23. Colt - Stay

Holy shit . I did not think I could get more attracted to her, but she just blew that theory out of the water. I felt like a fucking teenager again, getting a raging boner from watching her walk away like that. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I knew I needed my own shower to fix this situation.

I stared at the bathroom door and shook my head in amusement. What I wouldn’t give to be in that shower with her. Or to even just be casually in the bathroom with her– to brush my teeth or shave while she showered. We spent ten years apart, now being even an arm’s length apart felt like too much.

While stumbling down the hall to my guest room, I vowed that I’d do everything in my power to gain back her trust and to not to lose her again. I couldn’t. Not when I knew how great we were together. Not when we were both so much happier together.

After showering, I called up our goalie, Henrik, and asked for his wife’s game day attire recommendations. He’d been on the Whalers the longest, and his wife Elsie was always the one organizing family days and wine nights for the significant others, so I figured she’d know best. I honestly didn’t care how much it cost, I wanted a whole ass game day wardrobe delivered to the house for her to choose from, and I’d play my damn hardest tonight so her and Lucy would have a great time.

Dressed in my favorite game day suit– dark blue with barely noticeable white and green plaid stripes– I knocked on my bedroom door to say goodbye to her.

When she propped the door open, her hair was still wet and she wore only an old T-shirt of mine that fluttered around her thighs.

Her eyes flamed as they darted over me, studying my suit. “Wow, you clean up good,” she whispered, patting the lapels of my suit.

Grinning, my hand dipped under the t-shirt and went to her bare waist. “You do, too,” I practically growled.

She giggled as I walked us back into my room and kicked the door shut behind us. I immediately started kissing her neck, and her knees buckled, responding to my touch.

“Colt,” she said in that breathy little voice of hers.

“So fucking beautiful,” I said against her skin.

“We gotta go!” JP bellowed from downstairs, and it was like having cold water dumped down my back.

“Damnit,” I grumbled, making her laugh.

She went to her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my jaw. “Have a good game.”

With my hand resting on her butt, my head totally wasn’t in the game right now. “You’ll stay tonight?”

Her mouth gaped open, then closed. She looked caught in indecision.

“Talk to me,” I said gently, brushing her hair behind her ear. I needed to know what was going on in that head of hers.

Her lips rolled together. “I’m afraid I'm overstaying my welcome.”

“Never.” I shook my head. I had to tread carefully not to come off as overbearing or pressuring, but I never wanted her to leave again. We already lost so much time. She was the same Mer, just with extra barriers up now to protect herself, and I’d wait as long as it took for her to let me into her world again.

“ I want you to stay. Pretty sure Lu wants you to stay,” I said with a chuckle. That was an understatement. I’d never seen her so excited to go to one of my games. She wanted to show Mer everything. “Do you want to stay?”

“Yeah, I think I do,” she whispered, like she was afraid to say it too loudly, like she was afraid to want it. I couldn’t wait to kiss away her hesitation later.

I pulled her closer, hugging her against my chest and resting my chin on her hair. “Then I think you should.”

She swallowed hard and gave a little nod.

“Just keep moving forward, alright? I think we’ve still got a lot of good ahead of us.”

She took in a shaky breath. “I want to believe that so badly,” she whispered. Her sky eyes met mine and the longing in them cracked my heart.

My forehead went to hers and her eyes fluttered closed. “You can bet on it,” I whispered. “Bet on me, Mer. Please.”

“We gotta go!” JP’s voice boomed again, startling Mer. My hands found her hips, steadying her.

“But I gotta poop,” Kappy complained from the hall.

“Well, we don’t have an hour,” JP snapped back. “Let's go.”

“I hate pooping at the rink,” Kappy whined.

I chuckled to myself and Mer rolled her lips together, struggling to contain her own laughter.

“Yeah, well, none of us are a fan of it either, you stink it up. You should really see someone about that,” JP said.

“You get mean when you’re nervous, I get the shits, sue me,” Kappy argued back.

“I don’t get mean,” JP snapped. “Colt!” He bellowed. “We gotta go!”

“He does get a little mean,” I whispered to Mer, then turned to yell, “Coming, jeez!”

I pressed one more kiss to her hair before heading out.