Page 286 of Playing the Pucking Game
Reaching out, Linc entwines our fingers together and tugs me into his side.
I go easily despite Rett’s hard glare.
His brow is furrowed like he’s trying to solve a math problem that doesn’t make sense.
“And everything you said last night about her just staying here until she gets herself her own place?”
Linc shrugs his other shoulder. “It was true when she first moved in. Before we?—”
“Started fucking.”
“We haven’t fucked,” I blurt like an idiot.
Now Rett looks equally confused as he does disgusted.
“Don’t lie to me, Parker. I know what I just saw. What I heard.”
I stand a little taller. “I’m not denying that we were doing something. But we haven’t fucked. Not yet.”
“Why?” he asks before he realizes what he’s asking and quickly backpedals. “Wait, no. Do not answer that.”
“We’re taking it slow,” Linc explains, making Rett’s brow shoot up as he glances at the bed beside us. “This isn’t some hookup that we’re going to walk away from and never think of again. It’s…real. Serious.”
“Fuck off. You want a serious relationship about as much as I do.”
“With anyone else, yeah. But with Parker…I want everything with her. I always have.”
“Why?”
“Because…because I’m in love with her.”
71
PARKER
Silence fills the bedroom as Linc’s words echo in my ears.
Did he…did he really just say?—
“You’re in love with her?” Rett asks, his voice softer, calmer all of a sudden.
“Yeah,” Linc agrees as easily as he would if Rett were asking if he wanted another beer.
“In love with her, like… you want to marry her and make babies with her?”
My heart slams against my ribs.
Things have moved so fast here that I haven’t taken a moment to think about the future. I’ve been so focused on the now, of the possibility of losing my job, of being the laughingstock of the NHL, that where this could be leading has escaped my attention.
But marriage.
Babies.
That all sounds really freaking serious.
“Yeah, all of that and more. There isn’t anyone else I want. There hasn’t been anyone else I’ve ever wanted.”
“But…it’s Parker.”
