She is not just some incredibly hot, sexy, fun, smart woman. She is my teammate's mother. My fucking captain's mom! Somewhere in my mind, the referee known as my conscious is blowing his whistle repeatedly and with vigor, but my dick is completely oblivious.
And then she jumps like she's been zapped by the electric current of attraction that is most definitely alive between us, and she starts moving, out of the kitchen. She points toward the wall of windows in the attached great room. "It's snowing!"
Hannah’s not kidding. Somehow, we both missed the fact that big fat flakes are pouring down from the sky so heavy that it’s like a curtain of snow. You can barely see the hot tub, and you definitely can’t see past it.
“Mother Nature is all about the cock block,” I whisper with a sigh.
“What?” She says turning away from the white-out to face me again.
“We should eat before it gets cold,” I say and motion toward the omelet. “I’ll take the counter version.”
"Umm…" She looks so uncomfortable. Like I just suggested we fuck on the kitchen counter or something… which I'm not actually against.
“It’s food, Hannah. You have to eat, and I make an incredible omelet,” I say, and when she still doesn’t seem convinced, I go for the humor. “Well, if I have to eat the whole thing, then I’m also going to have to go out there and work it off. And when my shoulder gets all sore and achy, I’m also going to have to get back in the hot tub. And something tells me that’s not what you want.”
She doesn't say anything for a long moment. She just stands there, looking equal parts gorgeous and panicked at the exact same time. And then she starts turning pink. And the pink turns red. And then… there's a chirping sound. She jumps and pulls her phone out of the side pocket of her leggings. "It's Jay texting."
I nod, and the true reality of this feels heavy on my shoulders all of a sudden. Jayden is her son. And he's going to be here within the next twenty-four hours. And if I don't rein in my feelings immediately, this is going to get crazy awkward. Right now, I don't think that Jayden is stupid enough to not pick up on the tension between his mother and me.
She moves to the dining table and drops into one of the supple leather seats there. Her face is buried in her phone as she types away. I grab the omelet that made it on the plate, and her neglected tea and place it on the table in front of her. Then as she types and reads Jayden's response and types again, I save my own breakfast from the counter and refill my coffee. And then I sit as far from her as possible and put my sling back on before lowering myself into the seat.
I take a couple bites of omelet and try to look at anything other than the way Hannah's smooth, dark hair or her elegant fingers move as she types or her teeth as she bites that perfectly full bottom lip of hers. Finally, she puts her phone down and looks up. "He says that the snow is supposed to stop by midday. And that the roads should be clear by the time the game is over and they have to drive."
"Good," I say because the last thing I need is more alone time with Hannah. I don't know how I'll be able to stop myself from hitting on her if no one is here to remind me why it's a horrible idea. Also, the whole point of this trip is to bond with him and get him to stop treating me like something stuck to the bottom of his skateblade. He needs to be here for that to happen.
* * *
I realize at noon that the weather isn't about to clear up. It takes Hannah until almost dusk for her to realize it too. The snow has not lightened up at all. In fact, it's falling so heavy now that even with the heated driveway turned on, it's still accumulating on the sloped surface. She is staring out the window when I pull into the driveway behind her car. I had gone down to Whistler village to pick up my car two hours ago. It took a while to dig it out of the snow drift that had built up around it, and also, I was scoping out the vibe in the stores with the locals. Everyone, and I mean every single person I talked to, said it was going to be the biggest snowstorm they've seen in a decade.
I trusted locals more than weather forecasters who were still swearing on the radio that this would die down any minute as I turned off the car. Hannah is on the porch, still in the leggings and sweatshirt she was in this morning. Her feet jammed into boots. She looks… well pretty fucking spectacular, despite the worried look on her face. “I thought something had happened to you. That took forever.”
“I wanted to talk to some locals and get their take on the weather,” I tell her, and I have to almost yell because the snow is acting like a wall, muffling the way voices should carry outside.
“The snow is falling too quickly for the heated driveway to melt it, so be careful,” Hannah complains. “It’s also—”
Before she can finish the sentence, I take a step with my left foot, and there's zero traction. I've hit ice. My foot flies forward. I only have one arm, because I'm wearing my sling, and it flies out to try and stop me. But my body is moving backward, fast and hard, and then I feel her. Hannah's hand as she grabs onto my arm.
In the quickest millisecond, I think how ridiculous. There’s no way this tiny, hot, woman can keep my giant ass from tipping over. But then I feel her yank, hard, and then she yelps. And BOOM. My back lands in a very heavy, very thick snowbank beside the driveway. Hannah wasn't trying to keep me from falling, she was turning me so I fell somewhere soft. And in the process, she fell with me. I can barely see her because the snow has completely engulfed her.
"Oh, Shit! Hannah, are you okay?" I am frantically bushing away the snow, trying to find her pretty face.
When I do, she blinks up at me, lashes and cheeks covered in white flakes, and she bursts out laughing. It’s this bright, cheery, completely infectious sound, and I can’t help but laugh too. And the next thing I know we’re lying side-by-side howling with laughter. Hannah has tears streaming down her cheeks and I’m holding my side with my free arm.
Slowly we start to sit up, laughter dying down a little, and then I get to my feet. Just about every part of the back of my clothes and head is covered in snow, but it’s not as bad as Hannah. She’s got snow everywhere. It’s that thick, heavy snow that sticks. It makes my laughter deepen. “You look like you’re part snowman.”
“I’m surprised the heat from my humiliation isn’t melting it instantly.” She self-consciously starts brushing at her snow-covered arms.
I reach out and brush the clumps of it from her hair… and my hand naturally moves to her cheek, which has some flakes clinging to it. I hear her breath get shaky, and her laugh dies out as the pad of my thumb, brushes her soft skin. There is a current of lust running through me so sudden and so fierce it almost makes me shudder. Hannah does shudder. “Cold?”
“No,” she whispers back, her dark eyes tipped to my face, and her eyes are glassy from the fit of laughter and her cheeks rosy and…
I'm just done. Gone for. I can't see clearly past the need I have for her. The need to feel her lips against mine and taste her. Right or wrong, I am lost to desire. So, without another rational thought, I lean in and touch my lips to hers. And she does the damnedest thing. She kisses me back.