Something So Right(72)

She doesn’t know the right thing to say right now. She’s never seen me this mad. I’ve never been on the edge like this, my body shaking with anger.

She does what I know her heart tells her to. She comes to me slowly, crawling onto my lap and straddling me. She finally takes off my hat, running her fingers through my hair. It’s probably still wet from the shower I took before going down.

She grabs my face and kisses me. Lips closed. Just a kiss. I sigh deeply, then lean in, hugging her. Breathing her. Smelling her. Always her.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” I whisper.

“I needed to stage an intervention. For the sake of the team.” She tries to make me laugh and make light of the situation. I smile, hugging her closer to me.

“I felt lost,” I say in barely a whisper.

She backs away from me to look in my eyes.

“I’ve never had attachments. I’m an only child. My parents were good parents. Gave me everything I could possibly need. I was really good at hockey, like really good even at an early age. So good that I got scholarships early on, as of grade seven. I practically lived on my own.”

She puts her hands on my chest, feeling my heart beating under it. Pounding.

“I would go home on holidays. That’s it. Summer would be spent training for bigger and better things. So, I never had a relationship with anyone really. I was always just my own person. Only thinking about me, myself, and I.” My hair falls forward onto my forehead, making her hand brush it back. “Never had anything to go home to or miss. Then I go and meet this smartass, sassy woman, and she knocks me on my ass. She takes my heart. She owns it. She gives me a family, she makes me a home, and I just want to be there. I want to cherish it.”

A tear rolls down her cheek, sadness passing over her eyes. She will never know how much that little boy wanted a mom who would be dragging him to practice, washing his equipment, nagging him to do homework.

“Baby.”

I catch her tear with my thumb. “Being away from you guys, I can’t explain it. It was like you guys were living without me. I didn’t like it. I couldn’t fucking cope.” I finally shake my head like I’m shaking the thoughts away from my mind.

“We weren’t living without you, baby, we were coping. It’s what we needed to do. It’s your job. You can’t change this, and I won’t let you. We won’t let you. Does it suck? Yeah, it does. Do we like it? Fuck no. I’ve never heard Allison complain more in my life. Matthew looks almost lost without you there to do whatever it is that you do downstairs in that dungeon.”

“I just didn’t want you guys to forget me,” I say.

“Forget? Babe, we PVR the games and rewatch them. True, they haven’t been your best games. And we have to talk about the camera and Allison learning how to read lips. Needless to say, she said the word fuck a lot.” I laugh, so she continues. “Do you know that she sleeps with me when you’re gone? In one of your shirts. It’s kind of sad really. Both of us in clothes that smell like you. Matthew is starting to get scared that we might start collecting your hair so we can start the cloning process.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask her.

“Tell you what, honey?”

“What Monica did! The whole thing with the kids, the banning you from the lodge. Is that why you left?” It’s like the lights are on now, so she doesn’t even try to deny it or lie.

“It was really nothing, but my ego was bruised.” She tries to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal. But I can tell it bothered her.

“It’s being fixed today. You can bet your ass on that,” I tell her matter-of-factly.

“I have no doubt that you will have this taken care of, just like everything else that needs taking care of.”

“Are you staying long?” I ask her, not sure if I should get my hopes up high.

“Just until you head home,” she tells me, and then she gives me her best Cooper Stone smirk that I’ve missed. “I missed you in bed,” she says, leaning in to kiss my chest, making my body come alive.

I drag my hand under her shirt, cupping my breasts, the lace bra making her feel all the rigidness of my finger.

I lean in, forcing her to get her T-shirt over her head. Grabbing both breasts in my hands, I groan. “Missed touching you.” I lick her pebbled nipple through the lace bra. Not having the patience to take it off her, I proceed to rip it down.

She throws her head back and laughs at my hungry man act. “You’re acting like you didn’t come two days ago while we were on Facetime.” She looks at me, making my eyes dilate. “You remember that one right? I fucked myself watching you. I came so hard I was trembling.”