Page 43 of The Love Penalty

We’re both breathing hard, chests heaving, standing there trying to recover. I can’t help but grin up at Robbie and the smile he gives me back is so adoring, it might make me melt. We stop gripping each other like it’s the end of the world, but we don’t let go. His movements are soft as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and gives me another kiss. This one is chaste and sweet, a lingering press of his swollen lips to mine.

“We really should have done this sooner. Now I don’t want to let you go,” he says as he gives me another hug.

“Two weeks is nothing,” I say meekly, not quite believing it myself. While we’ll both be busy the next two weeks, it won’t be nothing. I am going to miss him like crazy. And now that I know what his kisses feel like, I want more of them. I’m greedy.

“Call me when you land, okay?” he says with a peck to my head, reluctantly letting me go.

“I will. Give Caramel and Beans my love, okay?”

“They got plenty this week, I’ll keep it all to myself.” He winks and smiles and I can’t help but grin back at him.

“So selfish!” I shake my head but start walking away. The whole flight home I think about that kiss and how it’s changed so much between us. And yet, I still don’t know exactly where we stand.

SHARE THE CATS

Robbie

I miss you already.

Olivia

I miss you too. How are my favorite boys?

??

Beans and Caramel, obviously.

Of course, that’s all you care about. I’m starting to think the whole reason you became friends with me and spent the holiday here was to get closer to my cats.

Ah, yes. You’ve discovered my master plan. My goal is to get you to fall in love with me, ask me to move in, just so I can steal your cats.

Rude. You know I’m willing to just share the cats, no need to kick me to the curb.

Where’s the fun in that?

TWENTY-FIVE

Robbie

December

The past twoweeks have been torture. Olivia and I have texted and called every single day, but we haven’t talked about our feelings or what that kiss meant for the both of us. I’m taking Elias’ advice and laying it all on the line. If she wants to be in a relationship with me, I won’t let that affect her career.

I’ve given the situation a lot of thought. While there are no clear rules about fraternization between a player and an official, I can’t imagine the AHL would react positively if we disclosed our relationship. Out of the remaining 50 games in the regular season, Olivia is scheduled to officiate 20 of them that involve my team. That means there will be plenty of opportunities for us to see each other over the next four months.

We could keep it a secret and not let anyone know, which may not be the most ethical thing to do, but Olivia would not make calls in my favor during a game. I know this with certainty because she’s honest down to her core and she wouldn’t jeopardize her career over something like that.

We could disclose our relationship and hope for the best. While I have made my peace with retiring, I wouldn’t do that in the middle of the season and leave the team to scramble without a captain. I would have to see the season through, but there are ways for me to sit out a few games by getting a healthy scratch designation—which I’ve gotten a few of this season due to us having more than 20 people on the roster.

The issue would be if the AHL deemed it to remove Olivia from all the Manticore’s games and reassign her to others. Then she wouldn’t be in the same cities as me at the same time.

After two weeks of small talk and flirting over the phone, I am ready to see Olivia in person and have these lengthy conversations together. We are back in Vermont for a series of back to back games against the Vortices, our least favorite team to play. We played the first game last night, which of course got heated by the end. While Ash managed to stay out of fights against Mitchell, Jordan didn’t.

At some point during the third period,the game tied 2-2, Mitchell managed to check me hard into the boards. My back was turned to him as I had possession of the puck, and as soon as I passed it across to Jordan, Mitchell flattened me against the boards. The whistle went off and a penalty was called. While I was getting my bearings, Jordan decided to pick a fight against Mitchell for his hit. That got us a penalty as well and ultimately we lost the game when Mitchell came out of the box and scored a goal. We’re all dreading playing against them again tonight, but after a 3 game loss streak, we badly need a win.

Spirits were down at morning skate, but at least I have some time to myself before the game tonight, and Olivia just texted me to let me know she’s on the way to the hotel. While she couldn’t get an earlier flight, we still have a few hours to spend together before we have to show up at the arena. I also made plans tohang out together after the game and tomorrow before both of us need to leave.

I invited her back to Grand Marquee for Christmas and offered to help with her transportation, but she said she needs to spend it with Grams. She also has other games to officiate around that time, so she wouldn’t be available for as long as she was during Thanksgiving. So after tomorrow, the next time I get to see her is New Years when we are playing a home game. She extended that trip already to spend a couple of extra days with me.

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