Page 25 of Breaking Point (IceHawks #1)
Grayson
GRAYSON
why is my Ring camera alerting me that you’re at my house?
KIERAN ASHFORD
because I’m at your house
GRAYSON
and why is that?
KIERAN ASHFORD
your couch is more comfortable
GRAYSON
we have the same couch
KIERAN ASHFORD
your TV is better. The sound is louder
GRAYSON
we have the same TV and surround sound
did you seriously just walk out with another bag of groceries???
KIERAN ASHFORD
aren’t you meant to be on a date?
GRAYSON
yes and you’re not meant to be stealing my food anymore
go to the damn grocery store
KIERAN ASHFORD
they don’t sell Bella’s blueberry muffins
GRAYSON
you took her muffins?????
now you’re dead
M y jaw is unhinged, practically on the floor as Bella jumps up and down, whooping and hollering. “Suck it, Crawford!”
Forty-two to eighty-one.
I have no qualms about losing to a woman, let alone a beautiful one at that, but I didn’t just lose, I was annihilated .
I point an accusatory finger at her gloating form. “You conned me.”
She laughs, the sound light and airy. “I did no such thing! You were the cocky bastard who didn’t ask if I’ve ever played basketball.” She turns away from me, taking the roll of tickets she favored over another stuffed animal.
Placing my hands on my hips, I ask, “Okay, have you ever played basketball?”
Facing me again, she grins wickedly. “I did in fact. Competitively. All throughout high school.”
“You swindled me.”
She shrugs innocently, batting her lashes at me. “You said hockey was all about reflexes. I thought you would be able to hold your own.”
My eyes narrow playfully. “You’re sneaky.”
“And you need to ask more questions.” I’m about to, but she holds up her hand. “But first, it’s my turn to poke around in that head of yours.”
Leading us away from my demise, I wink. “Ask away.”
She peers at me out of the corner of her eye, her cheeks still flushed from all the jumping she did in her celebration. “How deep are we going?”
“As deep as it takes to”—I check our surroundings, thankful we’ve walked down a line of stalls that are deserted—“convince those around us.” I don’t need to say what, she knows. There’s no point risking someone overhearing us.
She’s pensive for a moment, her gaze raking over the stalls filled with children’s games. “Why are you going to such lengths to stay on a team that wants to trade you?”
I must flinch because her eyes soften, and I can see the apology on the tip of her tongue.
“It’s all right,” I say quickly. My shoulders rise and drop with the deep breath I take.
I need to tell her about Drew at some point, because as my girlfriend she would know.
But I don’t want her to look at me with pity.
Or judgment. I don’t want her to tread around me like I’m made of glass.
I don’t want her to treat me differently.
So, I choose to dance around it. “I lost something last year, something that meant the world to me, and I don’t want to lose anything else.
” She looks down at our feet, walking in sync despite our height differences.
“IceHawks are my family. I’ve been with the team since the beginning of my career.
I’ve grown up with these men. They’re not just teammates, they’re… everything to me.”
She’s nodding along, allowing me space to show such vulnerability that it has heat sizzling my cheeks. Stopping abruptly, she faces me, her neck craning back despite the heeled boots she wears. “I’ll do what I can to help.”
A small smile spreads across my face, along with a warmth in my chest that I don’t dare try and identify. “Thank you,” I say softly. Continuing on, I slide my hands in my pockets and ask, “What changed your mind?”
“About the arrangement?” she asks.
I dip my head, seeing something flicker in her gaze. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought it was sadness. But it’s gone as quickly as it arrived, and replacing it are her solid walls.
“Can I veto this question?”
I feel a bit of a sting at that. Especially after being so honest, but I suppose I wasn’t, not fully. After all, I’m hiding Drew from her. If she wants to keep secrets, that’s fair. I’d be a hypocrite if I said no…but a part of me wants to.
“All right.” I ponder what to ask next before settling on, “What’s your love language?”
Surprise flickers across her features. “You know what love languages are?”
“Of course. Don’t be so surprised.”
She holds up her hands in surrender. “Sorry, it’s just…” She shakes her head. “Love language. Hmm. I’d have to say acts of service and physical touch.” She peers at me out of the corner of her eye. “You?”
“Physical touch and quality time.”
She nods before whispering, “I take it people are going to expect you to be touchy-feely with me?”
