You Had Me at Hockey (Bears Hockey)

by Kelly Jamieson

  They’re exchanging phone numbers now. Fantastic.

  Red still hasn’t come back from the can, so I excuse myself to go look for him and make sure he’s okay. I jog down the stairs and follow the narrow hall to the men’s room. Nobody’s in there. I make use of it while I’m there, then head back up.

  “I guess he went home,” I tell the others. “Hopefully he doesn’t pass out in the cab.”

  “He’s done that before,” Colton says, unconcerned.

  “Ooookay.” I’m still getting to know these guys.

  “I need another drink,” Sara says. “But I can’t drink any more beer.” She pats her belly, sticking it out as if she’s pregnant. It’s still flat as ever from what I can see. “I’m all bloated.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Um…wine?”

  “Does that mean I have to drink wine too?”

  “Yes.” Then she laughs. “Your face! What’s wrong with wine?”

  “Nothing. I like it with a good meal.”

  “You don’t have to drink wine, I was joking. Drink whatever you want! But you don’t want to let me outdrink you.”

  “Hell no.”

  Honestly, I don’t care. I haven’t seen our waitress for a while, so I walk up to the bar and get the bartender’s attention. While he gets our drinks, the guy I’m standing next to says, “Josh Heller, right?”

  “Yeah.” I smile politely.

  “Good game tonight. You guys should have won.”

  “Thanks, man. Appreciate that.”

  “You outplayed them the whole game. Then that last OT goal…” He shakes his head. “That sucked.”

  “Yeah.” I take the glass of pink wine and my beer. “We’ll try again next time.”

  The guy grins and salutes me.

  “Rosé! Thank you!” Sara takes the glass from me with two hands.

  “No guarantee on how good it is.” I sip my beer.

  “Are you drunk enough to agree to teach me how to skate?”

  I pause and tip my head back. “Oh yeah.”

  “I haven’t forgotten. The podcast was so good. Come on.” She bats long, thick eyelashes at me.

  I shake my head. “Okay, fine.”

  “We need to do it soon! Before the ice melts.”

  I rub my jaw. “I guess so.”

  “Monday afternoon? You have a practice in the morning, right?”

  “Right. Okay.” I guess that gives me enough time to mentally prepare. At least she didn’t suggest right now.

  “Yay! Thank you!” She rises onto her toes and smooches me.

  Lilly is smiling fondly. “You two are so cute.”

  Once again, my eyes flick over to Easton, who’s talking to Barbs but apparently also listening to us, because he rolls his eyes at that remark.

  Asshole.

  We close the place down at two in the morning, and I walk with Sara and Kaylee over to Fifth Avenue to flag down a cab for them. “Want me to ride with you?” I ask Sara, leaning in.

  “We’re good.” She smiles. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah. Bye, Kaylee, nice to meet you.”

  “And you!” she calls.

  I shut the door and the cab pulls away. Russ and Hannah and I are going to share a taxi and they’ve got one waiting for me, so I jog over and jump in.

  “Your girl is fun,” Hannah says.

  “Um…thanks.” Do I take credit for that? I don’t think so. “I mean, yeah, she is.”

  She is fun. She fit right in with everyone…probably better than I do. I wouldn’t have gone out tonight if it wasn’t for her. I would have gone back to my hotel and lay on the bed and watched sports highlights. But it was fun. My teammates are good people, Red’s drunken hitting on Kaylee notwithstanding. And Easton’s douchery. His girlfriend is nice, though.

  I wish Sara were coming home with me. But I’ll see her tomorrow. In my new place.

  I think about her asking me about Cora. And admitting she was jealous. Man, she has nothing to be jealous of. When I was with Cora, I thought she was great, but now I’ve been with Sara, who’s…so much…I almost can’t remember what Cora looks like. Sorry, Cora.

