by J. Sterling
Cooper snorted. “Well then, I’d tell them to call my buddy Danny Rossi and they’d be in good hands.”
“Aw, thanks, man,” Danny said so sweetly, it made the girls giggle.
Taylor rolled her eyes at Danny. “Great, I’m caught in the middle of a bromance.” He leaned in for a kiss, and Taylor kissed him back before her eyes popped open and she quickly said, “Wait! Wait…I have a question! But it’s for both of you guys.”
Cooper and Danny exchanged grins as if they could only imagine what would come out of Taylor’s mouth next. “Go ahead,” said Cooper.
Danny sat back and grinned. “Shoot.”
“Well, Kat and I were wondering if you guys could lift up your shirts for a second?” She looked at Katherine and winked.
“What? Why? Our shirts?” the guys said as they talked over each other.
“Well, after all your tanning and driving today, we were wondering if either of you got seat belt tans.” Katherine started to laugh uncontrollably as she turned to Cooper to tug at the hem of his shirt.
“Seat belt tans? I don’t get it,” Danny said, confused.
“If you want us to take our shirts off, ladies, all you have to do is ask. You’re the ones who told us to put them on in the first place. You two are giving us mixed messages. How are we supposed to ever know what you really want?” Cooper asked sarcastically.
“Show us. Lift up your shirts so we can see!” Taylor demanded.
Cooper shrugged and lifted his shirt to his collarbone, and Danny did the same. Faint diagonal bands of paler skin marked each of their chests. Taylor burst out laughing and glanced at Katherine, who was laughing so hard she had to brush away tears. Danny and Cooper looked at each other, and then down at their midsections, shaking their heads as if they just didn’t quite get it.
The group finished their dinner and the guys took care of the bill. The girls gave Dominic big hugs and kisses on the cheek before they left. The guys shook Dominic’s hand before he turned to the girls and said, “I approve, sì. They seem like good boys. Ciao, bellas!”
Katherine and Taylor called out, “Ciao, Dominic!” as they walked out the door.
Chapter Four
As the foursome made their way back to the dorms with full bellies and leftovers for tomorrow, Katherine noticed how chilled the evening air had become as compared to evenings just a few weeks ago.
“I’m totally going to have to buy a real coat, aren’t I?” Katherine said before pulling a sweatshirt over her head.
“You don’t own a jacket?” Taylor said with a laugh.
“I’ve never needed one before.” Katherine tugged her hair free from beneath the sweatshirt as she watched the tree branches swaying in the wind. Two leaves fell free from the branch and spun in the air until they came to a rest on the concrete below.
“You can always borrow one of mine. I have a hundred. ’Cause we have seasons here. You do know what seasons are?” Taylor teased, breaking Katherine’s silent observations.
“We have seasons in California,” Katherine said defensively.
“What? Summer and summer light?” Danny offered.
“You two are made for each other.” Katherine stuck her tongue out at the couple.
“So, what are we doing now? Where should we go?” Taylor asked. “Oh, wait, should we give you guys alone time? Yeah, maybe you guys should hang out by yourselves for a bit. Danny and I can head back to his place if you want?” A wide grin split her face as she beamed at the new couple.
The thought made Katherine nervous. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be alone with Cooper, it was just that she had a good idea where this was headed and once again, her mind drifted back to the boy from her dream. She tried to shut him out, but no matter what she did, the thought of him always lingered. It was as if he existed in a part of her now and if she tried remove him, it would be as useless as if she tried to pull her own arm off. He was a permanent fixture.
“Whatever you prefer, Katherine.” Cooper hesitated and Katherine sensed he held his true feelings in. “But I do have someplace I’d like to show you.”
“Oh God, Cooper, really? Let me guess, the stars in your bedroom?” Taylor said while she stuck her finger down her throat and pretended to puke.
“Do you really think so little of me, Taylor?” He turned to Katherine and said, “It’s nowhere near my bedroom.”
Katherine thought one last time of the boy from her dreams, took a deep breath, and turned to Cooper and said, “I’ll go with you.” She gave Taylor a hug, who whispered in her ear, “Have so much fun. Call if you need anything.” Danny gave Cooper some hockey guy handshake/fist bump thing, and Katherine smiled as Taylor and Danny walked away from them, holding hands.
“Ready?” Cooper grinned. “It’s not far, I promise. Are you cold, California?”
He began to shrug off his jacket, but stopped when she said, “I’m okay, thanks.”
They walked slowly as she glanced around the dimly lit grounds. Night students wandered by every so often, but for the most part, the campus had an almost deserted quality. She wondered if he was going to try to hold her hand. Part of her definitely wanted that. Part of her screamed for it. But the other part, well, the other part was clearly off-limits. She wondered if she should throw all caution to the wind, be brave, and grab his hand instead…but she couldn’t do it. She needed to know that if Cooper Donovan’s fingers suddenly found themselves intertwined with hers, it was because he wanted to and not because she had initiated it. This was New Jersey’s royalty, after all. The thought made her giggle out loud.
“What are you laughing at?” He glanced over at her and smiled.
“Just hearing Taylor in my head is all.” She shook her head to cover up her embarrassment at laughing out loud.
