Chapter 40
Forty
Faye
“Thanks,” I tell the sales associate as she passes me the bag.
She smiles at me, her expression a little harried, and I know it’s because there’s a line a dozen deep behind me, all of whom are eagerly—if not impatiently—waiting to buy their Grizzlies goodies.
I hurry away from the counter, letting her get on with it.
Kailey and Luna are waiting outside the shop, the brightly lit concourse filled with fans dressed in the turquoise, gray, and black, the Grizzlies’ colors.
How a team with an angry, rabid bear (complete with the red eyes to prove it) has those colors, is beyond me.
But they sure are pretty.
“What did you get?” Luna asks, bouncing on her toes and clapping her hands together.
I pull out the jersey and hold it up.
Luna grins—one that widens when she peaks around to read the back…and the name emblazoned across the shoulders.
I like the sound of my name on your lips, Red.
I shiver, wondering if he’ll like it on my back too.
Kailey smiles her gentle smile then winks at me. “You know how to play the game, Faye.”
My own smile fades.
“What?” she says.
“I—” I nibble at the corner of my mouth. “I’m not trying to play games,” I murmur. “I just really like him”—love him—and—”
I like the sound of my name on your lips, Red.
“Shoot, I didn’t mean it like that,” Kailey says softly, concern rippling through her green eyes as she presses a palm to her stomach, as though protecting the growing baby within her womb. “I only—”
“—meant these men seriously love seeing their name on your back,” Luna chimes in, looping her arm through Kailey’s and reaching her other one forward so she can snatch the bag from me with her free hand.
“And she’s right. Now pop that baby on and let’s get down to the ice. Warmups are going to start soon.”
I consider that. “Is she right?” I ask Kailey.
She nods.
Relief slides through me. “I guess you’d know since you’ve held the heart of your hot, hockey player the longest.”
Kailey’s cheeks go pink, but she nods. “Lucky for me, he’s held mine—and kept it safe—right back.”
I freeze. “That’s beautiful.”
Luna bounces again, her hand smoothing over her belly. “Maybe that will make your next book!”
Kailey eyes slide away, but not before I see that the prospect excites her.
God, I really like these women.
“I think it just might,” I say as I tug on the jersey then loop my arm through Luna’s free one. “You two have any other gems for me?”
Luna laughs.
Then starts sharing all of her gems.
Which means that Kailey and I are both laughing the entire way down to ice level, the roar of the crowd growing with every step.
And not once do I think about Courtney…
Or what she’ll do when she realizes I’m here.
I should have though.
I really should have.
“Here they come,” Luna says, bouncing next to me.
I hold my breath as shadows form in the hallway behind the Grizzlies’ bench, growing larger by the second until the first player emerges.
“Wow,” I whisper.
Yes, I’ve been to games in person.
No, I haven’t seen hockey like this.
And they’re not even playing yet.
They’re just hopping onto the ice, skating laps, picking up the pucks, taking easy shots on net before the Grizzlies’ goalie moves to the crease and starts doing that thing goalies do, scraping their skates back and forth across the blue paint.
“I can’t see!” I hear from somewhere behind me and the tiny voice has me glancing over my shoulder, seeing a little girl with pigtails jumping up and down. “I.” A grunt. “Can’t.” Another. “See!”
Lips twitching, I shift to the side slightly, wave my hand at her. “Come in front of me,” I tell her.
She slips between the metal bars, clambers over the chair between us and then she’s right in front of me, adorable in her tiny jersey. She grunts again, lifting on tiptoe to see over the boards, sending her pigtails bouncing.
I glance back, see her mom, motion to ask her if it’s okay if I pick the little girl up.
She nods, smiling gratefully, and then I’m bending, asking, “Want a boost?”
Another bounce of those pigtails as the little girl looks up at me. “What?”
“Want me to pick you up and help you see?”
“Yes!”
I hold out my arms and a moment later, she’s in them. As I straighten, hearing the thunks of pucks colliding with the boards, the crunch of skates on the ice, my heart spasms.
Because Gray is there.
Right there on the other side of the glass.
And his eyes are hot, burning into mine, telling me…a lot.
That he likes I’m here.
That he likes the jersey.
That he likes I’m holding a little girl in my arms.
My lungs go tight because I’m picturing perhaps what he’s picturing—a future that may someday lead to me holding another little girl.
Our little girl.
Our gazes hold for long moments, both of us saying a lot.
Too much for a short time together.
Not enough to encapsulate all I’m feeling.
Not a fantasy.
Real.
More real than anything I’ve ever had before.
The little girl wriggles in my arms, the moment broken, but Gray doesn’t miss a beat. Just grins as he bends and scoops up a puck, waiting until we’re ready to toss it over the glass. I catch it, pass it over.
“Whoa!” she says then wriggles again, spinning toward her mom. “Look, Mom!”
I set her on her feet, throat tight with yearning as I watch her clamber back over the chair, slipping between the bars, and holding up the puck.
Her mom bends down to admire it and I rotate back to face the ice, stomach fluttering when I see Gray is still standing on the other side of the glass.
I used to sit on the sidelines watching life speed by.
Now I’m here, the chill of the ice hitting my skin, my friends’ laughter in my ears, and…with my own hot, hockey player making me so damned happy I got in the game.
“Shouldn’t you be warming up?” I mouth to him, knowing that he probably can’t hear me over the din of the arena.
He watches my lips move, a furrow of concentration on his gorgeous face before he mouths back, “Probably.”
I make a shooing motion.
He grins then winks at me.
But before he skates away, his eyes go hot again and he mouths,
“Like the jersey, Red.”