  * * *

  —

  I had to set my alarm so I didn’t sleep too late because I’m checking out of the hotel today. Even so, it’s a little after noon by the time I shower and zip up my suitcases and head down to the lobby. Amazingly, I feel good, even after the numerous drinks Sara and I consumed. Hopefully she feels as good.

  I check out and pile my suitcases into a taxi to drive over to the apartment building. I haven’t been here for a while other than the day I stopped in to pick up the keys. It seems nicer than I remember. Or maybe I was just a big grouch last time I saw it.

  I let myself into the apartment. And I stop.

  I don’t know what I expected, but the furniture’s all arranged, stuff set up. I wander around the living room, then step into the kitchen. I pull out a drawer and see my cutlery all neatly arranged.

  Huh.

  Down the hall, I stop in my bedroom door to see the bed made. And in the bathroom, towels are hanging on the racks, ready to use.

  The extra bedroom has a few boxes neatly stacked against one wall, the pullout sofa bed against another wall, and my desk set up beneath the window.

  Sara must have done all this.

  This wasn’t what I meant when I asked her to come and be here while the movers brought stuff in. But wow…this saves me a ton of time. I feel like I’m home.

  I haul my suitcases into the bedroom and start pulling things out—toiletries that go in the bathroom, clothes in the closet and dresser drawers. I’m almost done when there’s a knock at the door.

  I hoof it to the door to fling it open, knowing it’s Sara.

  “Hi!” She beams a smile and steps inside. “You’re here!”

  “I am.”

  She’s carrying a bag but I scoop her into my arms and hug her.

  “Eek!” She shifts the bag out of the way and grabs for the hat that’s falling off the back of her head. “Hello to you too!”

  “You arranged all my furniture and unpacked stuff.”

  “Oh. Yeah.”

  I give her a fast, hard kiss on the lips. “Thank you. I didn’t expect you to do that.”

  “I did it while pouting about your ex-girlfriend.”

  “How did you find out about her, anyway?”

  “Lilly thought I was her when we met in the elevator. She said she’d heard we broke up when you left Dallas.” Without looking at me, she adds, “She probably couldn’t believe you had a new girlfriend already.”

  I pause. “I kind of can’t believe it either.” Yeah, I’m calling her my girlfriend. “I didn’t plan this.”

  And that’s what scares me about it. I like to know what’s going to happen. And much as I have fun with Sara, she’s the last person I should be with if I want to be able to control and plan my life. Come to think of it, things didn’t work out that way with Cora, either…I thought things with her were simple and short-term; she apparently thought otherwise. Maybe I should be avoiding women altogether.

  Then Sara smiles at me…affectionate, warm, gorgeous. “You can’t plan everything in your life.”

  How the hell am I supposed to resist that? “But I want to.” I huff out a laugh.

  “I know.” She sets on the coffee table the bag she’s carrying. She straightens and faces me. “Am I your girlfriend?”

  I blink. I swallow. “I…hope so.”

  She smiles. It’s sweet and hot and fucking irresistible. “Okay.” She pauses. “Um…I know you like to plan things…and I don’t.”

  “Yeah.”

  “We’re different.”

  I nod uncertainly.

  “T
hat could mean things wouldn’t work for us. But…maybe we could try to…accept our differences and be honest if we’re not comfortable and try to compromise sometimes?”

  My chest tightens. “Yeah.” I hold her gaze. “That sounds good.”

  “Okay.” She beams back at me and I have to smile too.

  “I’m sorry you heard about Cora like that.”

  She looks away from me for a couple of heartbeats. “Cora,” she murmurs. Then she turns to me. “It’s okay. We haven’t known each other that long, really.”

  It doesn’t feel like that, though.

  She reaches into the bag and pulls out…a plant. She sets it on the table. “There.”

  “A plant? You bought me a plant?”

  “Two.” She retrieves another one. “I hope they didn’t freeze on the way over.” She looks around, then moves to deposit that plant on an end table near the big windows. “I thought your apartment lacked something green and alive.”

