Tyler and I end up hanging with Scarlett and Leo most of the night. We play darts, but I’m so busy catching up with Scarlett and touching Tyler any chance I get that I don’t even know if we win or not. Afterwards, we sit on the couch; Scarlett’s on one side of me, Tyler on the other. She’s planning a couple’s getaway for her and Leo, dates unknown since it depends on the season.
“You guys should come with us,” Scarlett says. Her excitement at the idea is contagious but since Tyler and I literally just found our way back to each other, I think planning a trip together might be a little premature.
“Maybe,” I say. “I have school until the first week of June.”
Leo wraps an arm around her waist and tugs her closer. “Easy, tiger. How about we give them five seconds together before we start packing their weekends full of couple things.”
“Sorry. I’m just so excited for you two. Let’s take a picture!” She pulls out her camera and we all crowd together.
“Who knew you were such a romantic?” Leo kisses her.
My head spins and I turn to Tyler. “I’m gonna grab another drink. Do you want anything?”
He shakes his head. “Nah. I’m good.”
In the kitchen, Ash is pulling a beer from the fridge. He sees me coming and pulls a hard seltzer for me, then a beer for Tyler.
“He said he didn’t want another.”
“Tell him I said to live a little. He doesn’t get a lot of nights off.”
I take the drinks and then lean against the counter. “I haven’t seen Talia in a while. Where is she tonight?”
“Not sure,” he says casually. “She broke things off with me.”
I don’t know Talia well. Any time she came over, she pretty much kept to Ash’s room, but Tyler said they’d been together for a while, so I just assumed things were good.
“I’m sorry.”
“Eh, it’s fine.”
“What happened?”
I’m not sure if it’s because of how things ended with Tyler or if it’s just some part of me that needs to understand the intricacies of relationships, but I always find breakups so interesting. I want to analyze and fix them.
He’s quiet for a beat as if he’s trying to compose his thoughts. “It really came down to us wanting different things.”
“Like marriage?”
He laughs. “No. I mean, someday, sure, but we were both good with casual and fun.”
When I continue staring at him, he steps closer and lowers his voice. “Since Ty and Everly moved in, things are a little different around here.”
“Oh.” I’m so genuinely shocked that anyone would break up with him for taking in a teammate and his sister when they needed it. What a bitch.
“Please don’t mention it to Ty.” He winces. “Talia and I were probably not going to last anyway. This was just a good excuse for her to duck out and blame it on someone else.”
“She didn’t deserve you.” I reach out and squeeze his forearm. “What you’ve done for them is amazing.”
“Oh, I know.” One side of his mouth pulls up. He drapes an arm around my shoulders. “Everything happens for a reason, right? I mean, if they hadn’t moved in with me, then you and I wouldn’t be roommates either and I’d miss out on your bomb pasta.”
“True,” I say.
Tyler looks up as Ash and I walk into the living room. He stands and flashes Ash a possessive glare that has the guy next to me chuckling.
“Now, I have a very important question.”
“O-kay.”
“What exactly are your intentions with the rookie?”
I hold in a laugh. “My intentions?”
“With Tyler.”
“Uh…”
“When he’s around do you feel like your heart is going to bust out of your chest? Do you find yourself dreaming about him in the middle of the day? Do you see him in crowds of people and then they turn around and it isn’t really him at all but some guy that looks nothing like him, but like your brain is searching for him everywhere?”
“I…” I wait to see if he’s going to start laughing or tell me he’s kidding, but Ash just stares at me and waits for me to respond. “Wow. Umm…yes?”
He finally cracks a smile.
“Good. Now that we got that out of the way, I need to go see if one of those girls over there”—he points with the hand at my shoulder toward two girls at the bar talking to Jack—“wants to console a brokenhearted man for the night.”
He takes off to the other side of the room and I go to Tyler. “Here. Ash said to live a little with your night off.”
At the reminder of Everly, I pull out my phone from my front pocket to make sure I haven’t missed a text from her.
He glances down at the screen. “Anything?”
“Nope. All clear. See? You can relax. She must be having a good time with her new friends.”
“Or she snuck out and is God knows where.” He tips the bottle of beer back and swallows a long drink. “This is my last one. I don’t want to get drunk and then not be able to get to her if she needs something.”
I reach out and stroke his hard jaw, admiring the light stubble that’s grown since this morning. “You’re kind of sexy all overprotective and worried.”
He huffs a laugh. “So, all the damn time?”
He was kidding, but he got it exactly right. “All the damn time.”
The air shifts between us. I close the space between our mouths. His arm comes around me and flattens me against his chest as he takes over the kiss. My head spins and my stomach flutters. God, I missed this. Not just Tyler. I mean, of course Tyler, but it’s more than him. It’s us. I’ve never had this type of insane chemistry with anyone else. My body comes alive when he’s nearby. A hit of dopamine, a rush of adrenaline, and an underlying connection that tugs me toward him.
He pulls back, drops his forehead against mine, and groans. “Cherries. You always taste like cherries.”
“It’s my favorite Chapstick,” I say and pull out the tube from my pocket. It’s true it had been my favorite when I’d met him, but now I don’t know if I continued to wear it all these years because I really liked it or because I knew he had.
An embarrassed smile takes over his face. “The amount of cherry-flavored stuff I’ve eaten just for a reminder of what you taste like is damn right embarrassing. Ice cream, pie, taffy, protein bars with little bits of cherries.”
A happy laugh bubbles up my throat. “Why didn’t you just eat cherries?”
“I never really liked them.”
I laugh louder as I link my arms around his neck.
“What do you want to do?” he asks, then tips his head toward where people are still playing pool and darts. A few guys are playing cards, others are on the PlayStation. I think Leo and Scarlett already left because I don’t see either of them.