“Ah, I understand completely now. I like her, she’s funny. And informative.” Cooper grinned mischievously.
Katherine stopped walking and faced him. “Informative? What are you talking about?”
“She’s good at answering my questions, that’s all,” Cooper said as he bit his bottom lip uncertainly.
Katherine’s gaze quickly darted away from his mouth as she resumed walking. “Well, yeah. She’s the best. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“You two are lucky you found each other. You should send flowers to whoever paired you up.”
“Flowers? Really?” she responded playfully.
“Or a card. I’m just saying.” He laughed and then gave her a little shove. She lost her balance far more than he had obviously intended. He grabbed her by the arm to swiftly pull her back to him, then held her tightly against his body. “I’m sorry, California. Didn’t mean for that to happen.” His heart pounded against hers and his breath was warm as it blew past her lips. “You okay?”
Heat raced through Katherine as her heart sputtered. If there was ever a perfect moment for a first kiss, this was it and she knew it. “I’m fine, sorry. It’s the shoes…and the feet walking in them.” She tried to regain her composure.
“Come here,” he said as he pulled her toward him. “I’ll help from now on.”
He threw his arm around her and tucked her frame into his. She loved that he was so much taller than she was, and was surprised at how comfortable he was to snuggle against. She half expected a body that looked that chiseled as his to feel like stone, but it didn’t.
Katherine nuzzled into him comfortably as their steps settled into a comfortable rhythm. They walked in perfect sync, the rustling of the leaves on the trees the only noise aside from their footsteps. “We’re almost there,” he noted.
They were still on campus, but Katherine’s classes had never taken her to this part of the school before. Cooper led her toward a light gray stone building with columns and arches that reminded her of an old church she might see online or in a book. She looked at it in awe, still amazed at how old everything on the East Coast was. They walked to an oversized oak door and Cooper tugged on one of the black
wrought iron handles.
“Is this a church? Are you taking me to church?” Katherine started to sweat. It wasn’t that she didn’t like or respect church. It was just that, well…she wasn’t raised to attend and felt somewhat uncomfortable at the thought of going in one, like she didn’t belong.
“I guess you could say…it’s my church.” He unlocked the door with one of the keys from his key ring.
“Wait. How do you have a key to a school building?”
“All the captains have a key to the rink,” he explained before shoving the key ring back into his pocket.
She breathed a sigh of relief as he held the giant door open for her. Katherine walked through it and into the pitch-black darkness as the door closed loudly behind her. She jumped, startled by the loud sound it made and the echo that followed. Cooper leaned next to her ear and whispered, “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” Her breath hitched with his nearness.
He quickly brushed past her and she heard a flicking sound, followed closely by a series of short clicks. Small dome lights came to life one at a time and illuminated the arena. Cooper walked down the cement stairs toward the first row of seats closest to the ice. “Come on,” he urged, waving her down.
Katherine headed down the steps slowly. She was in awe, taking it all in. There were long wooden benches instead of individual seats, and she couldn’t help but wonder how uncomfortable those got after long periods of sitting. “Wow. So this is where you play?” she asked, glancing up at the rafters. “It’s so old. When was it built?”
He looked at her and then looked around at everything as he spoke. “They built it in the early 1920s and named it after the school’s greatest athlete at the time. It was the school’s sign to potential students that they were ready to get serious about sports.”
She eyed the championship flags that hung from the ceiling, silently counting them as Cooper continued. “They redid it not too long ago, but it was important to the school administrators, the boosters, alumni, and the team at the time that the look of the rink was to remain unchanged. You know what I mean?”
He paused and her gaze returned to his. Katherine sensed that it was important to Cooper as well. She smiled slightly and nodded her head. “There is so much history here that no one wanted it torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. So the majority of the changes are behind the scenes. The locker rooms, the way the ice is refrigerated and cleaned, the lighting and the glass around the rink…all had necessary updates, but you wouldn’t know it didn’t always look this way if someone didn’t tell you.”
Katherine noted the light fixtures that hung in between exposed steel beams. The arena was bigger than she thought it would be, but far less extravagant. Cooper explained to her how he thought the size was perfect because there weren’t any bad seats in the house. He took her around the whole rink and forced her to sit in various seats just to prove it. “See? No matter where you sit, you’re never far from the action.”
She agreed and smiled. Katherine liked to hear him talk about the sport that held his heart. He was excited, knowledgeable, and passionate. “You’ve seen the rink from every seat in the house. Now come see things from my point of view.” Cooper led her through a small waist-high door and onto the slippery ice.
“Am I allowed to be on here? Isn’t this sacred ground or something?” Her shoes had no traction and she half expecting to fall.
He laughed and opened his arms wide. “Just look around, California. This is how I see things.”
Katherine watched as Cooper tipped his head back and inhaled deeply. She imagined what it was like to be him in a game as she scanned every seat from her new vantage point. She agreed, his view was the best. Nothing compared to being on the ice and looking out into the stands.
“Tell me what you love,” Katherine asked. Cooper’s head snapped around as his green eyes bored into hers. Her pulse started sprinting. “About hockey, I mean,” she clarified with a nervous chuckle.