  “They probably won’t be alive for long.” I grimace. “But thank you.” The gesture loosens a small knot in my chest.

  “They don’t need much care, I’m told.”

  I gather her up into my arms and kiss her again, this time longer…sweeter. “Thank you.” I draw back. “You even made up my bed, so we can get right to it.”

  She grins. “That was, in fact, my motivation.”

  I smile against her lips. Much as I love fucking her, I don’t want to toss her onto the bed the minute she walks in.

  “I didn’t unpack everything,” she says. “The extra bedroom has stuff I didn’t know what to do with.”

  “Come on. Let’s go deal with it.” I take her coat, hat, and scarf and hang them up, and we make our way into the spare bedroom. “How are you feeling today?”

  “Great!” She wrinkles her nose. “Well. Maybe a tiny headache. An Advil took care of that. How about you?”

  “I’m totally fine. So you can’t keep up with me.”

  “I totally can! I did!”

  I grin. “Okay, I concede. You did. I’m impressed. Or scared. Not sure which.”

  We unpack more stuff as we talk about last night and make jokes. Then we walk to the nearby Superette to pick up some basic provisions and she helps me put them away. She stays for dinner, which we order in. The food isn’t the best, sadly.

  “I guess I’ll get to know the best restaurants in the area.” I poke at the remainder of the limp fries.

  “You could ask Easton and Lilly.”

  Ugh. “Yeah. I could.”

  And then we christen my new bedroom.

  I can’t believe I waited this long to drag her into here. Okay, I don’t literally drag her, because she’s just as hot for it as I am. I love that about her.

  We grab at each other’s clothes, tossing them aside, stumbling out of jeans and socks. Sara reaches for my package and fondles me through my boxers. “Mmm. You’re so hard.”

  “My skate blade’s not the only thing made of steel, baby.”

  She starts giggling and nearly falls down. I hold her up, trying not to laugh myself. We tumble onto the bed and roll around, still laughing and kissing and groping each other. Christ, sex is fun with her.

  Eventually the laughter fades and things get hotter, dirtier. We’re both naked and rubbing against each other and my dick is so hard I hurt.

  “Can you fuck me from behind again?” Sara asks breathlessly. “That was so good…so deep.”

  “Oh yeah. I can hit you from behind tonight—I’m okay with a misconduct.”

  “Huh?”

  I lean my forehead against her, smiling. “Okay, a joke is way less funny when you have to explain it.”

  “Aaah! I’m sorry! Tell me what that meant.”

  “Later.” I flip her over and kiss my way down the curve of her spine, palming her ass cheeks and then siding my fingers through her wet crease. Ha. That’s dirty too. Dammit. “Feel how wet you are.” I rub back and forth. “So slick and juicy. I want to taste you.”

  She whimpers, and I think it’s agreement.

  I bury my face in her pussy, teasing her, eating her, until she’s quivering and pushing her ass back at me and need is boiling inside me. “I need to fuck you, gorgeous,” I mutter. “Right now.”

  “Do it. Do it now.”

  Oh yeah.

  Chapter 20

  Sara

  “Despite the fact that I’m the better skater, I’d still recruit you for my tonsil-hockey team.”

  I crack up. “Tonsil hockey! I know what that means.”

  He grins. “Thank God.”

  My friend Connor is recording us with a video camera as Josh teaches me how to skate. We’re back at Bryant Park. I’m wearing rented skates and he’s wearing an old pair of his own. We started off marching, arms out to my sides.

  “Lift your knee…that’s it…keep your core strong.”

  I wobble.

  He grabs me and says, “If you feel like you’re falling, put your arms out front, and then bend your legs and grab your knees. But I’ll teach you how to fall.”

  “I have to learn how to fall? I don’t want to fall!” Besides, I like him holding on to me.

  “Everyone falls. You also have to learn how to get up.”

  We march more until I’m steadier.

  “Okay, let’s try a two-foot glide. March…one, two, three…and glide. Squeeze your butt cheeks.”

