Reckless King

by Maya Hughes

  Despite what everyone thought, patience wasn’t my strong suit. Not when I needed something, when that need rode me so hard I couldn’t think straight. I’d never experienced anything like this before. She was long drives, sitting on the beach, and skating on the ice all wrapped up in one. None of those things would ever make me happy again if I wasn’t with her.

  Kara was all that mattered. I needed to see her. Needed to touch her and tell her all the things I’d tried to say over the phone and with messages. It didn’t do it justice. I couldn’t show her what she meant to me without looking into her eyes so she’d see I was completely serious.

  I’d lifted my hand to knock on the bright red door when it flew open. A willowy teenager with dark brown coily curls piled up high on her head like Kara always wore it and chestnut skin stared back at me.

  “Can I help you?” She had a big smile on her face and leaned against the door.

  I leaned back, checking the house number again. Definitely the right address.

  “Is Kara here?” Had she moved and not updated it in the online system?

  “Kara! Your boyfriend’s here!” she yelled toward the stairs. The gleeful grin on her face was one only a younger sibling could give. I’d seen it a hundred times on Olivia, Colm’s sister, and Grant, Ford’s brother.

  There was a thud of a door opening, followed by footsteps. All the words I’d repeated in my head fled as she appeared at the top of the staircase. My pulse picked up the pace as she froze on the first step with her eyes wide. Rushing down the steps, Kara shook her head at the girl, who had to be her sister, and stepped outside.

  “I’m going for a walk.”

  I backed up, and she closed the door before her sister could say anything. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I followed behind her as she stormed down the walkway. I picked up the pace and stepped in line with her.

  “What are you doing here, Heath?” She had her arms wrapped around her waist as she walked.

  I caught myself staring at her. Watching the way she nibbled on her lip as she walked down the tree-lined sidewalk, I wanted to touch her. Wrap my arms around her and somehow get her to believe it would all be okay.

  Our eyes locked and it, snapped me out of the spell she’d woven over me with every breath she took.

  “I dropped the class,” I blurted out.

  “What? Why?” She looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

  “I talked to Dean Morrison. Turns out, I didn’t need the class to begin with and my dean is a moron.”

  “But the class was finished. You got your grade.”

  “Wiped from the records.”

  “Why?” She stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

  “Because I don’t want it to be something looming over your head. Now no one can ever say you weren’t impartial or that you violated any rules. The class, my grade, it’s all gone. You can still do your PhD.”

  “Heath.” She shook her head and started walking.

  “And I came to apologize.”

  “Isn’t the championship tonight?” Her purple and pink top showcased her smooth skin.

  “In about an hour.”

  Her eyes got wide. “What the hell are you doing here? You’ve got to get there.”

  “The guys can do it without me. Hell, they’ve pretty much been doing it without me for the past couple of months anyway. This is more important.”

  “You’ve worked too hard for this, Heath. Go, just go, and we can talk about this later.”

  “I’m not leaving before we talk.”

  “No, you need to go. I’m serious.” She tried to push me toward my car.

  I captured her hands against my chest, letting her feel my racing heart.

  “So you finally understand.” I stared down at her.

  “Understand what?” Her eyes were clouded with confusion.

  “The need to put what you want aside to protect someone you care about. The feeling of saying screw it and pushing that person toward something you feel they have to do for their own happiness.”

  “But I didn’t just do it for me. I did it for you. For you to have your season and play your games, which is why you need to go.” She tried to turn me again.

  I reached across my chest to cover her hand with mine.

  “I can’t tell you how it’s eaten me up inside to think that I’d killed something you loved. That you felt you had to choose between this career you’d worked hard for and being with me.”

  She was shaking her head before I finished my sentence. “It had always been something in the back of my head. A little voice telling me this wasn’t the path for me and I wouldn’t be happy going in that direction, but I’d wanted to be like my parents, make them proud. Being with you made me brave enough to do what I wanted to do. It made me brave enough to face down the doubts I’d had about who I wanted to be.”

  I lifted my hand slowly, giving her all the time she needed to step away, but she didn’t. I ran my knuckles over her jaw and rested my forehead against hers.

  “I never want you to feel like you have to be anyone other than who you are around me. You being true to yourself is all I ever need from you.”

  She fisted her hand in my shirt. “You said we were over and walked away. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?”

  “I know and I hate that I hurt you like that. Hurt myself like that. Thought I was protecting you. But I’m making you a promise.”

  She stared up at me with glistening eyes.

  “I will never do anything like that again. I’ll never make that choice for us, even if it kills me.”

  Dropping my hold on her hand, I sank my fingers into her hair and held her close. Our lips whispered against each other.

  “Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? I’ve screwed this up left and right, and I’d like to stop doing that now. I’d like to be everything you need me to be, and I’m not getting in the way of us anymore.”

  She nodded, and my heart soared. “I need you to be you. And I need you to love me.”

  I sank deeper into our kiss as the words barely made their way out of her mouth. I pushed my own love and devotion into the dance of our tongues and the press of our lips.

