Page 102 of Ethan

Hank swallowed hard. “Alright.” Ethan’s hand moved from his shoulder to his cheek, patting it absently.

He’d just pulled his phone out of his pocket when Ethan’s voice stopped him. “Wait,” he asked, “did you really tell Charlie that we wouldn’t do dinner with him and Max?”

That was easy. “Yeah,” Hank said.

And Ethan’s answering smile was big and bright and worth how slightly terrifying it had been to face Barney down andnotlet him get his way, for once.

Chapter 14

“Iswear,”Ethansaid,leaning forward, the candlelight glinting off his golden-brown curls and reflecting in his eyes, “I kept expecting you to text me. Call me. Tell me our date wasn’t happening after all.”

Hank had had a few moments himself where he’d been sure that before he could finish getting ready and take the elevator downstairs, Inverness would call him up and say,Never mind, I changed my mind. You gotta go back to Syracuse.

But that hadn’t happened. They were having their redo. Hank knocking on Barney’s door and Ethan opening it, looking just as gorgeous as he had that night in September.

So far, everything had gone right. They’d taken an Uber to the restaurant, which had proven to be just as sweet and quiet as Dom had promised.

The food was delicious, and Hank had spent the last hour mesmerized by the way the flickering light played on Ethan’s face and the sheen of olive oil on his lips. How Ethan’s foot nudged against his own early on in the meal and then tucked itself around Hank’s ankle midway through.

They’d not run out of things to talk about, either. But then they’dneverrun out of things to talk about, not during the last eighteen months, anyway.

Had he expected that maybe the conversation would be very different now that they were finally on a date?Maybe.But the truth was, this was easy and reassuring in a way that Hank had never anticipated. Dates had always felt awkward and difficult, Hank worrying about saying or doing the wrong thing, and pissing the girl off. But he knew exactly how to talk to Ethan, how to tease him, how to make him laugh.

How to make his eyes light up when he brought up the power play drills they’d run this morning at practice.

“You couldnotrun a power play better than Jonesy,” Ethan argued lightheartedly, smirk on his mouth that Hank couldn’t wait to kiss off. “I’d love to see you try.”

“Maybe you will,” Hank said. He wasn’t sure either, but anything that made Ethan smile like that was worth saying, even if it was ridiculous.

“Youcouldrun a better power play than my brother,” Ethan said, leaning forward, his hand brushing Hank’s. Hank wanted to take it in his, hold it. But that was crazy to do in public, even if clearly nobody in this restaurant cared. Crazy to do at all, really. Did guys hold hands? He hadn’t even wanted to hold the hands of girls that he’d dated, but Ethan’s was so tempting, right there for the taking.

“Charlie?” Hank asked skeptically.

“Ha, like he’d ever relinquish his spot on the power play. Besides, he’s better where he’s at, on the wing. Ready to nail the puck into the net.” Ethan wasn’t wrongthere. Charlie was lethal from that spot in the power play. Hank was regularly glad he didn’t have to figure out how to defend against him. “No, I meant Avery.”

Hank shouldn’t have been surprised; Ethan hadn’t made any secret of his shining up of Hank’s hockey skills. ButAvery Barnes? Yeah fucking right.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Avery? I don’t think so.”

“Avery’s not that great,” Ethan said dismissively.

Impossible not to bark out a laugh. “Are you joking? He’s fucking fantastic.”

Ethan just made an absolutely adorable face. “Not you too.”

Avery was too old for Hank to have ever faced him, in any of the many international tournaments they’d both played in. And Hank was generally pretty grateful that was true.

“Uh, well, yeah,” Hank admitted awkwardly. “He’s so good? Like just not defensively, which he’s a freaking monster behind the blue line. I don’t know how he makes the plays he does sometimes. The way he skates, the vision he has—”

Ethan snorted.

But Hank wasn’t done. “And then there’s how good he is offensively? He runs the best power play in the league. Efficient as shit.”

“Then how come the Mavs aren’t number one in power play scoring?”

Hank rolled his eyes. “Because it’s the Mavs. He’s getting the guys the puck, but they’re not playing it or shooting it right.”

Leaning back, Ethan regarded him with analmostserious expression. The glee in his eyes gave him away. It made Hank feel a little lightheaded. Like maybe this whole night had gotten away from him, and he wasn’t about to go looking for the brakes now.