ve never done this before. This is an adult relationship, and the only relationship I’ve ever been in was in high school. I saw Wiley every day in class, in between classes, and we would hang out after school. She got sick before we graduated. Then, I went to college, reluctantly, but she was at home or in the hospital. We never got to really do the real relationship thing. So, even though you haven’t done this a lot, or recently, you have a lot more experience with it than I do.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“If you’re not my coach, I can’t stay in the office anymore, El. I don’t even know if I can stay in town. I’m not going to the academy, and outside of that place, there aren’t exactly a lot of archery coaches at this level where you live.”
Elodie placed her fork to the side of her plate and said, “There’s always Robin’s new program.”
“In Colorado?”
“Yeah,” Elodie replied.
“You’re not in Colorado, El.”
“We can make it work,” Elodie said. “You’d be traveling a lot for tournaments anyway, leading up to the games.”
“So, we start off as long-distance? I don’t want that,” Madison replied. “I want to be with you.”
“It’s not a dorm. I can visit on the weekends, or you can stay with me. I can work from your place for a few days if I don’t have client meetings I need to take, and I’ll go to all of your competitions.”
Madison didn’t like the sound of that. It sounded complicated. It sounded like she would only see Elodie every so often, and she had only had one night with her. When they had finally fallen asleep last night, she had held on to Elodie, never wanting to let her go. It was the best feeling in the world, and Madison wanted to repeat it every single night. The thought of going weeks at a time without seeing her girlfriend made her heart race, and not in a good way.
“To what end?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“What happens after? If I make the Olympic team, that’s great. I don’t know what’s next for me after that, El. I know I love this sport, and that I’d like to keep competing for a while – as long as I can, really – but if you’re not my coach, and I’m not living near you, how will this work?”
“We have a long time before we have to worry about that.”
“But I do worry about it. I am worrying about it. I’ve been stuck in the past, thinking about the girl I lost for the longest time. Now, I’m finally here in the present, with the woman I’m with and can see a future with, and I want to talk about it. I want to know that this will last, Elodie.” Madison lowered her head. “It’s too much too soon, isn’t it? I’m freaking you out.”
Elodie chuckled and said, “You’re not, actually. You’re asking questions I have as well. I just don’t have all the answers, babe. I want this. I wouldn’t have come to your room last night if I didn’t think this could work; if I didn’t want this to work. I do. I’ve been in the longest funk, not dealing with shit from my past and avoiding things I want from life. I can’t even go to the movie night picnic thing because seeing those couples and families together just makes me feel alone. I don’t want to be alone anymore, Maddie. I want this, too, okay? I just need to know that you and I can figure out those answers together, because I know I don’t have all of them.”
Madison was surprised by Elodie’s complete honesty and her show of vulnerability. It made her fall just a little bit more in love with her.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” she said softly.
“Hey, Maddie?”
Madison met her gaze.
“I love you.”
Madison gulped audibly. Her eyes went wide. She had not been expecting to hear those words come from Elodie’s mouth anytime soon. In fact, she’d been holding them in herself, because she couldn’t stand the idea of saying them to Elodie and not hearing them back.
“I love you, too,” she said after a long moment.
Elodie immediately looked relieved. Madison felt the same way.
“Let’s finish our lunch and go up to the room,” she told Madison.
“Because you want to show me how much you love me?” Madison teased.
“Yes.” Elodie wasn’t teasing.
◆◆◆
Elodie held Madison’s hands above her head. She kissed her neck. She rolled her hips, and Madison about lost it. Elodie let go of her hands and lowered herself further until her mouth was hovering over Madison’s nipples.
“Do you think you’ll come again if I only touch these?” Elodie asked her as her own long tongue emerged and licked Madison’s nipple.
“Is that going to be a goal of yours every time we do this?”
“Probably,” Elodie said, and then she made Madison come by only sucking on her nipples.
An hour later, Madison was exploring Elodie’s body in the shower. She knelt in front of her and took Elodie into her mouth. Elodie’s hands were pressed to the walls on either side of them. Madison’s hand snaked up between her girlfriend’s legs. She moved two fingers inside Elodie and waited. Elodie’s hips bucked into her mouth. Madison sucked harder as she flicked the fingers inside.
“God, Maddie!”
“Good?” Madison asked, knowing the answer already.
“Shut up and don’t stop,” Elodie replied, pressing Madison’s head against her.
Madison smirked and got back to work. Just as Elodie’s sounds overtook the shower stall, Madison heard something else in the background. It was her phone. Nothing was more important to her than letting this woman finish coming down from her orgasm, so it would have to wait.
“That was so good,” Elodie replied. “Why didn’t we start having sex earlier?”
“Because you were playing hard to get.” Madison stood up and kissed her. “Are you done with that now?”
“Definitely done with that.” Elodie wrapped her arms around Madison’s neck. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. Just be here now,” Madison replied, pressing her body into El
odie’s.
“Did I hear a phone?”
“I’m surprised you could hear anything over that scream.” Madison kissed her lips.
“Don’t get cocky. We’ve talked about this.” Elodie smirked at her.
“In the context of archery, we did; not in the bedroom department.” Madison slid a thigh between Elodie’s and pressed it into her sex.
“I cannot go again right now. Give me, like, ten minutes.”
“You can have five. I’m going to hop out and check my phone.” She kissed Elodie’s lips quickly. “Meet you in bed.”
Madison grabbed a thick hotel towel, grateful she’d booked them a nice place again, wrapped it around her body, and made her way into the bedroom. She picked up her phone, which showed two missed calls from her parents, and when she heard the water in the shower turn off, she decided to walk into Elodie’s room to call them back.
“Hey. What’s up?” she asked when her dad answered the phone.
“You lost?” he asked.
“Oh,” she replied. “Yeah, I went out early.”
“I know. I saw the updates on the site. Why didn’t you call to tell us?”
“I’ve been busy, Dad.” Madison sat on the bed Elodie wouldn’t be needing anymore.
“First, she doesn’t show up. Then, she does, and you win. But, today, you’re out early. What’s going on with that coach of yours, Madison? Is it time for a change? Maybe she’s not dedicated enough to–”
“Dad, Elodie isn’t my coach anymore,” she interrupted.
“Oh. Well, good. I’ve got a couple I’ve been researching that–”
“She’s my girlfriend.”
CHAPTER 28
“Your dad already hates me. This is not going to go well,” Elodie replied.
“It’s going to be fine.”
“Maybe we can just delay this until you and I have been together longer.”
“El, you’re being really cute right now.” Madison scooted over in the car and kissed her cheek. “Like, really cute.”
“Maddie, I’m serious.” Elodie turned to her. “I’m ten years older than you; a failed archery coach that also happens to barely be a lawyer. And now, he knows we’re sleeping together. Your father might murder me in my sleep tonight.”
A Shot at Gold Page 18