Page 12 of The Love Dare
“Are you done yet?”
“Tacos!”
“Fucking hell,” Tyler mutters.
Alex’s shout follows him to the kitchen. “¡Viva la Tex-Mex!”
Tyler’s lips quirk despite himself. He bites into a taco to cover his grin. Alex was right—he feels much more settled with some steak in his system. Plus it shaves about ten minutes off the timer slowly counting down in the back of his mind. He’s always careful never to go upstairs too quickly. It would be too obvious. It would look too eager. It would reveal too much. So he wastes another fifteen minutes absently chatting with one of the guys from their old team, then makes his way carefully toward the back staircase, weaving around the girls who step into his path and sparing no thought for politeness. He’s been tricked into half-an-hour conversations about nonsense too many times. Something as simple asexcuse mecan provide an opening, and he’s not going to get dragged into that hellhole today.
He hasn’t been alone with Winnie in three months.
Not even Wayne Gretzky can stop him right now.
Tyler takes the stairs two at a time. A familiar jittery sensation urges him on.
Get it together.
He should not be this revved up. He saw her at a game two weeks ago. But it isn’t the same. Casting quick glances at her in the stands, going out to dinner with the whole Rusu clan,a rushed goodbye hug outside the dorms. It’s not enough. He needs to be close enough to see the twinkle in her eyes when she teases him, to feel the excruciating heat of her skin just a few tantalizing inches away while they watch a movie, to hear the slight hitch in her breath when he toes just a little closer to the line than he feels comfortable doing in front of her family—a comment here, an accidental brush of their knees there. He knows nothing can ever happen between them. But that doesn’t stop him from fantasizing. And he wonders, sometimes, if Winnie feels the same. It’s a very hazardous train of thought, but one he can’t stop himself from traveling. Because if she does, he’s pretty sure he’d blow up his entire life for a single goddamn taste of her.
At the top of the stairs, he stops for a moment to collect himself. He’s been practically buzzing ever since seeing her in his jersey two weeks ago. It’s nothing new. She’s been doing it ever since that championship game in ninth grade, and it became his ritual to find her in the stands the moment he stepped onto the ice—one he missed during the first few games of the season. But two weeks ago, when he scanned the crowd, she was there. The moment they locked eyes, she spun and pointed to her back, the wordBriggsloud and proud between her shoulder blades. It awoke something primal in him. He played like an animal that game, like an absolute savage.
Shit. I really miss her.
Tyler takes a deep breath, then shoves the door open in his usual way. “Win?—”
She snaps her head up. The sight of her swollen lips lights his blood on fire. He can’t count the number of times he’s imagined what she’d look like above him, hazel eyes hooded with desire, cheeks flushed, hair mussed. She’s his wildest dream come to life, but it hits like his worst nightmare, because he’s not the one underneath her.
“Shit! Sorry!”
Tyler backs into the doorframe in his haste to escape.
“Ty!”
Winnie scrambles across the bed. Two large hands slip out from underneath her shirt and Tyler’s vision goes red. He turns quickly away, unable to stop the jealous broil, and smacks his forehead on the door.
“Ow! Fuck!”
He slaps a hand over the spot, already feeling a bump, and stumbles into the hallway.
“Ty, wait!”
Dainty fingers thread through his, her grip surprisingly strong despite her small stature. The touch stops him mid-stride, though that has more to do with the fact that he’ll take any punishment if it means staying closer to her. And it is a punishment to stand here holding her hand, fully aware this is all he’ll ever get of her, while that asshole in the other room gets everything else. It takes all his control not to brush his thumb across her silken skin.
“I thought you decided to stay at school for the holiday,” she rushes to say, breathless. Her chest heaves, and he can’t stop himself from looking, just for an instant, at where the top three buttons of her blouse are undone. The swell of a pink lace bra peeks into view. A rush of desire clenches his abs so tightly he needs to tear his gaze away. “Alex said you weren’t coming.”
“I didn’t think I was,” he mutters with a shrug.
“If I’d known…” She trails off and tosses a look over her shoulder, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. All he can think about is backing her up against the wall and kissing her until she forgets that other jerk even exists.
He drops her hand instead.
“It’s fine, Win.” He forces the words through clenched teeth. “Enjoy yourself. I’ll go find Alex.”
“But—but—” Her gaze roves over his face, snagging on his forehead. She winces and reaches up to gently run a finger over the spot he knows has already started to swell. Tyler can’t stop himself from leaning into her touch. “This looks pretty bad. We should put something on it.”
Yes, he wants to say.Yes. Come with me. Stay with me.
But she’s Alex’s sister, and Alexandru’s daughter, and they’re just friends, so why should she put her life on pause to help him?
