Page 12 of Skating to Him

Wednesday evening,I waited at the dinette with my book and laptop open, ready to teach Rowan all about geochemistry. Or what I knew of it anyway. It wasn’t like I was a tutor in this shit.

Myles rounded the corner of the hallway to our bedrooms and stopped. “Hey, he’s not here yet?” He sipped a protein drink.

“Nope.” I glanced at the clock on my screen. “He’s only five minutes late.”

The doorbell rang and my heart lurched. As Myles made toanswer the door, I jumped from my chair and hauled ass to the entryway. “I got it. You go back to whatever you were doing, and don’t think you’re going to sit here and play video games.” I squeezed the knob.

“I wasn’t going to play video games, eh? Damn, you want some alone time with your new boyfriend?” He gave me a wicked grin.

“Stop that, and don’t you dare say anything like that around him.” Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut and not told Myles. The teasing was endless now. I swung the door open.

Rowan stood on the stoop, backpack slung over his shoulder, his wild blond hair framing his gorgeous face and his team sweats showing off all his assets. “Hey.” He waved and stepped past me, looking around the room. “Nice place you got here.”

I threw a look at Myles, who smirked back at me, and shook my head. I didn’t need him making this awkward.

“Hi, Rowan. Nice to see you in our little home.” Myles followed him to the dinette. “You guys are going to study, eh?”

“Yeah.” Rowan slid his backpack off his arm and eyed the dinette. “Should we study here?”

“Sure.” I strode to the table and held my arm out to the chair next to mine. “Have a seat.” I snuck a peek at Myles, who had a grin about to erupt on his face. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Like in your room studying?”

“No. I’m done for the night.” Myles downed the rest of his protein drink and threw it in the garbage bin in the kitchen. “I think I’ll go see if Ace wants to play a video game in my room.” He hooked a brow and sauntered off down the hallway. “Hey, Ace,” he called out.

Fucker. With a chuckle, I dropped into my chair. At least he’d keep Ace busy, so I supposed he was doing me a favor.

“Both your roommates are home?” Rowan slipped into the chair beside mine and fished his laptop and book out of his bag.

“Yeah. Everyone usually studies in their rooms if they wantquiet.” I glanced at the chapter the current assignment was on. “Have you started this week’s assignment yet?”

“No.” He frowned and opened his book, leaning over it, his hair falling into his face. “I just don’t get this limestone oxidation shit and how you do the chemical equations for it.”

I shifted my chair closer to his and peered at the first equation. “Well, you have to balance them out.” I pointed at the equations and showed him how to balance them. The clean scent of his shampoo wafted through my nose, and I breathed it in. A shiver raced down my spine. Fuck, he smelled good. I wasn’t used to being this close to him outside of the rink.

As he lifted his head from his book, his gaze met mine and stopped, his tongue darting across his lower lip. “You have, um, you have like little bits of gold in your eyes.”

My pulse quickened and I lifted the edge of my lips. “Yeah? Okay.” What was I supposed to say to that? My gaze fell to his thick lips. Holy fuck, I could kiss him right now. What would he do? Freak out?

“Yeah, well, sorry.” Huffing an exhale, he leaned back in his chair and combed his fingers through his bangs. “That probably sounded weird, huh?” He hung his head and scrubbed his face. “I haven’t been myself lately. I think I’m going through a phase. I don’t know.”

“Yeah? Like what sort of phase?” Was Myles right? But fucking hell, I wasn’t going to be an experiment for another curious straight guy. I pursed my lips. “Talk to me, Rowan. We need to be open with each other if we’re going to sync on the ice.” My heart pounded in my throat. Why was I pushing this?

Tipping his head back, he glanced at the ceiling. “Maybe I just need to get laid. Like what you said the other night.” He chuckled. “Nothing a little pussy won’t solve.” He fished his phone out of his pocket. “Wonder if that girl from Saturday is free this week?”

Wrinkling my nose, I pushed his phone down. “What are you doing? Texting a girl for a hookup when we’re supposed to bestudying?” And quite frankly, I didn’t want to know about it if he was.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll text her later.” He set his phone next to his laptop and inhaled deeply. “You know you’re one of the reasons I wanted to play at ASU, right?” His gaze crept to mine and he wrinkled his brows. “You’re probably the best D-man in college hockey right now.”

I blinked. Where had that come from? And really? “You think so?” The corner of my lip quirked as my chest expanded. “I’m flattered you think that.”

He looked me over. “Yeah, you’ve got it all, Hodge.” With a chuckle, he said, “The perfect flow, the perfect body, and moves on the ice nobody can match.” He shook his head. “It’s an honor to be your partner. It really is.” He nodded.

Could I hug him, or would it be weird? Weird. “Uh, thanks.” My gaze roamed over his face and the sprinkling of freckles on the bridge of his nose. My heart pattered. “I like your freckles.” Heat rushed my cheeks. Oh my God, why did I say that?

“You do?” Scrunching his face, he rubbed his fingertips over his nose. “I hate them. I think they make me look like a kid.” He dropped his forearm across the table.

Running my gaze over his body, I said, “You definitely do not look like a kid.” No, he very much looked like the sort of delicious man I’d like to lick all over. And more.

With a sharp laugh, he said, “Thanks, man. I appreciate it coming from you.” He fingered the edge of his book. “Now we’ve got the bromance out of the way, I guess we should study?”

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