“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about our relationship sooner,” she said. “I know he’s been giving you a hard time.”
Tank shrugged. “My biggest issue with all that was not knowing what I’d done. Now that I do…I get it.”
“I guess you understand now why I’ve been so adamant about not dating hockey players and coworkers.”
McKenna had told him from the very beginning what her lines in the sand were. He was both, and yet, he’d been arrogant enough to think those rules wouldn’t apply to him. Maybe he hadn’t changed as much as he thought.
Tank nodded. “I tick all the wrong boxes.”
“I’m also sorry I didn’t stick around on Monday. I…” She sighed. “I saw you with Lara, and some of the insecurities I thought I’d kicked after Eddie came roaring back to the surface.”
Eddie, her prick of an ex, had chosen a Barbie Doll over her, while lying to her about his fidelity. Seeing Tank walk into Pat’s Pub with Lara had hurt her more than she’d let on.
Tank reached out, taking her hands in his. “I swear it was just a ride from the arena to the pub. I’m not interested in Lara. At. All,” he stressed.
McKenna squeezed his hands back. “I believe you, Tank. And even if I didn’t…”
Tank wasn’t sure where she’d been heading with that last statement, but he knew she wasn’t going to finish the thought.
She released his hands, tucking hers in her lap, wringing them nervously. “I let things go too far, Tank.”
Fuck. She was going to break things off.
He should have told her from the start that none of this was fake for him, but he’d been too afraid of losing her. Instead, he let her believe this was all a game to him, because his reputation had been working against him.
“Mouse, I need to say something—” he started, desperate to let her know how he really felt.
“Please,” she said, cutting him off. “Let me go first.”
He shook his head, unwilling to hear the words. He considered himself a tough guy, but he would fall apart completely if he had to hear her say the words “it’s over.”
“Mouse. McKenna,” he added, hoping his use of her real name would somehow let her know how serious he was.
She turned toward him, refusing to give way. “Tank, I need you to know?—”
“Dammit, Mouse!” he said, reclaiming her hands, tugging her closer, determined to make her listen.
In the end, neither of them gave way, each speaking over the other at the exact same time.
“It was never fake to me,” he said.
“It wasn’t fake for me,” she said.
Chapter Twelve
“What?” McKenna asked, certain she must have heard Tank wrong.
He didn’t reply to her question, however.
Instead, he just smiled, then he laughed as if she’d just told him the most hilarious joke ever.
McKenna drew her hands out of his, trying to figure out what was so funny. Her heart was racing a million miles an hour. It had taken every ounce of courage she could muster to get in her car and drive to the arena tonight.
Dad had texted her from the bus as they were returning to Baltimore to check on her, since she hadn’t made it to the game. She’d turned the corner on the flu somewhere in the middle of last night, and by this morning, she’d felt much, much better. She’d even intended to go to work and travel with the team to D.C., but Benny had insisted she take one more day. Considering she’d wound up taking a two-hour nap this afternoon, she had to admit her boss had probably been right to tell her to stay home.
She’d discovered from Dad that he intended to talk to the team upon their return. Unable to let another day go without seeing Tank, she’d showered, gotten dressed, and driven to the arena.
She’d considering texting to invite him over but decided that was probably a bad idea. Given the fact she hadn’t seen him in days, she had worried she would talk herself out of telling him about her feelings, simply so she could steal another night with him.
