Not A Chance (Heartstrings #2)

29. Theo

The shock on Indie’s face would have been humorous in any other circumstances. But we hadn’t ever talked about what we were really doing here. I’d been chickenshit about bringing it up, not wanting to scare her off. And here I’d gone and just blurted it out like some inexperienced teenager.

But I didn’t want to take it back. Being my girlfriend was just the beginning of the future I saw with Indie. So I let the words land and waited for her reaction.

Her surprise gave way to a look of uncertainty I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen her wear. My heart responded to her expression by attempting to beat its way out of my chest and to lay itself at her feet.

The skittishness in her eyes did not read, “I can’t wait to be Theo’s girlfriend!” but more, “I’m not sure about what’s happening right now?”

I’d weathered a lot of nos in my time. Indie’s rejection of making our relationship official would hurt, but it was better to know now.

Her golden-brown eyes searched my face for something. I couldn’t tell if she found what she was looking for, but when she took a deep breath, I steeled myself for the brush-off.

“Yes. Okay,” she answered, more color pinkening her cheeks. She was adorable when she wasn’t totally sure of herself.

Jesus. What a pair we made. We were thirty-one and twenty-five, respectively. Why did this make me feel like I had no idea what I was doing?

It’s harder when it matters, Yao . This woman has the power to really hurt you .

I tucked that inconvenient truth away for later as her answer finally sank in. I was two-for-two tonight in taking too long to realize what she had said. I couldn’t even blame hockey because I’d only had two concussions in my whole career.

“Yes?” My voice came out at half volume, as if I was about to break whatever magic spell that had made her agree.

Her smile had regained its snarky edge, and her eyes had turned sly once more. She was cooking up something I was either going to love or hate, but I was here for it either way.

You are so gone for this woman, Yao.

“Yes. I’ll be your girlfriend, Theo.” This time, her tone sounded sure. “I want that. But…”

I squeezed her hips gently as I mock groaned. “A catch, of course. What is the ‘but’ here, Ms. Layne? Other than this excellent pair of cheeks I look forward to getting better acquainted with.”

I let my hands slip down to cup her ass, tugging her against me so we were pressed together, torso to thighs again.

Indie gave my hair a little pull with one of her hands. The sting just made me want to get my teeth on her again.

“Just listen, goalie. I’m saying yes, but I want you to promise me that I get to be the one who decides when we tell people about us.” She narrowed her eyes in warning. “We work together. I need to clear this with Jermaine first. I don’t want you going all ice Neanderthal and shouting our business to the whole locker room because you don’t want anyone looking at me.”

“Hey. That’s offensive, baby. What’s an ice Neanderthal, anyway?” I would have put my hands up in a gesture of surrender, but I couldn’t make myself let go of her peach of an ass.

She let go of my hair with her right hand and brought it around and poked me on the tip of my nose like I was a misbehaving pet.

“An ice Neanderthal is a special breed of dumbass whose brain has been frozen and thus thinks with his dick instead of his head. Oh, and he also demands his female counterpart only wear his jersey number.”

A chuckle rumbled in my chest. If Indie was conscious, she was keeping me on my toes. The only time my mind didn’t have to race to keep up with her was when she was asleep in my arms.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not a thing, Ind.” The smile on my face ruined any possibility of convincing her she’d actually insulted me.

“It’s a thing if I say it’s a thing, Theo. And don’t lie. You’re more territorial than Giz, and that’s what Chihuahuas are known for! First, you’re all fired up about me hanging out in Connor’s hotel room. Then, you steal the hoodie that he lent me and replaced it with three of your own. You’d love nothing more than to rub it in his face, even though he and I are just friends.” She arched an eyebrow as if daring me to disagree.

“Fair.” I couldn’t deny her words. My lower lip might have jutted out in a slight pout at being called out on my less-than-rational behavior.

