Page 41 of Snow, Ice, and Spice
“Who would have thought that the two of us would be holding hands?” he asks, his tone teasing.
“Definitely not me.”
The corner of his mouth hooks up. “I would have thought it was more likely for you to slap me.”
My head falls back as I laugh. “Me too.” When I look at Theo, I make sure to hold his gaze for an extra second. “But look at us now.”
Heat flashes behind that soft blue gaze as he stares at me. He runs his tongue along his bottom lip, never breaking eye contact with me. “Look at you,” he rasps.
Despite the chill in the rink, I can feel the heat coursing between us. I wasn’t dreaming it…things between Theo and me are definitely shifting.
One of the kids screeches and we both turn around, but then we realize they’re laughing. We chuckle as we look at each other.
“False alarm,” Theo says. He blinks and his gaze on me turns focused. There’s a flash of intensity. A hard swallow moves along the length of his throat, which is covered in golden stubble.
“Maya, I—”
“Yo! Coach Theo!”
Theo and I twist our heads to look across the rink and see a dozen guys in hockey uniforms skate onto the ice.
Theo lets go of my hand and skates toward them, grinning. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We wanted to see you in action,” a tall guy with buzzed blond hair says.
“Daddy!” Sloane and Emerson break from the conga line and make a beeline for a huge dude with the same blue eyes as theirs. He crouches down and scoops them both in his arms.
“You girls were skating so well! Good job, my loves!”
I smile at the way Theo’s teammate fawns over his daughters. The three remaining kids skate up to their dads and hug them.
“Mind if we join hockey camp?” one of the players asks Theo.
He smiles at me. “Only if it’s okay with Coach Maya.”
I grin. “Of course it’s okay.”
Theo introduces me to everyone. The kids all start talking at once, asking their dads and the other players to teach them cool tricks and to skate fast.
“Dylan, will you teach me how to shove people into the boards?” Annabelle asks.
A dark-haired guy who I’m guessing is Dylan shakes his head at her. “No way. Your mom would kill me.”
The guys on the team chuckle. For the next hour, the kids have a blast playing with the team. I take photos and chat and play with the kids. Every once in a while Theo and I lock eyes and exchange knowing smiles. The whole time I can’t stop wondering what he was about to say to me before his teammates surprised us…
No more obsessing about that. I need to focus on the kids.
“Okay guys, snack break!” I holler.
I lead them over to one of the team boxes. They all sit down on the bench and wait as I hand out muffins and juice boxes.
“Did you bring any extra?” A deep voice says behind me. I spin around and see a ridiculously handsome guy with wavy chestnut hair. One of Theo’s teammates.
I shrug and smile. “Sorry. Only packed enough for the hockey camp kiddos.”
He makes a mock sad face that has me laughing. “Break my heart, why don’t you,” he says.
I roll my eyes good-naturedly before turning back to check on the kids.
