Page 43 of Make Me Yours
The air between them turns sharp and electric.
Hugh doesn’t miss a beat.
“Would you mind if I joined you?” he asks, his gaze skating over her in a way that borders on intimate.
Evelyn’s smile is razor-sharp as she flicks a glance toward Rina and me. “We were just discussing some rather private matters,” she says lightly, but the dismissal is unmistakable. “Perhaps another time.”
Beside me, Rina leans in, whispering behind the rim of her glass, “Five bucks says she throws that wine in his face.”
I raise an eyebrow. “That, or they make out right here. Equal odds.”
If Hugh hears us, he pretends not to.
Instead, he gestures toward the ice. “Steele’s having a hell of a game tonight.”
“Of course he is,” Evelyn says smoothly, not missing a beat. “He knows exactly what he’s playing for.”
Something flickers across Hugh’s face.
It’s not amusement.
Or anger.
It’s something heavier.
Something brittle and raw that cracks through the air between them like a thunderclap.
He straightens his cuffs with a flick of his fingers. “I’ll let you get back to it, then,” he says, tone clipped. “See you tomorrow morning at the meeting.”
“Unfortunately,” Evelyn mutters into her glass.
For the briefest moment, something that almost looks likesorrow flashes in Hugh’s eyes. But then he’s gone, the door swinging shut behind him with a muted click that somehow echoes.
Silence hangs heavy in the air for a beat before Rina releases a low whistle. “Okay,” she says, setting her glass down. “Does anyone else feel like we just witnessed the world’s frostiest form of foreplay?”
Evelyn’s cheeks pinken despite the huff of irritation she lets out. “Don’t be absurd.”
“Absurd?” Rina grins. “Maybe. But wrong? Not even a little.”
I hide my smile behind my wineglass as I glance back toward the ice.
Steele’s in the thick of it, locked in a battle along the boards. His body collides with another player, hard, but he stays on his skates, muscling through the hit and keeping the puck alive.
“The man is certainly a force to be reckoned with out there,” Rina says.
And he is.
Tonight, he’s sharper. Harder. Skating faster, hitting heavier, commanding every inch of the rink like it’s personal. Like every shift on the ice means more than just a game.
He’s always been good.
Great, even.
But tonight?
Tonight, he’s something more.
It’s like he’s on a personal mission.