What I’d like to do is go upstairs and kiss him until the sun comes up, but I know how rare a night like this is where he can let loose with the guys, so I step back from him and survey the options.
“I have an idea.”
He cocks a brow but doesn’t speak as I lead us to two open barstools. Johnny Maverick is still behind the bar. He’s acting as DJ and bartender.
He leans over the bar when we sit down. “Can I get you two something to drink?”
“What can you make?” I ask.
“Anything in this book.” He stands tall and drops a cocktail recipe book on the bar in front of me.
“Tyler here will have one of these.” I point to a blue drink that has a cherry garnish, then flip a few more pages until I find another that looks interesting. “And one of these.”
“On it.” Mav takes the book back and gets busy finding the ingredients.
I turn so that my knees bump against Tyler’s. He looks like he’s going to protest the drinks and I understand why, but I really want him to have this. Just tonight.
“I know. You don’t want to drink so that you are available if Everly needs you. I can’t tell you how sexy that is. She’s so lucky to have you. But tonight, let me be the responsible one.” I set the unopened hard seltzer on the bar. “I only had one. I have my phone on me and I promise to check it every hour. I will make sure Everly has a ride or bail money if she needs it.”
He glowers at the last remark.
“You need a night off. Every parent and overprotective brother does.”
The corner of his mouth twitches.
“Plus, I’m curious what kind of drunk you are.”
He lifts his brows and leans forward. His legs envelop mine on either side.
Maverick sets the first drink down on the bar, complete with a cherry.
“Thanks,” I say as I scoot the glass toward Tyler. “Do you have any water back there?”
“Yep.” He gets it for me, even putting a coaster down first.
I look at the glass expectantly when Tyler still doesn’t pick it up.
“I’m not really that different from when I am sober,” he says.
“Prove it.” I lift the fruit from Tyler’s drink and pop it in my mouth. He watches my lips with heat that pools in my stomach.
I’m not sure he’s going to give in, but eventually he wraps those long fingers around the glass and brings it up to his lips, drinking as he keeps his gaze locked on me.
“Verdict?” I ask as he swallows.
“Would have been better with the cherry.” He moves in, sweeping his lips over mine and then diving in for a kiss that curls my toes.
“That’s so sweet,” I say. Even off his tongue, my mouth puckers.
“Mav, can I get another shot of whatever’s in this.” He slides the glass across the bar. “I’ll have a sugar rush before I’m drunk with that drink.”
Excited, I sit a little taller. “We should play a drinking game.”
He keeps one hand on my thigh as he leans back on the stool. “You’re not drinking.”
“I’ll drink my water.”
He smiles and lifts his hand in a whatever you want gesture.
“Let’s play ‘I’ve never.’ It’ll help us get to know each other again.”
“All right.”
I think for a minute. “I’ve never had sex in public.”
Tyler brings the glass back up to his lips and drinks, then I do the same.
“Maybe this was a bad idea,” I admit as jealousy surges through me.
I want to know all these things about him. What his life has been like, who he’s dated, how serious he was with other girls, etc… but I was not prepared for how angry it would make me.
“The beach with you,” he says, and the memory hits me so hard I can almost taste the salty air from that night. “There hasn’t been anyone but you.”
“You mean…” I let his words bounce around in my brain. “What do you mean?”
He drinks the rest of the blue drink in one gulp and then stands. He takes the other drink waiting for him. “Thanks, Mav, but don’t quit your day job.”
We wander through the game room and then the living room. He gets stopped a few times by guys excited to see him out drinking, but when it’s just the two of us again, he says, “I didn’t really date after you. No, correction, I didn’t date after you. Period.”
“That was almost four years ago.”
“I focused on graduating and then hockey.” He shrugs one shoulder.
“But…” I glance around the party. There are so many girls here tonight. Beautiful girls that I know would jump at a shot with him. I mean, who wouldn’t? He’s gorgeous and smart, considerate—the total package.
“Why?”
“At first it was because I was still too in love with you to even think about someone else. And then at some point I stopped considering it because I knew this moment would come and I wanted you to know that I might have been the one that ended things then, but it wasn’t because I stopped wanting you.”
I exhale a long breath, my lungs suddenly feeling tight. “That’s crazy.”
He slides a hand around the back of my neck and his thumb glides along my skin. “There are a lot of things we should talk about, but tonight let’s just enjoy being with each other again.”
He waits for me to nod, then places a soft kiss on my lips. “Wanna see my pool skills?”
A weight lifts. He’s right. We’ll have time to dive into all of that later. “Absolutely, I do.”
For the rest of the night, we bounce around the party. Every chance he gets, he kisses me or holds my hand. I don’t accomplish my mission of getting him drunk, but I really just wanted to make sure he had a night off to relax and I think he did that.
Sometime after two, the party starts to die off and we head upstairs. He squeezes my hand as we pass his room. I think he’s going to come inside mine, but he hesitates in the doorway.
“You don’t want to have a sleepover?” I ask, smiling and trying to pull him closer.
“We don’t have to rush or cram an entire relationship into a weekend. I’m not going anywhere.”
Tyler of four years ago would have already had me naked, and I don’t think it’s because he was trying to fit a lot of sex into the few days we got to see each other. Or at least not entirely because of that.
“Is this because I said I wasn’t sure what I wanted?”
He steps to me and tips my face up with a hand at my chin. “I’ve waited a long time for this, another week or month won’t kill me. I’m a patient guy.”
“That’s great for you, but what about me?” I whine. I feel like I might burst at the seams. The entire night his hands roamed over me and now I want more.
Chuckling lightly, he presses his hips against me to let me feel how hard he is. “Take your time and figure out what you want, Piper, because I plan on being the last guy inside of you.”
