Page 13

Chapter 13

Piper

I had kissed Zeke Lawson.

I couldn’t believe it. And I guessed neither could Seth.

“I knew something was going on between you, but I didn’t know that ”—he gestured toward where the kiss had happened—“was going down.”

I shrugged, trying to act more calm than I felt. In the heat of the moment, kissing Zeke had seemed like the right thing to do. My emotions had been all over the place, and I had been so happy to see him that I had let my body take control. Probably not my best idea, but what was done was done. Now I had to figure out what to do next.

I needed to talk to Zeke and see how we wanted to navigate this new situation. He had been the one to start it all, but I had definitely catapulted our fake relationship into the real world. Now that the entire team knew something was going on between us, news would travel to my boss, Raymond, and I wasn’t sure how he would feel about me dating a player. It was against the rules, but some teams took the enforcement of those rules more seriously than others. It was like déjà vu all over again. Except this time, it was fake. But I was worried it would have real consequences.

“I thought, after Jordan, you’d never date a hockey player ever again. Especially one on the team you work with,” Seth said, speaking truthfully since I had literally told him I’d never date a hockey player again.

Seth had been there during it all, and after the embarrassing public breakup with Jordan, I had vehemently declared I would never again date another hockey player or someone I worked with. Yet, here I was, making out with a hockey player—from the team I worked for—in a bar for all to see.

For a split second, I wanted to tell Seth it was fake, that I wasn’t really dating another hockey player. He and I were friends, and I was pretty sure he would understand. So why I wasn’t opening my mouth and confessing the truth was a mystery.

Kind of.

I mean, for just a second it was a tad dreamy to imagine myself as Zeke’s girlfriend. His fake girlfriend…but whatever. The way he had said, Now everyone knows your mine , had sent my pulse skyrocketing. My younger self would have never believed that one day I would get to work with Zeke, let alone kiss him. Most of the time, I could keep my former crush on him at bay. But that kiss had changed things.

Tonight, I would let myself enjoy the idea of being his girlfriend, living out a small daydream, then go back to how things were before. In a few days, we could tell people it hadn’t worked out and move on. No big deal. And then whenever we played the Blue Jays, I’d be more diligent in making sure I didn’t cross paths with Jordan.

See? Nothing to stress over.

Zeke joined us again at the table, setting down our drinks. I noticed he had gotten a club soda too, but with a lime like I had suggested last time. I tried not to smile, but it was impossible. He didn’t even like club soda, but he’d gotten one too because of me. I stopped trying to hide my smile and let a wide grin fill my face as I looked up at him.

“What?” he asked, one side of his mouth tipped up.

“You got a club soda.”

“I did.” He let out his full smile. “Someone once told me it was an acquired taste. I’m trying to see if that’s true.” He lifted the glass to his lips and took a drink.

“And?”

His head tilted and his mouth grimaced. “Not acquired yet.”

I laughed. “Do you want me to go get you a different drink?”

He scoffed. “You don’t think I can handle this drink?” His voice held a hint of a challenge.

I pulled my lips in, trying to stifle my laughter. “If that face you made after you took a sip was anything to go by, then no, I don’t think you can handle a club soda.”

He kept his eyes on me as he reached for his glass, lifting it to his mouth and downing it, his eyes never leaving mine. His gaze was almost heated, and I had to let my eyes focus somewhere else. That somewhere else was his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. I wasn’t sure how him consuming his drink all at once had raised the temperature in the bar, but I was definitely feeling flushed.

The glass smacked down on the table, now empty except for ice and a wedge of lime.

“Looks like I more than handled it.”

Yes. Yes, he did. He looked like he could handle a lot of things.

And he wasn’t just talking about club soda.

I swallowed, hoping to find my voice. I figured I had two ways to respond. I could agree with him and hope my voice didn’t come out breathless from just watching him drink. Or…I could pretend I wasn’t affected by the way he showed off and looked at me like no other guy had ever looked at me.

Tonight was all about pretending, so I lifted my chin and brushed my hair over my shoulder. “It also looks like you want another club soda,” I baited.

“Too bad I’m no longer thirsty,” he said with a mischievous grin. “For club soda, at least.”

Holy H-E-double-hockey-sticks .

We stared at one another, unspoken words filling the silence. The buzz in my body felt like an electrical current between the two of us.

“I really wish I didn’t have to leave,” Seth said from across the table, obviously watching everything happen between Zeke and me.

I’d totally forgotten Seth was here. I was pretty sure that kiss with Zeke had short-circuited my brain.

I broke eye contact with Zeke and tried to look unfazed as I spoke to Seth. “You have to go already?”

He nodded and waved his phone at me. “Yeah, I got the ‘when are you going to be home’ text.” He looked between Zeke and me, a smirk playing on his features. “But I have a feeling you won’t even know I’m gone.”

