Page 53 of Much Ado About Hockey

“Of course, I went to the smut shop; they don’t sell shirts with ‘Boobs’ or ‘Mine’ on the chesty part of your top at Bloomingdales, ya’ know? You just gotta ‘slum-it-up’ to get your point across sometimes.”

“Jett!” Karen screeched, locking up as he pushed her hands away once more, nearly spilling the tray holding the two cups of coffee in the bed – and had neatly dodged her attempts to look at his face again.

“What!” he popped back in the same tone – and then winked at her. “I’m fine.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“Did you miss me?” he said tenderly, giving her a slight smile. “I missed you this morning, so I thought to bring the coffee date home because I couldn’t wait – and I might have made a few pit stops along the way.”

“Yes, I missed you,” she said, melting at his words. “Are you really okay? What happened to your face? Did you really get mugged?”

“Hockey and friendship are rough sports sometimes,” he chuckled and winked at her. “Being in love isn’t, though – or at least it shouldn’t be,” he added, frowning. “You’re out of uniform.”

“Excuse me?” she replied, completely flabbergasted and struggling to keep up with his ping-pong personality that left her reeling sometimes.

“While the robe is hot, it’s not the correct thing. Go put on your shirt, Nutella. My coffee is cooling down,” he said in mock protest, but that smile was there, shining from his eyes as his lips twitched. “Vamoose!Andalé! Skedaddle! I wanna see that shirt on you. Coffee is supposed to be hot – unless it’s iced coffee, and I am lacking a few cubes to consider it anything remotely ‘icy’ by any standard in this universe…and I’m still waiting,”he drew out stubbornly, giving her a mocking frown.

Laughing, Karen grabbed a pair of pajama pants, a sports bra, and her T-shirt, retreating to the bathroom once again and looking at him.

“Go.”

“Are we not going to talk about…”

“Uniform?” he cut in, raising that infernal eyebrow at her – and she did the same, shutting the door and closing her off so she could change.

“Unnecessary roughness!” he called out playfully the moment the door latched. She was already dressing and enjoying this whole event so much… including the banter that seemed to be coming so easily between them now that they were finding their footing.

“You play hockey – not football.”

“True… ICING!”

“That’s better,” she chuckled, yanking the shirt over her head a moment later before opening the door… and seeing his expression as it melted.

“Perfection,” he whispered and then leaned forward to pat the bed where he wanted her to sit.

“Uniform, huh?”

“I do love you in pink, my sweet Nutella.”

“You’re crazy sometimes,” she chuckled, taking her seat and then leaning forward to kiss his cheek where it wasn’t marred. “But I like it.”

“I’m glad,” he replied tenderly, his eyes meeting hers as she backed away. “Do you like your ring? It dawned on me that we didn’t have one when we got married, and I wanted to surprise you.”

“Oh, I’m completely surprised,” she admitted as he picked up his coffee cup and did the same, looking over the edge. “It’s perfect, and I love it.”

“Good.”

Both of them took sips of their coffee, looking at each other over the rim of their mugs. She could see his affection for her, his playfulness, and her heart celebrated in the understanding that they had something special between them that would only grow and grow.

“Thisis what is perfect,” she admitted.

“Girl, I know you,” he bragged, scoffing with an arrogance that was almost unbelievable – but not to her.

“Best coffee date ever,” she murmured, taking another sip as he puffed up his chest slightly, looking pleased. “I guess I’ll hang onto you for a while longer.”

“Well, don’t put yourself out, ya’ know,” he retorted – met her gaze – and they both took another sip. “You’re okay for a wife, and maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe I will hang ontoyoufor a while longer.”

“You just have to have the last word, don’t you?”

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