Page 107 of Zero Pucks Given
“I have to admit: this is the first autograph I’ve ever given,” I told the woman.
“It won’t be the last,” she replied.
I doubted I would ever getthatfamous. But the comment gave me a surge of joy.
This was so much nicer than reading angry comments on my channel.
Grayson stayed and signed autographs until every single fan was gone. He looked like he could barely keep his eyes open when we finally got in the car and drove back to his place.
Mason was asleep on the couch, snoring softly whileGolden Girlsplayed on TV. “Did hechooseto watch that? Or was it already playing on a channel or something?”
“Don’t get me started on his taste in television shows,” Grayson murmured. “I don’t even think he watches it ironically. He legitimately loves those old women.”
We got ready for bed, then climbed under the covers together. “I hope you’re not offended, but I’m not in the mood for anything sexy,” he said.
I threw one of my legs over his and snuggled up against his warm body. “No offense taken. We can just cuddle.”
He sighed happily. “This is nice. Takes my mind off the loss.”
“I was hoping it would.” I gently planted a kiss against his ribs. “I was surprised you signed autographs for that long. I thought you hated your fame.”
“It’s not bad in small doses,” he replied. “Besides, the fans are the reason I have a job. They pay my salary. And if they’re dedicated enough to wait by the parking lot for two hoursafterwe lost? Then I can spend an hour of my time signing autographs for them. It actuallytook away the sting of the loss.”
“I was right on our first date,” I teased. “You do have a big ego.”
“I wasn’t the only one signing autographs.” He must have felt me flinch, because he chuckled. “Yeah. You thought I didn’t notice, pussycat.”
“I hated it.”
A silence stretched.
“Okay, I actually really liked it!” I admitted. “But you have to understand where I’m coming from. I’ve spent the last week deleting the most angry, spiteful comments off my channel. For once, it was nice to get somepositiveinteraction with my fans.”
“Now you know why I signed autographs for so long,” he countered.
I couldn’t argue with that.
“Grayson?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry you lost.”
His chest rose as he took a deep breath, then let it out. “Me too. But we played well, despite the outcome. Dallas is a very good team. I don’t think there’s anything we could have done to win that series.”
“Tyler and MacConnell should’ve changed their defensive strategy,” I said. “Dallas was slicing apart their zone defense. They should have switched to man-on-man defense after the second game.”
The bed creaked as Grayson leaned forward to look down at me. “I thought you hated hockey.”
“It’s possible I picked up a few things while fake-dating you.”
“You’ll pick up a lot more by real-dating me.”
“Is that what’s going to happen next?” I asked softly. “We’re going to date for real?”
He smiled at me. “We’d fucking better.”
I pushed up onto an elbow to kiss him. I hadn’t realized how much I wanted to hear those words until they left his lips. I ran my fingers over his bare chest, tracing the lines of hard muscle.
