Page 130 of Overtime
I’m going to combust as he looks at me with those deep eyes that see right through me. And his smirk tells me he knows I’m putty in his hands.
“How about this?” he says in that low voice of his that hits me like a lightning bolt. “We study each other a little now, and then we do some serious overtime after the game.”
“Would that be considered a reverse-tutoring session?”
“Of course. I plan to teach my favorite student many things.”
“Like what?” I ask against his lips just as his hand travels up my back, ever so slowly, leaving a trail of goose bumps until it settles under the strap of my bra.
He shows me with a kiss that feels like so much more, and it tears strange sounds from my throat I’ve never heard before.
It feels unfair to have his hands on my bare skin, though, so I take advantage of the fact that he’s busy with my mouth to sneak my own hands under his sweatshirt. The chocolate abs tense as I blatantly grope them. I take my time exploring every plane and groove, but it’s when I touch his sides that he growls.
“So you’re sensitive there?”
“Do that again and I’ll flip you onto your back and do the same to you.” Aran’s voice is basically a growl, which I appreciate. Means I’m on the right path.
“Oh yeah?”
Aran narrows his eyes. I feel him grab me tighter, about to follow through—when the door opens.
We both turn. Ryan’s eyes and mouth are as wide as they go. She clutches a bag from the grocery story against her chest and says, “Yeah, I’m gonna go puke over the railing. Bye.”
With that, she walks right back out and shuts the door.
Slowly, I turn back to Aran. “So, um. I guess she now knows we’re officially together, huh?”
Mirth dances in his eyes. “And she’s about to tell everyone else. You can safely wear the jersey tonight.”
“I see.” I nod to myself. “Guess I will. And I should probably get my hands off you now so Ryan can come into her own apartment.”
“But I like your hands on me.”
Laughing, I lean forward and press a little kiss on the tip of his nose. “Let’s leave that for the overtime study after you win the championship.”
The grin that blooms on Aran’s face is enough to make me fall in love with him all over again. It’s the one he keeps hidden from everyone but me. When we’re happy together. I can’t wait to see it for the rest of my life.
“Looking forward to it, Strawberry.”
EPILOGUE
MADDIE
I’m used to my body rioting every month in all sorts of ways, but this is something else.
Tonight is game seven of the playoff finals, the very last game of the season. My husband has played every single game of this round and about half of them throughout the entire playoff run. And that’s after an intense season that saw us battling for the number one spot in the conference with tonight’s rival. The physical exertion and the mental intensity required to get to this point have made him lose almost twenty pounds.
Meanwhile, I wonder if he just passed them along to me.
My stomach is a complete disaster zone of nerves not only because of the game but because of the big secret I’m keeping from him. I didn’t think it’d be a good idea to drop a massive bomb like this on him during the playoffs, so here I am, eating our combined weight in popcorn so I have something to do.
“Easy there, sis. You’re gonna choke.” Meg passes over the cup of soda, and I stretch over to sip from the straw.
“It’s totally fine,” Luz, my husband’s older sister, says from my other side. “I was also buzzing with nerves the first timeMax made it to the playoffs.” She offers a placid laugh as if her husband didn’t win the cup on his first playoff run. Yet she also dips a hand into her own popcorn bucket and eats a massive handful. Like maybe she’s also nervous for her brother.
Next to her, Aran’s youngest sister is the picture of indifference. She’s been texting someone nonstop since the players hit the ice for warmups, nonplussed by all the lights or cameras recording the scene. She hasn’t even noticed that we’ve appeared on the Jumbotron a couple of times since we’re sitting together in the WAGs section.
The wives and girlfriends of Aran’s teammates are actually really nice, but most of them are pregaming hard in the family room, and while normally I’d join them, tonight I can’t. I’d rather sit with Aran’s family and mine.