He pursed his lips before responding. “I love the smell of the ice. When we first walked in here, did you smell it?” He didn’t wait for a response before continuing, “And the cold. It has a smell too. It’s comforting. It’s the first thing I notice. The minute I walk in here and that smell hits me, I’m home.”
He paused, sniffing long and deep. “I love the sounds. The sound of hockey sticks crashing against each other. And the way the goal clangs when the puck hits it, or we smash into it. The sound a skater makes when he’s forced into the wall. That guttural grunt we all let out. I love that sound.” Cooper’s eyes were focused on something only he could see, but Katherine was mesmerized by his words.
“The sound my skates make when I come to a hard stop and little pieces of ice fly off the blade. I love the sound of the puck when it’s sliding across the ice. And the way my stick bangs against it. The roar of the crowd. The way I feel when I’m playing. I can do things out here that I can’t do anywhere else.” He stopped and looked into her eyes. “How’s that for an answer?”
“It’s perfect,” she told him honestly, almost forgetting what she was standing on.
“You’re perfect.” Cooper looked down and gently tucked a strand of hair that was out of place behind her ear. Then he looked her in the eyes and angled her face up toward his.
In anticipation of what was to come, Katherine closed her eyes and Cooper’s mouth was instantly on hers. His lips were incredibly soft and his kiss was so gentle. He seemed to handle everything he touched with care, especially when it came to her. His lips parted and she followed his lead. His tongue slid across her bottom lip before entering her mouth. It danced against hers with soft, deliberate motion.
He gripped the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair as her knees began to shake. She lifted one hand and placed it on the side of his face. Her other hand gripped his shoulder, partly for balance. She felt that kiss from Cooper Donovan all the way down to her toes.
When he finally broke the kiss, she kept her eyes closed for just a moment longer and willed her breathing to return to normal. Her chest heaving, Katherine opened her eyes to find Cooper staring at her. “Wow,” was all he said.
Katherine couldn’t agree more. It was one hell of a “wow.” That was the kind of kiss people wrote books about…or made movies about. The kind of kiss where you forget anything else exists around you. The zombie apocalypse could be happening right outside your front door and you’d never hear the screams.
“I don’t mean to ruin the moment, but we should probably go,” Cooper apologized before reaching for her hand.
Katherine’s mind was so wrapped up in that kiss, she barely heard him. With a smile on his face, Cooper gingerly helped her walk across the ice and toward the exit. Once on solid ground, he squeezed her hand before leading her up the steps.
“Don’t move,” he said again before planting a quick peck on the cheek.
The sound of the switch flicked and the arena faded to black before her eyes. Katherine replayed the kiss in her mind as Cooper quickly reappeared at her side. Taking her by the hand, he led her through the darkness and out into the cold, bitter air. He locked the giant door before removing his jacket and placing it around her shoulders. “I’m okay, really,” Katherine tried to assure him.
“I insist,” Cooper demanded before wrapping his arm around her and his jacket.
They walked silently through the deserted campus before Katherine said, “Cooper, can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” he said without hesitation.
“Why me?” Her question was innocent enough. Hadn’t she witnessed girls literally throwing themselves at his feet in the past? And Taylor had dubbed him “New Jersey’s Royalty” earlier this evening. She simply wondered what it was about her that made him like her so much.
Plus, if she were being honest, part of her really wanted to hear it. If Cooper had to think about an answer, formulate his feelings into words and then admit them out loud, then it would be real.
His hand dropped from her body and searched for hers. “California, I wish you could hop into my head and see yourself through my eyes. Then you wouldn’t have to ask a question like this.” His fingers interlaced with hers. “But for the record, I’m extremely attracted to you. I have been since the first day I laid eyes on you.”
“Speckled eyes,” Katherine said solemnly, then she laughed.
“Yes, since the first time I laid my speckled eye on you,” he said with a chuckle.
They continued to walk, his thumb caressing her hand as he held it. “You’re different from the girls out here. You’re honest and that’s rare. I don’t feel like you’re trying to be someone or something you’re not…and you don’t apologize or make excuses for that. You ask me questions other girls would never think to ask. It’s obvious to me what you value and respect in a person, and they aren’t the kinds of things a lot of girls value anymore.” He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it twice.
“At least, not when it comes to me. You don’t treat me the way other people do and I like that. Plus, you don’t know anything about hockey, which is great, ’cause then you won’t be able to tell if I suck or not. And you’re nice and funny and—”
She held up a hand, cutting him off mid-sentence; she couldn’t take any more. “Okay. No more. I know I asked, but please stop. It’s embarrassing.”
“All right then, why do you like me?” he asked her in return, a crooked smirk appearing on his face.
“Who said I do?” she said and then smiled devilishly at him. He stopped and ran a hand through his dark hair. Then he leaned down and kissed her slowly and tenderly. Every stroke of his tongue deliberate, perfectly played out.
She nearly fell this time as he broke their contact. “You can’t just do that to me…my knees can’t take it. One of these times, I will fall.”
“And I’ll catch you. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m kinda strong,” he informed her, patting one of his biceps.
