The Hockey Player (2)

13. Matt's POV

After our lips touched again, I didn't see anything else since my feelings took over. Not mushy feelings, but physically, my body craved her contact. My heart raced as she slid closer in her seat and her hands ran along my arm.

Her reaction was the invitation I needed.

I grabbed her tiny waist and pulled her to my lap. She tensed from it, but didn't break contact. Her only movement was how her hand palmed my chest before her knees straddled me on the seat.

When she pressed closer, my gut flamed with desire. This time I couldn't hold back, and I groaned into her mouth.

"Matt..." she pulled back and whispered into my ear. My lips pressed soft kisses along the side of her neck. She arched her head back against my trail of kisses under her jaw. "You did miss me"

She was right. Even though we only saw each other for an hour or two during the week, and that time was spent doing homework, I was reminded how it was the best part of my day after I hadn't seen her for a few days.

"You have no idea" I mumbled into the skin on her neck.

"We're fogging up your windows"

"Aurora" my hands teased the hem of her sweater . "You know, I...I..."

"Yeah?" She pulled back, just enough for her back to press against the horn on the steering wheel. The noise jolted us apart and drew the attention of everyone left in the parking lot, so she fell forward and laughed into my shoulder.

"I..." the moment was ruined, but I hugged her against me.

"I don't want to rush things, Aurora" I mumbled into her hair. "Sorry I didn't mean to get carried away"

"You act like I don't want it too" the bitter sting of dejection threaded in her voice. She kissed my cheek, climbed off me and sat back in her seat.

I started up the truck and put the defrost on. I laced my fingers through hers. After I brought the back of her hand to my mouth, I kissed it softly and sighed again.

"Besides" I made the mistake and met her eyes.

I swallowed hard and forced out the words, "I'm still not convinced you aren't dating me just for my looks and charms"

"Hardly" she laughed in response.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, we both let out dejected sighs.

"Aurora" I started, squeezing her hand. "After what happened to you, I just don't-"

"Stop right there" she cut me off. "I'd rather move forwards than backwards, if we could please"

"Really?" We hadn't talked about taking our relationship further yet. I'd never done that with a girl, talked about boundaries, but with Aurora it was different.

"Yes" she whispered. "Sometimes I think you worry more about what happened to me years ago that it's taking away from what could be happening now"

I let her words sink in as I drove back to Mom's house. While stopped at a red light, I looked over at her. She was biting her lip, which means she was nervous about something.

"Matt, I..." she looked at me, like she was lost for words. "I'm crazy about you, Matt" she looked down at our intertwined hands and then back up at me. "I think you know this...but I do think about you, all the time"

"I know" I winked at her. "I'm crazy about you too, Aurora"