“How is that the best part?” I interrupt, confused. I’m down to my boxer-briefs, so I get into bed next to her. Meredith cuddles up to me and I try to focus on the words she’s saying instead of her body.

“Because! I helped her. She has the lowest seed, so she rarely plays. I noticed a few things and once I learned that, decided to work with her one on one.” The cutest little frown appears. “I don’t think they really paid attention to her. She’s right-handed, but should’ve been playing with her left. She still has a ways to go, but god, Noah, she was so much better than she was. She might move up a few seeds after more practice. If every day is like today, I think I’ll like it a lot. I was even able to demonstrate!”

“I’m glad you’re liking it. Can I have my welcome home kiss now? You said you missed me a lot, but I haven’t gotten a kiss yet. Maybe you didn’t miss me as much as you said? I can get back on the plane.”

She closes the distance between us and presses her mouth to mine. Meredith kisses me slowly. It’s one of those unhurried, could last forever kind. When she pulls away, she has this sleepy look in her eyes. She snuggles closer to me.

“I’m glad you’re home,” she whispers.

“Me too. And guess what?”

“What?”

“You still grope yourself in your sleep.”

She leans back to look at me. “What? I do not! You’re the only one who’s ever told me I hold a boob in my sleep and I don’t think you’re tell

ing the truth.”

I laugh. “How would I even come up with something like that?”

She shrugs and rests against me again. “I’m glad you woke me up, Noah.”

“Me too. Although,” I move my hand down to her ass, scooting her closer to me, “I may have expected more than us just talking.”

“I’m tired.”

Damn. All I’ve thought about since she told me she would be naked is what we were going to do once I got home and now she’s tired. I move my hand back to her hip, kiss the top of her head, and close my eyes.

But then, she giggles, her hand sneaking underneath my waistband as she says, “Just kidding. I thought you’d try to persuade me.”

“Next time, I most definitely will.”

Two days later, I have a day off. Meredith has been really interested in seeing the practice arena, and learning more about my career in general, so we make our first stop there today. I offered to let her come watch practice yesterday, but she declined. She wants to wait until the season starts since she’s never seen me play as a pro.

She listens as I show her around, but there’s honestly not a lot to see. There’s the rink, the training rooms, a few conference rooms, some offices, and a lobby-like room, to name a few things. After we finish a walkthrough, we drive downtown for some lunch.

“Do you ever workout outside of the team?” she asks once our waitress walks away.

“Yeah. The apartment complex has a gym and pool on the top floor.”

She shakes her head at me. “That would’ve been good to know.”

“I hadn’t thought about it.”

“It’s fine. I was going to try to find a gym, but now I don’t have to. I need to stay active.” She glances down at herself with a frown. She isn’t overweight by any means, but she’s unfit compared to the weight she would be if she was still playing. “I’ll have to be careful with my shoulder, though,” she adds in a sigh. “Sometimes I wish I never played to start with.”

Did I forget to mention she’s having a bit of a bad day?

“Yeah, but without playing, your life would be so different. We might not have met if you never played,” I point out.

“What are you talking about? We went to the same high school.”

“Yeah, and it was a huge school. I didn’t know who you were until we went to watch Ashley play.”

Her jaw drops and her eyes widen. “We had a class together the semester before she joined the team.”

“No, we didn’t.” Because I would’ve remembered.

Tags: Lindsay Paige Carolina Rebels Romance
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