After a one night stand on New Year's Eve, Lia and Derrick don't expect to see one another again. After all, she's a Harvard PhD student and he's a professional hockey player for the Boston Knights - there's no way their paths should cross again.
E...
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I was awoken Sunday morning to two alarms going off simultaneously. One was mine, but the other I'd never heard before.
Bleary eyed and confused, I reached out to put a stop to the noise coming from my phone before rolling over to see Derrick doing the same thing.
Oh yeah.
After he'd met up with his former teammates at the pub yesterday, he'd made his way over to my place. Given that it had been passed eleven at night, you would've thought I'd have already wound down for the night, but no. I'd fallen deep into work mode after giving half my attention to the game's broadcast earlier in the evening, and I hadn't even realized it was that late until Derrick buzzed up to my apartment.
I'd answered the door scatterbrained, still needing to finish up the loose ends with the section of my report I was working on, and I'd asked him to hang out for a few minutes while I did so.
Only it didn't take me five minutes. It'd been quarter to twelve by the time I clicked the save button for the final time and turned to look apologetically at Derrick, who'd made himself comfortable on the couch.
"I'm really sorry about that," I'd said, chewing on my bottom lip nervously as I stood and moved to join him.
He'd lifted his arm to wrap around my shoulders and pull me close. "Don't worry about it."
"But I know you're only here for the night and—"
"Lia, it's really okay," he'd said softly. "I like watching you get so enthralled in your work. It's sexy." My lips curved. "Plus, I'm very much aware you're in crunch mode with your defense, so I'm not going to fault you for putting your focus there."
"I wish I could give you more though."
"You're giving me a chance... and that's enough for me."
And then he'd shut me up with a kiss. Filled with passion and longing, we'd made our way to the bedroom and fell between the sheets, exploring each other again like we'd gone months without one another instead of a handful of weeks.
I barely remembered when we'd finally fallen asleep, but now, watching him turn back to me with a crooked smile, I felt the same warm and tingling feeling coursing through my veins that I knew I'd drifted off with.
"So, I know why my alarm is set so early," he said as he played with a few loose strands of my hair, his voice still rough and groggy, "but why was yours?"
"I'm productive in the mornings, so I've been trying to squeeze in some extra time to work on my defense."
His fingers stilled. "Even on weekends?"
Taken aback slightly, I was hesitant as I nodded and said, "Yeah. Things are coming down to the wire, and with finals around the corner, I know I can't get everything prepared without putting in extra hours."
