“Thanks, Bri,” Lochlan says, swinging his legs off the table with an easy smile as Penn moves in to take his place.
“Let me grab my supplies from the other room. I have a little time before I need to catch the train so we can get some needling done. I’ll be right back.”
"Take your time," Penn replies casually, but his eyes track me as I move to the door, and I don't miss it. He's interested—he'salwaysinterested—but then again, Penn flirts the way most people breathe. And when the only man I can't get out of my head plays goal for this team, Penn's attention lands somewhere between flattering and completely pointless.
The training room is a mess. My father's renovation announcement to shareholders has turned the whole space upside down and most of the supplies I need for treatment have migrated into the small walk-in closet next door, nothing where it should be. Most days it's a minor inconvenience. Today, with a train to catch, it’s cutting into my time.
The supply closet is cool and quiet. I pull the needles, arrange what I need on the cart, run through my mental checklist. Satisfied, I reach for the door handle—and it swings open before I touch it. Seth fills the doorway.
“Seth.” My voice comes out as a whisper, my pulse spiking instantly.
His damp hair is tousled, like he just got out of the shower, and he’s wearing a tight, ripped Mayhem jersey with the sleeves cut off showcasing every lean, chiseled oblique muscle on his body. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over how handsome Seth is.
He turns, locking the door behind him.
“What are you doing?” I whisper. He advances on me with a smile, and when he runs his hand through his hair before cupping my cheek tenderly, I melt.
“I was looking for you,” he says. He backs me up until my butt hits the cool cement wall. His head dips low, his nose skimming the sensitive skin along my neck as he drags a heated line up to my ear. “You always smell so fucking good.”
One hand clamps around my hip, yanking me flush against him so I can feel how hard he is for me. His other hand threads through my hair, tugging gently until my head tilts back, giving him full access to my mouth. My body hums with anticipation, my mind barely catching up before I’m wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down for a kiss.
It must surprise him that I act first because he pauses for a heartbeat, then growls low in his throat as he takes over, deepening the kiss until I’m drowning in him. His hand skims downward, across my breasts, over my stomach and right to my thighs, before gripping and hiking one leg around his hip.
When I instinctively lift the other, he catches me easily, lifting me off the ground, holding me against the wall, rolling his pelvis against me and hitting exactly where I need him.
“Soul,” he pants against my lips, his forehead pressed to mine, his hazel eyes dark and stormy.
“Soul?” I whisper.
He pulls back a little. “Sawyer’s my Spirit, and you’re my Soul.”
My chest tightens. It's only been three days since I slipped out of his house before Sawyer woke up, and I’m still trying to process what he told me. I saw Sawyer Tuesday briefly after work, rushed home to get her from practice and set her up with dinner, but she ended up at a new friend's house instead. Seth picked herup later. I wasn't needed, which should have been a relief and wasn't, because I missed her. I missed him. And not because he stopped trying to get me to come over.
He texted every night. Invited me over every night. And every night I had somewhere else to be. Dinner with Natasha, who's been running herself ragged between the bar and everything else. Picking up her shift to cover. Nails with Rosie, Rhiannon, and Alessia. I told myself I was busy; I was, but I was also hiding.
Because the truth is I'm terrified. Not of my father finding out, not of what it means for Sawyer, though both of those things keep me up at night too. I'm terrified because Seth has been broken before. He's lost things I can't imagine losing, and I still don't know if his heart has room for the kind of love I want to give. The kind I need to receive.
“How would you feel about me dropping to my knees and getting you off right now,” he murmurs, his voice raw with need.
I would love that. But I’m at work and, “Penn’s in the next room,” I tell him, though my resolve is slipping fast. “He’s waiting for me to do some dry needling on his ankle.”
Seth groans, rocking his hips against me, the heat of his erection pressing deliciously against my clit. “I have something that needs needling too.”
I laugh and brush my lips against his. “I’ll see you tonight? After Sawyer’s practice?” I whisper. “Maybe we could... um, talk.”
His eyes narrow as if he’s trying to decipher what I’m saying. “She’s staying at her new friend’s house again. Overnight.”
“On a school night?”
“Trust me, I didn’t like it either,” he grumbles, pressing his forehead back to mine. “But she begged. Puppy dog eyes were used, promised she’d already finished all her homework andwould go to bed at a reasonable time. I also talked to the girl’s mother who said she’d have them in bed by eight. And seeing her making friends here, well, I couldn’t tell her no.”
My heart squeezes. I know exactly what he means. Saying no to Sawyer when she’s that excited is impossible. I’m glad she’s making friends.
I press my hands to his jaw, tilting his face so I can see him. “Okay,” I say, trying to hide my disappointment because that means this will be another night where I won’t see him. Another night where we’re just a few houses apart but not together.
“Okay?” he chuckles. “Why do you sound so disappointed? That means you’re still coming over and spending the night with me. Let me make you dinner for a change.”
Does that mean this is our first official date?
