Page 35 of Love Me, Goaltender

I hopped out to get my bags, and Mason followed to grab his own.

“You staying here tonight?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered and jerked his head to the right. Drew’s car was parked in front of mine. Ah. “Do you got this, Riles? You need some backup?”

I smiled tightly. “Nah. I got it, but can you take this inside?”

Mason took my suitcase, but I kept my backpack. Then he went to the door, took one last look back, and disappeared inside.

Time to get thisover with.

I marched to Kingston’s car, opened the door, having heard the locks click, and planted myself in the passenger’s seat. “Okay.”

Surprisingly, instead of immediately bursting out with questions, he put his car into gear and drove. Guess we were going somewhere. I had expected to just talk in his car. Not arguing, I buckled my belt as Kingston headed … farther down my street?What?

A minute later, my question was answered when he parked in front of a brownstone a street away from mine. It was almost a mirror of my house, except it didn’t have the rose bushes that my father had planted in front of mine. We got out, and I gaped at his house as he grabbed his bags from his truck. “You live a minutefrom me?”

“I guess I forgot to mention that earlier,” he said casually and went to the door. I followed behind, stunned.

That was so weird. I’d never seen him or his car around, but to be fair, I’d only been back in town for less than a week. Though that was more than enough time to gain and lose the first friend I’d made in hockey since Mason.

Kingston unlocked his house, stepped inside, threw his bags off to the side, and held open the door to the lion’s den for me.How kind.

Chapter 10

Kingston guided me into his house, and it was like looking into a funhouse mirror. His house had the same layout as mine. But where mine was filled with things and memories from my childhood, his was decorated with modern furniture and was spotless. It was more than a little jarring.

I stopped under the arch separating the living area and the foyer and leaned against it, wanting to stay close tothe door.

Mirroring me, Kingston propped his hip against his black cotton sectional. His suit, just as dark as his couch, sat on him like a second skin, emphasizing his broad shoulder and cutting sharply to his waist. He crossed his arms over his chest, and I was thrown back to when we first met, him staring me down and trying to get a read. I couldn’t even begin to guess what he was getting off me. Hell,Ibarely knew what I was feeling.

He, in turn, was as stoicas a king.

The silence only lasted a few moments before I broke it, wanting to get this over. I stood up straight, channeling all the power that my fierce, navy pantsuit and sharp stilettos gave me, and let the words rush out of me like water through a dam. “We don’t need to do this. Trust me, I get it, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry I kissed you and put you in an awkward position. You don’t need to let me down gently. It won’t happen again, and we can go back to beingfriends.”

He cocked his head. “Friends? Is that whatyou want?”

I paused. No, I didn’t want to be friends with him; I wanted to be more. But that wasn’t happening in this lifetime, so I would just have to suck it up and settle. “Yeah? I mean, ideally? If you can get over this and if we can move on. That’s why I’m here, right?”

Again, he just stood there, his brain working behindhis eyes.

I hated this. Hated not being able to read him. I read people for a living! I knew when someone was coming straight at me or when they were going for a deke. I could tell what any given player would do based on their play style and past actions. It was my job, and I was damn good at it. But staring at Kingston was like staring at a brick wall. Except this brick wall was studying me just as intently as I it. It was driving me crazy, and I wanted to claw out his pretty little eyes!

Say something, damnit!

“So, you’re not alesbian?”

I blinked, the abrupt change letting most of the wind out of my sails. “Um … no. Not entirely. I’mbisexual.”

He hummed curiously. “Then why aren’t you out as bisexual? Wouldn’t that have been just as easy as coming out as gay?”

No, it wouldn’t have been.“Do you know when being gay in professional sports is actually beneficial? When you’re a woman on an all-male team,” I answered before he could guess and took up pacing across his living room.

His gaze followed me as I went back and forth, trying my hardest to put this into words.

“My teammates in high school were kind of dicks. Thankfully, I wasn’t changing with them, so I didn’t have to deal with their shit while half-naked in front of them. On the ice, when Mason was away from me, some of them got sexual though. It was harassment, and looking back, I should have reported it, but I didn’t want to cause more drama on the team. I just ignored it. Then, during my sophomore year, I got a girlfriend. Her name was Kara, and she was the sweetest person I’d ever met. She was the first person I ever dated; I didn’t have a lot of friends, and there was no way I was going to get with one of the Neanderthals on the team. Of course, I wanted to keep it secret, but you know how that shit goes; everyone knew the next day. At first, I was nervous. Not only was I the only girl on the team, but now I was the only out queer person too. I was dreading going to practice, but the weirdest thing happened. They quit with the shitty jokes. I mean, they didn’t stop completely; that’s impossible. But no one was flirting with me or asking me if I liked what I saw. It was like I became one of the guys overnight.”

“So, you stuckwith it.”

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