I exhale.
“Rissa’s fine.” I try to make it sound like I was focused on my ailing teammate and not thinking about jumping back in where we left off.
I step inside and hear the sound of the door shutting behind me. The room feels warmer than the hallway, and the air in here feels different. Calmer than where I just came from, but radiant at the same time. Almost like it too, has been waiting for me.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her as I drop a few things on her foyer table, the piece of paper Violet dropped on the floor of my room still in my hand. I step closer,giving Violet the option to move away if she wants, but she doesn’t. “I didn’t want to leave.”
I’m used to discipline and restraint, so this urge to be absolutely reckless is like a cocktail of adrenaline.
My fingers brush lightly against Violet’s wrist, like I’m checking to make sure I actually came back.
I step in fully, closing the distance.
“I’m here.” She leans into me.
I hand her the contract and lock eyes with her. A silent way of telling her that I noticed her signature at the bottom.
She takes it from me but never breaks eye contact. She knows that I know she signed it.
And she grins at me.
That’s when I feel every wall inside me come crashing down, and I know exactly what I’m going to do.
I tuck my finger under her chin and tip her lips upward to linger only an inch away from mine.
“I’m going to test every bit of patience you possess,” I whisper against her mouth.
When she doesn’t answer me, I run my fingertips up her bare arm.
“Are you still in agreement with what you signed?” I don’t want to make the same mistake twice, and really hope she says yes.
She inhales on a shaky breath, and I can’t ignore the thought of her kneeling in front of me.
“Yes.”
That one word is all I need to pick her up and walk her to the bedroom. When I lay her down, there’s a look in her eyes, and I can’t tell if it’s fear, excitement, or a combination of both.
But when she grins at me, I know she’sready.
And so am I.
“Wait here. Don’t move.”
Her obedience is immediate. Not even moving enough to nod in understanding.
Fuck.
I head back out to the table where I left the things I grabbed from my hotel room. I begin to pick them all up, but then reconsider. I think I’m going to focus on one thing at a time and start small. So, I head back into the bedroom with only two things in my hands.
My practice jersey and a bag of grapes.
When I get back to the bedroom, she’s in the exact same spot I left her. I smile when our eyes meet and feel the heat in my belly rise at the fact that she’s waiting for instruction.
Trying not to let the past ruin this for me, I decide to treat this like a VHS tape.
Let’s re-record those memories and turn them into moments I want to relive over and over again.
Her gaze leaves mine to look at what I’m holding in my hands, and I stare at her for a second to see if she’s going to speak.
