Page 110 of On the Line
A cheer rose from the guys, and after that, everyone hurriedly showered and changed, preparing to head out into the night and continue this celebration away from prying eyes.
Because Mitch didn’t have to go through the whole post-game shower routine anymore, he changed out of his suit and dipped out ahead of everyone else, calling Berkley as he headed toward the parking lot.
“Hi, Mitch!” She squealed in his ear. “I didn’t catch you on the ice, but congratulations! I know it’s not the same as if you were playing, but I’m proud of you.”
Mitch’s heart swelled. He adored this girl, and was thankful she and Brent had found each other, and thankful she was still inhislife after everything. “Thanks, Berk. Look…where are you? I’m having a loft party and I was going to see if you wanted to help me get set up?”
“Sure!” Berkley said. “Can I bring Lexie and Amelia? Oh, and Reece and Harper are around here somewhere.”
He stopped listening after she said Lexie’s name, knowing what the answer would be. “Hell yes. The more the merrier. I’ll meet you in Greektown in ten.”
“Deal,” she said and hung up, already in a conversation with someone in the background on her end.
Mitch hadn’t been to the loft since he’d returned to Michigan, so he wasn’t sure what he was in for upon stepping inside. He knew for a fact Brent and the guys had never used the space, so Mitch mentally prepared himself for dust and cobwebs, possibly some vermin, and an empty bar.
So when he pulled open the door and flipped the lights on fifteen minutes later, Berkley and her crew in tow, he actually gasped.
Not only was the loft free from dust, dirt, and pesky rats, the bar was stocked and gleaming, the couches and chairs clean and arranged in their normal conversational groupings. The game tables in the back had been wiped down and laden with empty solo cups in preparations for the night’s festivities.
Everything was perfect, as though Mitch had never left.
He looked at Berkley, mouth agape. “You did this?”
She nodded. “Brent and I thought—hoped—we’d end up back here one of these days. I wasn’t even a little bit surprised when you called me as we were leaving the arena.”
Mitch walked up to her and scooped her off her feet in a crushing bear hug. “Thank you,” he whispered, then set her down.
“I guess the only thing left to do now is party!” he said.
Within an hour, the loft was packed wall to wall with Warriors players, staff, coaches, brass, friends, and families.
Mitch set up camp near the bar, as he always did during loft parties, and watched the night unfold in front of him. On more than one occasion, a female approached him and made him an offer a weaker man wouldn’t be able to refuse.
It had been an embarrassingly long time since Mitch last had sex. Like, before his injury. It wasn’t lost on him how easy it would be to take one of those women into the bathrooms and fuck their brains out, then send them on their merry way.
But he couldn’t, because the only woman he wanted was the one woman who had been going out of her way to avoid him all night.
After he turned down a fifth proposition in less than an hour, Mitch decided it was time to change that.
Lexie was at the beer pong tables playing flip cup with Amelia and Reece, one of Berkley’s old law school classmates, when Mitch stalked up to her and pressed the front of his body along her back. He had to breathe deeply to keep his dick from reacting to her nearness. All that did was fill his nose with that cinnamon and vanilla scent of hers, and he knew he was a lost cause.
He took it as a good sign when she leaned into him, so he bent his head close to her ear and whispered, “Can we talk?”
She glanced at him over her shoulder, pupils blown from alcohol consumption, nearly gobbling up that gold-flecked hazel he loved so much, and nodded.
The second his hand closed around her wrist, he nearly let go, the contact sending a jolt up his arm, a sensation Mitch couldn’t deny he had missed desperately since the last time he’d touched her. Tugging her across the space, he led her to a dimly lit corner in the back, far enough away from the noise and the crowds that they wouldn’t be bothered or overheard.
Lexie sat down in an overstuffed chair and crossed her arms and legs.
So it was going to be like that, huh?Mitch thought.
“Have you been getting my gifts?” he blurted.
She nodded. “I’ve been out of town a lot, but yes, I have them.”
“What, no ‘thank you’?”
“I’m not going to thank you for attempting to buy my affection, Mitch.”
