Chapter 15 #3
It wasn’t just that Alex had all but told him he wanted him by taking him out on a date.
It was also in the way Alex’s gaze slipped to Mitch’s mouth every so often, how he reached out to touch Mitch but aborted the movement before he made contact.
It was in the underlying tension between them, the way their eyes snagged and held.
Alex didn’t, however, want sex. Mitch was sure of it.
He knew what someone who wanted sex looked like, and it wasn’t evident in the long, searching looks Alex sent him, or the way Alex took care of him.
Which meant he had no idea what Alex wanted and it was making Mitch crazy, even though he was one hundred percent certain that whatever it was, he’d be happy to give it. More than happy.
It was almost like Alex wanted, but didn’t want to want. Like Mitch three months ago, when he’d wanted to be friends with Alex but had been afraid to be himself.
Conclusion?
Relationships were complicated as fuck.
After dinner, they walked to where they’d parked the car, grabbed their skates, then headed north, away from the lake. Alex carried Mitch’s skates. It was so cute, it gave Mitch butterflies. Like this was a real date or something.
Which it was. Jesus.
Alex took him to an outdoor ice rink at Nathan Phillips Square, right next to City Hall.
It was beautiful, with the lights from the surrounding skyscrapers and the red and green spotlights on Old City Hall, a Romanesque building now used as a courthouse, illuminating the area.
Its clock tower read eight p.m. The curved giants that were New City Hall were dark slashes against the night.
There was a twenty-foot tall Christmas tree lit in red and white on one side of the ice rink.
The three arches spanning the rink were covered in tiny white lights, with golden stars hanging from the highest part of the arches, where they spun lazily in the wind.
It was packed. Apparently, everybody in Toronto had decided to cram themselves onto a piece of ice that, from this angle, didn’t look much bigger than an NHL-sized hockey rink.
Regardless, they left their shoes and Mitch’s backpack in the coin-operated lockers in the locker room and headed onto the ice.
Most people either stood in clumps next to the elevated concrete walkway around the perimeter of the rink or skated in laps. Mitch and Alex joined the skaters, but they skated closer to the center of the rink where it wasn’t as crowded.
The good news was that since it was dark, and with Alex’s hat over his head and scarf up to his chin, he was unrecognizable as Tampa Bay’s D-man, Alex Dean. Which meant they could hold hands without anyone knowing any better.
Yeah, that’s right. They were holding hands. Alex had instigated it. Mitch was just along for the ride, since he had no idea what the fuck was happening.
“This place reminds me of Rockefeller Center,” he said on one of their many laps around the ice.
“I’ve never been.” Alex’s hand tightened on his and Mitch wished it wasn’t cold enough to require mittens. Not that his new alpaca mitts weren’t as soft as Toni said, just that he’d rather feel Alex’s bare skin against his.
“I love New York at Christmas,” Mitch said. “Toronto reminds me of New York, actually. Lots of people, lots of congestion, lots of skyscrapers. What’s your favorite city that you’ve travelled to with the team?”
“It’s hard to say,” Alex said, pulling Mitch out of the way of a group of teenagers who appeared to be doing nothing but taking up space. “I don’t often get to see the city I’m in. I do like Boston and Denver.”
Mitch rubbed his cold nose with his free hand. “We used to go skiing in Denver when I was a kid.”
“I’ve never skied,” Alex said. “I’ve always wanted to try snowboarding, but when I was young, there wasn’t enough money for two expensive sports. Hell, sometimes we didn’t have the money for one.”
“Yet, here you are.”
“Yeah. My mom gave up a lot so I could play.”
“Is that why you came home for Christmas?”
Alex chuckled, the sound low and rumbly among kids squealing and people laughing and talking. “No, I come home because I want to. My mom and I are close, but if I didn’t come home for a holiday, she wouldn’t hold it against me. That’s not how she is. And besides, she has her own life.”
They’d somehow ended up on the edge of the rink, and Alex gave a couple and their dog sitting on the elevated walkway a wide berth.
“Tell me you’re not afraid of dogs,” Mitch said. He was mostly kidding, but the look on Alex’s face said it all. “You are! But dogs are man’s best friend.”
“I’m not afraid of them,” Alex said in what sounded like a token protest. “I just have a healthy respect for the damage they can cause.”
Mitch chanced a glance over his shoulder at the tiny terrier wearing purple booties and a matching purple coat. It couldn’t have weighed more than thirty pounds. “Uh-huh, lots of damage. I see exactly what you mean.”
“Also, animals wearing clothes is just creepy,” Alex said, ignoring Mitch completely.
