Page 80 of Over the Line

But we hadn’t been rough at all. We hadn’t done all that much, honestly.

Studying him, I ran my hand up his side. “You all right? You seem kind of sore.”

He laughed almost soundlessly. “I’m always sore.”

“Always?”

Liam pursed his lips, then half-shrugged, and even that gesture seemed painful. “I’ve been putting my body through the wringer since I was a kid. It adds up after a while, you know?”

“I suppose it does. But you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” He cuddled closer to me and brushed a kiss across my lips. “Just comes with the job.”

“Fair enough.” I held him against me and stroked his damp hair, loving the way it felt to be this close to someone’s hot, naked body. It had been way, way too long. Since I’d had sex, sure, but also since I’d had this. I’d known for a while that I was touch-starved and needed to start putting myself out there again, but I hadn’t realized just how touch-starved I was until now.

Closing my eyes, I sighed. How had I gone this long without? No idea, but I was glad that dry spell was over, even if this did end up being a one-time thing.

Liam shifted a little and winced. Then he loosened his embrace and rolled onto his back. “Ugh. Sorry. My hip is…” He grimaced as he bent and straightened his leg. “Stupid carcass.”

I snorted, scooting a little closer to him and resting my hand on his chest. “Yeah, they’re not the best, are they?”

“Ugh. No.” He rolled his eyes. “Like, what’s your problem, body? Just because I skate a million miles a night and sometimes get thrown into the boards…”

I cocked a brow. “Sometimes?”

That prompted another eyeroll, and he elbowed me, but he was grinning. “Dick.”

Chuckling, I kissed his temple. I wasn’t surprised he had so many aches and pains. He was in peak physical condition, but hockey was hard on the body. It wasn’t for nothing my ex-wife and I had worried aloud more than once about Chris’s long-term health as he pursued hockey.

And thinking about that reminded me of why I was in Pittsburgh in the first place, not to mention why Liam and I had held off the other night.

Sighing, I watched my fingertips trailing along his powerful arm.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Just…” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I like this. A lot. But… there’s a reason we ended up meeting, you know?”

His brow pinched as he studied me. After a second, though, the piece seemed to click into place, and he deflated. “Because I’m your son’s teammate.”

“Exactly. And like, I don’t want to stop. But…” I shook my head. “I don’t like keeping things from him.”

“I get that. But we’re also—I mean, whatever this is, we just started.” He moistened his lips. “Look, I don’t know what we’re doing. I don’t know what I want us to be doing. I just know I wanted you to come over tonight, and we ended up exactly where I hoped we would.” With a subtle half-shrug, he added, “That’s enough for me for right now, but it’s also—no one needs to know at this point, right?”

I thought about it. “True. Nothing needs a name yet. I still… I won’t lie—I do feel weird about it. Obviously I’m not going to tell my son if I’m hooking up with someone.” I grimaced. “No one needs to know that about their dad.”

Liam chuckled. “No, no, they do not.”

“Right? But at the same time, you’re his teammate. And it feels weird to keep it a secret.”

Sobering, he nodded. “I get that.” He trailed his fingertips down my chest. “But this is the first night we’ve done anything.” Beat. “Well, okay, not the first, but—you know what I mean.”

“I do, yeah.”

“Right. So I think we can be forgiven for taking a little time to figure out what we’re doing before we tell anyone. Because right now, I mean—what would we even say? We hooked up once and probably will again?”

With a nervous laugh, I shrugged. “Okay, when you put it like that…”

He chuckled, sounding relieved. “Exactly. So keep it between us for now. Down the line…”