Page 39 of One Shot

I try to get up, placing a hand on each side of him and pushing back to my feet, but I slip again. The ice is already slick to start off with—obviously, it’s ice—and there’s baby oil all over it and Lucas, so I can’t use him to help me get up either. My eyes meet Lucas’ and laughter bubbles up out of me quickly met by his.

“You really did make a huge mess with that oil, huh, Laur?” he jokes.

“Shut up!” I try to get up again and fall. My foot slips and spills what’s left of the oil bottle over, causing more chaos.

Lucas’ chuckles grow louder echoing off the ice. I can feel his abs contracting beneath me as I use all my strength to sit up. My heart is pounding in my chest, threatening to skip a beat as I’m now straddling him. My hands slip along the smooth oily surface of his torso when I try to push myself up again

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I shriek in frustration.

“You are the smoothest of smooth, Laur,” Lucas says, taunting me.

I try a new tactic and roll off him onto the ice. I shift over on the ice to get away from the spot where I spilled all the oil. Lucas is almost crying with laughter. “Slick maneuver. Are you really that scared of falling for me, Laur?” he teases.

“Cool it, Captain. I didn’t fall for you. I just kept tripping.” He grabs my hand and pulls me across the ice to him. I shriek. “Hey! What are you doing?!”

“You’re slipping, not tripping,” Lucas taunts. His face is a few feet from mine. I’m looking into those eyes I think of so often.

“Stop slipping for me, Laur,” he whispers.

I remember how his lips felt against mine at the Beer Olympics, even if I had been tipsy at the time. It’s a feeling I can’t forget. If I were to break my promise to myself to swear off love, this man would be the one to break it for. There is nothing I am more sure of than that. But I can’t think like that, I don’t want to be hurt again.

He leans in to kiss me. Even if I want to stick to my promise, it’s only fair I let him kiss me right? After all, I did kiss drunkenly kiss him.

My phone rings, snapping me back into the real world. I turn my head, rejecting his kiss. The silence in the rink is eerie until my phone goes off for a second time.

Answering Bren’s call, I scoot away from Lucas and finally get to my feet.

No more tripping or slipping or falling over you, Captain. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.

Chapter twenty

Lucas

Laur refuses to take a shower in the locker room. I tell her I’ll stand guard, and Bren has done it plenty of times, but I can’t persuade her. She is determined to wait until we get back to her house.

“Hurry, I am about to be hangry, and if we aren’t there in ten minutes or less, Bren will call again. She’s like the mom of the house, always worrying about everyone,” Laur says.

I take the fastest shower of my life or at least I try to. Being half covered in baby oil is tricky. She’s on the home team’s bench when I get back from my shower ten minutes later, looking through her camera, with a hint of a smile on her face.

“What are you looking at?” I ask.

“Nothing,” she replies sheepishly, shutting off her camera. “Let’s go. Bren called me once when you were showering already.”

I will never be able to get the sound of her laughter out of my mind. And I never want to. I hope it plays on repeat forever. With how the day started, me being a primal douche, being jealous of Tyler, and then almost punching Mitchell, I didn’t expect it to end so perfectly. My desire to feel her lips on mine again had me about to explode. Did she only turn away to answer her phone? I have to try to go for it again.

She was going to kiss me back. I could see it in her ocean blue eyes. She longed for that kiss as much as I did. She’s avoiding it for some reason. She asks me about my classes and my major. I tell her even if I’m in the business school, it’s not relevant; my future is in hockey.

Somehow, we are already at her house. That was the fastest walk of my life. I need to kiss this girl before I miss my chance.

“Laur.” I pull her back from putting the key in the door.

Before she can say anything, my lips are on hers. They are just as soft and welcoming as I remember. I feel the immense desire I’ve had for her for weeks build higher. She grabs my neck, deepening our kiss with a burning desire that is just as strong as mine. The spark between us flourishes into a roaring fire. Before it goes any further, the door opens. Laur jumps away, putting as much distance between us as possible on the small porch.

Laur dashes into the house.

“Hi, Bren! I’m going to go shower and then I’ll come eat.”

Laur slips away quickly, like nothing happened. Bren’s eyes are filled with protectiveness and fury as she glares at me.

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