“No one knows what they're doing,” JP said. Reaching out, he gently raised my chin. “But we’ll take it one step at a time.” The way his earnest eyes were searing into me had a current of attraction stirring to life inside me, which I knew was a very dangerous thing.
Smoothing away from him, I wrapped a self-conscious arm around my chest. “Okay, yeah, thank you.” I nodded.
His eyes dipped down for the first time, like he just now registered I was naked. “Yeah,” he said in a throaty voice. “Yeah,” he said again, like he was at a loss for words.
My eyes shifted nervously. “Okay, well…”
His throat bobbed with a swallow. “Sorry, you just look…” he broke off.
“Like I ate a whole pizza by myself?” I self-consciously joked.
He shook his head. “You look beautiful, Ali.” The way his eyes flared with desire as they trailed over my body had my cheeks heating up.
Staring up at him, a slew of memories crashed into me. The scrape of his scruff against my skin, the way his tongue explored my mouth, the way his hand went into my hair, how he’d angle his knee between my legs, anchoring me. A spasm of electricity shot off in my lower stomach, making me want him.
“Ali,” he rasped, moving closer, and I felt a magnetic pull toward him.
A loud timer went off, making me jump back. Good thing, because I had a feeling we were about to do something really,reallystupid.
“Shit, sorry.” His head fell back for a second before he reached out of the shower and tapped his phone on the counter a couple times. “Our appointment is scheduled for a week and a half from now. That’s the soonest we could get in. Is that okay?”
“Yeah.” Just him sayingwemade me feel better about the situation. “You’ll come with me?”
“Of course.” But his focus was now clearly elsewhere, and he muttered a curse under his breath. “I really don’t want to leave right now,” he said. And deep down, I didn’t want him to leave either. His presence had a way of making me feel a little less lost in this world. “You’ll come tonight?”
My forehead creased. “Tonight?”
“Game tonight against Ontario. You mind if I wash my hair real quick?” he asked, like it was oh-so-casual for him to be in here with me.
I nodded. “You want me to go to your game?” My heart sped up with nerves. “But we’re just—”
“Friends.” He gave me his signature lopsided grin, but it didn’t make it up to his eyes. “I know, but that’s never stopped you from coming to my games before. Friends support each other, don’t they?”
My chest loosened as I handed him the shampoo bottle. “Yeah, you’re right.” I nodded. “I’d like to go. I miss watching you,” I said truthfully, then immediately chastised myself for overstepping. “I mean, I just like the sport. I miss hockey. I don’t mean…”
He laughed. “I missed watching you skate too, Al.” He started rubbing the soapy shampoo around his short hair. “You always liked a good game, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” I bit my lip to hide my smile. “You guys better win tonight.”
22. JP – THE FAMILY ROOM
Of course the first time Ali came to watch me skate in over a decade we were having a terrible game. It’s not like it would go unnoticed either—her dad was a fucking coach for years and Ali could probably be a scout with the amount of games she watched growing up.
After taking a beating into the boards, which did not help my sore shoulder, I finally got the puck out of the zone and shot it up to one of our new hotshot rookies on offense—Niko Belltani. Only problem, the little shit tried to toe-drag the puck at the blue line and got hit with a dirty check by an Ontario defenseman. Niko’s whole body did a somersault in the air before he came crashing down. I groaned because now I had a new job.
Without a second thought, I barreled into their defenseman, completely laying him out on the ice.
A second later, another Ontario player slammed into me with a punch to the face, which just doubled my anger. I swung wildly, until his knees hit the ice and the refs swarmed in to stop us. I was dragged off to the penalty box to the sound of the home crowd going crazy cheering.
I smirked as I sat on the small bench. My job was done. I won the fight and hopefully changed the momentum of the game back to us.
But it only took about thirty seconds for Ontario to score again.
Cursing under my breath, I threw my water bottle at the glass in front of me. What the fuck did I fight for if my team couldn’t even keep it together for thirty seconds?
Feeling my frustration mounting, my eyes went directly to her section of the stands.
Ali was sitting between Mer and Piper. Her hair was twisted into a braid that ended in a short ponytail, probably done by Mer, who always had her hair in french braids. While Mer and Lucy wore Colt’s jersey, and Piper had on an old Kappers jersey, Ali was just in an oversized jean jacket and leggings.
