Chapter Twenty-Nine

College

When the team reached the hotel, the coaches stood at the front of the bus to tell the players to stay in their seats for an announcement.

“Darcy, I’m counting on you and Sammy to make sure no one gets out of hand. If you are worried at all, you call me. You can call any of us. Got it?” Coach held eye contact with Darcy and then Sammy for what felt like an eternity. Natalie’s finger rested on Darcy’s leg. She didn’t move away.

“Ladies, let me remind you that you are representatives of your university. If you wish to remain students at the school and members of this team, you will do well to remember that and keep your shit under control. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Coach,” the players said in unison.

As the team shuffled off the bus, Coach stared at each player as she passed. Darcy walked in behind the rest of the team, hovering near Natalie. Natalie was keenly aware of her presence as she had been all year and knew where she was all the time. On the ice, it made their chemistry unbeatable. She could find Darcy with passes other people wouldn’t even attempt. But off the ice, it was absolute torture. Torture for Natalie to know where Darcy was and having to remember not to stare, not to find herself “accidentally” wandering over to her at every event, every party, only to realize she had no other reason to be there.

“Star” was the right word. From the moment they met in the orchard, Natalie orbited Darcy. A lone planet circling without getting any closer until the coaches made them roommates and the force of their attraction was too much to resist. But after that, in public, Natalie kept away, the force of their status as teammates keeping them from letting anyone know they were more than friends. Natalie would circle but find herself unable to cross that threshold, that barrier between them. In private, tucked away from their teammates and roommates and anyone else, they could be together. Stolen kisses, study sessions in the library where they found an abandoned corner in the stacks to make out, trips to the movie theater two towns over, they could be themselves only when they were alone. It had been hard to pretend she wasn’t deeply in love with Darcy.

After they’d kissed that first time, Darcy had told Natalie they had to be a secret. She explained, her eyes wet with tears, how breaking up with one of her former teammates had torn the team apart. Darcy had vowed never to date another teammate, especially not in her final season, not with a national championship on the line.

But that was ending. The season was over. They’d won. And now they could stop pretending that they weren’t pulled together like a pair of magnets, like every bit of their personal gravity wasn’t forcing them closer and closer.

That night, with the NCAA trophy secured, that orbit changed. No longer was she forced into large circles, she could crash into the star that was Darcy LaCroix with the entire world watching and it wouldn’t destroy anything because the season was over.

They weren’t teammates anymore and the accident of having been born in two different countries, two intense rival countries, meant they would never be teammates again. Goodbye orbit, hello collision course for two women who spent the better part of seven months trying not to appear too close.

That was over. Forever.

What they would decide to start that night was entirely up to them. They were in charge of what came next. For Natalie that meant saying the words she’d been holding back for weeks. She knew she loved Darcy but she didn’t want to admit it until she could hold her hand and kiss her in public. She was giddy with anticipation. She had to remind herself to stop smiling.

They walked into the hotel and milled around by the elevators, waiting for their teammates to shuffle in ahead of them.

“Where are you?” Darcy asked, her voice low.

“Right here.”

“What room?”

“Oh. 1224.”

“1230.”

Four digits never felt so loaded. Natalie forced herself to breathe. Passing out in the lobby was a bad idea given the night she planned to have with Darcy.

Darcy nodded and jabbed the elevator button again. All the other players squeezed into the last car, leaving Darcy standing with Natalie, the air between them thick. When the elevator opened, they waited for a family to step out before getting in. Natalie selected the twelfth floor and punched the close door button, not wanting to share any more time with prying eyes.

Of course, there was a camera in the elevator. Natalie wasn’t stupid, but it wasn’t the same as looking around the lobby and wondering if parents or fans or their coaches were watching them.

Not that either of them was a stranger to being watched. They’d just finished playing a game in front of a couple thousand people. They had both suited up for their junior national teams and Darcy had worn the sweater for Team Canada, too. Scrutiny wasn’t new. But it was mostly reserved for how they performed on the ice. As long as they didn’t embarrass their teams or countries, few people cared about a couple of women’s hockey players.

They didn’t get recognized on the street but that didn’t matter now. It felt like the entire world could see the way Natalie’s body tilted toward Darcy. Like a flower turning toward the sun, Natalie could feel her shoulders turn, even slightly, to give her a better look at Darcy.

Now, finally, they were alone and Natalie felt like a shaken can of seltzer, or one of the beers Sammy snuck into the hotel in her hockey bag. Natalie had waited months and if she didn’t get to kiss Darcy soon she was going to lose her mind.

Darcy looked at her phone. “Everyone’s meeting up in Sammy’s room. 1214. See you there?”

Natalie couldn’t keep the disappointment off her face. She didn’t even try.

Darcy smiled the warmest, sweetest smile. “I don’t want to go either, but everyone will wonder where we are if we don’t.”

“It would make telling everyone a lot easier,” Natalie said with a shy smile.

Fear flickered across Darcy’s face, but was gone in an instant, replaced with Darcy’s eyes roving over every inch of Natalie. “I wasn’t planning to tell everyone while they’re drunk and celebrating. Were you?”

Natalie swallowed and shook her head, disappointed.

Darcy checked the hallway before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Natalie’s cheek. “Hey, we’ll tell them, I promise. I just don’t want to tell Sammy and those dumbasses when they’re five beers in, you know?” She reached for Natalie’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

Natalie nodded, delighting in the way her skin burned everywhere Darcy touched her. “Okay. Meet you in 1214 in a few minutes. I gotta ditch my coat and shit,” Natalie said, her hands busy fidgeting with the zipper on her coat. Their faces drew nearer each other. But not close enough.

The elevator doors opened with a loud ding.

“Dammit,” Darcy whispered.

Natalie grinned. That was all the confirmation she needed that she wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

She grabbed Darcy’s hand for a quick squeeze. “See you soon, Cap.”

Darcy bit her lip and nodded, her eyes locked on Natalie’s... Fuck. Her eyes looked like sex and fireworks. Natalie was so overwhelmed with the need to taste Darcy she could hardly breathe. Going to the party was the right thing to do, but Natalie really didn’t want to do the right thing.