Page 58 of Rookie Season
Little dust specks drift through the sunlight in the window. The scents of wood and Ryan fill my senses.
The pillow is soft under my cheek as I roll toward him.
I’m not a big sleepover girl, especially with guys. This one fills the entire bed in a way that should be annoying.
Every shift of my body ignites a vivid memory, as though despite the low lighting and muffled sounds of the cabin, I’m ready to soak in each moment.
Ryan kissing me, touching me, moving with me.
Last year’s hookup was good.
This was a damned revelation.
He’s really good in bed. It’s such an understatement I nearly laugh.
But more than that, the things he said, the way he acted, made me feel as though he was genuinely in this for more than one night.
Am I?
I can’t be.
Except… he makes me want to.
I wonder what it would be like to wake up in my bed with him next to me. To meet up with him when we’re both done work, to take a hot bath and talk about each other’s days and have the kind of slow sex that leaves marks. To hang out in public in that easy way Clay and Nova or Miles and Brooke do.
That was never something I aspired to, but now I’m questioning whether I was too quick to dismiss it.
I glance over my shoulder. There’s a trail of clothes along the floorboards of the loft. I creep toward the window, carefully picking up one piece after another.
He doesn’t even snore.
I have to get out of here. The sentence rises up, and as much as I want to stay, I know it’s true.
Getting down the ladder is trickier than getting up, but I make it. Once I get to the second floor, the scent of coffee drifts up from downstairs. I get a robe from my room—Chloe’s up already, shit—and head down to the kitchen.
Brooke’s there, moving around the kitchen and pulling down mugs. Nova lifts the coffee pot in one hand.
No Chloe.
Did she notice I left last night? I sure as hell hope not.
“There she is,” Brooke calls.
“Please tell me there’s enough for me,” I say.
“There’s enough for everyone.” Nova pours into mugs, and I shift onto a stool on the opposite side of the island.
“Everyone?” I ask.
“Guys are still asleep. They can make another pot.”
I blink, sleepiness catching up to me.
“Yesterday was fun,” Nova says.
“Getting snowed in isn’t so bad after all,” I say.
“It’s definitely not,” Brooke decides.
