“It sounds like a bad sorority name.”
She snorts and scoots closer to me.
“Okay.” Melody flips her curls over one shoulder and points toward the ice. “Let me give you the tour. You met the guys already, right?”
“Met? Sure.” I grimace. “Remember? Not at all.”
“Okay, starting easy.” She leans so I can hear her over the noise. “Number twenty-seven,” she points at a player smacking his stick against the boards, “that’s Matt. The one next to him is Tanner.”
I don’t know why we’re doing this when I can’t see anyone’s face under the helmets, but I don’t want to snuff out her enthusiasm.
“And that’s Addams.”
Then her finger shifts and pauses. “And that,” she says slowly, “is the goalie. Zed.”
My eyes follow her hand to a player near the crease. He’s massive. Tattoos snake up his thick neck, and under the visor are eyes so light they almost match the ice.
I don’t remember seeing him.
“I didn’t see him at the gala?” I shout.
“Oh, Zed doesn’t do events often,” Melody says. “Or crowds. Or… anything, really.”
“He looks scary.”
“Yeah. Sweet guy, though.”
My eyebrows shoot up.
“Like a homicidal cinnamon roll. It’s complicated.”
Before I can unpack that, she points again.
“And that,” she says, chin tilting toward a man skating backward while laughing at a teammate, “is Jace.”
Tall, cocky, and a little too charming-looking.
“Oh,” I say, “yeah, he was at the table.”
“He’s the reason I’m part of the sorority.” Melody glances at me with a laugh.
“He’s your boyfriend?”
Her head bobs as she nods with a huge smile. She leans her shoulder into mine, eyes flicking toward the ice again.
“And right there,” her voice drops into a knowing, teasing hum, “is your captain.”
“He’s not my captain.” My pulse skitters. “He’s my…” I try to force the word out.
“Boyfriend.” Melody finishes for me with a playful smile.
Before I can answer, the opening faceoff whistle screeches through the arena, and the crowd explodes again.
Melody leans forward, clutching the railing.
“Ready for chaos?” she asks, grinning.
I exhale, eyes snapping to Dominic just in time to see him lower into position.
