Page 36 of Ice Contact

“You’re leaving me a key?” she says looking up at me with her eyes almost as wide as the lake outside. “You trust me to just stay here without you?”

“Were you planning to rob me?”

“I mean, you do have some nice stuff,” she says, making a show of glancing over my shoulder, “But I was a little busy last night, so I haven’t had time to fully case the joint.”

Why does this woman make me laugh more than anything else?

“I trust you, Olivia. Plus, you know what will happen if you misbehave.”

A blush spreads across her grinning face. “That’s not really an incentive to behave, Hayes.”

I drag my hand down my face, thinking of missed goals and extra killers across the rink. “Don’t get me all worked up in these unforgiving pants,” I grumble as I give her yet another quick kiss on the lips.

“Why? Do you have a Zamboner?” she teases as we both laugh again. I disrupt her laugh by pressing my lips to hers, my heart beating faster than it does on a breakaway on open ice. Our tongues collide as we collapse in bed and her arms wrap around me tightly, making it more difficult to leave.The team won’t miss me, will they? I’m sure Coach will understand.Her hands trail down my chest, and I gently grab her wrist, finally pulling back and giving her one last kiss.

“See you later, siren. I’ll text you when we get to Dallas.”

“Bye Hayes. I lo-” she stops herself. “I …loved the time we got to spend together yesterday.”

I fight back a smile, tightening my jaw to keep it in check. Her brows narrow as she bites her lip, glancing away.Did she almost say the words I’ve been wanting to say to her?It hasn’t been long since that night at Walt’s, but damn it feels like a lifetime.Is she feeling the same thing I am?I’ve always been told it’s going to feel wrong until it feels right, and in every relationship I’ve ever had, there’s always been something nagging at me. Even in the early ‘honeymoon’ phase, something has felt…off. But this? Somehow this just feels right. More than right, this feels perfect. This feels like home.

28

olivia

“Okay, girl. Spill it,” Maggie says as she pours the first of our brunch bottomless mimosas. “I need to hear all the details because I know something happened. You areglow-ingLiv.”

She’s not wrong. I feel like I am glowing, flying, or dreaming. Maybe all three.

“Maggie…it was the best day of my life. I don’t know what’s happening to me.” A smile so big my cheeks hurt stretches across my face. “I took him to lunch, we went to an arcade bar, then Grant Park Beach, and, somehow, I ended up in his bed this morning with a spare key to his apartment.”

Maggie stops mid-sip, the glass still at her mouth, staring at me with her eyes almost bulging out of her head. She chugs her entire drink in one swallow and pours another, downing that one too.

“Ummm…what?! I’m sorry; who are you, and what have you done with my dear, sweet, innocent best friend Olivia?” she screeches. “I’m going to need you to fill in some of the details between the start and the end of this literal day date. I assume we can call it a date now?”

“Well, since he said, ‘you’re mine’ to me last night in a sultry voice after he got me off, I guess we can call it a date,” I say with a smirk as I hide my face behind my own glass.

“OLIVIA! WHAT?” Her mouth opens and closes without any words coming out, and I’m a little concerned her eyes may never close again. “Oh my God! This is better than any of my romance novels. He actually said, ‘you’re mine’? Holy. Shit. Does he have any friends?”

“I mean, he has a whole team of hockey players, but I think most of them are married. Who knows, maybe he has a brother, a cousin, or a neighbor. We didn’t get too into family details last night.”

“Well, of course not; he was too busy getting all up in your business. I have never been more jealous in my entire life. Wait a minute. Did you say he got you off? As in,hegot youoffoff. You didn’t have to act your way out?”

“Yes, he did, and no, I didn’t,” I say very seriously as I tip my glass toward her.

“Oh my God. Wow.” Maggie leans in closer, glancing around before eyeing me with a salacious smirk. “Tell me about Hayes Jr. What’s it like?”

“Maggie!” I gasp, heat flaring in my cheeks, doing a quick check of the brunch crowd around us, thankful no one is looking our way. “No.I am not going into detail about the monster residing between his legs.”

“I knew it! Your smile is too big for him to have had a teeny weenie,” she says, leaning back as we both cackle as the mimosas hit our empty stomachs.

“We just had a great time. The conversation flowed so easily. It’s like he gave me this gift of not having to be anything but myself around him. He’s nothing like Cayden. I had to work so hard to feel like I was living up to his standards and not upsetting him. But with Hayes? He keeps telling me to be myself.To be confident. To be proud of my voice and my songs. He even laughs at my jokes.” I swirl my glass, watching the bubbles dance. “I bet he would let me do the dance to the power play song at the games.”

“Liv, I am so glad Cayden is out of your life. Have you heard from him at all?” she asks, sounding concerned.

“No, I haven’t heard from him. Honestly, I’m…relieved. I thought I would be more upset about it, but I felt like something was up with him too. Cayden was a different person near the end, and now Hayes has come along and literally swept me off my feet, and I’m like…teenie weenie who?” I say, and we both cackle again, both of us shaking and holding our sides as we gasp for air between fits of laughter.

“I’m so happy for you, Liv.” She finishes her drink, glancing at me through her lashes. “No offense, but Cayden was a Grade A prick. I never liked the way he treated you,” she says with a regretful look on her face. “I should have spoken up before now, but I wanted to support you as your friend, and I didn’t know how.”

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