“You’re that good, huh?” Tor said patronizingly.
“Not me.” Breezy held up her hands and shook her head.“Her.”
“I’ve been hearing for a while that Neve here has mad air-hockey skills.” Jed fed a dollar into a machine, nodding to a trio of college girls who snapped his picture before rushing off in a fit of giggles.
Breezy didn’t even bat an eye.
“Doesn’t that ever bother you?” Neve whispered.
“Nah, why should it? I mean, heisgorgeous. Let ’em look.” She winked. “I’m the one going home with him at the end of the night.”
Neve’s laugh felt hollow. Her sister was confident in her love. So optimistic in his devotion that trust came as easily to her as breathing. No doubt or hesitation. Could love really be like that?
The puck went whizzing by her defenses into the goal.
“Hellions one, Angels zero.” Tor smirked. He was back to his usual self, no trace of the passionate man from minutes ago. All cool confidence. Handsome and untouchable. His Scandinavian features were as severe and inscrutable as a Norse god’s.
“It’s like that, is it?” She dropped her chin and pushed up her sleeves. “That point was a gift.”
He rolled his eyes. “That a fact?”
“Stick it on Wikipedia and let it be known.”
“All right, trash talkers. Let’s sweeten the pot,” Margot said, ripping the hair elastic off her wrist and tying her long brown hair up into a ponytail.
“What are we talking about here, a wager?” Jed drawled. “Because I could call in a whole lot of favors.”
Breezy blew him a kiss.
Before Neve could say anything that included the wordsgagandme, Tor broke in. “The winners get to call in a favor from the losers. One deed.”
A few minutes ago she’d played tonsil hockey with this guy. And he hadn’t treated her like a cold fish but a triple-layered chocolate-fudge cake. Then he’d ignored her. Now he wanted a favor if she lost? No way.
But at the exact same time, an idea dropped on her head with the force of a cartoon anvil... If she won, she could force him to agree to an exclusive no-holds-barred, in-depth profile. Forget the measly top-five article. She’d grill him hard. Figure out what made him tick. Ask nosy questions to her heart’s content.
If he wanted to mess with her, she’d mess back.
“Deal,” Neve shot back. “As long as it’s not illegal.”
Jed groaned. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Enough, you.” Breezy giggled as if this was some sort of private joke.
Double ew.Neve was happy to let them have their mystery. Some things she just really, really didn’t want to know, like what her sister got up to in the boudoir. “Enough chitchat.” She set her striker on the table. “Got to be in it to win it.”
Because she’d win. Probably. The problem was... Breezy sucked at air hockey. She loved her sister, but as she blocked one of Jed’s blank shots and pulled back quickly to guard the goal, Neve had to concede the obvious. They were outmatched.
From the sly look in Jed’s eyes, it seemed as if he knew exactly what favor he wanted to collect from her sister. And from the erratic, clumsy way Breezy kept trying to score, there was a real and pressing danger that her own teammate might be throwing the game to be in her boyfriend’s debt.
But Tor wasn’t flirting. Or smiling. He played like a man possessed. She’d never seen him on the ice, at least not in person. There was a chance she’doncedredged up some old footage from his Gopher days on YouTube while devouring an entire pint of Cherry Garcia.
But that fact was never to be spoken about, or acknowledged.
She doubled down on the offense, scoring a point, but then Breezy bumped her elbow as she tried to play defense. They were back to being tied for the game point.
“This is it, ladies and gentleman,” Margot drawled in a deep, announcer-type voice. “The moment of truth.” And she wasn’t just hamming it up for her own amusement. A small crowd had gathered, recording the game on their phones. She’d bet five bucks that the majority of these women were focused on capturing shots of Jed West, although to give Coach his credit, he wasn’t without his own cadre of female admirers.
“Come on,” she snapped to her sister. “Let’s get it together.”
