Net.
“Oh, I’m as good as I think I am,” I call back, my tone cocky as I line up the puck and spin it around on the blade of my stick, letting the motion feel easy, effortless. “In fact, I’mbetter.”
I hear her laugh behind me, light and airy, and the nerves in my body do the stupidest shit.
Macy, however, islessthan impressed.
Her groan carries across the ice, loud and clear, as she throws her hands up. “I can’t take it anymore. Can wepleasego? My toes are literally frozen.”
“In a minute,” Harper replies, not sparing her bestie a glance. Her eyes stay locked on me. “I think Easton has a little more showing off to do.”
“Damn right I do,” I mutter, grabbing two pucks and pushing off with purpose.
If Harper wants a show, I’m more than happy to give her one.
“Well, do I have to be here to see it?” Macy noisily complains, stomping her feet like a petulant child. She presses her fingers to her jawline. “My face is freezing off.”
“It’s fifty-five degrees in here,” I yell. “You’re being dramatic.”
“No, you are,” she snaps, wrapping her arms tighter around herself in a hug. “It’s called having thin blood.”
“Yeah,” Harper adds. “Not all of us can look hot while skating in frigid temperatures like show ponies.”
Wait. She thinks I’m hot?
I push my tongue against the inside of my cheek, fighting the idiotic smile threatening to form.Play it cool. Don’t make it weird.But my body betrays me, heat creeping up my neck.
Jeez, am I blushing?
Is this what it feels like when Harper Conrad has a crush onyou?
The light bulb goes on in my head the same way the alarms sound when someone scores a goal.
“Show pony?” I grin at her like a doofus. “I think you meanstallion.”
“Sure, we’ll go with that if it’ll get me out of here,” Macy says, rolling her eyes.
With both pucks in play, I weave them effortlessly between my skates, pulling off a spin before shooting the first one into the top left corner of the net.Bam!
The second puck follows immediately, zipping low into the bottom right.
Bam, bam!
I glance back at the bench, half expecting more sarcastic rhetoric, but Harper’s eyes are wide.
“Did that do it for you?” I call out, skating toward them. The pull I feel toward Harper gets stronger the more time I spend with her, and I love showing off for her.
Yes, I’m showing off.
Yes, I want to impress her.
Yes, I want her to think I’m—
“It was…all right. I’ll give you that.” She’s doing her best to look unaffected, but the pink flush creeping up her neck gives her away.
“That was poetry in motion, baby.”
Baby.
