Page 173 of Hockey Bois
And inside, Nick’s mind was racing.
How could Brady not notice he’d said that? Did he mean it? He must have meant it; Brady wasn’t free with his words like that. It’d slipped out so easily, like he’d been thinking it for a while, like it was common knowledge and not some momentous shift in their relationship.Nick had been holding back how hopelessly in love he was. They were doing well despite their rocky start, and he was relatively secure in how they felt about each other, but the “L” word was a big deal. He hadn’t wanted to spook Brady, not when he’d only recently settled into dating a guy.
And it turned out he’d been worried for nothing. It wasBradywho got the honor of saying he was in love first, and Nick was the one having a minor internal meltdown over it.
How the tables had turned. He was sure Jenna and Lucy would get a kick out of it later when they found out. Gail, too, when she and Terry got back from their couple’s weekend together.
You know,Nick thought as he completely tuned out GG and Young Greg’s argument on the bench,this might actually be better. Nick had avoided bringing up his work holiday party for a whilebecause they were still only unofficially public knowledge. The team knew—not that anyonesaidthey knew, but it wasn’t exactly hard to figure out with the way they acted around each other—and their small circle of close family and friends knew. That wasn’t the same as bringing him as a date to a large corporate party; even if they didn’tsaythey were an item, it would be assumed.
But if Bradylovedhim, then maybe he wouldn’t mind those assumptions.
Grin wide, Nick went into the locker room happier than he should be after playing most of the game on autopilot.
“You played like garbage,” Brady told him when they were on the bench together. He looked mildly concerned, as if certain Nick must be sick or injured or going through some other crisis that would result in such bad play.
“I got that goal,” Nick pointed out.
“Which is why I’m confused about how you couldn’t even catch a pass to save your life after that. Use all your mojo on one play?”
“If I scored, isn’t it worth it?”
Brady shrugged skeptically.
“So…” Nick said, knowing he was pulling a severe 180 on their conversation. “I’ve got a plus one for a work thing at the harbor—”
“Which one?”
Nick blinked, then smiled. “Look at you, knowing there’s more than one. National Harbor, actually. You wanna…?” He let the offer hang between them.
“Who do you normally go with?” Brady asked.
“No one.” He had brought Jenna his first year working and Terry his second, but that had confused all his coworkers and made the effort not worthwhile. It’d been years since he’d gone with anyone. And since this wasmaybehis last holiday party at this job… well, it seemed like a big deal to Nick, and he wanted to share that big deal with someone whogothow big a deal it was.
“So you’re asking me to your work holiday party… like on a date?” Brady clarified. He hadn’t run for the hills yet and had even said the word “date” out loud in the locker room. Good start.
“I guess?”
Brady ran his hands through his hair as he considered. He put on his hat, rubbed his hands together, then turned to Nick. “Yeah, okay.”
“Really?” Nick beamed. “You know this means people will think we’re dating. You okay with that?”
Brady snorted and got back to changing out of his gear. “Yeah, I think I can handle people thinking I’m dating my boyfriend.”
Nick’s heart lurched. He didn’t comment, but internally he was shouting with joy. This would beso much fun. They’d go out on a fancy date with suits, and maybe he’d get a flower for Brady’s lapel, and they could coordinate tie colors and pocket squares.
Basically Brady would regret ever agreeing, and Nick kind of looked forward to that.
Since he was already doing so well, he decided he’d push alittlemore. “You know, it’s my birthday next week, right?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Brady grumped. “I’ll get you your stupid cupcakes.”
It was adorable that Brady remembered that, especially since Nick had been half-kidding at the time. “Good. I would hate for someone wholovesme to forget my long list of birthday demands.”
“I didn’t forget—” Brady stopped short, arms in mid-air where they’d been taking off his elbow pads. His head quirked to the side as he processed the rest of what Nick had said, a frown making it obvious that he was running through every interaction they’d had recently. “On the ice, did I really say…?”
“You did.”
“Oh.”
