I groaned. “Road trips suck.”
Grace’s musical laugh echoed in my ear. “Do you miss me?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.” Maybe the sting of being away wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d been able to see her as often as I liked when I’d been home. But it had been difficult to get our schedules to match. With Josie at home, it was hard for me to get away in the evenings. And Grace, of course, was working during the day when I might have been able to steal a few hours before or after practice.
Even worse, Grace continued to put me off every time I asked her about a date. I could have arranged for Evelyn and Peter to stay with Josie for a few hours so we could do dinner. But Grace was evasive, never really giving me a definitive reason but never agreeing either.
So I’d had to make due with a few stolen hours during the week of our home stand. And while the sex had been fantastic—better than fantastic, really—it was starting to grate on me that we didn’t seem to be any closer to getting our relationship to the next level.
“It’s still early in the season,” Gracie said, misreading the cause of my sudden quiet. “Still plenty of time to turn it around.”
I supposed I could say the same thing about our relationship. It was still early. She had some concerns, okay, I got that. Let her be a little skittish and take her time. Meanwhile, I would just keep trying to do everything I could to show her that I was in this for real.
“Wish you were here,” I mumbled.
“Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about that,” she said, voice hesitant. I sat up straighter on the bed.
“Talk to me about what?”
“The girls and I had dinner with Andy last night,” she said. “And when he mentioned that he was planning to meet the team in New York, Peyton got on his case.” She laughed a little. “Apparently, she’s never been to New York…”
“Yeah?” I was trying not to get my hopes up too much.
“Yeah. And Peyton can be very convincing. The girl is tenacious. I swear to God, she would make a good D-man if she knew how to skate.”
“Gracie,” I warned, wanting her to get to the point.
“Yeah, so anyhow,” she sounded a little shy now. Fucking adorable. “Andy offered to fly us out with him on his private jet. For the weekend.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.” Still with that same shy tone. “I mean, I know you’ll probably have a lot going on, with the team and all, but I’ll definitely be at the game. And we could, you know, see each other. If you wanted.”
If I wanted? I would have been thrilled to see Gracie at any of our road games, but the match up in New York would be the first time I’d be facing my old team. The idea that she would be there in the crowd, cheering for me, made something ease inside my chest.
And then there was after the game.
“Of course I want to see you, are you insane?” I asked, laughing out loud at the rush of excitement and happiness the idea caused. “Are you staying in the same hotel?”
“That’s the plan. Peyton was very excited about the prospect of all those hockey hotties in the same building.”
I laughed. Her friend Peyton sounded like a trip. I wish I knew her, wish I knew all of Gracie’s friends. Wished she would spend time with Jay, that I’d be able to invite her over to hang out with me and Josie at the house.
I wanted more, plain and simple. And I was ready to ask her for it.
“You’re not staying with your brother, are you?”
She snorted. “Peyton convinced him to let us girls use the suite he had booked. He’s going to be slumming it in a regular old room.”
“Remind me to ask Peyton for tips on how to weasel free shit out of billionaires.”
“Just be absolutely shameless, to the point of obnoxiousness. That seems to work for her, anyhow.”
We were quiet for a moment. “I can’t believe you’re really going to be in New York. I’m going to see you in just a few days.”
“I’m looking forward to it, too,” she whispered.
“I wish we had more than one free night. I could take you out in the city, show you some of my old haunts.”