He was probably right, but I still was bummed he was leaving already. We hadn’t hung out in a long time, and I missed his friendship.

“Okay, well, I’m glad we got to hang out for a little while like we used to.” I rounded the table and gave him a hug.

“Me too.” He hugged me back and then held out a hand to Zeke. “It was nice meeting you. Take care of my girl.”

Zeke shook Seth’s hand. “Will do.”

We waved goodbye, and then it was just Zeke and me at the table. Awkwardness began to set in. It was weird that less than two minutes ago, I’d wanted to pull Zeke toward me and kiss him again. And not for pretend.

I’d already been struggling to not think of Zeke as more than a patient. It had taken extreme effort on my part to distance myself from him emotionally during our therapy sessions. Especially after we’d spent time together outside of the therapy room, both at a hotel lobby and at his apartment. But now that we had kissed? How was I going to be able to hide that just the sight of him had my heart racing?

Zeke leaned his elbows on the table, casting me a glance. “So are we going to talk about that kiss?”

I smoothed down my hair, trying for nonchalance. “What about it?”

He shrugged. “I thought it was a pretty good kiss.”

My brows rose. “ Pretty good?”

He seemed amused by my response as he smiled and said, “What would you say?”

Oh, no. I hadn’t expected him to ask me that. What should I say?

I could tell the truth—that it was by far the best kiss I’d ever had. But how embarrassing was that? The best kiss I’d ever had was fake? That was more than I was comfortable admitting.

Or I could downplay the whole thing. Tell him it was a great kiss and that we were fantastic actors. He didn’t need to know that kissing him had changed me. Because how dramatic was that? I hadn’t believed kisses could be life-changing. I’d thought that was something romance writers made up to make it seem like their main characters had some deeper connection. Kissing Zeke had not only made me a believer in the so-called life-changing kiss, but now it had me wondering if he and I did have a deeper connection and that was why I was having such a hard time keeping my feelings for him in the therapist-patient zone.

I wanted to smack myself in the forehead. I sounded like some lovesick woman going gaga over a hot hockey player.

“Piper?” Zeke asked, a look of concern on his face. “Everything okay?”

Oh, my gosh. He’d been waiting for me to answer his question, and I’d gotten lost in my thoughts.

His lips tipped up. “Or was spacing out your way of saying that our kiss was out of this world?”

I instantly started laughing at his lame joke, grateful that he had eased the awkwardness I’d put myself in.

“Something like that.”

“That’s all you’re going to give me?” he playfully accused.

“All you gave me was pretty good ,” I pointed out.

He inhaled. “Fine,” he said on an exhale. “You want me to tell you what I really thought about it?”

I nodded. He had no idea how badly I wanted to hear his thoughts about our kiss.

He leaned in closer to me, our arms now pressed together as his head dipped toward mine. “It just might be my favorite kiss to date.”

A shiver raced through me, the words ‘favorite kiss’ seeming to skate along my skin.

I turned my face toward him, our mouths mere inches apart. His eyes dipped down to my lips. Was he going to kiss me again? Was it wrong that I wanted him to, and not because we were trying to convince anyone about our fake relationship?

I wanted to tell him I felt the same way but remained quiet, worried that speaking would deter him from closing the breadth of space between us.

“Enough with the kissing and mushy stuff,” Holden said. We broke apart as he joined us at our table. “We get it. You two are into each other.”

Right. We were still in a bar, not in our own little world. When I was with Zeke, it was easy to feel like it was just the two of us. He was all-consuming and had a way of overwhelming my senses.

“We finally get you to join us for a post-game celebration,” Holden said to Zeke, “and as much as we like you, Piper,” he said to me, “this guy needs to bond with the team.”

“Oh, right. Of course.” I took a step away from Zeke, suddenly feeling out of place. “You guys have fun, and I’ll head back to the hotel.”

Before I could take another step, Zeke grabbed my hand, pulling me back to his side and wrapping his arm around my waist as he glared at Holden. “If you want me to stay, she stays.”

I thought Zeke couldn’t get any hotter, but I was wrong. Possessive Zeke was extremely sexy, and this side of him was now my new favorite.

“All right, all right,” Holden sighed before turning to me. “How good are you at darts?”

“Why don’t you play me and find out?” I asked. My voice held a hint of sass while I gave him a saccharine smile.

Zeke let out a low chuckle before pulling me close and placing a light kiss on my cheek, like my sassiness was endearing to him.

Oh, heaven help me. Pretending to be Zeke’s girlfriend was turning out to be way better than anything I could have imagined. That kiss really had been out of this world, and with the possessive way he held me against him and how he refused to stay here unless I stayed with him, my resolve was crumbling.

This man was all sorts of trouble. Trouble for my job. Trouble for my reputation. Trouble for my no-more-hockey-players rule.

But most of all…trouble for my heart.