  “More than anything, I love you. You’re the first woman I’ve ever said that to. I love you more than you can ever know, and it might even be verging on scary, so you’re in trouble now because I’m sticking to you like a barnacle.”

  Her laughter against my lips was music to my ears and fed my soul. She snapped her eyes wide open and grabbed on to my shirt.

  “What the hell are we still doing here? You’ve got a game. You’ve got to get back to campus.” She tried to push me away again.

  “Only if you come with me.”

  She bit her lip and nodded when she saw I meant it.

  “Okay, let’s go. Let’s go!”

  We climbed into the car, and I held her hand all the way to the stadium, fighting traffic the entire way. An hour until game time. It was the championship we’d fought for all year and it was time to show everyone what we were made of.

  35

  Kara

  Sitting in the bustling row, I was decked out in my Knights gear head to toe. Championship banners hung all over the stadium. The care package had been delivered to my seat with a note tucked inside.

  Wear it for me.

  -Heath

  I was ready to stand and cheer the whole time, even if I didn’t have any idea what was going on. Finding Makenna in the seat beside mine had been a pleasant surprise.

  “Hey! Kara? What are you doing here?”

  “Heath invited me.”

  She’d smiled wide.

  “I told you he’d come to his senses.” She’d been a hell of a lot more confident than I was.

  We chatted while the place filled to the brim. Some of the guys were out on the ice warming up.

  “I’m guessing this means it’s official. You’re Heath’s girlfriend,” she said it in a singsongy way and bumped
against my shoulder.

  I couldn’t hold back my smile. “I guess.” I shrugged; we hadn’t gotten into the nitty gritty. There was still a lot we needed to talk about, but for now I was here to enjoy the game and support him.

  “I’m glad you’re back, Kara. It was rough for a while. And I know how hard things were on him. He was a mess.” She nodded toward the ice.

  “It wasn’t just hard on him.”

  She slipped her hand into mine and squeezed my fingers. “I know. It’s still crazy to think I’ve known them since high school.”

  “Were you dating Declan then?” Seeing the two of them together, it was like they’d been together forever. Comfortable and silly.

  She let out a sharp laugh, shaking her head. “No. Definitely no. High school was...interesting for us. A lot of animosity over stupid stuff. Wait until you have your first outing with all the Kings.”

  “The Kings? I thought the team was the Knights.” I glanced down at the jersey Heath had given me.

  “That’s what they call themselves. It was a bunch of the guys from the bar that night you met Heath.” She rolled her eyes. “That was the name of our high school team. The Kings. Quite a demotion for Heath and Declan to be Knights now.

  “It sounds interesting.” It seemed like I was missing a lot. I’d get all the dirt later.

  “You have no idea.” Mak bumped her shoulder into mine. “They’ve worked hard to get here. From the way things were looking in January, I didn’t think they’d make it to the Championship. But they did it.”

  “They sure did. I’m sure Preston would have been proud.”

  “Yeah, he would have been.” Her bottom lip quivered.

  Everyone got to their feet as the buzzer signaling the end of warm ups sounded.

  She jumped up beside me. “Game time!”

  While I didn’t know much about the game other than reading the scores I’d seen online, Makenna filled me in on anything I didn’t understand. I couldn’t believe she’d only been to her first game a few months earlier. She was every bit the brainiac everyone said she was. Watching Heath out on the ice, I saw exactly why he looked the way he did. Every muscle I’d explored on his body was out there put to full use.

  It was tied up 1-1 and neither team gave an inch. Heath whipped past the glass. His skills were equal parts graceful and power. When a guy from the other team grabbed him by the jersey and punched him in the head, I was a second from climbing out onto the rink myself. Declan skated up, and Makenna wrapped her around my arm, her eyes glued to the guys on the ice. Her fingers bit into me a little as Declan threw himself between Heath and his opponent.

  Heath kept his cool, and the guy was thrown into the Sin Bin. With a man down on the ice and only thirty seconds left in the period, everyone was on their feet. My heart hammered in my chest, and I held my breath as the other team took a last-minute shot at the goal.

  Declan got the puck and passed it to Heath who made a breakaway, flying past the other team. He drew back his stick and released, making contact with the puck. Adrenaline pounded in my veins and the place went absolutely silent as everyone watched the small black disc fly across the ice.

  The goalie lunged for it with his glove, but the net behind him billowed and and the puck dropped to the ice inside the net. Half the stadium erupted into cheers. I threw my hands up into the air, and Mak let her monster whistle loose.

  The final buzzer sounded, and Makenna and I linked arms, jumping up and down as the guys piled on one another out on the ice. Popcorn flew everywhere as people hugged each other and high-fived.

  “Come on.” Mak grabbed my hand and tugged me down toward the ice. I raced down the stairs behind her as people poured out into the aisles. We ducked and dodged the hordes of people flooding the space around the ice. “Follow me.” She tightened her grip, and we skirted past one of the security guys with a nod from Mak.

  We ended up in the mouth of the tunnel that led to the locker rooms, judging from the smell wafting down the hall. The place roared with the cheers and chants of the crowd. People rolled out a carpet onto the ice, and a group of guys pushed out a mini stage. The Knights’ Coach stood in front of them in the box, giving out hugs, and the guys had huge smiles on their faces. Heath searched the stands where we had been before, his head dipping and ducking over the high fives from his teammates. There was no way to get his attention in all that commotion.

