Kiss Me Captain (Emily and Maddie) novel Chapter 73

73 /120

[Maddie’s POV]

Friday evening at the hotel, I’m staring at generic wall art while Emily’s in the bathroom. Practice this afternoon was mediocre.

Ankle held up, triple axel inconsistent, confidence at negative twelve. I’ve been cycling through disaster scenarios for twenty minutes. My brain excels at catastrophizing.

My phone buzzes. “Mom” flashes on screen. My stomach drops. I answer cautiously. “Mom?”

“Maddie, sweetheart. I’m here at the hotel. Just checked in. I thought we could meet in the lobby, maybe get some tea before your competition tomorrow.”

She’s actually here. And wants to meet now when I’m already wound tight. Emily emerges from the bathroom and I can’t look at her or I’ll fall apart. “You’re here. At the hotel. Right now.”

“Yes, I drove up this afternoon.” Her voice, warm and familiar, soothes and terrifies me in equal measure. “I promised I’d be here. So can you come down? I’m in the lobby café.” Emily moves closer, reading my panic.

“Actually, Mom, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m really glad you’re here, I am. But I’m already stressed about competing tomorrow, and seeing you tonight would just make me more anxious. Can we meet after the competition instead? That way I can focus on skating first.”

Silence stretches long enough that I start composing my response to her hanging up. But then she sighs.

“Of course, sweetheart. That makes sense. You need to focus on your performance. I’ll be in the audience tomorrow, and we can talk after. I’m proud of you, Maddie. No matter what happens on the ice.”

We say goodbye and I sit there holding my phone. She actually came. The reality crashes over me—relief and terror and overwhelming emotion I can’t process. “That was your mom,” Emily says, sitting beside me.

“She’s here. She actually came. And the competition is tomorrow. And I have to skate in front of her with an ankle that might give out and a program I can barely land consistently, and I can’t stop thinking about all the ways this could go spectacularly wrong.”

Emily takes my phone and sets it aside. “What do you need right now? Tell me what would actually help.”

I close my eyes. “I need to stop thinking. I need my brain to shut up for five minutes. I need to relax, or just not feel like I’m about to vibrate out of my skin.”

Emily moves closer, hand cupping my face. “I can help with that,” she says, voice dropping. “If you want me to.”

The kiss starts gentle—grounding me in the present, pulling me from tomorrow’s unknowns.

But urgency builds fast. My hands find her waist, pulling her closer, and she deepens the kiss, her tongue sliding hot and insistent against mine. Thinking becomes impossible. Exactly what I need.

Emily’s hands tangle in my hair, then slide down to grip my ass, pulling me hard against her. I gasp into her mouth and she swallows the sound, biting my lower lip hard enough to sting. I tug at her shirt and she breaks away just long enough to yank it over her head before her mouth is back on mine, demanding.

We fall onto the bed and I’m immediately kissing down her throat, tasting salt on her skin. My hands go straight for her jeans, fumbling with the button until I get it open.

She arches up so I can slide them down her legs along with her underwear, and then she’s naked except for her bra and I’m staring at her—flushed skin, spread thighs, already glistening wet between her legs.

“Jesus, Maddie,” Emily breathes, her hands working at my clothes with more efficiency than I managed. She gets my jeans open and shoves her hand inside without preamble, her fingers sliding through my wetness, and I nearly come right there from the contact alone.