Chapter Twenty-Six

College

The locker room after winning the NCAA championship was the happiest place Natalie had ever been. Her teammates were terrible dancers, especially with their skates on, but it only made the room and its thumping music more joyful.

Natalie was exhausted but she couldn’t stop smiling. Her shoulder pads were halfway across the room but she was too tired to pick them up. Instead, she leaned back into her locker stall and took in the scene.

Someone shouted her name over all the laughter and terrible singing. She scanned the room and found Persky grinning at her.

“Carpenter, what are you doing sitting there like an old lady? We won!”

Natalie threw a tape ball at her. “What are you doing trying to dance? You look like a drunk penguin.”

Persky flipped her off and continued her ridiculous dancing in the middle of the room.

Natalie should have been untying her skates and peeling off the rest of her gear but she didn’t want the moment to end.

They’d won the NCAAs. They were the fucking champions. Every early-morning lift, every one of the awful dry-land training sessions, every practice that got them to that point was worth it and she was going to soak it in for as long as possible.

She finally gave in and let her eyes travel to the person she’d been trying not to stare at for most of the year. Darcy had the stall across from her. Natalie let herself look at her, her view intermittently blocked by the groups dancing in the middle of the room.

Darcy sat with the trophy next to her. She looked up and caught Nat looking. She smiled. It was the first time Darcy had smiled like that in months. There was nothing wary in it. It was uncomplicated, like she finally set down all the things that had been worrying her and allowed herself to feel this joy.

Natalie had to look away. She told herself that it was because it was too much to look directly at Darcy. But that wasn’t true. It was because they were hiding this thing between them. They were hiding for the good of the team, hiding so they could win that trophy sitting next to Darcy. And now that they had...maybe things would change. Maybe she wouldn’t have to look away.

Darcy’s smile reached into her chest and tugged. Seeing it made Natalie want all the things she’d been avoiding the entire season. Natalie had been pushing aside that particular want for months. If Darcy spent months worrying about winning, Natalie spent the time worrying about how to avoid wanting things she couldn’t have.

But with this final win the season was over. No more practices, no more games, and no more reasons not to reach for Darcy in public, no more reasons not to smile at her across the locker room. No more reasons to stay apart.

Natalie bent to untie her skates, her heart pounding at the realization. She snuck a glance across the room again. Darcy looked so happy leaning against the wall between the cubbies.

And hot.

Fuck, she was hot.

Natalie went back to focusing intently on her skate laces. They were soaked from the game and stubbornly refused to come undone. By the time she got them untied, Darcy was walking around the locker room, stopping at each stall to say something to her teammates. She hugged her fellow seniors and jubilantly thumped them on their shoulder pads. Natalie couldn’t take her eyes off Darcy, her heart kicking into high gear as Darcy got closer to where she sat.

Was she going to hug Nat, give her a high five? If she hugged her would she whisper into Nat’s ear, her breath tickling Natalie’s neck? Would she acknowledge what was between them in front of the whole team?

Darcy stopped in front of Natalie and smiled.

“What’s up, Cap?” Natalie asked, hoping to cover her nerves.

Darcy smiled but her eyes betrayed something else. Natalie hoped it was everything they had been pushing away since they met in the fall. But with the music blasting and the fluorescent lights, Natalie couldn’t be sure it wasn’t just a shadow.

Darcy dropped her hands to her sides, letting them swing. She looked nervous, maybe. But maybe that was wishful thinking.

She put one hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “Nice work out there, freshie. Glad you figured out how to keep up with me.”

Natalie laughed. “More like you figured out how to keep up with me, old-timer.” Darcy shoved Nat playfully. “You would have half as many goals without me out there feeding you perfect passes every shift.”

Darcy shook her head. “Maybe winning NCAAs as a freshman wasn’t good for your ego. We’re going to have to buy it a seat on the plane.”

“It’s not bragging if you can back it up,” Natalie said, automatically. This argument was a well-choreographed dance between them. Next, Darcy would make a crack about Natalie being American and Natalie would respond with a dig about Darcy being a princess. It was comfortable, familiar, and the easiest way to move around the electricity between them without risking the kinds of sparks that could start a fire. Like waving sparklers in the air. It was a pretty sight without too much danger.

Maybe now, they could stop pretending they didn’t know the kind of heat there was between them.

Darcy rocked back onto her heels. “We’re going out later. And you’re coming.” She reached over and let her hand rest on Natalie’s arm. Not on her shoulder, not on her wrist, but a spot in between. Like their dance. In between.

They had been doing this all year. What was another couple of hours? She could at least wait until they were out of the locker room to tell everyone they’d been dating all season.