  Mak let out her whistle, nearly deafening me in the semi-enclosed tunnel, and Heath and Declan whipped around. Tracing a heart on the glass, Heath held up his finger for me to wait while the guys grabbed him and pulled him out onto the ice.

  “They have to do the award ceremony and everything first, but we can stand here until they are finished.”

  I pointed down at the ground, letting him know I wasn’t moving from that spot. The place vibrated with celebratory energy. The entire team whipped off their jerseys and slid another one on. It wasn’t until they turned to walk out that I saw why.

  Preston Elliott was stitched on the back of their jerseys. There was barely a dry eye in the place as the team stood up there with a gap in their line for their teammate. A lone woman walked out on the ice on the carpet they’d laid out there.

  “Imo,” Mak said it so quietly.

  My throat tightened up. “They invited her out.”

  “I guess so. She…she’s really great.”

  They hoisted the trophy over their heads and held up their fingers pointing to his retired jersey hanging in the rafters. One of the guys lifted Imo so her hand stayed on it.

  My heart ached for her. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through. Her teary smile had me brushing away a trail of wetness cresting down my cheek.

  Heath squeezed her in a big hug and glanced up at me. He’d worked so hard for this, they all had and they got to give their messages to Preston. Although he wasn’t here, he’d helped the team get to where they were, and no one would forget it. I hadn’t met him for long, but even I’d felt his impact.

  They all filed off the ice after everyone got their pictures and video footage. Heath gave me a quick peck on the lips as he passed by into the locker room. He was out in record time looking smooth as hell in a nice button-down shirt and pants that hugged him in all the right places.

  “Wow, look at you.”

  He spun in the tunnel walking toward me. “I figured I should spiff up a little bit for tonight.”

  “You spiffed up so much you’re almost too bright and shiny to look at.” I shielded my eyes. Heath strode up to me, tangled his hands in my hair. I let out a short gasp and he delved into my mouth. My stomach fluttered.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

  “Are we going to the party?”

  “Not that party, something I wanted to do for you.” He rested his forehead against mine.

  I looped my arms around his neck and swayed with him as we moved to music no one could hear. His hands pressed against my back with his thumbs skimming along the top of my ass. I couldn’t hold back my grin. It burst out of me whenever he was around like I was a high schooler getting asked to the dance by her crush.

  “Okay.”

  We said bye to Mak, and Heath got me into his car.

  A short drive later, I stared up at the glass and metal structure I remembered so well. A sizzle skimmed across my skin. “The greenhouse?”

  “Yeah, let’s go.” Threading his fingers through mine, he pulled me through the double doors. The heat smacked me right in the face. It was like walking from the fridge into a sauna.

  There was a large almost overgrowth of green shrubs right at the front. Lots of green and not much else. Rounding that living dividing wall in the front, I gasped. We walked past rows of flowering plants, neatly lined along the walls and in rows in the center of the wide partitioned building. Automatic sprayers misted some of the plants as we passed. There were vibrant blues and purples everywhere. Red flowers I’d never seen before, and yellows so bright they mimicked the su
n. Every plant gave off its own scent, filling the air with a mixture that screamed life.

  “It’s beautiful.” So different from the last time we’d been there.

  The path to the darkened area in the back of the greenhouse was piled high with empty pots. They were stacked haphazardly all over the floor, some teetering almost on the edge of a crash. The dark, earthy smell of soil was a sharp contrast to the lightness of the plants, but this was what they all needed to grow.

  “What are we doing here?” I glanced around at the ceiling, praying there weren’t any spider webs. I did not want to have to go all girlie girl in here.

  “I wanted you to be here for this.” He flicked on the lights in the dark room, and the entire room lit up with a gentle glow. Strings of white lights dangled and draped from the ceiling, and there was a small table for two set in the middle of the floor and a small potted plant sat in the center.

  Taking my arm, he turned me toward the table and stood behind me. His hands crisscrossed my front, and he told me what he’d done to prepare for this. Each syllable skimmed across my skin as his mouth got closer to my neck. The clenching in my stomach traveled south as his chest pressed against my back. He walked me closer to the table, and I spotted the food containers sitting on top of the plates.

  “How did you pull this off?”

  “I’ve got a good friend who’s looking for lifetime season tickets once I go pro.”

  I stared at the leaves and the flower, racking my brain for its significance, and then it hit me. My mind cleared for long enough to put together a coherent thought. His research paper. Getting the two plants to cross-pollinate had been the biggest hurdle he’d faced when it came to the project.

  “Is this it? The one you figured out?” I reached out to the beautiful purple and pink flower, nearly touching the petals before I snatched my hand back. “Sorry.” My cheeks heated. I’d karate chop someone in the throat if they thought about touching one of my experiments, especially one I needed for my research. But none of mine were anywhere as stunning as this.

  “Don’t worry. I know all about wanting to touch things that you shouldn’t. Things that are so fucking beautiful it hurts to look at them.”