Page 109 of Hockey Halloween
Teddy turned her head to one side, cheek to her shoulder, eyes closed in a teasing, shy, “aww shucks” gesture.
Archer leaned closer to his phone and squinted. “Did you…have a Smurf for dinner?”
Her eyes flew open, and she felt around her mouth, brushing off something blue, but the rest of her turned red. She groaned and covered the rest of her face with that hand. “I didn’t think I’d be seeing anyone, so I had a mud mask on. You’re not supposed to witness this.”
He grinned. “Likeyoucould ever be anything but breathtakingly beautiful.”Shit. He really just said that. Thinking was one thing. He’d been thinking it since she rescued him on the Vegas Strip. He froze. “I mean…”
As she lowered her hand, her eyes widened, and then her features softened before the edge of her mouth curved up in a small smile. “Archer.”
He swallowed. “Yeah?”
“Thank you.” She said it with a sincerity that hinted she could tell how much he meant it.
Feeling exposed and a little terrified but oddly okay with it because of how she was looking at him, he nodded. He didn’t want to hang up, but itwasgetting late, and he needed to be rested for one more chance to prove himself before they got back to Vegas. “I should go. I just…wanted to check in with you.” Wanted to see her, hear her voice. In a short time, she was starting to mean alot.Only she didn’t know how real it was for him.
She studied him quietly, her gaze gentle and searching. Then she nodded and smiled. “Get some sleep, Reid.”
“See you when I get back?” He would, undoubtedly, but couldn’t resist making sure.
“Oh, I guess, but now you’ve seen behind my curtain of mystery, and there’s no magic anymore,” She teased, waving a hand up and down herself from bare face to faded sweatshirt that hung off her shoulder. If only she knew how sexy that was.
“Sure there is.” Where was his filter tonight? Definitely not between his brain and his mouth.
She paused like he’d caught her off-guard then smiled and shook her head. “All right, off with you before my ego outgrows my apartment.”
He chuckled. “Goodnight, Teddy.”
“Goodnight, Archer.”
He pressed the end call button then fell back against the mattress and sighed, sliding a hand over his face. Good thing he had gameonthe ice, because off? Zero. Something else he’d have to work on.
Teddy
Sunday, November 2
After the away games and the massive success of the team’s “Thriller” video, Archer had actually convinced a few of the guys to start their own personal TikTok accounts and bit the bullet himself. Forher. His fledgling video was a shy, adorably awkward account of what he ate for breakfast before a game that quickly got him a thousand followers and counting. That was what made it impossible to say no when he invited her to a team outing to the Museum of Illusions for players and their significant others. It was part of their deal, the one she’d instigated. And it was a good opportunity to get behind-the-scenes team content. But the more she talked to him, the more time they spent together, the less fake their “relationship” felt. And that could jeopardize them both.
And yet, it was hard to care about that as she wandered room to room of the museum, her hand tucked in Archer’s, fingers laced, watching his face light up at each illusion. As a Vegas girl, she’d been here before, but watching him see it for the first time made it new. Most displays were playful. Some were mind-bending and dizzying. In fact, after the purple striped symmetry room with a mirror bisecting it, Archer was starting to look a little green. Shesqueezed his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder, murmuring by his ear, “Slow breaths.” He’d been hoping to earn a nickname from the guys, and if he lost his dinner all over the museum, he’d get one, but it wouldnotbe one he wanted.
“Look at Knighter hanging from the ledge! Better go help him, Benny. I think Violet might drop him.” Shane Reese, Sinners goalie, gave Sawyer Bennett a little shove into the room where the illusion was a ledge you could dangle from. Knight’s girlfriend, Lady Sinner Violet Lockhart, was pretending to hold him from the edge of the ledge as he “dangled” below. Sawyer walked over, laid down, and pretended to squat, holding his arms out to catch his teammate. Teddy bit her lip and smiled, taking a quick picture through the mirror on the ceiling for the team’s Instagram and posted it with the caption:It’s raining Sinners #teambonding.
Meanwhile, Archer wasn’t looking any better. He was barely holding it together. She squeezed his hand and pulled him along then backed him up against a wall in a shadowed corner away from the attractions. “Close your eyes.” He listened, and she cupped his face in her hands, something that surprised him enough to ground him in the moment and clear his head of the optical illusions. If he had any thought of protesting, it must have been overruled by his need not to vomit in front of his team. “Keep ‘em closed. Okay, now breathe slowly in through your nose and out through your mouth.” Again, he followed her directions. They’d come so far from the wariness he’d worn like a shield when they met the week before.
His brow furrowed, his full lips pulling down in a frown. “I don’t know if this is working?—”
She rocked up and kissed him, cutting him off and effectively short-circuiting his brain. Her own kind of magic trick. But the real magic was how good it felt. Too good. She was about to pull back, but he deepened it, pulling her against him while his large hands roamed her back. And that was it. Her last bit of restraint. Her fingers threaded through his silky hair, and she arced into him, opening her mouth and welcoming him in. Everything faded away. The museum, the rest of the team, the crowd. This wasn’t for show. It was just for them.
When he broke the kiss to breathe, he leaned his forehead into hers, meeting her gaze, his heavy-lidded in a way that liquified her from the inside. “Teddy. Are you still pretending?”
She shook her head, heart beating out of her chest.
“Good. Me either.” He pulled her in again. This kiss was incendiary, full of everything they’d been holding back, and it felt so good to finally give in with full honesty. Her hands fisted in the front of his jersey. Knowing him better now, that getting close to people didn’t come easy for him, how cautious and private he was, to feel him let go like this nearly took out her knees. He must have sensed it because he tightened his grip around her waist, lifted her off the ground. He was so much taller that she curled her legs around him for support reflexively, and he turned, pressing her back to the wall. Stars burst behind her eyes as he leaned into her and she gasped against his lips, “Archer.”
He hummed in question, already kissing her again.
She let her legs slide down, and he seemed to come back to himself, easing her down the wall and taking the smallest step back, though his hands stayed on her waist. His eyes opened fully, locked on hers. “Oh.” His eyes widened further as he glanced around. The team had moved on to other exhibits, but a few random passersby quickly walked away as if they’d been watching the show and got caught. His face turned three shades of red, including his ears, and it was so damn endearing she almost forgot they’d nearly given the museum an R rating. His lips parted, and she held a finger up to them.
“If you’re about to apologize, don’t you dare. That was the best kiss of my life.”
