Page 46 of Much Ado About Hockey

But nothing came.

Jett said nothing.

The silence was more deafening than any clever remark he might have made, and her stomach twisted as she looked up into his face. His eyes… they weren’t teasing now. They were dark, unreadable, turbulent like a storm about to break. Something had shifted between them like a fault between two continents, sliding into place after so much friction.

When he reached for her hand, she jumped.

A soft gasp escaped her lips before she could catch it. The touch of his fingers was electric, sparking through her like lightning. Every nerve ending flared to life. Her breath hitched as he gently guided her hand to rest on his shoulder, her fingertips brushing the back of his neck. The warmth of his skin beneath her touch made her dizzy.

He leaned in closer and Karen could barely breathe, her chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow bursts. It took everything in her not to fling herself at him like some unhinged fan backstage at a rock concert.

She had never felt so out of control - and he knew it.

“Shhh… it’s just us,” he whispered, his breath brushing against her lips like an unspoken promise. His voice was low, intimate, and it sent a shiver of awareness down her spine. “Is your heart beating like mine?”

His question knocked the breath from her lungs. Was it? She could barely think straight right now.

“Like I could race the Indy 500 - and win?” she managed to squeak out in a voice that sounded so unlike her - high, thin, barely there. It was honest, real, vulnerable in a way she would never dare let herself be before him.

She heard his soft chuckle in response and felt it too, right there where her fingers rested on him. That laughter, warm and quiet, somehow steadied her as her heart skipped a beat.

“So, it’s a photo finish then, huh?” His voice was rought, laced with tension of his own, and it made her chest tighten with emotions she didn’t dare name.

“Guess so.”

“Do you want me to wait?”

The question cracked through her shields like thunder.

“Oh gosh no,” she whispered in a horrified panic with wide eyes. Wait? No.Waitingwould mean morethinking. More spacefor fear to creep in. No, she didn’twanttime to think. She didn’tneedmore time to wait because her brain - her brain would simply start finding problems and…

His voice was soft between them, interrupting her skittish thoughts that were spiraling out of control quickly.

“Breathe.”

“I’m breathing.”

“I was talking to myself,” Jett said, letting out a nervous laugh that mirrored her own inner chaos. “Peptalk, you know? You drive me crazy and I want this to be good for you. It’s our first real kiss, after all.”

Her heart lurched.

She nearly crumpled right there.

Hecared. Hewantedit to be special between them.

“It’s good,” she blurted out, the words tumbling from her lips like a lifeline. “It’s good, I promise.”

“I haven’t kissed you yet,” he said gently, his voice softer than she’d ever heard it. Then, with a touch so light it almost broke her, he brushed his thumb against her lower lip, a touch full of reverence and wonder. “You have the most incredible smile that lights up the world.”

Karen’s breath caught in her throat at his words. Her heart stuttered as if it couldn’t decide whether to race or stop entirely. The way he looked at her—like she was something fragile and rare—undid every piece of strength she’d gathered to hold herself together. She tried to smile, but it wobbled, her lips quivering with the emotion swelling inside her chest.

“You are killing me,” she said brokenly, her voice catching on the edge of a sob she didn’t realize she’d been holding in. Her entire body tensed, charged with anticipation and aching need. “Are you doing this on purpose or…”

And then he kissed her.

His lips brushed against hers with a tenderness that felt like it shattered something inside her—a barrier she hadn’t even realized she'd built. The sensation of him overwhelmed her, not just the physical closeness but the emotional connection, the weight of something unspoken that had always existed between them.

It felt like the universe itself had quieted, just for this moment. Every sound wave aligned, every breath in perfect synchronicity. It was a harmony only their hearts could hear, and it sang of destiny, of belonging… ofhome.

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