Page 60 of My Husband Problem

I feel my brows rise. “Myskill level?” I ask.

“Yeah, like how well you can skate,” Beckett tells me.

“You should just start it off anyway,” Lawson tells Beckett. “You’re the one with the big vision.”

I swear Beckett’s chest puffs at that. “That’s true. I have it all very clear in my mind.” He slides off his stool and heads to the counter, asking for paper and a pen. He returns a moment later with a paper placemat and three crayons.

He begins sketching, and the guys lean in.

I lean over to Astrid. “Why do I have a feeling this is your idea and I’m getting pulled into something?”

She does that very fake blinking I-would-never-cause-you-trouble thing. “Oh no, the horses and…everything…are all Beckett and Nora.”

“I mean, whatever this has to do withme.”

Her sly smile confirms it even before she says, “You know that thing where you are so adamant about usnotbreaking up?”

“Yes,” I say firmly.

“Well, you might want to hold off on that opinion until you hear about the plan for Friday.”

CHAPTER 13

DECLAN

“What plan for Friday?”I ask.

“Shhh,” she tells me, her eyes on Beckett. “He’s explaining.”

I hear the words ‘joust’ and ‘lance’ and ‘charge’.

I understand what’s going on now, but I still ask Astrid. “Why does it matter ifIcan skate?”

She covers her lips with her finger.

I prop my elbow on the table and lean in toward her. It’s a great excuse to get closer to my wife. After all, that will look good to all of the people looking on. Plus, she smells incredible. And I very much like the way her breathing hitches.

“Astrid.”

She finally looks at me. Our faces are only a couple of inches apart. She shrugs. “We need a few extra players. Some of them have to be out of town.”

“No.”

“They all have other jobs. Those come first. We can’t play short.”

“You definitely can. This isn’t real hockey anyway.”

She bats her eyes at me.

She fucking actually bats her eyes at me.

And God help me, it works.

But then she adds, “If Miles was here, he would do it.”

I make a soft growling noise without even meaning to.

And I’m close enough to her to see the way her pupils dilate slightly.