She pressed a hard kiss to my lips. “Just don’t piss a circle around me, and we’ll be fine. But most importantly, I get to be the one to tell Emery about us. No more of this calling her up out of nowhere. If you really want to make a go of this, I need to make sure my friendship with Em is okay first. ”

“Even though she’s my sister and we’re all adults and we don’t actually have to justify our choices to anyone, I can agree to that.” She could have asked for anything in this moment, and I would have given it to her. The reality of us being official had my chest swelling with an excitement I hadn’t felt in years.

“Good. Now, you and all those ‘ands’ better move this date along before I change my mind on the whole girlfriend thing, hmm?” The teasing look in her eyes reassured me that we were back to our usual banter.

Her bluntness made me laugh as I moved back far enough from her too-tempting body.

“Shall we?” I held out my hand like I was some gentleman from a Regency-era TV show.

Indie rolled her eyes but still placed her hand in mine. “Yes! That’s what I’ve been saying.”

I wasted no time in entwining our fingers and led her through the hallways and into the locker room.

The smell of whatever cleaning supplies maintenance used couldn’t quite cover the scent of a bunch of sweaty hockey players and their equipment and had Indie wrinkling her nose after the locker room door was shut behind us.

“Let me get you into your skates and out of here. The air is much fresher on the ice,” I reassured her. No matter how many times I stepped on the ice, the cool air in my lungs never failed to wake up my mind and body.

Hockey and skating were such a huge part of my life. I wanted Indie to experience it with me rather than as a job on the sidelines merely gathering a set of data points that needed to be posted to social media.

Indie settled into my bench space. Next to her were the two pairs of skates I’d arranged for player services to leave for me.

I knelt in front of her, ignoring the small twinge in my knees from the action.

I grabbed the brand-new pair of figure skates that I’d ordered for her and undid the laces. A part of me had considered getting her hockey skates, but I’d guessed that she might prefer the toe pick and a longer blade for balance.

I looked up to see Indie watching me carefully. “Foot,” I said and held up my hand to the level of her calf, a mirror image of the way I’d just asked for her hand back in the hallway.

She toed off her boots and set a socked foot in my hand.

“Thanks, Cinderella. We’ll get you laced up and skating by the end of the night.” I winked at her before sliding her foot into the stiff leather of the skate.

“The scent in here leaves something to be desired. But, I have to say, the view is pretty damn good.” I met her gaze to see her smiling down at me.

“Like me on my knees, do you?” I cocked an eyebrow at her while I gave her skate laces a particularly forceful yank to tighten them.

“Yes, I do. As long as it’s only for me.” The snark in her tone melted into a seductive purr. Her eyes never left my face.

“Anytime, anyplace, baby. I could spend hours down here.” I gave her one knee a soft kiss while I held her laced skate flat on the floor. The last thing I wanted was a sharp toe pick in my junk.

She leaned down in a rare moment of quiet, and I brushed my lips over hers before she sat back up again.

“Okay, Prince Charming. Chop, chop with the laces already. We haven’t got all night.” She winked playfully.

I laughed as I dutifully worked on her other skate, lacing it much more quickly than the first before sitting beside her to make quick work of my own skates.

“Let the embarrassment begin,” she murmured as she pushed herself to standing. Her ankles promptly went askew when she tried to take her first step on the rubberized floor.

“Whoa, Gretzky. Take it easy. Let yourself get used to the feeling of the skates.” My hand hovered behind her back to catch her, and I hoped she wouldn’t notice.

“Am I supposed to know who that is?” Indie was half a step ahead of me as we moved toward the door, with her focused on taking careful footsteps.

Her answer had my movements stalling. “Seriously?” I was shocked. I was dating someone who hadn’t heard of arguably the most famous hockey player of all time.

She turned her head so I could see her profile and stuck her tongue out at me. “I may not have known anything about hockey before coming to Toronto, but I know who Gretzky is.”

Indie reached the door that led to the players’ entrance to the ice and managed to pull it back without stumbling. I reached over her head and grabbed the side of the door so she wouldn’t lose her balance.

She looked up into my eyes and said, “I mean, his daughter had that beautiful magazine spread for her wedding. Who wouldn’t have heard of him after that?” before she ducked under my arm to get out the door.