6. Graham

6

GRAHAM

I slip my foot into the loop of a stretching band. My hips are tighter than I’d like them to be before I hit the ice. Last night's and this morning’s events might be a good reason I’m so tight.

“Hey, man,” Camden greets with a nod as he enters the workout room. He grabs a foam roller from the bin and stretches out on the yoga mat next to me. He gets to work rolling out his own muscles in preparation for today's practice. “How was the rest of your night?” he eventually asks.

“Good,” I grunt out as I do my best to control my breathing while I push through a painful stretch. “How was yours?” I eye him. The way he kept his eyes on Whitney last night. She was doing her best to keep him at arm’s reach all night.

“It was alright. Baby steps.”

“As long as they are moving forward and not backward, nothing wrong with baby steps.”

“What was with you and the host chick?” he asks.

“Her name is Savannah. She’s my best friend’s little sister. I had no idea she even lived here in Austin, so it was good to see her again and catch up,” I tell him, leaving out where I fucked her multiple times all night.

“Careful there, man. That can get tricky fast,” he warns.

I grunt at him, but there's not much to say in response since we’ve already taken things as far as they can go, in one sense. That doesn’t change the fact that I want to be buried deep inside her as soon as possible. I’ve slept with a fair share of women in my life, and none have measured up to my night with Savannah. I don’t know if it was the familiarity with her or the taboo aspect of sleeping with someone who should be off-limits to me, not only because she’s so much younger or because of who her brother is, but I felt a pull to her and something else I can’t quite put into words.

I switch to stretching my other leg as a few more guys file into the room. Everyone finds their own space to get themselves ready for our morning skate.

Once I’m feeling a little better, I go in search of some breakfast. One perk of being a professional athlete is the team has chefs that provide us with food. I grab a protein shake and a banana before heading to the locker room to get dressed for the ice.

The shrill of Coach’s whistle blows for what feels like the hundredth time in five minutes. “Webber, you need a break, old man?” he yells at me as I fuck up our drill.

“Damn, Coach,” someone yells out.

“That was harsh,” someone else adds.

“Fuck off, all of you,” I reply but don’t really mean it. “Won’t happen again, Coach,” I address him.

“Damn straight,” he says before blowing the whistle again to signal for the next set of guys to go.

Practice is brutal today. Coach ran us until I was ready to puke. That hasn’t happened since I was in the minors, and a group of us showed up to practice hung over. Our coach decided to teach us a lesson and made us skate bag skates until every one of us was puking into the trash can he hauled out onto the ice.

I finally make it into the shower. The hot water feels good on my muscles. It also brings back memories from the shower Savannah and I took at some point in the night. She found a box of condoms in her nightstand, so our fun was able to continue after our first round of sex with the one that I had in my wallet. I fucked her against the wall with the water coming down over us, but not before she dropped to her knees and wrapped her lips around my cock like the good girl she is. Fuck, if the images of that encounter aren’t flooding my mind and making me hard right here in the locker room shower. I quickly start thinking of my stats for the season and letting the smells of the locker room take over my thoughts. The last thing I need is to get a fucking hard-on while in a room full of my teammates.

Savannah:

Thank you for the delivery. That was very sweet. Not necessary, but very sweet.

Graham:

How was your day? And you’re welcome. It was the least I could do. You also said it was your favorite.

Savannah:

It was good. I’m exhausted, but I made it through. I’m already home, which is unheard of, but as soon as my kids were all gone, I was out of there today.

Graham:

What time do you usually get home?

Savannah:

It isn’t unheard of for me to stick around getting things done until after five, sometimes six.

Graham:

And the kids leave at three?

Savannah:

Yep. I know I need to find a better work-life balance, but I don’t have anyone waiting on me besides Simon, and he’s content with his cat bed and a bowl of food most days. How was your day?

Graham:

Exhausting. Coach ran us through the wringer in practice today. He wants us ready to go for our road trip later this week. We’re headed out West for a string of games.

Savannah:

When do you leave and get back? Is it hard to travel all the time?

Graham:

We leave tomorrow morning and are gone for nine days, and we play five games in that stretch. I’m used to the travel. It isn’t that it is hard. It can just get tiring by the end of the season. Longer trips like this one also make me miss my bed.

