Page 22 of Skating to Him

“Thanks.” I snatched them from him and made my way into the bathroom to undress. It felt weird to undress in front of him in the hotel room. Would he notice? After sliding on my sweatpants and folding my clothing, I strolled into the room.

He sat on the edge of his bed, his elbows on his thighs and his hands clasped. “Feel better now?”

“I do.” I hung my clothes over the chair. Didn’t need to show up to the game all rumpled. “What’ve you been doing?” It was a little weird having so much time in another town before our game, but that’s what our schedule had called for this week.

“I watched some game footage and got some studying done.” He ran his tongue along his lower lip. “You’re under a wicked amount of pressure tonight, huh.”

Halting at the chair, my gaze swept to his. “I am.” I rubbed the heel of my hand across the tightness in my chest. Had he saidanything to Ace and Myles yet? “Hey, I haven’t told Ace or Myles about my mom yet. Have you?—”

“No, of course not. It’s not my story to tell.” With his brows furrowing, he leaned back on straight arms. “You don’t think it will help to talk to your best friends about what’s going on?”

I fell onto my bed, mirroring him. “Not right now. I don’t want them worrying about me because of what’s happening and playing differently.” With a ragged huff, I pointed at him and said, “Don’t you dare play any differently.”

“Like how?” A smirk played over his lips. “I’m still going to let you do you. I’m not going to bogart the puck at the net.”

With a nod, I stared at my bare feet. “Okay.” How had I thought he’d react?

“It’s just another game, Hodge. Put that in your head, and you’ll do fine.” He stood and dropped next to me. “You’re so wound up. Fuckin’ A, man.” Climbing up behind me, he straddled my hips and massaged the tense muscles at the base of my neck.

Shivers rolled over my back and my shoulders relaxed. “Oh fuck, that feels good.” I dipped my head forward. Goddamn, he had some good hands.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have your back out there.” He kneaded a knot between my shoulder blades and his lips brushed the shell of my ear. “Get yourself focused and forget all the bullshit. It’s just another game.”

Goosebumps broke out on my neck and spine and my cock took notice. How the hell were we on a bed together again? “Thank you, Rowan.” I dragged myself away from him, rose, and faced him. “Now, get off my bed. You’ve got your own.” Giving him a playful smile, my gaze fell to his groin and my eyes popped open. A clear bulge stretched to his waistband. Holy hell, did he have a boner?

“Yes, sir.” Covering his groin with one hand, he saluted me with the other and moved to his own bed. “Hanging out before agame are the best, aren’t they?” He lay down on his side with his back to me.

Had I seen that right? Maybe his dick was just in a weird position.Pointing straight up to his hip bone?I crept onto my bed and lay down as my cock swelled. If it was that big flaccid, how big would it be—Ty, he had a fucking boner.I rested on my side with my back to him, tucking a hand under my pillow and the other between my thighs. Jesus Christ, I had a lot of distractions for the game.

CHAPTER SIX

ROWAN

Ididn’t know what I was doing. On the ice, yes, but with Hodge in the hotel room? Hell no. I’d turned into Handy McHands. Sitting on the bench, I looked up at the clock. We had ten minutes left in the third period and were up three to two. It was anybody’s game. I threw a peek at Hodge, sitting a few guys down. He’d been on fire tonight. Somehow, he’d managed to pull off two assists already. He clearly hadn’t needed a pep talk from me.

The second-string D-line skated toward us, and I hopped over the board with Hodge and hit the ice, skating toward the net. The Hawk winger had the puck and was making a beeline toward Ace.

“Come on, you hoser. Just try it.” Ace tapped his stick on the ice and spread his skates.

“I got this.” I swiveled and hightailed it to the winger, checking him and snatching the puck. As I looked up, Hodge was right there.

He up-nodded me while skating up the side.

Pulling my stick back, I shot the puck at him.

“Not this time, hoser.” Their center clobbered Hodge,throwing him to his ass and his back. Hodge rolled around and got up on his knees.

“Son of a bitch.” Ace scowled. “Get ’em, Mackenzie.”

The center brought the puck toward the net and the winger came up on his left.

“Oh, hell yeah.” It was a straight shot through both of them. I hauled ass, my stick flinging in front of me, and I nailed one with my shoulder, then the next with a hip. We all went down, helmets and gloves flying. I was going to get a penalty for this but fuck it.

The ref blew a whistle.

“Jesus, Mackenzie.” Hodge skated to me and held out his gloved hand. “Are you okay?”

Grabbing his hand, I hopped onto my skates. “I’m awesome. How about you?” Adrenaline coursed through my veins and had my nerves firing on all cylinders. Throwing my arms around him, I gave him a bear hug. I loved this sport, and playing with him was just so…fantastic.

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