“I almost forgot.”
Luke removes his backpack from his shoulders and begins shuffling it around until he must find what he’s looking for.
A plume of cold air escapes his mouth as he screams out in victory. “Ah ha! Got ‘em!”
When I realize what he’s holding out in front of me, emotion creeps up my throat.
I grab the bag from his outstretched hand, at a loss for what to say.
In my hand is a baggy full of gummy bears.
“I thought you could use these before the gold medal game tomorrow.”
Words continue to fail me as I try to process the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me.
“Where did you find these? I’ve looked at every grab-and-go station and have come up empty.”
Luke secures his backpack over his shoulders again before gesturing for us to continue our walk.
“I had Connor ask his Swedish teammates if he could get any for you.”
“You did?” It’s impossible to hide the shock in my voice. This freaking man.
He grabs my hand, which is still gripping the gummy bears like my life depends on it, then brings it to his mouth, placing a soft kiss on the top.
“Of course I did. You’ve played amazing without them but I figured a little extra luck couldn’t hurt.”
It doesn’t happen slowly. It hits me with the force of a freight train.
I’m falling in love with my brother’s best friend.
I pull him to me and push up onto my tiptoes, kissing him until I’m out of breath.
And then we make our way to our hotel, where I plan on enjoying every second of this man on his knees for me.
My lungs burn and my legs ache as I dig my skates into the ice as hard as I can, attempting to catch up to Canada’s winger who’s flying down the ice.
We’re already halfway through overtime, seventy-minutes of the hardest fought game of hockey I’ve ever played in.
I reach her just in time, using my stick to lift hers up off the ice, just as the puck is passed to her from across the ice.
Using my shoulder, I shove her body away from mine and grab the puck. I’m near the end of my shift and need to get off the ice before I’m caught out here with no energy left.
Picking my head up, I see my center skating toward the red line and bounce the puck off the boards to her so she can catch it in stride.
I wait until she hits the blue line and then head to the bench for a line change.
My chest heaves up and down as I take my seat on the bench. Shooting water into my mouth, I hear my coach’s voice.
“Don’t get comfortable, Smith. Your line is next up again.”
I nod, because it’s all I can do. I’m still attempting to calmmy breathing, the taste of iron coating my mouth after exerting so much energy that last shift.
Liv’s shoulder bumps mine.
“Let’s fucking do this, Char. Give it all you got out there next shift. Let’s end this and take home that gold medal!”
Reaching my glove out, I knock mine against hers. “Let’s fucking end it.”