Savannah:

Wow. I didn’t realize that you guys go for so long at one time. I would miss my bed after that many nights away as well.

Graham:

It is pretty normal to make a West Coast swing and an East Coast swing. Since both have so many teams within a short distance, we play a group of them over a week or so, and it only takes one large trip and then little hops between each of the cities.

Would you believe me if I told you I already miss your bed? ;)

The bubbles pop up and start dancing, then disappear. I don’t know if my text was too direct, but I hope I didn’t scare her off. They come back, then disappear once again like she’s typing, then deleting it instead of hitting send.

A few minutes have passed and still no reply. I can’t stand the silence, so I decide to just call her and make sure I’m not worrying for nothing.

“Hello.” Savannah’s voice comes out of the speaker on my phone.

“Did I scare you away?” I come straight out and ask.

I can hear her blow out a breath before answering me. “No, you didn’t scare me. I just didn’t know exactly how to answer you, Graham.”

“Did you believe me?” I ask since I’m still curious about my question.

“I have no reason not to. But did you really spend enough time in it to already miss it?” she asks.

“It’s not the amount of time I spent there, but the connection we shared that made the impression.”

“So this wasn’t just a one-night stand to you?” she asks.

“Is that all it was to you?” I turn the question on her.

She blows another breath, and I can just see her in my mind, sitting on her couch, worrying about this conversation. “I’m still wrapping my mind around the past twenty-four hours, to be honest. I still can’t believe that it is my real life and that we did all we did in the span of, what, seven hours?”

“Best damn seven hours of my life,” I mutter, but loud enough she can hear.

“Okay, so potentially not a one-time thing for you?” she asks. “Then, what is it you want?”

Now it’s my turn to take a moment to answer her. “I can’t see the future, but I felt something between us last night, Savannah. Something I’ve never felt before with a woman. I don’t know if it was the fact that we’ve known each other for years or something else, but I can tell you I want to see you again, and if you’ll let me, I’d like to kiss you again, then make you fall apart while I’m buried deep inside your perfect body. Fuck, I’m hard just thinking about that.”

“Does everything always turn dirty with you?” She chuckles.

“You liked it last night, if I’m not mistaken. You really liked it when I said you were a good girl.”

“Maybe,” she says, and I can practically hear the smile in her voice.

“What are you doing for dinner tonight?”

“Heating some leftovers I had in the fridge, why?”

“Can you be ready in thirty minutes?”

“Um, it depends on what be ready means to you.”

“You could have on a paper sack, and it would be fine,” I say as I put my car into drive. I’m already backing out of my driveway and pointing my car in her direction.

“I have a little more on than a paper sack.” She laughs. “But I’m not in anything fancy, just what I wore to work today.”

“Once again, I don’t care what you have on. I’ll be there soon to pick you up.”

“Okay.”

“I’m getting another call from your brother, of all people, so I’ll talk to you when I get there.”

“What! Are you mentioning us to him?” she asks, and I can hear the panic in her voice.

“I won’t say anything incriminating,” I promise her before we hang up.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” I say after answering the call on my car’s Bluetooth.

“Nothing much. How’ve you been? Haven’t talked to you in forever.”

“You know how it is; the season keeps me busy and mostly out of trouble.” I add a chuckle to really sell it.

“Yeah, you’re looking a little slow out there, old man. Hanging up the skates after this season?”

“Fuck off. I could still skate circles around you any day.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He laughs. We’ve always been the kind of friends to bust each other’s balls.

“How are Carly and the kids?”

“They’re doing great. Rowen is such a ladies’ man these days, and Hazel has just started to crawl.”

“Sounds like a handful.”

“Every moment, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. You should catch up, man. Kids are great.”

“I’d need a long-term woman for that.” He knows my hesitations in the past with women I’ve dated.

“She’s out there. You just need to look a little harder.” Little does he know, I could see that with Savannah.

“Hey, how come you never mentioned that your sister lives in my city?” I ask.

“Guess it just slipped my mind. Why?” he asks.

“I ended up at a fundraiser for her school this week.”

“How about that,” he muses. “Was she shocked to see you?”

