Page 22 of Offside Possession

“Have an amazing time and tell me all about it tomorrow,” she said before blowing me a kiss and hanging up. I set my phone down by my side and looked out just in time to see Scott walking towards me with two pairs of ice skates.

One pair was clearly smaller than the other.

When he’d asked if I ice skated while we’d been perusing the romance section of the bookstore, I’d thought he’d been making small talk. I’d shared how much I’d loved it as a kid but had stopped when my mom had to pick up a second job and didn’t want to be too much of a nuisance asking for things that cost too much both money and time wise.

After we shared a smoothie, he’d asked me to come with him to the arena. I’d thought he needed to do something job related, but now I wasn’t so sure.

“Would you believe I found a pair of skates in your size?”

“And yours?” I asked with a smile on my face.

“And mine. Crazy, right?”

“Very.” I grinned. Damn, he was adorable. He kneeled in front of me and rested his hands on my knees.

“Wanna skate with me?”

“Won’t we get in trouble?”

“Babe?”

“I’m serious. What if… we mess up the ice or something?”

“Mess up the ice? That’s not possible.”

“You know what I mean,” I said softly, and his eyes turned gentle.

“I do. And we won’t mess up the ice. The Zamboni will clear it out tomorrow before the game.”

“Game, huh?”

“Season opener,” he shared, his head tilted slightly. “Have you been to a hockey game?” I swallowed and nodded.

“I have. To a couple. The last one… Last year…” I chewed on my bottom lip. “I was living in LA and went to see the Kings play against the Lonestars.”

“You did?” He blinked, his face suddenly expressionless.

“Yeah, but…” I chewed on my bottom lip some more. His hand rose and pulled my lip free. “But the same feeling I got before I walked into the bar last night washed over me, and I couldn’t get myself to go in, like something too big was about to happen and…”

“What?”

“I was too much of a chicken to face it. It felt like everything was about to change. It was weird. So,” I shrugged and sighed, “I called my work friends and told them I wasn’t feeling good and went back home.”

I couldn’t read him, and that worried me.

I probably sounded like a crazy person to him. Maybe he had said he believed in all that to try and get in my pants again like Rainy had suggested.

“You wanna know something?” His voice dropped an octave. That feeling washed over me again.

That something big, almost life-changing was about to happen. My heartrate picked up and butterflies took flight. Not with anxiety or fear but with excitement. I nodded, not exactly trusting my voice.

“It’s a secret. You can’t tell anyone. It’s something no one knows. Not my family or any of my friends. Not my team or agent.”

“You trust me like that when we just met last night?”

“I trust you with everything,” he said, but I knew deep down this wasn’t just a line. I pulled back and offered my pinky.

“I pinky promise.” He looked at it, and his eyes got warmer than I’d seen them. His hand rose and his pinky hooked around mine.