“You got it, Cap,” Natalie said, risking a smile that might give away the thoughts swirling in her head—thoughts she hadn’t shared with her teammates, not even with her best friend.

But tonight, the season was over. They’d kept the secret. They hadn’t torn the team apart, or screwed up the delicate balance of chemistry and magic required to take home the national championship trophy. There was nothing left to keep them from telling everyone, to keep them from kissing in celebration, and holding hands on the plane ride home.

Natalie was filled with a warm, fizzy calm. No more hiding. She smiled to herself before realizing she was the last person still in all her gear.

Crap.

Their assistant coach walked in as she pulled off the last of her equipment. “Carpenter, you plan on getting clean sometime this century? Some of us would like to go home.”

Nat took a towel from the stack in the middle of the room before walking to the showers, carefully avoiding looking at Darcy. “Coach, Cap over here is still making the rounds like the goddamned mayor and you choose me to yell at?”

“Darcy’s the captain and a senior. She’s earned a little respect. You are a pain-in-the-ass freshman.”

It took every bit of willpower for Natalie not to flip off the coach. Across the room, Darcy looked up and met her gaze. Her eyes destroyed Natalie.

“Carpenter, are you trying to throw me under the bus?” She stood on the far side of the room, her skates and lower half of her equipment still on, her gray T-shirt clinging to her shoulders and, as if designed to kill Natalie, her chest. Darcy cocked a hip out and rested her arms over her chest, accentuating the lines of her well-muscled forearms.

Natalie turned away, entirely incapable of keeping her shit together anymore. She didn’t know how to exist in this new world where she didn’t have to keep them a secret. It was like her brain had gone from “no one can know during the season” to “we won, season’s over, let’s make out in the locker room” in the last ten minutes.

At least in the shower no one could see Natalie blush. When she stepped out of the shower, she found Darcy walking in. It took every ounce of restraint Natalie had not to stare. The arena towels barely covered Natalie, and Darcy was four inches taller. It was practically obscene.

Not that Natalie was complaining.

Natalie hurried to get dressed before Darcy got out of the shower. It was a stupid dance. They got changed and showered together every day and it was never a big deal. But today, once people knew, they would think back to every look, every second they were alone, and they would wonder. Natalie wasn’t afraid of being teased by her teammates. She was happy.

She’d never been so happy. Tonight, finally, she was going to tell Darcy she loved her. Nat couldn’t wait to be alone with her so she could say the things she’d been holding back for weeks. But that didn’t mean she wanted her teammates to know she was lingering, waiting for Darcy to drop that entirely too small towel. Darcy was more than a hookup; she might be the love of Natalie’s life.

On the bus, Natalie was sitting in her normal seat by the window when Darcy appeared.

“Do you mind if I join you for a minute?” Darcy asked.

Natalie shook her head and moved her backpack off the seat. “What’s up, Cap? Come to thank me for those assists out there?”

“You wish,” Darcy said, folding her legs up to rest her knees on the seat in front of her. She stared at the ugly multicolor stripes on the fabric. “I thought maybe we could...” She trailed off and whatever she planned to say was cut off by their coach walking down the aisle, tapping each player on the head as she counted out loud.

“Anyone missing?” she yelled. “If you’re not on the bus, call out.” It was a stupid, corny joke, one she made on every road trip. But the team didn’t groan this time. The season was over. They only had a few more trips on the bus together. Corny or not, the stupid humor felt comforting.

Coach waded through the aisle back to her seat at the front of the bus. “Okay, the national champions are ready to eat!” she shouted and the bus erupted into cheers.

Natalie screamed and banged her palms against the seat. She locked eyes with Darcy, who had her mouth open, her lips spread into a grin and her eyes sparkling with joy and something else, desire maybe. Natalie’s stomach swan-dived at the thought of those curled lips against her.

Shit. I’m such a goner.

The bus stayed loud until halfway to the restaurant when exhaustion hit all of them in a long wave that crested through each row.

“What were you going to say?” Natalie asked, bumping her shoulder against Darcy’s.

Darcy shrugged. “Nothing. It was stupid.”

Natalie wanted to push. Normally, she would never let Darcy off that easily. But this wasn’t their usual thing. That electricity, sparking around them for months, crackled in the air. They’d fallen into the mode of hiding the heat between them, but knowing they didn’t have to now brought them back stronger and brighter than ever. One wrong move, one wrong word, and it might have exploded and devoured them both. Natalie kept her mouth shut and let her hand rest on her thigh. If her finger drifted to touch the outside of Darcy’s leg, that could have been an accident. If it needed to be.