Page 26 of The Closed Off Captain

“Don’t take it off.”

“Wait. Not when like I wash dishes or take a shower?”

He meets my eyes. “Don’t take it off. Then you won’t lose it.”

“Yeah, okay.” I slowly blow out the breath in my lungs. “Okay. This just got a whole lot more real, right?”

He nods solemnly. “We’re about to go right into the deep end with this trip.”

I open and close my fist, watching the ring as I do. “I know.”

“Chloe, when we step on that plane, it needs to be as a couple.” He leans down until he’s eye to eye with me. “I’m going to need to touch you, tease with you, and somehow pull off that we’re a couple. There are going to be a lot of eyes on us both on the plane and at the game. So just go with whatever I do, okay?”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” I ask.

He’s still staring into my eyes. “Whatever I need to, to convince everybody that this is real.” I don’t get a chance to even think of a response. He takes my bag and laptop bag from me and throws them over his shoulder and then puts his hand out. I frown in confusion. “I can carry my purse.”

“Your hand.”

Oh.I stare up at him a moment and then remind myself that I’m a professional. I put my hand out, and he wraps his big hand around mine far gentler than I thought possible. “Ready?” he asks in a low voice. I nod because I can’t seem to find my voice. And then suddenly, we’re walking towards the plane...hand-in-hand. I refuse to think; I just force myself to keep my stride even, so I don’t trip in my heels. When we get to the plane, Gunner hands my overnight bag to one of the guys helping load up. He doesn’t give them my laptop bag thankfully. Then he walks towards the stairs, keeping my hand in his. When we get to the stairs, Coach comes down and glances between us.

“You two need to sell this thing. We need the media off Gunner’s back, so he can actually focus on hockey.” I nod. “Chloe, you get that change-up I sent over this morning?” I blink at the change in conversation.

“Yes, I saw it this morning. I’ll make sure the media has it before game time.”

“Thanks.” He looks behind us. “Let's go, Hart. Look alive.” He moves away from us, and Gunner pulls me towards the stairs. He keeps his hold on my hand as we walk up the steps and into the plane. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that we’re one of the first few on board. Gunner stops at his usual seat.

“I know you like the window seat,” he says, stepping aside.

“Oh, I’m fine. You take it.” I know the bigger guys don’t like being in the aisles because their knees get knocked around.

“It will be easier if you’re on the inside.”

“Fine.” I step into the window seat and put my purse under my seat and pull the tray down for my laptop. I open my laptop and pull out my headphones, so I can get to work. Gunner eases into the seat next to me a moment later, and I’m reminded that I usually sit by myself on these flights.

A shadow falls across us just as a familiar voice sounds. “Ooo, isn’t this nice and cozy? Hey Cap. Chloe.”

I turn to Sebastian and resist the urge to sigh. “Hey, Hart.”

Aiden shoves him forward and barely nods in our direction. Each of the guys that come through after that stop to talk to Gunner, but most of them don’t pay much attention to me. When I finish what I need to on my laptop, I turn to my phone. I start into the social media accounts for the team and make a note of what videos and photos I need to get on this trip. I do a quick search and see that Jenny and Gunner are still making headlines. I turn on the camera on my phone and turn to Gunner. He tugs out his headphones as soon as I tap on his arm. “Hey, we need to put a pic on your socials, so we can at least start things rolling.” I put my phone up and lean closer to him. “Ready?” I smile and snap our pic and then look at it. “Ooo, that was terrible. Could you act like you sort of like me?”

“I do like you,” he says close to my ear as I try to position myself closer to him. We finally get one that’s not terrible.

“Okay. I’m sending you that one now, so you can post it to your socials. I’ll post it to mine as well, just in case people check.”

I post it with a little bit of blurb that I hope doesn’t sound as fake as it feels. “I hired a private photographer to do engagement photos for us.”

I turn to Gunner in surprise. “Oh, that’s a good idea. When?”

“She sent back dates and times. What works for you?” He hands me his phone.

I check the available times. “I can do Sunday if we do it early because I need to go to Grandma May’s after that.”

“That works for me too.”

“What do we wear?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “Whatever we want.”

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