Face Off (D.C. Stars, #1)

by Chelsea Curto

“I want more with you, Emmy. I want to come home to you every night and I want to take you out to dinner in the city. I want to hold your hand on the sidewalk and I want to kiss you in the rain. I want all that shit they talk about in the movies. I’m going to be honest with you, though. I don’t have a fucking clue how to be in a relationship or how to be a boyfriend, but I’m going to learn. I’m going to try, and you’re the only person I’d ever want to try with. This isn’t just sex to me, and it hasn’t been for a while. If keeping it casual is the only way I get to keep you, then so be it. But I think you want something more too.” Her nod is slow. “I want that. I want you to wear my jersey and let me wear my heels. I want you to come food shopping with me and give me an eight-minute lecture on why almonds are better than pecans.”

“I was ready to hype you up and tell you all the reasons why I’m going to buy one of your jerseys in every color. I had your stat line ready to go.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get sick of you,” Emmy admits. “You’re my favorite person in the world.” “Funny. You’re my favorite person too.”

“Swear on my life. I sat through the meal because I’m too nice of a person, but I blocked his number the second I left. It’s so frustrating. Where are all the good men?” Lexi groans. “I’m thirty-one. There aren’t any winners left.”

I tried to tell him he doesn’t have to do those things, that this isn’t an all or nothing arrangement, but the man picked up one of my romance novels, flopped on my bed, and told me he was learning how to be the perfect boyfriend by reading my books.

“It was only meant to be a one-time thing, but it happened again. Then again and again. The sex turned into sleepovers and hand holding and feelings I kept trying to avoid, but he’s impossible to resist. The other day we decided we didn’t want what we’re doing to just be physical. We’re dating now, and I’m…” I take a deep breath. “I’m so happy.” “This is so much to unpack. I live with you,” Piper says. “How did I not know this was happening?”

“You can rent wheelchair accessible vans. I thought we could drive to Lansing before morning skate, pick him up, bring him to the arena so he can watch the game, then take him home after. We don’t fly out until Friday morning, so there’s plenty of time.”

“You would sit out a game just so you could spend time with my dad?” I whisper. “Why would you ever do that?” “It’s important to you. I know how much it would mean to you if he were there. It would make you happy, and if we’re being honest, I really want to meet the man who helped bring my favorite spitfire girl into the world.”

Somewhere between the Thai food he started ordering for me after practice when I’m craving something spicy and the questions he scribbles down on Post-it notes and slips under my door at the arena, I went and fell head over heels for the one person I swore I was immune to.

“You deserve all the nice things, Emmy girl, and when you’re with me, I’m going to give them to you.”

I cut my gaze away. How do I tell him Emmy is all I think about? She’s the first thing on my mind when I wake up. At night, when

she’s curled up next to me, I’m still thinking about her. I close my eyes, and she’s there. I like her so much, it hurts when she’s not around. I’d do anything to make her happy, and when she smiles at me, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

“I never thought this would happen, but here I am. Off the market and happy as fuck. We have a good thing going, and that’s why I’m doing all of this. It’s important to her, which means it’s important to me.”

She’s always beautiful, but when she’s showing off her athletic capabilities, she’s fucking gorgeous. Strong, fierce and determined. Reaching for a goal and going after it.

“I don’t care that you told them.” I smile and trace the freckles on her shoulder. I spell out the word mine and add a little heart at the end. “I’ve been wanting to shout from the rooftops that you’re my girlfriend for a while now.”

“Says the woman who told me she doesn’t date hockey players. I know what that word means. It means I’m yours and you’re mine. You make me happy, and I hope I make you happy too.” “You make me happy,” she says softly. “You make me happier than anyone else ever has.”

“I can take care of myself just fine, I have been for years, but watching you stand up for me… I felt like I was yours for the first time. Like I had someone who would be by my side, no matter what.”

I’ve never wanted it before, but now that I have a little of that with Emmy, I want more. I want all of it.

