Page 25 of Unrivaled Love (D.C. Renegades #2)

Bryson

Tent Pitching Time

Regrettably, I break the kiss but it’s for a good reason. “Curl up here and read, I’ve gotta go do something.” I tell Jo and I can see the questions in her expression.

“What do you have to do?”

“Set up a surprise for you.”

“No more pranks.” She warns.

“It won’t be a prank. But I can’t promise you no more pranks forever.”

I lean down and kiss her again.

It tastes bitter sweet because we had to kiss away the pain we’ve caused each other.

Fuck it is frustrating to know she shut me out because of some stupid shit my roommate said.

I had to battle myself not to lash out at her.

It took every molecule of self-control I had.

But when I saw the way her shoulders slumped and when she muttered the word “mistake” I sucked up my pride and pushed us through the shit.

I saw the weight lift from her shoulders. She’s carried this with her for too long.

Was it the right thing to air our grievances?

I mean I got to kiss her which is awesome and definitely worth it but she thought I didn’t believe in her all this time. For her entire professional career. She’s a driven person but will she lose some of her edge without this fire under her ass?

I’m afraid I’m losing some of my drive after winning The Cup. What if I can’t do it again?

I shake my head because already I know; anything I do in my life from here on out will be with Jo Hamilton by my side. That will make it better than anything I did without her.

***

Turns out setting up a tent is a lot of work. I’m sweating, like, a lot, and it took way longer than I thought it would. But I think Jo is going to appreciate this.

She better.

I hope the time she had to relax and read while I was gone helped her feel better.

I’m not going to dwell on the fucking miscommunication that kept us apart all these years. I’m not going to hold a grudge. I’m going to do everything I can to make her remember how good we are together.

Help her envision how good it could be.

She doesn’t hear me come up the stairs to the deck. I get a moment to spy on her as she reads. Her brow is knit in concentration, maybe agitation, and she’s biting her nail. She turns the page and the hand she was nibbling on slaps down onto the page.

“What are you doing?”

She jumps. “Jesus! Bryson, you can’t sneak up on me like that!”

“But why did you slap the book?”

“Because I didn’t want my eyes to read ahead.”

“They can do that?” I ask, because why would she skip ahead?

“They get curious. This helps. ”

I laugh and sit down next to her. “Sorry to interrupt. Go ahead.” I nod at the book and as she goes back to reading I pull her feet into my lap. She smiles and looks up at me over the pages and I shoo her back to her story.

I watch her eyes dance along the text and the sweet inhales of shock at the words on the page.

“I cannot believe Flora just swallowed the poison. Is this going to be like Romeo and Juliet?”

“There’s a lot of book left.” I say because I won’t spoil it for her.

“True.” She sets the book to the side. "You're all sweaty, what were you doing?”

“I have a surprise for you. You wanna see?”

“Sure,” she says with a shrug. I head into the house and grab the few protein bars we have left. When we get out of here the first thing I’m doing with Jo, after a shower, and trip to the mall so she can get new clothes, is taking her out for a meal.

When I join her out on the deck again she smiles at me and I feel like a fucking teenager. She’s so pretty. And she’s into me.

“C’mon Killer.” I say with a smile as I take her hand and walk to the edge of the deck.

“Are we really going to hold hands for the entire hike?” She asks and I laugh.

“No, but we could.”

“Pass.” She says as she pulls her hand back. I laugh but continue to lead the way out to the lake.

I found some battery powered lanterns. I'm hoping we have a little light after the sun sets. I don’t have much of a plan besides getting her naked to swim and then fucking in the tent.

Feels like enough of a plan to me.

** *

Maybe I should have planned more because I'm fucking nervous. Jo is the most amazing woman in the whole world and The Universe dropped her in my lap this week. I can't just seduce her.

Can I?

How do I even do that? I haven't tried to take a woman to bed when actual feelings are involved since Jo back in college.

I remember that night. I was graduating and Jo still had one more year to go. The night we got together was two weeks before my hockey season would end with a loss in the finals of the NCAA tournament.

Jo's season was long over but she was still training like she had a game every weekend. Ten years ago there weren't as many professional teams for her to play on but she had been selected for the development camp for Salt Lake starting in June.

The hockey and soccer circles didn’t overlap much at our school.

Class work and being a college athlete basically drains all available free time.

We’d drive home for breaks together but we didn’t hang out a ton at school.

But that spring one of my roommates was dating a soccer girl and one night she came over with a few friends to hang out.

I remember the moment Jo walked in the front door. Clearly her friends had picked her outfit and she was not thrilled about it.

Jo had only ever worn soccer shorts, tearaway pants, or jeans for as long as I knew her growing up. I guess a dress made the occasional appearance but I was probably too busy fighting my own suit and tie to notice her.

Not that night.

Jo marched into my house in a pair of lime green skinny jeans, black heels, a black flowy tank top, and she had huge, chunky pink earrings on. Her hair was curled and her makeup was way overdone .

She caught my surprise and my laugh. Not at her expense. But at the fact she even allowed this to happen in the first place.

I remember leaning against the door that led to our kitchen as she stalked past me to the fridge. She helped herself to a beer, cracked it open, took a long swig, and then leveled me with a look.

She let out a little hiccup, pointed a finger at me, and said, "Not a word Bryson Svoboda."

I lifted my hands in surrender but smiled as she took a more normal drink. She set it on the counter and then turned to me.

"I'm about done with people today, can we go to your room and watch a movie?"

"Sure." I shrugged and then led the way upstairs.

My roommates and her friends crowed about us sneaking off already but I just flipped them the bird and continued to my room. I closed the door behind me after Jo walked in and when she slumped down onto my bed and kicked off her heels I got nervous.

Just like now.

It feels like the first time for us all over again and I don't have the help of Love and Basketball setting the mood of two athletes falling in love.

Last night I was running on adrenaline and instinct. Tonight? My heart is in the line up.

And I’m just as fucking nervous as I was that night.

We're almost to the lake, we've been able to see it through the trees for the last few minutes and I want to see Jo's face when she sees the set up so I turn around.

Jo's eyes dart up from my butt.

Interesting.

I might not need a romance movie to set the mood after all.

"So, I figured since we're out of power anyway, why not sleep under the stars." I say as we step into the clearing .

"Seriously Bryson?" Jo says with a smile. "I haven't camped since I was a kid."

"Me either, actually. And I totally forgot how to pitch a tent so hopefully it doesn't cave in on us."

Jo stops and looks down at my crotch. When she drags her eyes back up to my face I see The Look.

The one she gave me on my college bed all those years ago.

The wide eyes with dilated pupils.

The slight part of her lips.

The stillness except for the rise and fall of her chest.

"Well, I haven't forgotten how to pitch that kind of tent." I say with a smirk as all my blood flows south.