15. Thane
FIFTEEN
THANE
I could handle people talking about me. That wasn't bravado. It was experience.
After a decade of professional hockey, I'd learned how to live with headlines, rumors, hot takes, and strangers who thought they knew everything about my life because they'd watched a few interviews and a couple of games. Some days it was annoying. Some days it was exhausting. But it was familiar.
Watching it happen to Kieran was something else entirely.
The crease between his eyebrows had deepened.
Guilt settled heavily in my chest. "I'm sorry."
Kieran looked up immediately. "For what?"
I gestured vaguely toward the phones. "For this."
His gaze softened slightly. "You didn't take the pictures."
"No," I said quietly. "But they're here because of me."
He set his phone down on the counter and folded his arms across his chest. "I knew you were famous."
A laugh escaped me. "I don't think you did."
That earned the smallest hint of a smile. "You know what I mean. I knew there would be attention. I just didn't realize it would happen this fast."
Neither had I. Or maybe I had and simply hadn't wanted to think about it. The truth was that I'd spent the last few days operating on instinct. Coming out. Responding to Noah. Calling Kieran. Taking him on a date.
For the first time in years, I'd stopped overthinking every decision and simply followed what felt right.
Now reality was catching up.
My gaze drifted toward the article still open on my phone. The photographs themselves weren't particularly revealing. Nobody had caught us kissing. Nobody had photographed us through windows.
"They'll get bored eventually," I said.
Kieran raised an eyebrow. The look contained enough skepticism to make me wince.
"Okay," I admitted. "They'll probably get distracted by something else eventually."
"That's not exactly reassuring."
"No."
A reluctant smile tugged at his mouth despite himself. It wasn't much, but it was progress.
I stepped closer and rested my hip against the counter beside him. Close enough that my arm brushed his shoulder. Close enough to remind both of us that the headlines weren't the entire story.
My phone began ringing again.
I glanced at the screen and immediately felt some of the tension leave my shoulders. A small smile tugged at my mouth as I accepted the call. "Good morning, Mom."
"Is it?" she asked dryly.
My gaze drifted to Kieran. He was standing at the kitchen island wearing one of my T-shirts and looking entirely too good for seven in the morning.
A laugh escaped me.
"Actually, yeah," I said. "Considering everything? It's a pretty good morning."
That earned me an indignant huff from somewhere in the background, which almost certainly belonged to my father.
"We've been trying to call you. You should answer your phone."
"That's rich coming from the woman who ignores texts for three days."
Mom immediately launched into an update about breakfast, a disagreement she'd had with one of the nurses regarding crossword puzzle difficulty levels, and a detailed account of my father's latest attempt to convince everyone that pudding counted as a vegetable.
Then her voice softened slightly. "How are you doing, sweetheart?"
"Honestly?" I said. "Better than I expected."
"I'm glad."
The quiet relief in her voice told me she hadn't been entirely convinced when I'd told her not to worry before the press conference.
A brief pause followed before her practical side reasserted itself.
"Now, are you still coming to see your father and me today?"
"Of course, I am."
I glanced toward Kieran. The sunlight coming through the windows caught the side of his face. He looked curious, slightly amused, and completely unaware of the thought that had just entered my head.
"Mom," I said slowly.
"Yes, son?"
"What would you think if I brought somebody with me?"
The silence on the other end lasted exactly one heartbeat.
"I think your father just sat up so fast he nearly fell out of his chair."
"I did not," my father protested from somewhere in the background.
"Yes, you did."
I rubbed a hand across my mouth, already smiling.
Mom lowered her voice slightly, though not enough to stop Dad from listening.
"Is this somebody special?"
"Maybe."
"Thane."
I laughed. "Yes."
Another pause, and then her voice softened. "Of course they're welcome."
Something warm settled through me. "Yeah?"
"Sweetheart, you've never asked to bring someone to meet us before. If you're asking now, I assume there's a reason."
I glanced across the kitchen toward Kieran. "There is."
From somewhere in the background, Dad called out, "Tell him to bring whoever it is."
Mom sighed dramatically. "Apparently, your father agrees."
A few minutes later, after promising I would arrive before lunch and assuring my mother for the third time that I was, in fact, eating properly, the call finally ended.
I lowered the phone and looked across the kitchen. Kieran's expression was suspiciously innocent.
"You were listening."
"I was standing six feet away."
"That's not a denial."
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "No. It isn't."
"My parents would like to meet you."
The smile faded. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
For a moment, he looked down at the floor. "I've never done that before."
I frowned slightly. "Done what?"
"Met someone's parents." The words came out quieter than usual. "Not like this."
I wrapped my arm around his waist and drew him closer. "Kieran."
His gaze lifted to mine. There was a hint of nervousness in his eyes that hadn't been there a second earlier.
"My mother just approved a mystery guest she knows absolutely nothing about."
That earned a tentative smile.
"I think you'll be fine."
"Easy for you to say. They're your parents."
A laugh escaped me. "Trust me. You're the one with the advantage here."
His eyebrows rose. "How do you figure?"
"They already like you."
Kieran looked unconvinced. "They haven't even met me."
"They don't have to." I smiled. "Trust me."
"That's not remotely reassuring."
My laugh slipped out before I could stop it. "You'll survive lunch."
"That's a very low bar."
"Fine." I tightened my arm around his waist. "You'll survive lunch, and my mother will spend the rest of the week telling everyone in the building how charming you are."
The corner of his mouth twitched. "You sound very sure of that."
"I am."
He shook his head. "That's either sweet or terrifying."
"Probably both.