  I burst out laughing and flail my arms, barely remembering what he said to do to stop from falling. “Seriously?”

  He smiles. “Yep. Come on…one, two, three…and glide.”

  I do it! I clap my mittened hands together and beam at him. “I did it!” Then I look over at Connor with the camera and do a fist pump.

  “So…pushing off. Feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, chest up.”

  I give him big eyes. “I don’t have much of a chest.”

  I see him struggling. He knows we’re being recorded but he wants to say something about my chest. He skates closer to murmur in my ear, “Your chest is very nice.”

  I grin.

  “You need to keep your weight over the skates. Not leaning forward.” He straightens my back. “Don’t lean back either.”

  “Okay.”

  He positions himself next to me and shows me how to bring my right skate back so I can use it to push off. He demonstrates, gliding forward then turning to watch me.

  God, he’s gorgeous. He’s wearing a navy knit cap and his cheeks are reddened from the cold, emphasizing his high cheekbones and strong jaw. His smile shines across the ice at me.

  “Push to the side!” he calls.

  I push off, bringing my right foot parallel to the left, and glide toward him with only a little wobble. I keep going, though, and skate right into him.

  He wraps his arms around me. “That’s it!”

  “Yay!”

  “Let’s do it again.”

  He gets me to keep my right foot up and glide on my left. This brings about more wobbles, but I do it.

  “Good job!”

  “Thank you!”

  He shows me how to transition my weight from my left foot to my right foot and use the left blade to push off.

  “I’m skating!” I probably look like a dork, but I’m doing it!

  “Relax!”

  “Oh sure, easy for you to say.” I lower my shoulders, which have climbed up to my earlobes.

  He skates a circle around me.

  “Show-off.”

  Grinning, he gets in front of me, skating backward. “That’s it…”

  “Am I ready to try a single axel?”

  He laughs. “I’m not a figure skater, but I’d say no.”

  I make a face toward Connor and the camera. “I really wanted to at l
east spin or something today.”

  “You need a different teacher for that kind of thing.” He smiles down at me. “Let’s do a lap around the rink.”

  “I pictured us arm in arm, then maybe you picking me up over your head and spinning around.”

  “Ha ha. That is not happening.”

  After the lap around, he makes me fall down on purpose and shows me how to get up by setting one skate blade on the ice, both hands on my bent knee, and then pushing up.

  “It helps to have a hockey stick,” he says.

  “Now you tell me. I could have brought my stick.” I mug for the camera again.

  It’s a weekday afternoon but there are still quite a few people here at the rink and we’re getting some interested glances. I don’t know if people recognize us, or they’re just curious because we’re being recorded. I pull out my phone to attempt some video of my own, which challenges my balance. I love how Josh stays close to me just in case.

  I get selfies of us laughing, lots of video of him looking so handsome and…athletic. He makes skating look so easy. I can’t even imagine going as fast as he does when he’s playing, all while controlling a tiny little piece of rubber and trying not to get drilled into the boards. It’s…hot. Super hot.

  “I want to jump you right now,” I tell him.

  His eyebrows fly up.

  I’m still recording. “Don’t worry, not everything will go into my YouTube video.”

  His slow smile melts my panties. “In that case, let’s go.”

  I giggle. “Soon.”

  We do skate a bit hand in hand, and then play around where he holds my hands and swings me in a circle and even picks me up and skates with me. Now we’re really getting looks from people. No one else here can skate like him.

  “Hey, it’s Josh Heller!”

  I hear the boy’s voice behind me.

  “Uh-oh. You’ve been made,” I murmur to him.

  “Yeah, sounds like.” His smile is wry.

  Sure enough, a couple of boys approach Josh for his autograph. He’s charming and courteous. Then some giggling teenage girls come over. They know both of us.

  “I can’t believe you two are together!” one girl says. “That is, like, super cool!”

  “I’m getting skating lessons from the best,” I say. “Do you watch my videos?”