“Nope.” She set our drinks on the coffee table and returned to straddle my lap, facing me. Keeping our eyes locked as she brushed her soft lips across mine, she said, “You don’t remember?”
“Of course I don’t remember,” I half scoffed. “Christ, I lose all brain synapses when your mouth is anywhere near my dick.”
“So you didn’t mean it when you said, ‘Fuck me, I love you so much.’” Her mouth gravitated to my ear. “Or when you said, ‘Love you, baby, that’s it, take me all the way.’”
I groaned. Half-mortified / half-turned on.
“Or when you said, Goddamn woman, I love love love you.”
“Yes, I meant it. all of it.”
“Oh good.” She looked me in the eyes. “Because I love love love you too.”
Then she kissed me softly. Sweetly. Thoroughly. Giving me the heart-melting moment I’d wanted to give her.
She paused long enough to whisper, “Stay with me tonight.”
“Yes.”
The kiss heated up, our bodies began to move together . . . and then my stomach growled.
I tried to ignore it, but Gabi wouldn’t let me.
“Nolan. Did you eat tonight?”
“No. I was busy and then I was anxious to get here.”
“But you stopped for ice cream.”
I kissed her nose. “I didn’t want to show up empty-handed.”
“Instead you show up with an empty stomach.” She pushed back to her feet. “I can make you an egg-white omelet with ham and veggies or heat up a frozen dinner.”
“You don’t have to—”
A quick kiss shut me up. “Yes, I do want to take care of my man. So let me. Choose.”
“Omelets.”
“On it.” As an afterthought she said, “If you’d like to change out of the fantastic suit and want to wear something besides your equally fantastic birthday suit, there’s a robe hanging on the back of my bedroom door.”
“Is it pink and fluffy?” I said with a quick grin.
“Do I look like the pink and fluffy robe type, Lund?”
“Point taken.” I headed down the hallway to her room. After I stripped to my boxer briefs and T-shirt and hung up my clothes, I checked behind her bedroom door for the robe. My eyes narrowed on the plush fabric—the plush familiar fabric.
What the hell?
I snatched the robe off the hook and headed for the kitchen. “When did you get this?” I demanded.
“Today. Surprise.”
“How? This is the exact same robe I have at my house.”
Gabi smirked. “I know. I called Q and made him tell me where to get one for you.”
“Why?”
“Because I know you’re particular about that stuff. I want you to be comfortable when you’re with me.”
I was at an utter loss of what to say.
Thankfully she took pity on me, crossed over and hugged me. “It’s just a robe, Nolan.”
No. It was so much more than that. It was everything.
Just like her.
Twenty-Seven
GABI
The final buzzer sounded and my girls’ team jumped the wall and raced onto the ice.
Anna and I hugged, exchanged high fives and basked in watching the team’s exuberance at coming in third place in their division.
“This is all you,” Anna said loudly. “If you hadn’t taken over and pushed them, they wouldn’t have believed this was possible.”
“Two coaches on this team, Anna. Never sell yourself short. We did great.” Another hug, a couple more fist bumps and we turned to watch the girls skate across and congratulate the opposing team members.
We waved to the crowd of parents in the stands, who were almost as giddy with excitement as their daughters were.
Anna said, “I’ll head to the locker room with the team if you want to deal with them and make sure they all know where we’re going.”
“Sure. I won’t be long.” I glanced at the clock. Seven thirty.
When I reached the group of parents, I was surprised to see Jax there with them.
He grinned at me. “Congrats, Coach Welk, on a well-played game and a great season. I’m thrilled this is Lakeside’s first trophy under this new ownership.”
“Thank you. The girls worked hard, all year. So to say they’re pretty pumped right now is an understatement.” I focused on Parker’s mom. “We’ve reserved the back room at Marco’s for the pizza party. And just to be clear it is the Marco’s closest to this rink, not the one by Lakeside. That locker room isn’t big, so I expect your daughters will be out shortly.”
“Coach Welk, will you be at the pizza party?” Keena’s dad asked.
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
While they returned to talking among themselves, Jax took me aside. “I admire your dedication, Gabi, but