I’ve only ever used that word with my friends, but I don’t feel that way about Emmy. It’s deeper, like someone reaches into my chest and squeezes my heart whenever she’s nearby. I get warm and tingly when she touches me, and every time she laughs, I swear to god I’m floating. Is that love?

I love you, I think, when we head to the locker room. I love you, I think, when we celebrate her goal in the first period. I love you, I think, when we win the game and she jumps in my arms. I love you, I think, when she rests her head on my shoulder in the hotel elevator after we get back from dropping Alan off in Lansing. I love you, I love you, I love you, I want to scream. When she kisses my chest before we fall asleep, I think she loves me too.

“You’re beautiful,” he says. “I can’t believe I get to have you. I can’t believe you’re mine.”

“Heaven.” He licks a hot swipe of his tongue over my entrance. “Fucking heaven. Let me die here, Emmy girl.”

“Talked to my tattoo artist yesterday.” He bucks his hips forward, and I groan against his cock. “I have an appointment next week. I wasn’t joking about putting mine on the back of my hand. I want to see it every time I touch you. A pretty necklace for my pretty girl.”

“Remember when you said you’re the only woman I’ve ever fucked twice because I can’t get enough of you?” Maverick asks, taking both of my breasts in his hands. His thumbs brush over my nipples, and a stuttered exhale leaves my body. “You were right, Emmy. I’ll never get enough of you. I’ll never get enough of your body and the way it fits perfectly with mine. I’ll never get over your brilliant brain and wonderful heart. I’m going to have you until the end of time, and it’s going to be just as good as right now, baby, because you’re perfect for me.”

“I had seen photos of you, but I wasn’t prepared for meeting you in real life. You made me furious, but I thought you were the most attractive man I had ever laid eyes on. I still think that.” I brush away some of his sweat-soaked hair and smile. “You’re also so much more.”

“You’re smart. You’re so kind. I’ve never met anyone as kind as you. I love that you can get me to laugh so much. That cockiness isn’t arrogance. It’s confidence, because you know how hard you work to be the best friend. The best athlete. The best lover. Sometimes I think about how lucky I am to have a man like you in my life and I—” I have to squeeze my eyes shut so I don’t look at him as I say this next part. “It makes me wonder what I did to deserve someone so wonderful. It makes me think I might finally be good enough to have earned something so… so lovely in my life.” “Emerson. Look at me, please.”

“You are enough,” Maverick says. “You are more than enough, and you’re so far out of my league, it’s not even funny. I… you…” He shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. “Every day I’m going to show you just how enough you are.”

This team has become my family. The brothers I never had and the attention from authority figures I’ve always craved. I’d never fucking quit on them, even when we’re in the depths of hell.

Involved seems like the smallest word in the dictionary to define what we are. Is that the way to describe the person I look forward to seeing every day? Is it the word to use to talk about the woman who makes me smile even when I’m tired and sore and angry after a bad game? Is it the way to tell people that when I look at her, I see the sun and the moon and all the fucking stars? It seems so insignificant, because what I feel for her is bigger than the sky. The whole fucking planet. You could go all the way to outer space and there still wouldn’t be enough ways to show her how much I adore her.

“No. There’s no precedent for this, and to be honest, I was waiting for it to happen. You push each other to be better, and your relationship on the ice probably mirrors what’s going on off the ice as well. It’s exactly what you’d want in a partner, and I’d never send her away because of your feelings. I want to make myself very clear that this doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

He might think I’m a good man, but right now, I feel like I’m about to be the asshole of the year.

“Am I allowed to be pissed off? I told Coach the team comes first, but I’m so fucking angry. I’m angry that the first time I care about someone like this, she might slip away. I’m angry that I didn’t show her how serious I was about her early on. I wish I hadn’t fucked

around for months, because now that I’m here, I don’t want to lose any more time with her.”

My beautiful, beautiful man.

“I’ll retire if that’s what it takes to be with you,” he says.

