Page 54 of Hand Picked
But I couldn’t do that. Iwouldn’t.
Not when it would start a whole fresh crop of rumors and news segments.
Not when I had nothing to offer Luke but a bonfire of lust, a bunch of half-baked fantasies, and a severe allergy to relationships.
So, why the fuck had I insisted Luke come along today? I didn’t have a damn clue.
And why had I texted him a dozen times a day, every day, all week long, when I hardly ever textedanyone? Also a good question.
And why had I practically elbowed Mark Burns, the second Nature Scout Herd Leader, out of the way when he’d offered to teach Luke how to skate? Once again, I—
Okay, no, actually, I knew the answer to that one. Mark was annoying as hell, and he’d practically talked Luke’s ear off the whole time I’d been explaining the maple sugaring process that morning, even though I’d seen Luke gently shushing him more than once, which was fucking rude. And, frankly, I didn’t like the look in his eye when he smiled at Luke, all overly friendly and eager tohelp.
The man was married, for fuck’s sake, and Luke was my betrothed—I mean, myfake-betrothed, obviously, but Mark didn’t know that—and yet Mark had still been trying to get hishelpfulfingers all over Luke. Luke didn’t need a person like that in his life, so I was teaching him to skate myself.
“Son of a goose,” Luke said as he lost his footing. “Sorry.”
I grabbed both his hands in mine and forced him to look at me. “Don’t be sorry. You reallyaredoing great.”
Luke looked over his shoulder at all the little kids skating circles around us. “Pretty sure this is Georgia’s first time, too, and she seems to be skating on her own already.”
“She’s a kid,” I said patiently. “It’s not as easy picking up something new when you’re older. You start to focus too much on how much you don’t know and get embarrassed. But when you get distracted and let yourself have fun, you do way better. Have you noticed that?”
“I hadn’t.” Luke smiled up at me. “Wow. That’s really profound, Webb.”
My breath caught in my chest at the sight of that smile, and just like that I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know exactly why I’d invited Luke today. Because I wanted any excuse to stand next to him, just for a little while.
“Yeah, that’s me. Profound.” I moved around to the other side and held on to Luke’s jacket so he could get used to using his arms. “There you go. Awesome. You’ll be playing hockey for the Habs in no time.”
“Yeah, right. I’ll settle for just staying upright.”
“If you manage that, you’ll be doing better than a couple of their wingmen.”
“Shush.” Luke smacked me lightly in the stomach and nearly lost his footing again in the process. “They’re my team now, okay? Stop hating on my dudes.”
“Your dudes? You didn’t even know them until that night at the Bugle, and they’re only your team because Alan Laroche misunderstood—”
“Doesn’t matter,” he insisted stubbornly. “They’re mine now.”
I laughed. “And you don’t know the rules of the game and you don’t know the players—”
“Yet. But you’re teaching me. Besides, I like their jersey colors, and I like backing an underdog—”
I stared at him in horror. “The Canadiens arenotan under—”
“And Alan Laroche taught me their cheer, and it’s quite catchy.” He lifted his chin. “So in my heart, they’re mine. You can mock me all you like, but I figure people have made more important decisions based on worse things.”
Good God, he was adorable.
“I’m afraid we can’t be friends anymore, then,” I sighed sadly. “I’m a Bruins fan.”
“And you’ll be sad to see your team lose, and the sight of me will just make it worse? Aww.”
“Those,” I told him, “are fighting words. I’m gonna go skate with Aiden.”
He grabbed at my hand. “You can’t, or I’ll fall.”
“Nope. I haven’t been holding you for the last two minutes,” I said smugly. “Ever since you got fired up about your dudes.”
