“Enjoy!”
The silence stretches between us as Jade stabs her waffles with her fork and slides her knife through them. She lets out a soft moan as she takes a bite.
“You were right. These are delicious.”
Satisfaction washes over me and I take a bite of mine. “Told you.”
We’re quiet as we both dig back in, but my mind is fixated on both of our problems. There’s a simple solution, she just doesn’t know it yet.
I need to keep her around, at least until the end of the season.
“Helping you helps me.”
Jade swallows a mouthful of food and chases it with a gulp of water. “What?”
“I play better when I have a distraction that’s off the ice. It’s like reverse psychology. If I think I have something to prove or someone to impress, I’m more focused. If I don’t, I overanalyze every move, and it fucks me up.”
“Okay…” She stares at me, locked in, but doesn’t fully understand what I’m getting at.
“I swore off dating as my New Year’s resolution and everything’s gone downhill since. We were on a losing streak and I didn’t score the last few weeks, until I ran into you.”
Her face slowly breaks into a smile. “Are you saying you’ve been thinking about me, Matty?”
The nickname sounds weird coming from her. “Matteo.”
Her smile stretches, her eyes burning brighter. “You didn’t answer my question,Matteo.”
Electricity rolls down my spine. Fuck. “Yes.”
She pushes another forkful of food past her lips, slowly chewing as she studies me for a beat. “How can we help each other?”
“You can be my distraction, and I’ll help you with your book. It sounds like you need someone to help you brainstorm and I need something to help me keep my head out of my ass.”
“Hmm,” she murmurs, her eyes glued to mine as she lifts her mug to her lips and takes another sip. “A deal we can both benefit from.” She pauses, tilting her head to the side. “What kind of a distraction do you need me to be?”
“Anything, honestly.” I shrug my shoulders. “Obviously, the other day was all it took for me to have something else to think about.”
She levels her gaze on mine. “Are you—” She purses her lips. “I’m not exchanging sexual favors for your help.”
My eyes widen, and I shake my head immediately. “No, no, that’s not what this is. I just like the chase. I perform better under the pressure of impressing someone.”
“Sounds like you just like to show off.”
“Well...” I smirk. “I’d hate to waste those many skills I have that you referred to earlier.”
She snorts, rolling her eyes. “So, you’ll be my muse? Let me draw inspiration from you and your cocky attitude and I just have to talk to you, hang out with you?”
“Basically.” I shrug again, laughing at how ridiculous it sounds. “We’re both in a bind and desperate times call for desperate measures, don’t they?”
“You do have a lot of qualities I look for in a character…” She cocks her head. “Why don’t you just find someone else to distract yourself with?”
My eyes roam across her face, over her freckles and back to her blue eyes. “I’m not interested in anyone else being my distraction.”
She’s quiet again. Assessing, studying. “Okay,” she says after a moment. “Fuck it. I’m out of options, so why not?” She runsher tongue over her top row of teeth. “Just until we don’t need each other anymore?”
A smile tugs on my lips. “Exactly.”
Her expression is unreadable. “I have one rule.”
