Page 46 of Hot Ice, Tennessee

“Bedtime?”

“Oh, shit, the horses,” I said. “I wanted to go out and check on them one last time.”

“I can go out and do a quick check before I leave,” Jesse offered. “It’s really no problem.”

“They did seem comfortable around you,” I said.

He nodded. “I’ll take care of it. You can sleep. Promise the world won’t crash down around you if you get a good night’s sleep.”

I hummed. “Finn always says I need better sleep.”

“Well, he sounds like a good friend. He’s right.”

I was lost in the green of his eyes. His lashes were longer than they had any right to be.

I hung in that moment, watching him like he was some impossible thing I’d dreamed up. He was so close to me on the couch, and I focused on his pretty freckles, just below his eyes.

“Oh, God,” I murmured in a low voice. “I really like you.”

He smiled and it only made me melt even more inside. When one of his dimples showed up, I was pretty sure I might actually pass out.

“I’ll help you to bed.”

He took my arm and I stood up. I had no problem walking even though I was tired, but I wasn’t going to refuse Jesse’s arm if he was offering it.

We got up the stairs and at the end of the hall, my bedroom doors were open. He walked over with me and I sank down on the mattress, which felt like another marshmallow.

“Thank you for coming over. And—I’m sorry I didn’t want to talk about the article, Jesse,” I said. “I just don’t like thinking about shitty things, okay? I’m not… I’m not being fake. I never will be.”

“It’s okay to be sad sometimes, you know?” he said. “It’s a part of life. You can be yourself, even if that’s sad, at some moments.”

“I’m not sad around you. You smell good. Fuck, do you know how good you smell?”

I was saying nonsense and my eyes were already heavy with sleep again, blinking shut. I vaguely registered the sound of him walking back off toward my door, and I was aware that he was leaving.

“You smell good too, Mason.”

I slept like a rock, better than I had in a long while.

I woke in the morning light and padded down the stairs to find my kitchen immaculately clean.

Jesse had done the dishes. He’d cleaned up, tidied the counter, and even put back the pillows and blankets I’d messedup on the couch. When I went out to see the horses they were happy as clams, well taken care of and water buckets full.

When I went back in the kitchen I noticed a note he’d left on the little magnet whiteboard I kept on the fridge.

It was the name of an indoor ice rink, and then a note scrawled at the bottom:

If you really want to see how I play.

8

JESSE

“Puck’s mine. Back off.”

“Keep dreaming, Daniels,” I growled, cutting over and protecting it, keeping possession just by a centimeter.

I got out away from him, beelining for Robbie as I eyed the potential pass.

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