Page 17 of Skating to Him

“Jesus, guys.” With a huff, Tyler shifted to the middle seat.

I forced a grin. Normally, I’d have a good laugh over comments like that. We were hockey players, for fuck’s sake. But now? Awkward. I sank into my seat and willed myself not to look over Tyler’s muscled body and the way it filled out his team sweats. Nope, I wasn’t going to?—

My traitorous gaze locked on his plump lips and his tongue, gliding over the lower one as he shifted in his seat, buckling himself in. My dick woke. Fucking hell. It was like my sexual attraction to him had been on hyperdrive since I’d watched the damn video. I adjusted myself and settled in, snatching my seatbelt and buckling it.

His gaze flicked to my hands, and he sucked in a quick breath. “So, you ever been to North Dakota?”

“Nope.” I stared straight ahead of me at the back of Ace’s dark head of messy hair. “I have yet to play a school in that state. They weren’t in our conference when I was back at Boston College.” I relaxed into my seat. “What’s it like?”

“Compared to Phoenix? Cold.” Tyler chuckled.

Myles leaned over Tyler. “But then, so is Chicago and Boston, eh?” A grin worked over his mouth.

“Yeah, true.” I reached up and twisted my vent, letting the cool air wash over me. It was hot on this damn plane. Or was it because I was sitting next to Tyler? In any case, I should nap and forget all this nonsense for now.

The engines roared to life and the plane backed out of the gate.

I settled in, tipped my head onto the seat’s headrest, and closed my eyes. This was better. Now, I couldn’t be distracted by Tyler.

“You taking a nap?” Tyler bumped his forearm against mine on the armrest.

“I am.” Maybe I wasn’t being very sociable, but we had plenty of time later for that shit.

After landing in Grand Forks,grabbing a charter bus to our hotel, and having a quick meal in the hotel’s restaurant, the road manager gave us our room keys. Sure enough, I was rooming with Tyler. No surprise there. I strolled next to him with my bag to the elevator. “What time is it?” I scanned the lobby, all in white and beige with dark woods and a crazy swirling carpet of oranges and browns. This place looked and smelled like it hadn’t been remodeled in twenty years.

Tyler slid his phone out of his pocket. “Three.” He glanced toward the spinning glass door at the entry. “We’ve got plenty of time to rest before the game.”

We stopped at the elevator, and I pressed the call button. “Yeah, it’s what, an hour difference? So it’s two back home.” The elevator doors swung open, and I stepped inside, leaving the majority of the team behind us. I needed to focus on anything but being alone in the room with Tyler.

Myles and Ace jumped onto the elevator with us. “Going up?” Myles ticked his brows at me.

“Yeah, what room are you two?” I clasped my hands over my junk. Was it a subconscious defensive move? Maybe.

“Three twelve.” Ace hit the button for the third floor. “You guys?”

“Three forty.” Tyler rubbed his lips. “I take it Coach has you two rooming together?”

“Yeah.” Ace chuckled. “Gotta keep the queer guys together.”

“Oh, come on, that’s not why.” Myles pushed at Ace’s shoulder. “It’s because he knows we get along and won’t start shit.”

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. “After you.” I held my hand out to Tyler, my pulse kicking up. Fuck, this was it.

I glanced at Ace and Myles, both giving me knowing looks. Did they know? I’d kept my shit locked up tight the last few days.

“Thanks.” Tyler stepped into the hallway with me following.

Our room was only a few doors down and as we stopped at it, we said our goodbyes to Ace and Myles.

Tyler pressed his keycard against the lock, and it clicked open. Taking a deep breath, his chest expanded as he opened the door. “I’d like to say the room is nice, but it’s about the same as the rest of the place.” He set his bag on the far bed in the room.

I perused the room, two beds with white sheets and comforters, a dark wooden desk against the wall, and a bureau with a television on top of it. “Yep.” I sniffed. “At least the room doesn’t smell like old cigarette smoke and mold like the lobby did.” Dropping my bag on the bed, I unzipped it.

“You noticed that too, huh?” He snickered. “I don’t think we’ve stayed in this place before. I wonder if they got a deal on it?”

“Yeah, maybe.” I fished through my bag for my folded suit. I should take it out and hang it up before it got too wrinkled. Then I should probably nap, but I’d slept so much on the plane that I wasn’t tired. Or maybe I wasn’t tired because my body was on high alert.

Tyler’s phone buzzed on his bed. “Shit, it’s my mom.” He answered the call and sat on the edge of his bed, his phone held to his ear.

---