Page 93 of Skate the Line

His vibrant green eyes are laser focused while he glides over the ice, so sure of himself. He looks so much larger on the screen too, his pads broadening his shoulders even more. There’s a little bit of scruff on his cheeks that’s hardly visible, but I know by morning, it’ll cover his jaw.

He asked me if I thought he was attractive.

What an absurd question.

Heknowshe’s attractive. Why would a man like him need me to feed his ego?

Which is exactly why I lied.

My phone vibrates on my lap, and I look away from the post-game interview to read the text.

Oscar: Thank you.

A man of few words.

Rhodes Volkova.

I laugh quietly, but then my phone vibrates again.

Oscar: Are you in my bed?

My cheeks heat.

Shit, I forgot.

My fingers freeze. There’s a slight uptick in my heartbeat, but Rhodes should know me well enough by now to know that I wouldn’t climb into his bed for any reason other than Ellie.

Me: Ellie insisted you had the biggest TV.

My teeth dig into my lip as I wait for his response.

It takes far too long.

By the time my phone vibrates with an incoming text, I’m convinced it’ll be an angry message from him.

Oscar: She isn’t wrong.

Whew.

Me: Don’t worry, I’ll carry her to bed soon.

He doesn’t text back for quite a while.

I look around his room, and it definitely has a manly feel to it.

A dark wall painted a deep gray with a large TV mounted above a sound box of some sort.

It’s clean and bare. There is next to no clutter. The only thing on top of his dresser is some hockey memorabilia from past seasons.

I look at his bedside table, which must be the side I’m lying on.

Naturally.

A lamp, the remote, and a book titledDads with Daughters: A self-help book for parenting.

Okay, that’s sort of sweet.

He may be gruff and a bit rough around the edges, but he tries his hardest to be a good dad to Ellie.

---