“No, it’s cute.”
“I read an article once that said clothes are bad for dogs because it creates chafing, and unlike humans they can’t scratch an itch or adjust their clothes. Would you want chafing in your private parts that you couldn’t get rid of? Doubt it.”
Mitch burst out laughing.
Peripherally he was aware of a few onlookers, but beyond a brief moment of oh-shit-I’m-holding-hands-with-a-dude-in-public, he quickly forgot about them.
He might not be out to most of his friends and teammates, but here, where nobody knew him, he could be.
He wasn’t particularly worried about getting his ass kicked by some douchebag homophobe.
First, Alex had told him Toronto was a pretty progressive city.
And second, Alex was a six-foot-four defenseman with the biggest shoulders Mitch had ever seen.
Whoever picked on him and, by association, Mitch, was just asking for an ass kicking.
Abruptly, Alex turned to skate backward facing Mitch, and took Mitch’s hands in his.
“What are you doing?” Mitch asked as they continued to skate laps, but slower now, almost as if they were dancing.
“I wanted to look at you.”
“Aww.” Mitch’s fingertips tingled inside his mitts where they rested in Alex’s mittened palms. “You’re a sap.”
Alex’s scowl was glorious. “No, that was romantic.”
“Sappy.”
Alex sighed sullenly. “I’m trying to woo you.”
Total sap. “I see.” Mitch stuck his tongue in his cheek to hide his smile. “Well then, by all means. Carry on. Woo me.”
“I can’t now,” Alex said, huffing. “You threw me off my game.”
“Is that all it takes to throw you off your game?” Mitch shook his head in mock pity. “It’s a wonder you ever made it to the pros.”
Alex slowed down so much that he might as well have stopped moving. Mitch didn’t see it coming and skated right into him. With an apology on the tip of his tongue, he glanced up at Alex, only to find Alex’s gaze on his mouth.
Mitch’s throat went dry and his body heated underneath his winter clothing as Alex snaked an arm around him and brought him in even closer.
He had to consciously prevent his skates from tangling with Alex’s, but given they were now merely coasting, it didn’t take much concentration.
Which was good because his concentration really needed to be on Alex and how Alex breathed softly against Mitch’s face and how safe Mitch felt in the cocoon of Alex’s arms and how Alex was going to kiss him. Right? Please?
“How’s my game now?” Alex’s whisper ghosted across Mitch’s lips.
“Um…” Mitch gripped Alex’s bicep. “What?”
Alex’s arm around him tightened. His gaze went from Mitch’s mouth to his eyes, where he seemed to search for—well, Mitch didn’t know what for, but whatever it was Alex must’ve found it. He leaned down and Mitch tilted his head up in anticipation, breath faltering and the world falling away and—
“Yo, dudes! Watch it.”
A teenager, obviously new on skates, bumped into them, knocking them off balance. They hit the ice hard, Alex on his back, Mitch sprawled on top of him, legs tangled.
Alex groaned underneath him. “Ow, fuck.” He probed the back of his head.
Mitch pushed himself off Alex’s chest with a hand and grinned down at him. “This is so not how I imagined getting you under me.”
Alex cracked up and let his head thunk back onto the ice.
* * *
Alex led the way into the house a couple hours later, quietly, in case his mom had gone to bed. But it turned out he needn’t have worried. She was coming down the hallway, a mug of tea in hand, when they walked in.
“Hi, boys.”
“Hey, Mom. How was work?”
“Busy.” She paused in front of the stairs. “How was your day? What did you guys get up to?”
“It was good,” Mitch said as he dropped his backpack and skates on the front carpet and took off his coat and shoes. “We went up the CN Tower.”
“Ooh, did you love it?”
“It was horrifying,” Mitch said with perfect truthfulness, his eyes big in his face.
Alex’s mom laughed and patted Mitch on the arm. “Stick closer to the ground from now on. Have Alex take you to the Hockey Hall of Fame.”
Shit, how come Alex hadn’t thought of that?
If it was possible, Mitch’s eyes went even bigger. “I can’t believe I forgot that it’s here,” he said almost reverently. He turned to Alex. “Can we go tomorrow?”
“Sure. Mom, want to come?”
“Oh no. I’ve got the early shift tomorrow. Which is why I’m off to bed.” She gave them both a kiss on the cheek and headed upstairs.
Alex turned off the light in the front hallway.
Alone with Mitch in the small entranceway, it felt like they were the only two people in the universe.
The questions lurking in Mitch’s eyes were expected, given they’d continued to skate for another hour after they’d fallen yet Alex hadn’t initiated another kiss.