It had been twelve hours since she’d left. He’d called her more times than he cared to count. He’d left desperate messages that probably made him look like a fool. And he’d driven himself crazy. Running five miles on the treadmill didn’t help. Running ten more didn’t help. He kept hoping she’d come home and tell him what happened, but she was nowhere to be found.

At nine o’clock, he called him mom. She answered the phone warmly, asking him how he was and how things were with The Girl.

“I think I messed it up, mom,” he said softly.

“What did you do?”

“I don’t know. One minute she was here and I was...” He paused. He very well couldn’t tell his mom that he was planning on waking her up with some fantastic morning sex. “I was thinking that she and I were going to be something. Something substantial. That I was going to introduce her to you.”

“And?”

“And then she left. She said I was using her. I don’ t know what happened.”

“Sweetheart, she’ll come around. If she’s worth it, she’ll come around. Does she know how you feel about her?”

He hadn’t told her he loved her. That was a mistake. “I don’t know. I don’t want to...” The words got caught in his throat. What didn’t he want to do? Lose her. Life without her seemed stale and empty. He’d had a taste of what it could be like and now he didn’t want to go back to casual dates with women who were so full of themselves that he couldn’t stand to see them open their mouths. “Lose her,” he finally said.

“I know, honey,” his mom said.

She told him to come home next week instead of waiting for the planned visit in June. If Marie was gone, really gone, then maybe getting out of town and driving to his parents’ place would do him good.

The clock ticked over to nine-fifteen. She obviously didn’t call her brother. Or her brother didn’t say anything about their heart-to-heart before Marie moved to D.C. Maybe if he gave her a day or two, then she’d answer her phone.

Just then his cell phone lit up and the display showed a four-one-two area code. A Pittsburgh area code. Did she leave? Go home?

“Baby?” he asked.

“Uh, it’s Derrick.”

Brooks grimaced. Awkward. “Hey, man. Have you talked to your sister?”

“Yeah, I just hung up with her a few minutes ago. She’s, uh, messed up.”

“What did I do?”

Derrick laughed. “Shit, man, I don’t know. She’s not had the best luck with guys. I think this one is on her, not you.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“She said she ran into a couple girls at a coffee shop this morning--girls that know Carlson and Ovechkin.”

Brooks shook his head. Those girls. They were nothing but trouble.

“She overheard them talking about how all you guys have a girl at home to fuck around with when you’re in town, but that you sleep around when you’re on the road or out at clubs. Those chicks were saying shit about how they get presents--cars, designer purses, whatever--when their guy gets caught messing around.”

“She thinks I’d do that to her?”

Derrick sighed. “Yeah. Look, she’s got her own problems to work out. She’s my sister and I love her. If you do too, then don’t give up on her. Okay?”

“Can you ask her to at least call me? I want to talk to her.” Brooks felt like shit. His name had been smeared and dragged through the mud when he’d never in his life even been interested in the kind of relationships some of the guys led. They were too tumultuous and too distracting. And too cheap. Those girls were nothing but whores paid in designer clothes and swanky apartments.

“I’ll try,” Derrick said. “Hey, give me a call in a couple days if you don’t hear from her. I’ll come drag her ass over there if I have to.”

Brooks thanked her brother and hung up. He was crushed that she’d think he’d do that to her. And he was furious at the yapping mouths of those whores. They didn’t even deserve to be in the same room as Marie.

The conversation this morning when she ran out all fell into place. Everything made much more sense.

He poured a couple fingers of scotch into a glass and sipped it slowly. He normally didn’t drink much, but he needed something to take the edge off tonight. He’d gone from incredibly happy to absolute despair today.

He sat down at the island in the kitchen, where he’d sat with her the previous night after they’d had sex on the stove. His chest felt tight. She was the one, he could feel it in his bones. Things with her were too easy, too right. He didn’t have to try and all he wanted to do was make her happy. And all she wanted to do was be with him, not number twenty-one.

The house was so silent he heard the front door open at twenty after ten. His first instinct was to jump up and run to see if it was her. It had to be her. And if it wasn’t, then it was probably a burglar.

He sat the glass down on the countertop, loud enough for her to hear it. He could just imagine her standing in the foyer, listening for him.

