Page 26 of The Getaway

He’s fucking Dominik Mikelson, number thirty-three from the Tampa Bay Bobcats hockey team.

There isn’t much else that I have time for outside of the farm. But one thing my family would always make time for during the winter months was watching hockey. Since my mom was from Tampa herself, the team was inherited into our house. With dad being sick this past year, we missed a lot of games last season, but I did remember seeing mentions of the newest addition and just how good he was when I was updating my dad on last year’s trades. From the few games we watched, Dominik was a natural born player and really fast on skates.

I try to suppress my shock, not wanting to ruin the moment and keep my cool.

“So, you and your fiancée?” I question, attempting to sound normal and hide the fact that I am freaking out.

Is it still fangirling if I’m not a girl? Would it be fan… boying?

Dominik laughs, shaking his head as he turns his whole body to me and leans an elbow on the bar beside him.

“You watch hockey?” he asks as I’m sipping my beer and I choke again. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Sorry man,” I offer, wiping my mouth and shrugging. “I tried playing it cool. But shit, you’re really fucking good on the ice.”

He laughs, shrugging my compliment off and nodding.

“Yeah, playing with the Bobcats has definitely helped me a lot.” He waves his hand dismissively. “Anyway, you knowing who I am makes this easier. When I signed my trade agreement, preseason had already started. Before I was introduced to the team officially, the timing had made me unable to play in one of the preseason games, but my buddy convinced me to tag along to one of the team’s watch parties that they have outside the arena.”

Dominik takes a sip of his beer, shaking his head with a smile before continuing.

“Then Lilly, my now fiancée, shows up. She was also dragged there by her best friend.”

“Damn, were your friends playing matchmaker?” I ask, completely invested in his story.

“No, but they do like to try claiming credit for our meeting.” He rolls his eyes. “But, after getting completely soaked in the rain and Lilly kicking my ass at darts, we went back to her place and…”

He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at me and I can only shake my head, huffing a laugh in response.

“If I recall correctly, I kicked your ass twice at darts,” a feminine voice says from behind me. I turn to find a pretty blonde smiling at Dominik with her arms crossed.

“Sunshine, you could have kicked my ass a hundred times that night and that still wouldn’t be more important than the fact that I went home with you.” Dominik says, wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her into his side. She smiles at him, and I turn away just as she leans in to kiss him.

Glancing at my watch, I repress a sigh when I see that we’ve only managed to kill twenty minutes.

Now all I can think about is last night with Bri and have to shove away thoughts of one night turning into more.

“I’m Lilly,” the woman says, thankfully distracting me.

“Noah,” I offer her a polite smile.

“Noah here is about to go on a first date,” Dominik offers, and I roll my eyes.

I’ve known the dude for less than a half hour and it already feels as if it was Connor embarrassing me.

“Wait, a first date?” Lilly exclaims. Her full attention on me has my face heating.

“Uh, yeah, we met last night,” I shift in my seat while peeking at her from the corner of my eye.

“This guy comes on vacation, at a resort filled with either families or couples, and manages to score a date. Like I said, a story for the future kids,” Dominik chuckles, and Lilly hits him on the shoulder.

“Dom,” she hisses but he simply shrugs, smiling at me as he stands and holds out his hand for her to take.

“Babe, am I wrong in saying that’s a hell of a meet-cute?” he asks. She shakes her head, but a teasing smile plays on her lips.

“Sorry, what’s a meet-cute?”

Lilly rolls her eyes at Dominik before turning to me, “Excuse him. He’s just finished reading my book and is now onto reading some of my favorite authors, but he keeps putting everything in real life into romance book terms.”

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