He squeezes my ass, but when I squirm, he lets me go. "Come on, Freckles. You'd better put another layer of sunblock on your nose while I drive us to the arboretum."
"Aye aye, captain." I give him a salty little salute as we get into his truck. His smirk warms me and he settles one of his big hands on my leg as he pulls out.
It's the beginning of September. Here in the Pacific Northwest, that mostly means the heat of the summeris slowly sliding away, leaving a beautiful fall. It's still warm, upper seventies, and cloudless. The perfect weather to do something vaguely-but-not-really-outdoorsy.
When we get to the arboretum, Alex parks under a shady stand of pines. My mind briefly wanders to what I'm going to do about Coach Savard, but when Alex prompts me, Gordie's leash in his hand, I blink and jump into motion.
He hands me my backpack and I put on my sunglasses, looking around the dirt parking lot. There are some paved paths that lead down to the waterfront to the right and straight ahead are some well-trod trails. Because I'm paranoid about my ankle seizing up, I haven't been on a real hike since I had my accident. Today is a good test. Nice and easy, nothing too hilly. And having a burly boyfriend as a backup is nice.
"Can I take Gordie?" I ask as we start off down one of the wooded paths.
Alex hands me his leash with a small smile. "Be careful. He has a thing about possums. If he smells or sees one, he'll bolt."
"We can't have that, can we?" Gordie isn't paying me an ounce of attention. He's busy sniffing every fourth tree trunk.
The trail is flat and wide, and shaded by enormous old trees. Gordie pulls ahead of us, sniffing every bush, every root, every square inch of ground like he's cataloguing smells for future reference. Other dogs pass us and Gordie is a perfect gentleman about it,sitting and letting them sniff him while their owners eye his size nervously.
Snorting, I shake my head. Owning such a big dog would be a burden for some people. But Alex uses Gordie to chase away would-be autograph seekers, I think. Makes sense.
Alex walks beside me. He’s tugged the baseball cap low over his eyes, trying for low-key. But it doesn’t matter. Even incognito, he's magnetic. A woman jogging past does a double-take and nearly trips over a tree root.
"Fan of yours?" I tease.
He shrugs like he has no idea. "She’s probably just admiring Gordie."
"Sure. That's exactly what she was looking at."
He bumps my shoulder with his. "Jealous?"
"Of a jogger? Please." I bump him back and he catches my hand, threading his fingers through mine. We walk like that for a while, connected, quiet. I breathe in the cedar and the damp earth and the particular green smell that old trees give off when the sun hits their canopy.
This is what I wanted today. Not the rink, not the houseboat, not another night on the couch with Gordie between us, though I love them more than I care to admit. I wanted to be outside with my boyfriend like a normal person. No hiding. And more importantly, no pretending that he's just my brother's teammate.
Out here, he's just Alex. And I'm just Mollie. And the giant hellhound leading the way is our ridiculous protector.
Alex slides me a glance once we’re deeper in the woods. "Can we talk about telling your brother?"
I screw up my face. "I know that you don't like deceiving him."
"No. But if I was perfectly honest with you, I would tell you that I had more of a problem with not being able to tell the other hockey players that you’re off-limits. It's..." He wrinkles his nose and sighs. "Incredibly tough to not piss a circle around you."
I huff out a laugh and hug his arm. "Sorry, Hotshot. You know that I work with big sweaty hockey players for a living, though, right? Like... most of you are gross."
"Most?" He glares at me. "See, that's the problem."
“So possessive.” I cut my eyes at him. “You know I only want you, right? I’ve waited years for this to happen.”
“This?” He slips his arm around my waist, pulling me in for a kiss. I sink into it, willing to let him sweep me away, wash me down the river and into the sea.
When he pulls back, he asks idly, “How much trouble do you think I would get in with the league if I fucked you against a tree right now?”
“Alex!” I laugh and swat at him. “Don’t even think about it. There are people everywhere.”
He cocks a brow. “Telling me not to think about having sex with you is asking the impossible.”
“Tch.” Clicking my tongue, I kiss him once more and then push him away. “Come on, Romeo.”
I think about my brother, the look on his face when I tell him I’m sleeping with his best friend and teammate. He’s going to be so mad.
