Page 69 of Unrivaled Love
“True.” She sets the book to the side. "You're all sweaty, what were you doing?”
“I have a surprise for you. You wanna see?”
“Sure,” she says with a shrug. I head into the house and grab the few protein bars we have left. When we get out of here the first thing I’m doing with Jo, after a shower, and trip to the mall so she can get new clothes, is taking her out for a meal.
When I join her out on the deck again she smiles at me and I feel like a fucking teenager. She’s so pretty. And she’s into me.
“C’mon Killer.” I say with a smile as I take her hand and walk to the edge of the deck.
“Are we really going to hold hands for the entire hike?” She asks and I laugh.
“No, but we could.”
“Pass.” She says as she pulls her hand back. I laugh but continue to lead the way out to the lake.
I found some battery powered lanterns. I'm hoping we have a little light after the sun sets. I don’t have much of a plan besides getting her naked to swim and then fucking in the tent.
Feels like enough of a plan to me.
***
Maybe I should have planned more because I'm fucking nervous. Jo is the most amazing woman in the whole world and The Universe dropped her in my lap this week. I can't just seduce her.
Can I?
How do I even do that? I haven't tried to take a woman to bed when actual feelings are involved since Jo back in college.
I remember that night. I was graduating and Jo still had one more year to go. The night we got together was two weeks before my hockey season would end with a loss in the finals of the NCAA tournament.
Jo's season was long over but she was still training like she had a game every weekend. Ten years ago there weren't as many professional teams for her to play on but she had been selected for the development camp for Salt Lake starting in June.
The hockey and soccer circles didn’t overlap much at our school. Class work and being a college athlete basically drains all available free time. We’d drive home for breaks together but we didn’t hang out a ton at school. But that spring one of my roommates was dating a soccer girl and one night she came over with a few friends to hang out.
I remember the moment Jo walked in the front door. Clearly her friends had picked her outfit and she was not thrilled about it.
Jo had only ever worn soccer shorts, tearaway pants, or jeans for as long as I knew her growing up. I guess a dress made the occasional appearance but I was probably too busy fighting my own suit and tie to notice her.
Not that night.
Jo marched into my house in a pair of lime green skinny jeans, black heels, a black flowy tank top, and she had huge, chunky pink earrings on. Her hair was curled and her makeup was way overdone.
She caught my surprise and my laugh. Not at her expense. But at the fact she even allowed this to happen in the first place.
I remember leaning against the door that led to our kitchen as she stalked past me to the fridge. She helped herself to a beer, cracked it open, took a long swig, and then leveled me with a look.
She let out a little hiccup, pointed a finger at me, and said, "Not a word Bryson Svoboda."
I lifted my hands in surrender but smiled as she took a more normal drink. She set it on the counter and then turned to me.
"I'm about done with people today, can we go to your room and watch a movie?"
"Sure." I shrugged and then led the way upstairs.
My roommates and her friends crowed about us sneaking off already but I just flipped them the bird and continued to my room. I closed the door behind me after Jo walked in and when she slumped down onto my bed and kicked off her heels I got nervous.
Just like now.
It feels like the first time for us all over again and I don't have the help ofLove and Basketballsetting the mood of two athletes falling in love.
