Page 172 of Between the Blue
And I know it was the best call.
But it’s been hard enough to try to pretend Ben and I haven’t been seeing each other for the last month and a half when we’re in our work environment. Showing up together to travel for an away game certainly wouldn’t help to deter any of the suspicious minds we might have already created.
Even if both of us tried to come up with every excuse possible that made sense for us to be carpooling together in between taking each other’s clothes off this morning.
So we took separate vehicles to the airport.
We sat in separate rows on the plane to New York.
We stayed as separate as any set of colleagues would during the team’s practice this afternoon.
And I headed out as soon as I got the photos I needed.
Because why would the team’s social media manager wait around to ride back to the hotel with the team’s captain?
And, besides, I had an errand to run.
“Are you really going to make me ask again?” Ben’s voice comes through my phone speaker.
A smile tilts my lips. “The hotel is in my view, Captain. I’m two blocks away.”
“Great,” he says. “Be ready to leave in thirty minutes. Wear something nice. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
“I–”
I pull the phone away from my ear as the beeping sound goes off, indicating that Ben hung up.
“Okay then,” I mutter aloud.
I slide my phone into my pocket, not able to stop the grin spreading across my face.
So I guess I won’t have to drag him out tonight.
We’ve been living indoors for the last six weeks.
In bed, if I’m being truly honest.
And neither of us has minded.
But tonight’s a special night.
And Ben wants to share it with me as much as I want to share it with him.
I tell myself not to overthink it, but I can’t help the little skip in my step as I hop up onto the sidewalk in front of our hotel.
I press the down button to call the elevator, then check the time on my phone as I wait for it to arrive.
A minute to spare before I have to be in the lobby.
The elevator dings, and I glance up as the doors open.
And a smile immediately spreads across my face. “So, I see they let anyone in this hotel,” I deadpan.
Ben’s tongue presses into his lower lip, and his eyes trail down my figure as I step into the elevator. “Lucky me,” he mutters.
And the moment the doors close, his mouth is on mine.
He slams the button for the lobby as he presses my body against the wall of the elevator, his tongue tangling with mine like he’s been starved for something only I can satiate. His lips mold with my own, his fingers tangling in my hair, and the feeling is all-consuming.
