Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“This is true. This is true.”
He leaned down and kissed me, getting me even more messy. I kissed him back, melting into this moment, realizing something and quickly stuffing it to the back of my mind.
What I wanted to avoid is happening…
“Let me get us a towel,” Gabe said, climbing off the bed and walking to the bathroom, leaving me with a view that would put the Grand Canyon to shame with how glorious it was.
He returned, still naked (thank God), and handed me a warm, wet hand towel. I used it to wipe my face and my dick clean and dry. Gabe happily took it and walked it back to the bathroom. He then went to the mini-fridge and squatted down, giving me another view that was somehow better than the first.
“Want a water or a Gatorade?”
“I’ll take the water, please.”
“You got it.” He grabbed us water bottles and came back to the bed, his big dick swinging between his legs, still dripping. He uncapped it for me and handed it to me. I took five huge gulps. My body was relaxed, but my heart started to race again. With the main act out of the way, what would the rest of the night hold? Was Gabe suddenly stricken with post-nut clarity and possibly regretting it, or just ready to put some clothes on and go to bed? Or… he wasn’t putting on any clothes as he got back onto the bed.
Huh.
“Do you mind if I sleep naked?” he asked, ever the gentleman.
I wanted to say, “Of fucking course not, and I wouldn’t mind at all if you sleep with your dick against my ass the entire night, either,” but I contained my feral thoughts and said, “Nah, I like to sleep naked sometimes too. Especially in hotels.”
“Good, because I didn’t want you putting on any clothes anyway.” He sat against the headboard, one arm behind his head and the other relaxed at his side.
I audibly swallowed. I moved to rest beside him. He put a leg over mine, our feet rubbing together. It was a simple little thing that made a flurry of big things come alive in my chest.
There was a stretch of comfortable silence as we both caught our breath and soaked in the moment. The curtains were drawn open, which made it seem like a painting of the night sky was hanging on the wall. I imagined myself floating up toward the slice of opulent white moon that was visible.
“You know,” I said, speaking without any filter, “my body hasn’t felt this relaxed since that one time I found a Groupon for a Swedish deep-tissue massage, and I ended up with a masseuse that bent me like origami and beat the knots out of my back like they owed her a bag.”
“That doesn’t sound relaxing at all,” Gabe said, laughing. The sound was rich and deep and honey-like.
“It definitely was not. And I’m pretty sure she wasn’t even licensed. But whatever she did worked, because I left feeling like a brand-new person.”
More chuckles from Gabe. He rubbed his foot against mine. “I’m going to need her info, then.” He rolled his neck and groaned. “I’ve been pretty tense lately. Lots of shit going on.”
I turned to look at him. I had noticed that Gabe was prone to missing practice sometimes, and he wasn’t around for a lot of the hangout sessions and sometimes trained on his own, either late at night or at the butt-crack of dawn. I knew this because I asked Dylan one day when I realized I was, one, subconsciously tracking Gabe’s schedule and, two, curious about what was keeping him busy. “I’ll find you someone who isn’t working out of her garage.”
“It was in her garage? Are you sure she didn’t extract a kidney while you were there?”
“You know… I did feel lighter too. How much do kidneys weigh?”
More easy laughter. I inched closer to him. He put an arm out and around my shoulders. It was nothing, but it was also fucking everything. Another simple gesture that could have so many different interpretations. An arm around a teammate after scoring a goal was celebratory. An arm around a naked man you just hooked up with and were now lying in bed with was intimate, gentle. It was warmth.
“Is everything okay?” I ventured to ask. Maybe it was none of my business, but I knew that I cared for Gabe. Even as just a good friend, as a good teammate.
Gabe was silent for a moment while he traced shapes on my chest with his fingers. “It hasn’t been, no. There’s a lot of things going on with…” He stopped himself. “Just with everything. And my family situation is also, um, complicated.”
I could tell he didn’t want to really divulge much further right now. And that was okay. There would be other opportunities to open up. “Well, if there’s any way I can help take some of the load off, let me know.”