Finn took a half step closer.
Robbie raised his hand to touch the side of his face.
And then the dressing room door burst open and Sawyer flew in, shouting. “Holy shit! You guys!” Despite what ought to have been years of experience, Sawyer had never met anawkward moment. He flung himself at Robbie. Through sheer force of physics, Finn and Robbie broke apart. “You totally ate and left no crumbs! Am I a genius or what?”
Robbie caught him and peeled him back to arm’s length. Sawyer could thank him later. “Oh, sorry, were you the one dancing and twirling and posing on national television? I can’t believe I missed it.”
With an eye roll, Sawyer smacked Robbie’s arm. “Give me my flowers for signing you up for this, old man.” Then he rounded on Finn. “And you! Oh my God! Finn! That wasso cool! I can’t believe you tried to tell me and Imogen you were rusty, you lying liar who lies.”
Finn submitted to the hug for a few seconds and then shoved Sawyer away with a ruffle of his hair. “I had a couple weeks to oil up, kid.”
Sawyer made a horrified face. “Gross.”
“You’re the one who barged in on us half-naked, bud,” Robbie pointed out. “You could’ve at least closed the door.”
Because now, looking back, he could see George, Gail, and Imogen in the doorway, waving awkwardly. “Sawyer,” Gail said, a laugh in her voice if not on her face, “why don’t you give Finn and Robbie some time to shower before you start the inquisition?”
“Ughhhhhh,” Sawyer said to the ceiling, but he stomped back out of the dressing room.
Gail met Robbie’s eyes with an amused look of commiseration, then gave them both a little finger wave and closed the door.
Suddenly Robbie wanted Sawyer back. It was actuallyless awkwardwith Sawyer there.
Then Finn turned to face him again, still shirtless. Robbie took a brief second to be thankful for the sheer amount of timehe’d spent in locker rooms, becoming desensitized to anything that might be even remotely sexy by way of exposure to hockey stink.
Finn ran a hand through his hair. “I, uh, I should probably mention that we’re like, kind of not allowed to ‘fraternize.’ It’s in my contract.”
Robbie’s heart clenched. Of all things, he hadn’t expected that—hadn’t been braced for rejection. He’d been sure Finn wanted his attention as much as Robbie wanted to give it. “Right.” He cleared his throat and stepped back. “That’s—yeah, of course, that makes sense.” Obviously the show wanted to keep things professional, lest it result in lawsuits or whatever.
Before he could take another step, Finn closed his hand around Robbie’s wrist. “Holly, like, made it really super clear that we’re definitely not allowed to date.” He met Robbie’s eyes, his gaze intense, like he was trying to convey something other than what he was saying. “She said she’d better not hear anything about it until the show’s wrapped.”
Oh.Oh.Robbie’s heart started beating again. “What size earplugs does she wear?”
Finn laughed and rubbed his chin. “Sadly, I don’t think earplugs would be enough plausible deniability to satisfy Holly.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want anyone to be left unsatisfied.” Robbie’s heart thumped once again with the promise of more Finn in the future.
“Never that.”
“My kid is waiting outside and we need to shower and we’re drunk with adrenaline.”
“Yeah.”
“Shall we… pick this up tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow,” Finn agreed, and it sounded like a promise.
“Tomorrow.”
The followingmorning Finn woke up to a clear head and a hard-on. He smacked dry lips, considered the state of his body—slightly achy muscles and warm blood—and debated what he wanted to do next.
Now that the high of their performance had waned, he could be sure of one thing—he still wanted Robbie, and he was ready to risk weeks of sneaking around to be with him. To find out if they were as compatible romantically and sexually as they were on the ice.
He rolled over and grabbed his phone off the nightstand. No time like the present. When he unlocked it, he found a text from Robbie already waiting.
Good morning. I still want to kiss you. Just so you know.
Finn snorted. God, Robbie was a dork. How’d he manage words that read all respectful and PG and felt like a sext?
