Page 68 of Skating to Him

“Don’t you dare spill any of that.” I jogged into the kitchen and snatched two short glasses out of an upper cabinet. I’d throw these glasses under it if it spilled over. As I stepped to his side, I said, “Okay, now do it.”

“You act like I’ve never done this before.” He smirked at me.

“Just open it.” I tsked. Now he was getting cocky.

“Okay, watch out.” With a grimace, he pushed on the edge of the cork again, and it popped off, hitting the ceiling and bouncing onto the couch. Only vapor smoked out of the neck.

“Well done.” With a chuckle, I set the glasses on the counter and watched him pour as he said, “The only thing I wish we had was a fireplace.”

I thought a moment. “I can put one on the television.” I sipped my Prosecco, the cold bubbles on the sweet side. “Damn, this is good.”

“YouTube’s great for that. You ever put on those cozy videos of mountain chalets with snow falling and a crackling fire?” He tried his drink. “I’ve been doing that lately while I study. Reminds me of home.”

Tilting my head, I peered at him. Was he missing home? He hadn’t said anything about it yet. “I do miss the snowy nights in Chicago, but I’ve grown to love the winter here.” But I’d be going back to the cold Chicago winters if I got signed with the Blackhawks…

“Yeah, guess I’m a Bostonian after all.” He chuckled. “Anyway, let’s go sit on the couch and put one of those videos on until our food gets here.”

“Sure.” I followed him to the sofa, watching the sway of his fine ass as it filled out his sweats. God, I loved me a jock butt.

He dropped into the corner of our sectional and laid his arm across the back cushions. “Come in here close to me.”

I turned on the television to the firstYouTubevideo I saw of a mountain cabin with a raging fire and soft snowfall outside the windows and then sat next to him. As I leaned into his chest, I said, “You brought your big duffel. Is your gear in there, or did you bring enough stuff to stay over for the whole holiday?” I arched my brow at him while sipping my drink.

“I was hoping it would be okay to stay until Sunday.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, nuzzled into my hair, and breathed me in. “God, you smell good.” He kissed my head. “You feel so good in my arms…”

Was he going to say it? My heart pattered into my throat. He was killing me here. “Yeah? What else?”

A slow smile played over his lips. “I don’t know, I just…I never knew I could feel like this about a guy. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this way before about anyone.”

“Yeah?” My chest warmed as if the fire in the video was inside me. He was sparking so many feelings. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way before either. You’re so easy to have feelings for.” Okay, now we were both skating around it.

“Tyler.” He lifted his head. “Look at me.”

I faced him, my gaze darting between his eyes. “Yeah?”

His grin waned. “I?—”

The doorbell rang.

We both jumped, and I said, “Fucking hell.” I stared at him for a beat. He had been about to say it. I knew he had.

“Must be the food.” He set his glass on the coffee table, stood, and smoothed his sweatshirt over his chest. “I’ll, uh, I’ll get it.” He opened the door and picked up a bag of food. “Where do you want to eat?”

As I strolled into the kitchen, I said, “We can eat on the couch if you’re okay with that.” Shit, the moment was gone. I grabbed some silverware from a drawer and some plates from a cupboard and then brought them out to the coffee table.

He unpacked the containers onto the coffee table. “I’m glad you guys don’t have some weird rule about eating at the table. I dated a girl once who was like that.” He opened my container of noodles.

“You did?” I spooned noodles onto my plate. He hadn’t spoken much about his past relationships.

“Yeah. She was very picky about her apartment too. Not a thing was out of place.” He scooped rice and yellow chicken curry onto his plate and then added some of my noodles. “How long is Myles going to be out, do you think?”

“I have a feeling he’ll be out most of the night.” I sipped my champagne and twirled my fork in my meal, then ate it, ginger and garlic flavors with a hint of spice exploding in my mouth. “So good.” I tapped my food with my fork.

“You didn’t take any of the curry.” He stuffed rice and curry into his mouth. “Don’t you like it?”

“No, I do.” I let a smirk crawl over my lips. “I’m a one thing at a time guy. Let me eat this, and then I’ll eat the curry.” Funny with how well we knew each other, there were still so many things to find out.

He scratched his head, looking me over. “With the way I’ve seen you eat at team dinners, I hadn’t pegged you as one of those.”

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