“I’m not going to fall, June.”
“You almost fell earlier! I watched you catch an edge.”
He opened his mouth to argue some more, then his expression changed. “That was on my third lap. Which was five minutes ago. You’ve been watching me for a while!”
“I… I saw it from up above,” I lied. “Then I came down here to stop you.”
“Your face is redder than our away jerseys,” Rhett grinned. “You’re embarrassed.”
“It’s not red from that. It’s because… you’re changing the subject. This is about you disobeying my instructions. I haven’t cleared you for the ice yet.”
“Hey, I get it,” he said, skating in a small circle. “Can’t blame you for wanting to get an eyeful of all this.”
I pursed my lips together as he showed off his body, flexing and posing. Hedidlook good without a shirt on. But then he winced and grabbed his shoulder.
“Hah!” I said. “See? You’re making things worse.”
“Don’t try to change the subject. You’re into me.” He skated off the ice, bending down to slip a pair of blade covers over his skates. “Just admit it and I’ll leave you alone.”
“I think I’ll go to Coach Jay and tell him about this instead.”
That got through to him. He stiffened and said, “Don’t.”
“Promise me you’ll use a sling next time,” I insisted. “If you do, I’ll keep your secret. This time.”
“Fine. You’ve got a deal.” His brow furrowed as he looked at me. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been crying.”
“I… I’m fine.”
“Youhavebeen crying.” He touched my cheek, using his thumb to brush away a smudge of mascara that I must have missed. “What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Is it your boyfriend? It is, isn’t it.” His face twisted into angry resolve, and his charming southern accent became a little more pronounced. “Want me to pay them a visit? Trash them on Twitter? One quick video from me and I can make them a pariah in this town. Just tell me what to do and I’ll fix it, June.”
“It’s nothing like that,” I said. “I don’t have a boyfriend. It was just a comment someone made.”
“Someone? Like, a fan? Sometimes they hang out by the player’s lot, hoping to get an autograph after the game. Or was it an arena employee?”
“Neither.”
His blue eyes flared wide. “Then it was a Reaper. Don’t try to deny it—I saw the way you just reacted. Give me their name. I’ll take care of it.”
“I don’t want you fighting with a teammate,” I said. “Especially after a tough loss.”
“Bullshit,” he snapped. “You’re a part of this team, too.”
It was exactly what I wanted to hear, what Ineededto hear in that exact moment. Rhett was so angry, so passionate about it, that something inside me blossomed to life.
I threw my arms around the Reapers player and kissed him.
8
Rhett
I’d kissed a lot of women in my life. Not trying to brag or anything, just stating facts. Being a star athlete made things easy, to be completely honest.
But I usually saw the kisses coming. I’d never beensurprisedby a kiss.
