Page 136 of Breaking the Ice

“Don’t say it,” Elliott warned.

Mal’s lips quirked up. “Okay, I won’t. But honestly I love watching you play. You’re such a star, babe. When I’m on the bench I’ve got the best seat in the house.”

Elliott smiled at him, soft and easy, full of love. “Flatterer.”

“Just telling the truth,” Mal said, shrugging, but he looked pleased.

“So you want to stay on the second power play, then?” Gavin asked.

Mal nodded.

“Alright then,” Gavin said. He looked over at Zach. “Make sure they get plenty of practice this week. They’re still shaky out there.”

“But getting better,” Zach said, maybe more optimistically than he felt. But if Malcolm could commit to this, so could Zach.

After Elliott and Mal were gone, Gavin turned to Zach and put an arm around his waist, tugging him in.

It wasn’t the first PDA they’d ever indulged in at the rink, but it was the most obvious. “Am I supposed to tell you thatyouwere right, now?” Zach asked in a low, teasing voice.

“Nope,” Gavin said. “You were still right, though I maintain I had the right idea.”

“You were trying to go old-school when I only ever wanted you to break all the conventions,” Zach pointed out.

“A little, yeah,” Gavin agreed. “But it’s alright. We’re good.”

Zach pressed his mouth against Gavin’s temple. It was just a graze, barely even a kiss, but it lit him up with happiness and joy.

“Better than good, I’d say,” Gavin said.

Chapter 18

“Honestly,”Sidneysaid,pokinga fork into his salad, “we couldn’t be happier with how this has turned out.”

Gavin told himself not to roll his eyes. This was hisboss, and even though he was a bit of a patronizing dick, he was going to need all the goodwill he could get in a minute.

“Me too,” Gavin said.

“You seem to have fixed things with Zach,” Sidney said. “And the second power play. I never would’ve imagined moving McCoy to the second team would change things.”

Gavin nearly said that he’d been just about ready to move everyone back to their original positions, but Malcolm had argued against it. But if Sidney thought he’d waved his magic wand and fixed everything, he wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. Not right now. Not when Sidney had given him the best way to broach the subject he needed to discuss.

“Yeah, everything’s good with me and Zach,” Gavin agreed. Hesitated, took a deep breath. He hadn’t told Zach he loved him yet, but wasn’t this him doing it just without using the specific words? “Better than ever, actually. That was what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“You and Zach? I figured you didn’t want to meet up for lunch just to hear me blather on about how good the hockey team is,” Sidney said, his gaze knowing.

Andugh, it was worse, knowing that Sidney was aware of just how much Gavin disliked their lunch meetings, but Gavin pushed that embarrassment aside and went on.

“Yes, me and Zach. It’s actually, it’s really . . .uh . . .meandZach, now,” Gavin said. Prayed that he wouldn’t have to go into anatomical detail in front of his boss just how much it was himandZach, now.

Surely Sidney would appreciate him being circumspect, if a little vague, about the specifics.

“Wait,” Sidney said. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? You and Zach aretogether?”

There was nothing else Gavin could do but nod.

“Well, that certainly adds clarity to why I got that crazy resignation from him a few weeks back.” Sidney shot him a jovial look. “You two get into a fight?”

“Uh, something like that,” Gavin said.God, please don’t ask. Please, please don’t ask.