She scoffs. “I’m legit staring at you right now.”
I roll my eyes, and then without thinking, I say, “I want you to be my girlfriend.”
She seems surprised, but then she curves her lip at the side. “You do?”
“Yeah,” I say softly. It’s the truth. I don’t want to date her or see her; I want to know that she’s mine. That when I call, she is waiting to hear from me. The person I can talk to about a bad day and a good day. We stayed up until two last night talking about our days, and it was great. We talked hockey and subs, and I never thought I could love talking about two things so much. I might be rushing this—I probably am—but I think the biggest mistake I made with Shelli was that I didn’t lock her in. I just kept fucking her and being around when she wanted it. I didn’t ask her to be mine. I won’t make that mistake again. I won’t let someone take Aviva from me.
“I don’t want to leave and think that you could find someone else better.”
She reaches up, cupping my face. “That’s my line.”
“I mean, I deleted my Tinder account yesterday. I’m serious here.”
She grins. “Aw—”
“Aviva.”
“Yes. Sorry. I hear you.”
I smile. “I know it’s kinda early. Like you said, we’ve only been doing this dance for about a week, but I know what I want. I’ve known for a while, and I want to be your boyfriend.”
“It is kinda rushed,” she drawls, her eyes burning into mine. I feel the rejection wash over me, but then she smiles. “But I’ve never wanted to be wanted by anyone the way I want to be wanted by you.”
I exhale in a rush before dropping my mouth to hers. She cups my face as our lips dance, and everything inside me fires off like mad. I press my forehead into hers, and I know she feels how hard I am against her sweet ass. She does this to me; she drives me absolutely reckless, and I crave it. I love this feeling. I pull back to look down into her face, and man, she has me in my feelings.
“Um, guys?”
I can’t pull my gaze from hers. Her green depths are swirling with such heat and sweetness. I can’t believe this girl is into me. I’m just a weirdo hockey player, and she’s perfection. I open my mouth to tell her that, but before I can even get the words out, we smack right into the boards. I fall back on the ice with her on top of me, and within seconds, our sides are splitting with laughter. She falls to the side of me, our legs tangled together as our eyes meet. She’s crying from laughing, and I know I mirror her. I wipe her tears as she sets me with a frisky look.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t let me fall,” she scolds playfully, smacking my chest.
I gather her up in my arms, kissing her nose. “Not my fault. All yours.”
“How?”
“You distracted me!”
Her lips turn into a smirk as she cups my jaw, running her thumb along my lips. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Everything,” I answer, and I don’t want anything but that.
To do everything with Aviva.
* * *
When Amelia opens the door, her eyes widen a bit as she takes us all in.
“Coach!”
Amelia and Callie embrace as she looks over at me. “Hey, girl. How are you?”
“Good. Where are the babies?”
“They’re on the floor,” she says, hooking her thumb behind her, and Callie rushes past her to go in. I watch as she glances from me to Aviva and then back to me. She looks genuinely surprised, and that pleases me. I love keeping her on her toes. After Amelia saying Aviva doesn’t have time for me, I like that she is seeing Aviva’s hand in mine and grins on our faces.
“Boom. She likes me.”
Amelia rolls her eyes. “Shut up! When you said you were bringing someone, I didn’t expect to see my favorite gymnast and her sister.”
I shrug. “I’m full of surprises.”
“I hope it’s okay—” Aviva starts, but Amelia quickly waves her off.
“Of course it is. You’re always welcome! Dinner is almost done. Come on in.”
We follow her in, and the aroma of tacos fills the house. It smells damn good. For the last six months, we’ve been having dinner together before we leave on road trips. I don’t know how it happened, but I just started showing up before I packed, and Amelia would feed me. She wasn’t that great of a cook when we met, but she’s getting better. Tacos are her specialty.
As I walk in, I notice the house is actually clean, which means Amelia is finding her footing. That pleases me since she was struggling for a bit there. “Looks great in here.”