Page 16 of Undeniable Love

She gave a slow groan and stretched, her hand on my chest pressing in tight.

She froze, and I covered her hand with mine.

“Morning,” I whispered and kissed the top of her head. My voice was gravel, and my head and eyes hurt, but memories of last night made it all worth it.

Her beneath me. The sounds she made. The way her body moved with confidence and free from any restraint. She’d been glorious.

Perfect.

“You need to leave.” She curled into me and then released me. “I can’t believe you’re still here.”

It was only seven, but I’d meant to be up and moving around six. “I have some time.”

But not much.

Meredith pushed off me and rolled to her back before tugging the covers up to her neck and closing her eyes. “No, you don’t.”

She was right. Groaning, I threw my legs over the side of the bed and grabbed my boxer briefs off the floor where they’d ended up. After I used the bathroom and brushed my teeth, I peeked out the bathroom door, excepting to see Meredith getting dressed, possibly trying to sneak away while I was in the shower. Instead, she’d rolled back to her side, with the curve of her spine and back on display. Her red hair was draped over my hotel pillows, off the side of the bed. She was asleep, and I didn’t have the heart to wake her, so after a quick shower, I moved through the room quietly but quickly. I could grab food in the lobby on my way out and then more once I got to the facility. Showing up starving probably wouldn’t be the greatest first impression, but at the moment, my only thought was whether I had time to wake the woman sleeping in my bed for another quick round.

A check of my phone told me no way in hell.

A third round would have to wait.

Instead, I took a couple minutes on my phone, scheduled and ordered what I needed, and texted Caleb.

Need your sister’s contact

Caleb

You screw up already and she refused to give it to you?

She’s still sleeping, asshole.

Caleb

TMI. Hold please.

I waited, my foot tapping impatiently until her phone number popped up on my screen.

Another quick text, and I sent the two tickets to her phone along with another text.

Bought these while you were still snoring. Hope you can make it. Have a great day. Let me know when I can see you again.

I was drenched in sweat, every bone in my body aching. Good news for me, the headache and dry eyes from earlier were gone. Only to be replaced with painful calves and hamstrings that would take hours in a sauna and a masseuse to sort out. Plus enough sweat gathering in my practice uniform to ensure I’d sweated out any remaining alcohol from last night but lost another few pounds.

Ice sprayed up to my knees as the Avengers’ first line center stopped in front of me. Markos Skullen was a badass. A long-time vet for the team, he’d been the first guy I met when I got called up and had shaken my hand so tight I was worried he’d thought we were enemies and not teammates.

“You’re good.”

He pivoted on his skates and took off toward the edge of the ice. Gone as fast as he’d appeared, before I could say thanks.

He stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. “Don’t fuck it up.”

“Got it.”

Don’t fuck up. It was pretty much the only thing I’d been repeating since I took to the ice today. For the most part, the entire team had been welcoming. There were nerves, definitely, and I was a man with everything to prove and everything to lose. I didn’t doubt that half of the guys who took me in from the start didn’t plan on getting too close until they knew the long-term plan, but that was all to be expected.

I could be gone in a couple months or here for years. It was anyone’s guess at this point.

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