There was a peace that came with being with someone who not only enjoyed the game, but understood the sacrifice it took, the fear it could be swiped away with one wrong hit, one bad season. One injury, one slump.
It’d been years, if ever, I had that same understanding from Lenora. Sure, she didn’t much care I played hockey which had been attractive, but there was something to be said for someone who truly knew the sacrifices, the pain, the dedication and not only understood it, but supported it.
Lenora and I never had that. The realization hit me like a stick to the gut as I got dressed to go work out. She’d come home and talk about her day. I’d ask her questions. I took her to the studio to learn new dances. Hell, I fixed her post-workout smoothies she loved and I encouraged her when she didn’t feel like getting out of bed. But as soon as the conversation turned to my games, my hard work… somehow, those conversations turned back to her and hers.
Was it possible I’d missed for so long how little the two of us shared? Or was I looking at it through the lens of a man who was still bitter she cheated on me and left me? It wasn’t even about who she cheated on me with, it was that she’d done it all.
“Damn.” I curled my hands around the edge of our marble countertops and dropped my head. There was no point in this. What she and I had was done, and I wasn’t going to ruin my mood, or the day I had ahead of me with Gabby lingering on thoughts and questions I wouldn’t ever get answers to, but ones I wasn’t even sure I needed anymore.
What was done was done.
With that, I shoved off the counter, brushed my teeth, spit, wiped my mouth with the gray towel before chucking it to the counter.
I’d had a gym installed in what should have been the pool house two summers ago so I quit having to go to the team’s facilities every time I needed to work out. It’d basically become the backup gym for guys who didn’t want to make their trek to the training center, too. At any time over the summer, there could be up to six guys working out together, giving each other shit, ending the workout by throwing each other into the pool and then spending the rest of the day drinking and chilling out. Would that change now? Now that I had Gabby? Lenora had never cared, but her busiest season for performing was the summer so she’d rarely been home.
I shoved the heel of my palm to my forehead. None of that mattered. Comparing the two wouldn’t help a damn thing.
I made a quick stop in the kitchen to make a green smoothie filled with every disgusting green vegetable known to man, two scoops of protein powder. It smelled like dog shit, tasted not much better, but combined with my pre-workout mix, it’d kick the hangover thumping at the back of my head.
Gabby must have still been sleeping because the house was silent as I made my way through it and I squinted at the bright sun once I reached the patio.
We were scheduled to meet with a reporter later to sell our story, make sure it put the team and myself in a good, celebratory light. Interviews weren’t uncommon, anyway, and since I’d had the hat trick that helped the team win, I would have had to give a few anyway.
I dropped my phone to the couch once I reached the gym and strapped on rollerblades. I’d installed an inline skating floor, half the size of an ice rink. Best damn investment I ever made because while I liked working out, skating, whether on wheels or blades, cleared my mind like nothing else. I worked on skills and drills until my ankles ached and my thighs burned before removing the skates and ran on the treadmill. After a quick break, I chalked up my hands, intent on grabbing the free weights and working my upper body when Gabby came into view.
She was dressed in a different bikini. Not the modest black one she wore in the hot tub. This one was emerald-blue, startling bright against her olive skin, the scraps of fabric left little to the imagination, and I’d been imagining a hell of a lot since I slipped into the hot tub last night with her. She was at the edge of the pool, brows puckered as she focused on the water, the length of the pool in front of her.
Then her hands rose, legs bent. She dove into the pool like she’d been doing it since I first stepped into skates. Her lithe figure was straight as an arrow in the air before hitting the water, and I lost sight of her, outside the minuscule splashes she made as her arms and legs kicked and pulled herself through the water like a fish. And then I lost my mind.
Because she was fucking gorgeous. Lithe but curvy with wide hips, a body that said she ate, loved doing it and didn’t need to kill herself working out after, and yet there was strength in the body too, evident in the fact she reached the end of my twenty-five-yard pool, turned and swam back to the other end without pausing. Hell, I barely saw her take a breath as she started another lap. I stood there, gawking at her from my pool house like a fucking perv when she probably didn’t know I had the perfect view of her—holding the weight bar in my fists, totally forgetting what I was supposed to be doing.
She finished three more laps, stopping on the wall of the pool and rested her elbows on the edge, arms crossed. Her head tilted back, rivulets of water fell down her skin as she gazed toward the sun, complete and utter serenity softening her profile.
I’d seen that look before. It wiggled into my memory, that vision of her, soft and at peace and yet so utterly excited once before.
Water surrounded us, the gentle rock of the boat swayed back and forth as we watched the riders snuggle up together. The sides of our bodies were so close we were practically fused together. After leaving the Flamingo, we stopped and refilled our deadly, lanyard hanging drinks. I should probably stop, it’d been years since I was this drunk, but there was something about being so close to Gabby that made me want to experience everything life had to offer, hangover be damned.
“Where do you want to travel to?”
Her grin stayed on the gondola ride, sweeping through the narrow faux waters of Venice. The customers kissed, his hands tangled in his lover’s hair as they made out, missing most of the sights surrounding them and yet no doubt creating their own perfect memories. I only saw Gabby’s profile, but for the first time tonight, she wasn’t overly excited. She wasn’t throwing her hands in the air and cheering and she wasn’t exuberant, inspecting me.
She was at peace. My question softened her expression further until she turned to me with that mischievous gleam in her eye and the lilt of her lips I was beginning to crave. If I leaned in to kiss her, would she kiss me back, let me take my time tracing the outline of her lips with my tongue, teasing bites where the sting would wash away to pleasure?
God… I wanted her.
“Where do you think? If you could see me anywhere, where do you imagine I’d want to be?”
Right now I was imagining her in my bed, naked, beneath me.
I fought down the urge that glorious vision inspired and cleared my throat.
“I don’t know. Rome or Athens? Fiji?” My teammates typically vacationed with their wives somewhere extravagant after the season. The wives’ reward and thank you for all the work they sacrificed right along with us. Hell, I’d tried to talk Lenora into many over the years. When my season ended, her busy season was at its peak, so it rarely worked out, but there were always places I’d wanted to see. Scotland. New Zealand. I wanted to try surfing off the Gold Coast and see a hundred other sights.
“No.” Her eyes gleamed with desire and while not directed at me, I didn’t think I’d ever wanted anything more than to wish it was. “Not there. No big cities.”