“Because I love you more!” he shouts, and my mouth parts. His chest heaves and he closes his eyes. Surely I didn’t hear him right. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to yell, but you need to hear it. I love you. I love every part of you, and that won’t change whether you’re here or there. I told you early on I’d find a way to track you down, and I would. I will, baby, because I fucking love you. I’m going to be on a plane to see you every day I can. I’ll buy a place up there so I can have somewhere to stay without invading the life you create for yourself. We’ll figure the rest out as we go. I know we will, because I. Love. You.”

“I love you too,” I whisper. “I love you so much, Maverick. I didn’t mean what I said. I want to stay here. I want to be where you are. If

that means commuting back and forth between Toronto and DC, so be it. I’ll do it. I’ll do it gladly because I love you, and I’d rather have you from a five hundred miles away than not have you at all.”

“Fucking hell.” He kisses me, and it’s nothing like the kisses we’ve had before. There are so many other words behind the press of his mouth and the gentle glide of his tongue. “I love you. I fucking love you, Emmy girl, and I’m going to say it every day. Probably a hundred times a day, because I don’t want to stop. I love you. I love you, baby.”

“Of this. Of us. Of the distance and of falling so hard for you. I’ve done it before, and I don’t want to end up broken like that again. I’m not sure if I could put myself back together if that happened with you.” “If you fall, I fall, baby. I’m so far gone for you, Emmy, and it’s okay to be scared. I’m scared shitless too, but there’s no one I’d rather be scared with.” His hand settles on my stomach and his thumb traces my ribs. “We’ll come up with a plan. The season is almost over, and we’ll have all summer to do whatever the hell we want. We can take a trip. We can spend days in the apartment not doing a goddamn thing. We’ll go to Michigan and visit your dad. You can show me where you grew up, and it’s all going to be okay.”

“Fucking shit.” Ethan stands up. “Please don’t tell me you’re leaving too, Mav. Oh, god. The whole team is being split up, aren’t we? Next thing you know, Liam’s going to be in fucking Phoenix complaining about how hot it is. Seymour’s going to be in Montreal, and Grant will be in Europe because he failed to make a new roster.”

“And now I don’t need any of that shit. I’m happier at thirty than I was at twenty-four, and back then I thought I was on top of the world. I could open all five hundred of those messages, and none of them would bring me the satisfaction that you do right now, Red. You look fucking divine in my shirt, and I can’t wait to take it off of you.” He tosses his phone onto the pillow and rolls on top of me. “My password is the same as it was when we used my phone to search up vans for your dad, and it’s never going to change. I have a past, but I have a future now too, and that future is with you. If you ever feel uneasy, I want you to look at all those unread messages and know that you’re enough, baby. I’ll take a night in with you over a night out with anyone else any day.” “Wait a second.” I hook a leg around his waist, and his hand skates up my thigh. His thumb brushes over the front of my underwear, and I arch my back off the mattress. “Your password is 3669.” “It is.”

“I use your name as my password because I’m fucking obsessed with you, Hartwell. Have been since the minute I laid eyes on you.”

“Impossible. I could never pretend like I don’t know you. You’re my favorite girl.”

“It’s something Coach and I have been working on for a while now. It took forever to get the permits we needed to add piping and all that shit, so we were a little behind schedule. You deserve a spot to call your own. Even though you won’t be using it, it’s still yours. The next woman we have on the team can utilize it, and it’ll be here when you’re in town for an away game.”

I can’t wait for the little girls who watch the games and wear my jersey to see this. I can’t wait for Rachel to see this. It gives me hope that one day women in sports everywhere will be treated as equals by their peers.

“I love you too. And even if you aren’t here, your legacy will be. We’re naming it the Hartwell Room.”

“Thank you for letting me take care of you.” He unclips my helmet and tosses it on one of the chairs. “Thank you for letting me be by your side.”

“You are.” His dimples pop, and his laugh is soft and sweet. “I took a private jet. Being rich as fuck comes in handy sometimes. Like when you want to fly to a different country two minutes after your girlfriend walks into the airport.”

“Flying to see my girlfriend isn’t a chore, Emmy girl. It’s a privilege, and just more nice things you deserve.”