Page 35 of Always Been You

Heading back into the living room, Olivia gets up when she spots me. She grabs her purse and sweatshirt before walking over to me. I open the door for her, and she grabs my sticks from my hands as she walks into the hallway. It’s like it’s the most natural thing in the world for her to grab my sticks before heading out for a game. I smile at the thought that doing this regularly could be considered our normal.

I lock the front door and reach for her hand as we head down to the car. When we get downstairs, I throw my bag, along with my sticks, into the back of my SUV and move to open the passenger door for Olivia. She gets in and I steal a fleeting kiss from her before closing the door. I need to keep it quick, otherwise, I’m not sure that we will make it out of the garage, let alone to the game.

I round the car and hop into the driver’s side, starting the car up. Reaching across, I place my hand on her thigh as I drive us toward the rink.

“When was the last time you went to a game?” I ask.

“Ummm, I went to a Cyclones’ game last year with Matt, but I haven’t been to one of his games since he was in high school.”

“Well, I’m glad that you’ll be there tonight,” I say, smiling and giving her leg a slight squeeze.

“Me too.” She smiles, her hand coming to mine.

We pull into the parking lot of the rink, and I open the door for her before we head to the back of the car. I grab my bag and she grabs my sticks again.

“You don’t have to carry those, Olivia,” I say, reaching for them.

“I know, I want to,” she says, pulling the sticks out of my reach.

I shake my head with a smile, close and lock the car up. There are plenty of cars in the lot, as this location has fourrinks inside. I quickly look around to see if there is anyone around us. When I see no one, I grab Olivia’s wrist and pull her into me. “One pre-game kiss before we have to act like it’s not killing me to not have my hands on you.”

A blush creeps up her skin and I lean down, letting her close the distance between us. I kiss her, slowly, enjoying the kiss before I pull away.

“I want another one of those after the game,” I tease her.

She looks at me with a mischievous look in her eye. “If you score tonight, I might just drop to my knees and reward you for a job well done,” she says before turning and walking toward the front door of the rink, leaving me with my mouth hanging open. I have to reach down and adjust myself in my pants. The image of Olivia on her knees for me has me getting hard. I never thought that she would say something like that, let alone be the one on the receiving end of the comment.

She looks over her shoulder at me, winking before saying, “You coming or not?” I close my mouth and hurriedly catch up to her. When I’m right beside her, I say low enough so no one else can hear me, “I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that dirty mouth of yours.” She grins, her face lighting up, “Well later, hopefully, you’ll be fucking it.”

I never knew that Olivia Carter had such a dirty mouth, but I’m loving it. I am walking beside her with a semi, hoping that no one around us can see what her words have done to me.

Inside the lobby, there are screens that show what teams are playing and what rink they are on. Seeing we are on rink two, I lead Olivia through the doors to our right. As soon as we step inside, we are hit with a blast of cold air from the ice. We walk toward the centre of the building, which leads to the dressing rooms and connects all the rinks.

We pass a few guys and I notice the full head-to-toe looks shegets from some of them. It takes everything in me not to reach over and pull Olivia into my side so that they all know that she is with me, but she is worried about her brother, and I respect that. So, I ball my hands into fists at my side. I may not be able to touch her and show that she’s mine, but that doesn’t stop me from glaring at each guy who is clearly checking her out.

Turning the corner, I stop right outside the dressing room; I look at Olivia and she is holding her hoodie over one of her arms and is standing there in just her t-shirt and leggings.

“Are you going to be warm enough?” I ask.

“Josh, I’ve been to plenty of games in my lifetime. I’ll survive.”

I hear a throat clear beside us and I look over and a couple of our teammates, Nick, Sam, and Luke, are staring at us.

“Hey guys,” I say, nodding at them. I look back at Olivia and hear one of them clear their throats again.

I look back at them, and Luke says, “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

I roll my eyes and say, “This is Olivia. Olivia, this is Nick, Sam, and Luke,” I point at each of them. They give me questioning looks as they look between Olivia and me. They take their time doing a head-to-toe look over her. The questioning looks don’t surprise me. I’ve never brought anyone to a game with me. My fists clench at my side and Luke notices.

“Hey guys, nice to meet you,” she says in her upbeat voice.

They each say a version of ‘You too’ or ‘Same’.

“Olivia is Matt’s younger sister,” I say and all of their eyes widen a bit at that little tidbit.

She passes me my sticks and takes a step back. “I’m gonna text the girls. I’ll meet you back here after the game. You still take an hour after the game to finish?” she asks as she continues to walk backwards away from us.

“Yeah, I’ll text you if I finish.”

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