“Devin, what the fuck were you thinking?” she demands in a quiet but firm tone. “You don’t fight.”
“I can fight if I’m pushed, and they pushed us,” I argue back calmly. “Tommy is probably out for the season. It doesn’t look good at all.”
“It was a crazy game,” she whispers and shakes her head. “I was so freaked out watching it I was yelling at the TV. I’m surprised the neighbors didn’t call the cops.”
I smile at that. “I thought you liked hockey fights. Didn’t you once say that they turned you on? ‘Hockey fights are hot’ were your exact words.”
She laughs self-consciously. “You remember that?”
I nod and smile. She had said it one year when Jordan, Luc and Cole were still on the Silver Bay Bucks and they had made the play-offs. I was already at home, my first Barons season over. We ended up at the same house party and the girls were talking about the Silver Bay game earlier that night. Jessie was recounting Jordan’s two goals in detail, much to her boyfriend Chance’s dismay, and Callie was recounting every single fight with a giant smile on her face.
“Luc sure can throw a punch. It’s totally hot,” is what she had said, and I repeat it to her now.
She looks up at me in mock anger as she stands up. “Yes, I used to love hockey fights, but now thanks to you that’s ruined. No longer hot.”
“Why?” I ask, not wanting to let this go. “Was it that bad? I thought I got some good shots off.”
She pauses as if replaying what she saw on TV in her head. “Devin, when he hit you, you looked like you might collapse on the ice. That was not hot.”
“Sorry I don’t make you wet when I throw punches at assholes on the ice,” I snap. I am not a fighter. I don’t like to do it, but I don’t think I’m bad at it.
She puts her hand on my shoulder and gives it a small squeeze. “I wasn’t worried about how you looked, dumbass. I was worried you were hurt.”
I look up and our eyes meet. I swear to God it takes my breath out of my lungs. “You were worried about me?”
She almost frowns but nods a confirmation anyway. I can tell it’s painful for her to admit.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” she counters. “Do they know for sure you don’t have a concussion?”
“He didn’t hit me that hard,” I reply.
She starts for the door but hesitates. “Are you sure? Because you hockey players have pretty soft heads.”
I smile. “Well, you’re welcome to stay in here and wake me up every hour.”
“That’s concussion protocol?” she asks and I nod with a smirk.
“And you can wake me up any way you want,” I add and wink.
She laughs out loud at that but she’s blushing. “Don’t give me any ideas, Devin.”
“Ideas are a good thing, Callie.”
She just smiles and stares at me for a long moment. I know there’s a battle raging inside of her—probably between her libido and her brain. I really hope her brain loses.
“I have to go,” she says and my heart sinks.
“If you say so…” I reply, not bothering to hide the disappointment I feel.
She walks to my door but doesn’t quite leave. We stare at each other and then finally I stand up and pull off my underwear. Her eyes go wide as I’m standing there naked in front of her for a second and then I pull back the sheets and slide into my bed.
“I sleep naked, remember?”
“Yeah. Hard to forget,” she mumbles with a grin. “But thanks for the reminder.”
“So…?”
