I kissed him again, pushing away his worry that I might be on my own. “Yes, baby, I’m going to go over to Freddie’s first and then we’ll all leave together.”
He looked up at me through his thick boy lashes, happiness spread through his beautiful smile, making his dimple pop. He was literally the antithesis of resting bitch face, joy constantly radiating out of him like a sunbeam. His inherent sweetness always wrapped around me like a warm hug.
But his excitement of having me come to a game was another level entirely, giving me the good type of butterflies deep inside my chest.
“Okay, Luck, we have a whole day of uninterrupted togetherness ahead.” He lifted me off his lap and smacked my ass hard, making me squeal. “I’ll kiss that better later, but first I think we need to start our date.”
“Our date?”
He stood up. “Yeah. We haven’t had a whole day together since that first day when we went for a run, and I want to show you one of my favorite places.”
“And where’s that?”
“It’s a surprise.” He took my hand and pulled us back into his closet. “Come on, we need to get dressed. Wrap up, because it’s not that warm today.”
Fifteen minutes later, we were in his dark green custom Ferrari, the seats tailored to fit snug around his huge shoulders, speeding out of the gates and onto the road. Drew’s fingers wereentwined with mine, resting on his lap. Every few minutes he’d lift my hand up and kiss it, before placing it back where it was.
We started driving along I95, Long Island Sound visible in the distance, reminding me of California and the Pacific, a place I suddenly longed to share with Drew.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“We’re going out to the coast, where the little fishing villages are. I’m going to show you my favorite.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. When I was a kid before my parents divorced, my dad was always really good at making sure I got time away from the rink, making sure that I wasn’t totally consumed by hockey, and that we spent time together as a family. He’d bundle Phoebe and me up super early, put us in the car, and we’d drive down the coast. Every time we’d go to a new village, my dad would park the car and find somewhere to eat pizza or waffles or pancakes, then we’d go for a long walk along the beaches before heading home.” He turned to me, grinning. “It was epic.”
I could imagine him as a little boy, all dimples and curls and so much mischief it was making my ovaries ache. If cherubs were real, they’d look like Drew.
“You’re pretty cute, you know.”
“I know. Don’t tell anyone. But you can definitely give me a kiss for that.” He hooked his finger at me, making me laugh.
I leaned over and kissed him quickly.
“So why’s this one your favorite?”
“This is going to sound weird, but it’s the one my parents brought us to, to tell us they were divorcing.”
“What, really?”
He looked out of the rear-view mirror before answering, slipping out from between two cars and surging forward in the empty lane, all while still holding my hand, his other on the steering wheel, forearm flexing as he barely nudged it.Sofucking sexy. I had to actively stop myself from zoning out and staring as he started talking again.
“I was just about to head to college and my parents wanted us together. We drove down here and they sat us down to say that they loved us and each other, but they were better as friends. And to be fair to them, they stayed friends. It’s never been weird for us, maybe because we were older, but they’re both really happy. And then when I got drafted to New York, I kept coming here when the chaos of the city got too much or I needed to think.”
“Do you come a lot?”
“I haven’t been since I found you again.” He lifted my palm to his lips, kissing it. “But when I thought I’d lost you, I was here nearly every week.”
My heart clenched tight at the memory of how that had felt. How I’d felt the past year. There but not quite there, wondering if I’d ever see him again.
My Vegas Sex God.
I’d been forced to acknowledge how fleeting chance was, knowing you had to grasp it when you could, and in the end, I’d convinced myself the chemistry had been in my head, that you couldn’t have a lasting connection with a one night stand.
How wrong I was.
I took my hand back, stroking his face, running my fingers through his hair. “I’m here now, we’re together.”