A few seconds later, she came around the corner. Her eyes were red and her face was blotchy. Her clothes were rumpled and her hair was a tangled mess. And she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Hi,” she whispered, nervously meeting his gaze with her own.

“Hi, penguin,” he answered softly. With care, he stood up and took a couple steps toward her. “I’m glad you came home.”

She took three swift steps and slammed into his arms. He wrapped her up and held her tightly against him as she clutched at his T-shirt. “I think I made a mistake,” she mumbled, her face pressed to his chest.

“Baby, it’s okay. Your brother called me. He told me what happened in the coffee shop.”

She held onto him tighter. Brooks ran fingers through her hair, soothing her and kissing the top of her head.

“What you heard--that’s not me. Some of the guys live like that and its their choice. That’s never been me and never will be. You call Greenie and ask him how many times I’ve said what those guys do is bullshit. And those girls don’t know anything at all. They only know what involves them.”

Marie sniffed and tilted her head up to him. “I’m sorry I believed it. About you. I... I shouldn’t have.”

He took a deep breath. It was now or never. “Did your brother tell you that I’m in love with you?”

Her eyes flashed. He could see that Derrick had told her. She didn’t seem surprised at the words, but surprised that he would come out and say it to her just like that.

"Why would you say that?" Her little voice was barely a whisper. He'd wondered from the very beginning if she had self esteem problems, if she thought she wasn't worth much.

Brooks grabbed her shoulders with his hands and held her back so he could look at her. "Because it's the truth. That night you listened to The Lumineers with me, the night when you were in town but wouldn't come over to my house?"

She nodded. There were tears rimming her eyes.

"I was lying there and realized I want you in my life. For the rest of my life. And if that's not love then what is, right?" Brooks gently laid a hand on her cheek. She looked so vulnerable and he needed her to know she was safe with him.

"I feel the same way." Her voice was so soft.

"Yeah?" he asked, pushing her hair out of her face. "Do you believe me when I say I love you?"

She hesitated.

"I'll prove it, penguin. Every single day. You deserve that and don't ever think you don't."

The tears were running down her cheeks. He wiped them away and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"I love you," she said softly when he pulled back to look at her face.

Brooks felt the tension in his chest release, and he pulled her close again. Her hair smelled like fruit. "I'll buy you presents, but only because I love you back. Never because I feel guilty or because I think they will make up for bad behavior. I'm all yours, baby."

"I'm sorry I ever thought that about you. It was stupid of me."

"I didn't do this right," he said. "But I'm about to fix that."

Marie tilted her head in question. Brooks took her hand in his and gently coaxed her out of the kitchen and down the hall.

"What are you going to fix?"

His heart was beating hard in his chest. He'd laid it all out and she was still with him, still following him as he led her upstairs to his bedroom.

"We've been having sex. That was wrong," he said as the stepped into the bedroom.

Her eyes went wide. "But I liked that part. That was a good part."

Brooks grinned, trying not to laugh at the disappointment on her face. Finally taking mercy on her, he stepped into her body and wrapped hits arms around her waist. "I should have made love to you first," he whispered before kissing her softly.

She was clutching onto him, her little fingers wound tight in the fabric of his shirt. When he pulled back, her eyes were dark pools he could almost see himself reflected in. "You're perfect and don't you deny it," she said.

He chuckled and kissed her again, sliding his hands up her back. "Nuh uh," he teased.

"Make love to me?" she asked, her lips turned up in a grin. "What normal, non-perfect guy says shit like that? None. Just romance novels guys that are too sexy for their own good. "

He laughed and pushed her back toward the bed. "Are you trying to tell me I'm sexy?"

"I'm tying to tell you that you're the man of my dreams, and I can't believe you're real and that you want me back."

Brooks felt his heart swell at her words. "I want you to come home with me to visit my parents. My mom wants to meet you."

Marie fell back on the bed when he gave her a little push. She looked shocked, not so much at being pushed onto the bed, but at his words. "Your mom knows about me?"

"Of course. I'm in love with you." He crawled onto the bed and laid down beside her so they could kiss. Slowly, he started removing their clothes. Her shirt went first. And then her bra. She fumbled with the drawstring on his shorts before he helped her slide them down his legs. Her jeans and sandals went next.

