The girls freeze and stare at me in silence for several long moments.
“An act?” Rylee murmurs, arching a blonde brow.
“You’re not really together?” Grace asks with a confused frown.
“No, not really,” I insist.
“Wait!” Rylee exclaims. “What do you mean by first time? He proposed to you before?”
I wince. “Oh, yeah…we ran into each other at a gala we both attended and…talked.”
I’m still not ready to tell them we actually hooked up. I can only imagine their freak outs over that bit of news.
Skyler narrows her eyes and studies me a moment more before shaking her head.
“I don’t buy it,” she states. “There’s something more going on here. I can sense it.”
“What?” I gape at her, baffled. “No, there really isn’t. It’s just a business deal…”
She taps the side of her nose and gives me a sly smile. “I can sniff this shit out. The way Jayce looked at you on the ice wasn’t the look of a man making a business deal. It was of a guy getting exactly what he wanted.”
“Yes, obviously,” I nod. “He got me to say yes to his deal. I gave him what he wanted…”
She shakes her head, looking a little smug in her confidence. “Nope! There was more there! I could see it. You guys definitely fucked! I can tell!”
I freeze before catching myself and forcing my expression not to show my shock. Stay cool. Stay calm. Skyler may be so observant and good at reading people that it’s borderline scary, but I’ve spent my life mastering my reactions and emotions so no one knows what I’m really feeling. Schooling my features, I release a long breath, I raise my hand and pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes shut.
“You’re giving me a headache, Sky.”
“I kind of agree with Sky,” Rylee admits. “That didn’t seem like just a ploy out there. It seemed pretty fucking real.”
What is going on? Why are they so insistent that there’s more to this agreement with Jayce than what I’ve told them? Am I going to have to spend this fake engagement convincing them all it’s actually fake?
I turn to Grace, praying she’s more realistic than the rest of them.
“Yeah,” Grace nods, shooting my hope down immediately. “It was pretty convincing.”
I gaze around at them all, uncertain what I can say to convince them. Are they all so lovestruck themselves that they can’t help but see romance everywhere, even if it’s not actually there?
“You’re all reading way too much into this.”
Rylee grabs my hand with my new engagement ring and lifts it.
“A guy doesn’t buy a ring like this for a convenient arrangement.” Skyler and Grace nod in agreement.
“He does if he has generational wealth,” I grumble.
The locker room door suddenly opens and the guys start filing back out. While the rest of the team shoots me curious looks, Jensen, Zander, Carson, and Wilder join the girls in corralling me. They’re gazing at me, clearly wanting to ask me more questions, but they hesitate, instead sharing uncertain glances with the girls. I’m starting to feel a little claustrophobic when Jayce suddenly appears, reaching through our gathered friends to grab my hand.
“We’re going to head out, guys,” he tells everyone as he tugs me free and starts leading me down the corridor.
Stunned, I look from him back to our friends, but instead of trying to stop us, they’re all just beaming at us as we walk away.
“Have fun, you two!” Carson calls out.
Jayce waves over his shoulder but doesn’t look back.
We don’t say a word to each other as we make our way toward the employee entrance of the arena and then out into the parking lot reserved for the team and staff. He leads me to a slick black Porsche parked toward the back of the lot. My heart is racing and I’m struggling to breathe properly by the time he opens the passenger door for me. I slide into the seat and stare straight out the windshield as he makes his way around to the driver’s side.