My cheeks heat. Rubbing the nape of my neck, I relent, “Extremely.”
She bits her lower lip, the movement drawing my gaze to the plushness of them. I wonder how soft they are.
“We should work on that next.”
“On what?” I ask, struggling to tear my gaze away from her lips.
“Being comfortable physically with one another. If at our first public appearance we’re dancing around each other awkwardly, people will be able to tell we’re not physical all the time.”
Fuck, I didn’t think of that, and yet the idea doesn’t sound horrible in the slightest.
Licking my suddenly dry lips, I throw caution to the wind and slide my large palm into her tiny one, reveling in the softness of her skin and the sharp intake of her breath. “Is this…okay?”
She nods her head emphatically. “Yes.”
Yet her voice is high-pitched, her breathing labored. Am I making her uncomfortable? “Are you sure? I won’t be offended?—”
Her hand tightens in mine, silencing me.
I squeeze hers back understandingly. “We can work on the rest when there aren’t eyes on us.”
Her head lifts as if she’s just realized we’re surrounded by people, no longer in that little nook of an alley that was deserted .
She straightens immediately. “My turn. When was your last relationship?”
“I’ve actually never had one.”
Her head whips to me. “Never?”
“Never.” I can’t help but laugh at her stunned expression. Squeezing her hand, I drawl, “I’m not a saint, Bella, so wipe that look off your face. I’ve just never committed to anyone seriously.” Have never met anyone that I wanted to.
Something dawns across her face. “Of course. Why would you when there is a plethora of puck bunnies?”
“The bunnies get old really fast.”
Her brow quirks. “That’s not how it seemed my first day of work.”
My cheeks heat with embarrassment and shame. “That was…not my finest hour.”
“Oh, and what was?”
Grinning, I pull out of her grip, only to wrap my arm around her shoulder, savoring the way the scent of her shampoo rises to greet me. “This is.”
“Smooth, Crawford. Very smooth.”
Clicking my tongue, I steer us toward the center of the carnival where the food stalls are. “Hungry?”
“Famished.”
Nestled atop a stack of hay at the back of the food stalls, hidden from the rest of the carnival-goers, Bella sits beside me with a tray of fries in her hand and a hot dog resting on her lap.
While I on the other hand have a large feast spread out beside me on napkins—two large fries, a burger, and two hot dogs.
Bella’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head when I relayed my order.
I had to remind her again that I’m an athlete, that the amount of training and exercise I do makes my stomach a bottomless pit.
Part of me feels as if I should be offended, and yet the majority of me loves that when she looks at me, she doesn’t just see ice hockey.
I can’t remember the last time I met someone who looked at me as nothing but a regular person.
After swallowing a handful of fries, she asks, “What about pets? Did you have any growing up?”
“Lots. More strays than anything.” My lips tip up into a smile. “I used to beg my mom to let me keep animals, and I mean every type of animal,” I deadpan. “Lizards, snakes, birds, cats—I adore them and their innocence. Especially dogs. We as humans don’t deserve them.”
“No, we don’t.” She plops a fry in her mouth. “Any past pets in particular I should know of?”
I think about it, considering that maybe I should create a slideshow about them all because anyone I date would know how much I adore animals. “I would say my childhood German Shepherd, Baine. He was practically my best friend for ten years. Scratch that, he was.”
Warmth fills Bella’s eyes. “How come you don’t have any pets now then?”
“I can’t with my schedule. I travel far too much so it seems cruel to get an animal if I know I’ll be gone half the time. Instead, when I’m not traveling or away at games, I just volunteer.”
“Volunteer?” she asks.
Nodding emphatically, I shovel a bite of my burger in my mouth, swallowing quickly as I explain, “There’s an animal charity I’m heavily involved in, and whenever I have days off, I’m usually volunteering.
They get all walks of life. Not only cats and dogs to rehome, but they’re a rehabilitation center that also raises funds for animals like turtles, horses, cows…
Honestly, you name it, they’ve helped it. ”
“That’s phenomenal!”
Everything around me might have crumbled but that was the one aspect I didn’t allow to falter.
“What about you? Have any pets?”
Bella shakes her head. “My childhood dog passed before I left for college and after that, I didn’t want to get a dog with the hours I worked.”
“What was your old job like?”
She groans. “Torture. Pure, unadulterated torture.”
Biting another chunk off my burger, I motion with my hands for her to go on.