Kenzie leaned back and folded her arms. “In the world? Now I know you’re full of shit.”
Claudia snorted a laugh. “For real. She says her secret ingredient is love.” She paused and dropped her voice. “I think it’s crack cocaine. Is there anything else I can get for you both?”
Kenzie’s eyelids fluttered shut as she took another long, cold draw from her drink. Rolling her lips between her teeth, she shook her head and released all her tension on a sigh that pulled her shoulders from her ears. “No thanks.” She opened her eyes and pointed to the glass. “But I’m not entirely sure I’ll be stopping at one of these.”
“It happens.” Claudia shrugged. “It’s my favorite too.” Just as she turned to leave, the door opened behind her, and Austin’s expression shifted.
“What?”
“You are not going to believe this.”
“No.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Austin, you’ve got to be kidding me. This is supposed to be our night. Date night.”
Austin nodded. “Je sais, Amour. Perhaps they will not see—”
“Austin! Mackenzie!”
“Merde.”
“I’ll say.” Kenzie’s mutter wasn’t quite under her breath as she turned to face the new additions. Molly Morrison waved their direction, followed closely behind by Snow Pirates Lincoln, Russell, Sébastien, Theo, and Enzo.
“We’ll sit with them.” Russ pointed toward their table, and Kenzie swallowed a groan. It wasn’t that she didn’t love the team by any means. But since Austin wasn’t playing anymore and was off helping his father run his empire and helping his friend expand his chain of kinky clubs, their alone time was hard to come by.
And as much as she loved the team, she could have definitely done with a night without them in her space.
Molly raised her hand to push Russ’s arm down. “How about we let them have their date night in peace and quiet?”
“I’m sure they won’t mind. Right, Kenz?”
Six pairs of eyes bored into her expectantly, waiting for her to weigh in. After a beat of silence, she shook her head, resigned to the fact that whether or not they were in her space, they’d still manage to be in her freakin’ space. “It’s fine. Can we pull some of these tables together?”
Claudia nodded. “Absolutely.”
Molly sat next to Austin, and the boys filled out the rest of the seats. It was almost as if the space had been designed for long tables and large groups. Another plus when traveling with a large and rowdy group of hungry hockey players. If the food tasted as good as it smelled, she’d addGuac n’Rollto the team’s travel list.
“We’ve already ordered.” Kenzie spoke to no one in particular. “And I’m not sharing my freakin’ guac!”
“It’s okay, we checked out the menu on the ride over. We know what we want.” Linc kick-started the orders, and Kenzie couldn’t help but notice that Claudia had produced a pen and a notebook.
“Hockey players can be fussy,” Claudia stage-whispered. “I don’t want to get anything wrong. No this, extra that, can you substitute this… you know…”
Kenzie drained the last of her drink and shook her head. “Not this lot. They’d eat dirt if someone warmed it up. Hell, some of ‘em probably eat it cold. I honestly don’t know how some of them are still alive. I’mma need another one of these bad boys please.” She gestured her empty glass at Claudia who took it from her and put it back on her tray, handing Kenzie’s straw back to her.
“So noted.”
“How’d you know they were hockey players?” Kenzie narrowed her gaze as she sipped on her water, not missing the subtle smirk of approval from Austin across the table.
“I could lie and say it was something to do with the smell.” She winked. “But I follow the sport so I knew the Snow Pirates were coming to town this weekend.”
Kenzie rolled her eyes. “Please only believe about half of what you’ve heard about them. And I apologize in advance for the other half.”
“That’s three eye rolls.” Austin spoke quietly, but not low enough to be missed. Kenzie clenched her thighs together as Claudia repeated back the never ending order for their now party of eight.
Molly reached over and stole a chip. “Sorry to gate crash.”
