Page 48 of Icing the Play

“Do you think you’ll get signed right away?” He wrinkled his brows.

Shit, this might be hard for him to hear. “Uh, I think so.” The microwave dinged.

Myles winced and then forced a grin. “Of course, he’ll want to sign you right away. You’ll get a good draft spot.” He turned.

I grabbed his arm, spun him around and threw my arms around his neck, my heart hurting for him. Against his ear, I said, “You’ll get an agent, and you’ll get signed. I’m sure of it.” I hugged him tightly to my chest. Seeing him unhappy was the worst.

“Thanks.” Wrapping his arms around my waist, he kissed my cheek and pushed away. “I’ll be fine though, even if…”

“Myles.” As he left me, I snagged his wrist and stopped him. “We have a plan, remember?” If a superstition helped him, then I’d be sure to remind him of it. As his gaze wound to mine, I wagged my brows at him.

With a smirk, he pressed a soft kiss on my mouth. “Can’t wait to see how this works.”

I freed him. “Me neither. Friday and Saturday evenings will be fun.” I plated the potatoes and turned the steaks on the broiling pan. “Just a little more time and dinner will be ready.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

MYLES

After eating dinner and cleaning the kitchen, we settled on the couch for a movie. I tucked into a corner of the sectional and Cooper sat beside me. The next time he brought up his agent, I wouldn’t act like a baby. It wasn’t his fault I might not be good enough for the NHL. I needed to support him more.

“Before we figure out what movie to watch, I have something to talk to you about.” He hung his head, his hands wringing in his lap.

“Yeah? Okay.” He looked nervous. Was this bad? I shifted to an angle and watched him, my pulse picking up.

He sipped some Gatorade, set it on the coffee table, and faced me. “I want to come out to my family.” His throat dipped with a hard swallow.

“You what?” I dropped my jaw. Where the hell had that come from?

He released a ragged laugh. “I, uh, invited my parents here for Thanksgiving and I thought, well, I thought we should come out before they got here.” His smile faded. “Shit, that didn’t come out right.”

Gaping, my gaze searched his face. He was serious. Wait, he was serious aboutus. This wasn’t casual dating behavior. “O-kay…” My stomach fluttered with warmth. My brows twitched. Or would he have done it, anyway? “Tell me more. Like, how did the conversation go?”

“You mean start from the beginning?” His shoulders shook with a soft chuckle, and he rubbed his eyes. With his attention drawing to me, he said, “Like I said before dinner, I spoke to my dad on the phone today.” He breathed in, his eyes growing wider. “And he mentioned he wanted to be here for Thanksgiving and see my game.” He pursed his lips. “I-I told him we were living together?—”

“Living together?” Raising my brows, I touched my fingers to my lips. He didn’t mean it the way I’d taken it. “Oh, you mean like roommates.” I exhaled.

“Yeah, like roommates.” He smirked and then his face went slack. “I told him I was living with Ace, but I didn’t mention he was gay or had a boyfriend who lived with us.”

“Okay.” Nodding, I pursed my lips. “Were you thinking of coming out to them anyway, like before we’d gotten together?” Surely, he wasn’t doing this for me. I wasn’t even out to my family yet. There’d been no need.

“Uh, no.” He side eyed me. “I guess I thought that since we were starting something, I should tell them about us. And them coming for the holiday made sense.” With a grimace, he grabbed his Gatorade from the table and sipped it. “I need a beer.” Smacking the bottle down, he hopped from the couch and strode into the kitchen. “How about you?”

Neither of us had been drinking tonight in solidarity of his game tomorrow, but one or two wouldn’t hurt. “Yes, please.” I stared at the coffee table. I needed a response. Hewascoming out for me. He saw a real future with us. My pulse jack hammered in my chest. This was a lot.It’s what I wanted though, right?

He fell onto the couch beside me, holding an open beer can to me. “That’s okay, isn’t it?” He took a few gulps of beer and peeked at me.

I rocked once. “Yeah, yes. It’s great, eh.” We’d been sort of casual with things this week. Did it mean he wanted more? Could I ask?

“Myles, talk to me.” He placed his hand on my thigh. “There’s a lot going on in your head and I want to be a party to it.” He sipped more beer.

“You know I’m not out to my family.” I’d start there. Drinking some beer, I let the cool bubbles wash down my throat.

“I know. But they’re not visiting for the holidays, are they?” He sputtered a chuckle. “I’m not asking you to come out, if that’s what you're worried about.” His brows wrinkled. “But I want you to know I don’t see our relationship ending anytime soon.”

My gaze snapped to his, and emotion swelled inside me. It figured he’d put it like that. “S-so you want to tell your parents about us and invite them here for Thanksgiving dinner?” It sounded so unreal. But why? I deserved this. I deserved a boyfriend like him.

“Yes.” He nodded once. “But only if you’re cool with it.” He uncurled his arm behind my shoulders on the back of the couch, scooting in closer to me. “Myles, I really like you and I don’t, I mean, this sort of thing doesn’t happen to me.” He looked deeply into my eyes. “I want my parents to know about us. It was weird not being able to say anything about our situation.”

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