His eyes dropped to my chest again, and he frowned slightly. “I don’t know… It looks like you got something right… here.”
This was news to me. I’d double- and triple-checked before leaving my apartment, and when I looked down to see what the hell he was talking about, it was already too late. His thumb rubbed at a spot I couldn’t see, but the longer he did that, the more I realized what was actually happening. Because the backs of his fingers had slipped inside my neckline, grazing the exposed mound of my breast as he pretended to do me the favor of clearing the spot.
“Smooth, Bouchard.”
His eyes met mine, and that fucking smirk damn near ruined me.
“Is that for me?”
Theo straightened so fast his chair scraped the wooden floor. I couldn’t be sure what my face looked like when I stared back at van der Berg, but judging by Hunter’s assessing gaze, I was probably better off not knowing.
“Happy farewell, or whatever,” I said, pushing the cake box to the middle of the table.
Cass was seated next to him, Mason on her left, so she did the honors of opening the box to display the cake. Van der Berg’s face lit up, but quickly fell, joining everyone else in confusion as they stared down at the round, jet-black cake.
“Interesting choice of color, but blue’s actually my favorite.” He tilted his head to the side as if that would make it look better.
Theo snorted, then took a long sip of his beer to hide his amusement. I elbowed him in the ribs.
“What do you mean? It’s a puck,” I announced, a little annoyed I had to point out the obvious.
“Ah…” Holly nodded, then explained it slowly as she caught on, “...the whole cake is the puck.”
Realization rippled through the rest of them in “Now I get its” and “Oh, I see its” and my cheeks burned. How could I have messed up something so simple?
Theo squeezed my thigh under the table, sending me into a whole other kind of burn. Which essentially answered my question. I’d been a wreck all day, and it was because of him.
McAvoy clapped a hand on the table. “Safe travels, old pal, and all that jazz. But let’s talk about the actual important stuff—Round 3.”
Loud whoops exploded around the table, with the guys stomping their feet and banging so hard the glasses jumped around. Van der Berg just laughed and lazily raised his glass to me. I couldn’t salute him back without a drink of my own, and was about to go over to the bar when a waitress appeared.
“Perfect timing,” I smiled at her. “A whiskey sour, please.”
She didn’t look like she'd heard me, mostly because she was transfixed on Theo at my side. “Bouchard, right? I’m a huge fan. It’s so great to see you up and about after what happened.”
He smiled politely. “Appreciate the support.”
But that wasn’t the end of it. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and got closer. “You guys sure look like you’re having fun.”
My breathing deepened, slowed down. My jaw ached with how tightly I had it clenched in a scalding smile. From the corner ofmy eye, Hunter shifted and whispered something to Holly, who’s one eyebrow quirked up.
Dammit.
I sucked at playing it cool.
“Well, if you’re looking for a quiet winding down later, I get off at midnight,” the waitress said, batting her lashes at him.
The fucking audacity. I folded my arms across my chest, bracing for the moment he’d live up to the reputation of every jock in existence.
“Thanks,” he said in that easy accent that turned knees to jelly, “but I’m good.”
Her disappointment was subtle, but enough for me to revel in as she slinked back into the drone of the bar. I couldn’t look at Theo, because there were too many pairs of eyes paying close attention. I did, however, feel his gaze burning into the side of my face, the lightest brush of his finger against my thigh as a kind of secret assurance.
Or at least, that’s how I read it.
Seconds later, Theo’s fangirl was back with my drink and I didn’t give it a chance to hit the table. I drowned the moment in citrus and bourbon and after that first deliberate sip, everything felt less claustrophobic.
Soon enough, the table fell back into waves of banter and storytelling, with Shawn nearly falling out of his chair during a particularly dramatic reenactment. The whole time, Theo didn’t touch me again. But the awareness hung there like a hand at the small of my back.
