Page 179 of The Fake Date Agreement

He nods once, a jerky motion.

“I had fun with you at the park with the kids,” I remind him.

He shrugs, eyes drifting from mine. “Maybe eventually, but you would have preferred to do something other than street hockey. I didn’t realize till after. Then it was too late to do something about it.”

On the ice, he’s a god. Untouchable. Confident. Assured.

But on dry land, he’s human.

Unsure.

Flawed.

Human.

“You’re going to give me a complex, smiling at me like that.”

I stop smiling. “Sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you. Just… it’s sweet.”

His eyebrow rises. “I punch your ex in the face, and you call it sweet. I steal your book from your room, and you say the same thing.”

“It’s the reason behind those things that I find sweet. Kinda surprising when I remember you getting ready to crack my head open with a hockey stick.”

That feels like it was a million years ago.

He winces and runs a hand through his hair. “Uh, yeah.”

My smile returns.

“What?” he asks.

“You’re soft and squishy inside.”

He dips his head, though not before I spot the red on his cheekbones. “No, I’m not,” he says gruffly.

“You are. You would not have taken this for the reason you did if you weren’t.” I glance at my book. “What did you think?”

“I have more to learn about what women want than I ever knew.”

I struggle to look him in the eye. “You, uh, you know plenty.”

A smile curls his lips. “Come on, Myers. Let’s get out of here.”

“So I can pass you pucks, and you can practice the shot you missed.”

He draws me into a kiss. “So I can get you to your room and show you I was paying attention to those pink tabs.”

“Which particular tab?”

“Page 179,” he says promptly.

I stand up. “I’m ready.”

He laughs. Then he hands me my panties I was about to leave in the middle of the locker room floor because I was not even close to being ready.

Chapter 42

Tobie

---