“Maybe. We’ll see.”
“But you said he wasnice,” Mom argues.
“Is Cole extraordinary?” Dad asks with what I swear is hope in his tone.
Mom rolls her eyes and keeps her focus on me.
“Yeah, he was, which means it could be a lot worse. I might go out with him again if he asks. We’ll see. He might have thought I was boring and not want to.”
Mom tsks. “That will never happen.”
I love her confidence in me, but I’m achingly aware that she’s very biased.
“Well, we’ll see.” I push from the counter. “Are you two done? I need to go and get ready for bed. Early breakfast shift tomorrow.”
“You should have just stayed with Cole. It will save your car a few miles,” Dad says.
“He’s my boss, remember?”
“Hmm…what we saw out there wasn’t a boss looking at his employee, Freya.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing you didn’t know what you were looking at,” I shoot over my shoulder as I take off toward the stairs.
I’ve got enough to unpack from tonight without my parents putting their opinions in.
It’s not until I close my bedroom door that I finally relax. But that doesn’t mean I forget about what just happened outside.
Was Dad right? Did Cole look like he wanted to kiss me?
In that moment, it sure as hell felt like it.
As I walked away from him, I convinced myself that it was all in my head.
A man like Cole Hansley would never want to kiss a girl like me.
I’m a disaster and he’s…well, he’s a freaking god.
“FUCKING YES,”Casey screams beside me as Kodie hits a slapshot that goes sailing past the opposition’s goalie, increasing the Vipers’ lead to three to zero. “I LOVE YOU, BABY.”
As if he can hear her over the chaos in the arena, he looks up and directly at her.
Despite the fact that there are like, eighteen thousand other people in here, the moment they connect, it’s like everyone disappears, and the only thing that can be heard is the air crackling between them.
It’s intense. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous.
Kodie lifts his gloved hand to his lips and blows her a kiss.
It’s not directed at me, but damn, even my knees go a little weak.
I’m so freaking happy for them.
Kodie gets engulfed by his teammates; I’m sure all of them are ribbing him for celebrating with his girl instead of them.
Beside me, Dad watches the entire thing with a wide smile on his face.
He’s the same every time he gets to come to a game. He’s like a kid at Christmas.
I love my new job. I love getting to know Cole and learning more about ice hockey and the lives the players live. But having a job that allows me to get tickets for incredible seats like these so I can bring Dad’s dreams to reality means more to me than anything.