“You could say that,” I tell him. “I’d been told the organizers’ names before I showed up, so I knew going in that she’d be there, but the look of shock on her face when I showed up was priceless,” I tell him. Maybe if I ease him into the knowledge that we saw one another and talked, I can ease him into being okay with me taking her out on a date. “We chatted for a while after the event ended, just catching up and such.”

“You get her talking about her school, and she’ll talk your ear off,” he says.

I laugh at his words. “Yeah, she was a little passionate about her job, but that just goes to show how much she loves what she does.”

“I guess so,” he agrees.

“We’re getting together again for dinner,” I come out and tell him.

“I’m warning you now, if she was passionate during a short conversation, she might talk your ear off at dinner, so just be prepared.”

“Thanks for the warning, but I can handle myself.”

“Hey, I was thinking of planning a long weekend trip down your way. Maybe when you’ve got a few home games one weekend.”

“You know you’re welcome anytime. My guest room is yours whenever you want to come.”

“I’m hoping to bring Carly on a romantic weekend away. I have a couple of weekends in mind and am just waiting to hear back from her parents about whether they can keep the kids for us. Because of that, I’ll probably book a hotel. Need a little more privacy than your guest bedroom provides, if you know what I mean.”

I chuckle at his innuendo, but boy, do I. “I get you. Ready to work on baby number three, are you?”

“No, I’m pretty sure we’re done with two. They are great and all, but I don’t think we want to be outnumbered.”

“I can appreciate that. Time to schedule the big snip-snip, then?”

“We’ve started talking about it. It’s the least I can do after everything Carly has been through with birthing our children.”

“Hey, man, hate to cut this conversation short, but I just pulled into the parking lot of where I’m headed. Can I call you back later in the week?”

“Yep, just wanted to catch up and let you know I’m planning a trip, hopefully.”

“Sounds good. Just shoot me your dates once you have them nailed down,” I tell him as I pull into a visitor spot at Savannah’s apartment complex.

“Later,” Lucas says before the line goes dead. Just as I’m about to kill the engine, the passenger door opens, and Savannah slides into the seat.

“How was my brother?” she asks after buckling her seat belt.

I lean over and press a chaste kiss to the corner of her mouth, wishing I could angle her head a little and claim her mouth like I did last night. “He was alright. I told him we ran into one another and that we were going to dinner soon.”

“Did you now? And what was his reaction to that?”

“Nothing, really, although he did warn me that you might talk my ear off with your passion for your school and job.”

“He can be such an ass sometimes,” she notes.

“I didn’t take it as a negative, but I also told him I could hold my own with you.” I wink at her to lighten the mood. “What kind of food are you in the mood for tonight?” I change the subject.

“I’m not super picky, so whatever you’re in the mood for is fine with me.”

“That isn’t what I asked. I want to know what you want.”

Savannah blows out a breath and turns slightly in her seat to face me better. “I’m really not that picky. Don’t you have to be the picky one, with being a professional athlete? Isn’t what you put into your body super important?”

“Yes, but one meal out isn’t going to knock me out if it doesn’t fit my macros perfectly.”

“What are the best things for you to eat?”

“Lots of protein and vegetables. I can have some carbs, but I try to keep them in check.”

“So a steakhouse of some sort would be best then?” she asks.

“If that’s what you’d like.”

“Gah,” she huffs, and I can’t hold back the laugh that escapes my lips.

“If you’d prefer, we can go back to my place, and I can heat one of the meals my chef has left in the fridge for me this week.”

“You have a chef?”

“Yep. Well, a chef service. They have a menu of options each week, and I can order as many meals as I want. They deliver them already portioned out. Some come ready to go in the oven, and others come pre-cooked and just need reheating. It really helps me eat healthy. I don’t always want to cook for myself, and I don’t want to eat out, so it is a win-win for me.”

“I’m fine with that if you have enough for both of us.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t.”

“Then let’s do that,” she says, so I pull out and head for my house.

“Wow!” Savannah says as we pull into the driveway of my place. I stop the car before pulling into the garage and take in the outside from her point of view. Is my house big? Yes. And seeing that from her view reminds me just how I was impressed with this place when I saw it for the first time.