He sighed as she slipped her hands beneath his shirt and pushed it up around his shoulders. Marie dragged her nails across his chest, making him shiver. "I don't think I can keep my hands off you long enough. You mom will think I'm a hussy," she whispered in his ear.

Brooks chuckled and rolled her over onto her back. "My mom will love you."

And then he pulled her panties down her legs. She pushed at his shirt impatiently, so he helped her lift it over his head. His boxers followed soon after, leaving them both naked on top of his sheets.

Brooks closed his eyes as he settled himself between her legs. This is what he'd been missing. Marie in his bed. Every single night. And when the season started again, they would find a way to make this work. Because she was too important for it to not work.

Her hands were on his shoulders and her beautiful eyes we're wide and watching him when he opened his to look down at her. He kissed her swollen, pink lips and guided himself inside her. "I love you, penguin."

She gasped as he entered her. Brooks almost purred when she ran her hands over his head, ruffling his short hair before pulling him down for another kiss. "I love you, twenty-one," she replied.

Her legs were around his waist and Brooks took his time as he rocked into her sweet body, drawing out the pleasure of being so close to her until he couldn't take it any longer. He felt like he knew her body so well already. A flick of his thumb and she was coming all over him as he looked into her eyes. He let go and followed her down, spending himself and then wrapping around her so they could sink into the mattress.

He rolled onto his side and pulled her into him so there was no space between their bodies. Marie's eyes were wet with tears. The sight tugged at his heart.

"What's wrong, baby?" he whispered, pushing her hair back from her face.

"Nothing," she replied with a smile. "I'm just happy. You make me so happy."

He felt proud and protective. She was his. He could make sure she was always happy. "You make me happy, too," he said, giving her forehead a kiss.

EPILOGUE

Marie stretched as she stepped out of Brooks' vehicle. It has been a long drive, but not unenjoyable since she'd spent it with him. He was rounding the hood of the car to help her pull her bag out of the backseat.

"I'm sore," she said under her breath when he got closer.

Brooks grinned. "Oh, yeah? Wonder why?"

"Rest stop bathroom about a hundred miles ago. Ring a bell?"

He laughed quietly. "I couldn't wait, penguin. And from what I remember you loved it up against the wall."

She slipped a hand behind his head as he leaned down to kiss her. "I did," she agreed. "But now I'm nervous."

"Don't be. My parents are going to love you almost as much as I love you."

"Sweetheart, you're home!" Marie looked over to find a petite woman with short, graying hair emerge from the front door of the unassuming house.

Brooks turned to his mom and gave her a hug. "Hey, mom."

She released him and turned her eyes on Marie. "This must be Marie."

"Yes ma'am," she replied, smiling shyly at his mother. The smile dissolved into slack-jawed shock when the woman pulled her into a hug.

"Brooks has told be so much about you," she told Marie.

"Come on, mom. Let her breathe," Brooks said.

His mother pulled back and met Marie's gaze. The two women looked at each other for a long moment before Brooks' mom let go and ushered them both up the walk to the front door. "Dinner is almost ready," she said. "Your dad is grilling vegetables and steaks."

“I’m starving,” Brooks said.

She followed him into the house and upstairs to his old bedroom. Hockey posters covered the walls and it looked like it hadn’t been touched since he was seventeen. The bed just had a full-sized mattress. She opened her mouth to ask if she’d be sleeping downstairs.

Before she could get a word out, he’d grabbed her around the waist and tossed her onto the bed. In a second, he was on top of her. “You’re going to have to sleep real close to me tonight with a bed so small,” he whispered in her ear.

Marie felt her body respond. It was like he’d conditioned her. His hands on her and that sexy voice in her ear and she was already wet. A month together and it never failed. “We’ll be sleeping on top of each other,” she replied.

“Mmm, I can’t wait.” He flashed her a devious smile and pushed himself off the bed.

She groaned and let him help her up. “If we get caught having sex, then your mom is going to hate me.”

“We’ll be really quiet,” he said. “And my mom won’t hate you. She’ll love you because I love you.”

“I love you, too, twenty-one.”

THE END