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Our social media manager shot him a close lipped grin. “Someone made a hashtag for you. Their first try was #ravengate, but our loyal fans shut them down pretty quickly.”

“Oh God.” I hid my face in my hand.

“What are they using now?” My boyfriend leaned in, only to laugh so hard tears spilled out of his eyes. “Oh fuck, that’s genius.”

“Do I want to know?”

The smile on Finn’s face widened. “#thewingertakesitall. Pretty brilliant, if you ask me.”

“Oh yes, he does.” Max slipped his arm around my shoulders, pulled me close, and kissed me squarely on the lips.

I had to admit itwaspretty funny.

“The fans are outraged that this person filmed you. A few insist they knew it all along.”

“What about the people who are being dicks?”

“Not too many, but you always get a few.” Finn shrugged. “A few commented on your age gap, and on the whole captain/new player dynamic. And, uh.” He scratched the back of his neck.

“What?”

“Well, if you go on ArgoS you will see it, anyway. Uh, someone posted a video of you at an outdoor rink in Denmark. It’s grainy but it’s pretty obvious that it’s the two of you. There’s not much happening, but Arne, you have Max caged to the boards and look like you’re about to kiss him.”

Someone filmed us in Denmark? Shit.

“Oh damn.” Max chuckled weakly. “Well, the raven’s out of the cage now.” He caught my eye, then giggled. “I don’t give aflyingfuck, Viking. Do you hear me?” His voice dropped for a moment, darkness rising in his eyes. Then Max winked, and it was gone.

“I hear you. You’re enjoying this a bit too much, though, Raven.”

Pursing his lips, he leaned in. “Nope. What I’m enjoying, Viking, is that I won’t have to hide my feelings anymore.”

Strong fingers cupped the back of my neck, then his lips were on mine, kissing me so deep my dick got hard.

Finn clearing his throat made him back out of the kiss, but not away from me. “I love you,” he breathed, then pecked my mouth again, before straightening up and focusing on Finn.

“What do we do?”

Our social media guy looked slightly flustered at Max’s PDA, and it took him a moment to get a grip on himself.

“Uh, so you should decide if you want to post a statement on our account, or if you just want to ignore it and pretend it never happened.”

“A statement.” Max took my hand. “But no excuses.” My head snapped around and our eyes met, clinging to each other. And I remembered our conversation from a few months ago. ‘I don’t want an excuse,’ I had said. ‘Same. Don’t need one either.’ I squeezed his fingers.

“Deal.” Finn gave us a gooey look, then grabbed his phone. “Stay like that for a moment.”

He unlocked it, pointed it at us, and took about a hundred pictures.

Then he pulled his screen around, opened a fresh note, and typed.

Thirty-eight

Ma

Without speaking, I palmed Arne’s face and guided his mouth on mine for a slow kiss. My brain slowly caught onto what this mess meant for us.

No more hiding.

“God, I love you so much,” I whispered into the kiss.