Page 22 of Breaking the Ice (Denver Stampede #6)

“Okay, that’s good. But if it becomes more, you have to tell me. I wasn’t a fan before, but now I don’t trust him at all. His reaction is not normal.”

I debated telling Mal that our father was in town, but there was no point. It’s not like Malcolm Senior’s one attempt to have a family dinner while he was here included his own damn son. He wasn’t a fan of my brother’s lifestyle, fucking asshole.

“So what’s up next on the fake dating agenda?”

“Opening night is tomorrow. You should come with me,” I said, giving him my hopeful eyes. I bit back a chuckle thinking of Gabe and those puppy-dog eyes he swore worked every time. Hell, they kind of did.

“And mess up your chance to truly bond with the WAGs? Absolutely not. Although I wouldn’t mind watching those boys stretch on the ice.”

I chuckled. “Of course you wouldn’t. And you know I’m not like a real WAG. This is just fake.”

“Please. You want to jump that man’s bones. Those pictures don’t lie, and neither does that wispy thing going on with your voice when you talk about him.”

“My voice is not wispy.”

“Generally, no, but tonight?” He fanned his face and pitched his voice high and thin. “He’s just so nice and I don’t know...”

“I do not sound like that, asshole.”

“Sure you don’t.”

“You are no longer my favorite brother.”

“Yes, I’m the worst. So tell me again how you get all fluttery when he sticks his tongue down your throat.”

I huffed. “I never said that.” He chuckled and I knew I had not successfully willed the heat away from my cheeks.

Fucking bastard.

TUCKS

“You in the zone and good to go?” Micah asked the following night as I rocked from side to side in the tunnel.

We were about to hit the ice for warm-ups and I was so ready.

It was opening night, the energy was already palpable, and I was pumped.

I shook out my shoulders and rolled my head to each side three times, before moving through each step of my ritual.

“Yup,” I said, tapping my stick against Micah’s shins. One tap per side.

“Is Dani here?”

“As far as I know.” I was thrilled that she was coming tonight for the game.

I needed to stay focused so we could win because these points were real, but I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t hoping she was in those seats right behind me and wearing the jersey I’d given her.

She’d been adorably annoyed when I’d handed it to her the other night.

“Everything still going okay?” he asked.

“Yep,” I said. “Perfect.”

“I’m not going to ask anything about her dad, but I did see that you added a sticker to your helmet,” he said with a smirk.

“I think it looks nice. I needed to represent Pucks on my mask.” There hadn’t been time to remove her father’s number from one side of my mask, so I’d gotten a sticker made of Pucks to cover it. Would she notice? She was constantly teasing me about my golden retriever qualities.

Micah chuckled.

“What are we waiting for? Get your asses on the ice,” Sin called out as he headed down the tunnel. The music was already pumping through the arena as we hit the ice.

I did a lap around our half of the rink and immediately spotted Dani at the glass behind my net.

I waved my blocker pad at her, a huge grin on my face.

I didn’t care that this was supposed to be for show, I had an extra pep in my step since she was here.

I did a turn movement with my blocker hand when I got to the glass, and she rolled her eyes at me, but she was smiling.

It was a sardonic smile, but I’d take what I could get.

I knew she was wearing my jersey because I highly doubted she would go out and buy a different one, but I still loved her showing me that “Tucker” spread across her shoulders.

“Happy?” she said over her shoulder.

“Damn right. I told you my name would look good on you.”

She spun back around and—were her cheeks pink?

“Go stretch or something,” I heard her say.

I saluted her with my glove to my mask, then said hello to my posts and moved to the side so I could drop down and stretch out.

The guys were already firing pucks on the net while I worked on my visualization techniques.

Every game I did the same routine, shifting my head from side to side and picturing the angles pucks would come at me as I lifted my blocker to stop each imaginary shot.

It was like a well-choreographed dance. I stretched out my legs, going into a full split, and tested my hips before doing a shimmy and popping back up.

I looked over to where Dani sat and grinned as she stared at me.

Of course she couldn’t see my expression under my mask but catching her watching me gave me an extra bit of energy.

I skated past her and blew her a kiss to tease her. She laughed and shook her head at me. I wanted her at every game from here on out.

“You going to flirt all night or block some shots?” Dom asked, skating up next to me.

“Oh, please. Like you don’t do the same thing when Ally’s down here?”

“Of course I do, but she’s my actual girlfriend,” he said, dropping his voice low so he wasn’t blasting that Dani and I weren’t really dating. “It’s not really fake anymore, is it?”

“Yes, it is,” I instantly replied.

He chuckled. “But you’re falling for her. Hell, you already fell for her, didn’t you?”

“Maybe. I mean, she is amazing.”

“I knew it. She feel the same?”

I blew out a breath. “I have no fucking idea. Probably not.” Yeah, she was attracted to me and didn’t mind me kissing her, but pressuring her for anything beyond our agreement would be a dick move. She didn’t want a real relationship with any guy right now, and I understood that.

“After all of this is done, don’t let her walk away if you think there could be something more. Fuck, Ally and I wasted a lot of years while I had my head up my ass.”

“Dom, get out of the fucking net already,” Santa called out, and we both turned to see a handful of our teammates waiting to fire shots on me.

“Yeah, yeah. So impatient, Santa. You need some milk and cookies to stop that grinchiness of yours,” Dom taunted, skating away from me.

“Oh fuck off,” Santa grumbled as I got into position to deflect their shots.

***

A short while later, we all headed back to the locker room for a final pep talk before the game started.

This was our home opener, and before a few nights ago, I’d been thrilled that the Malcolm Albans was going to be in attendance and commentating for the national broadcast. It was true that you should never meet your idols.

Now I just wanted to spank Montreal’s ass because he was here somewhere in the building.

A shutout would be awesome every day, but it would feel extra sweet to get it against the team Dani’s father used to play for.

Of course, it didn’t really mean anything to the man since he wasn’t actually playing, but I’d rather he not watch his team be victorious tonight.

Dani had given me some details about their relationship, so no points for Montreal if I had anything to say about it.

“Before we get to the line announcements, we have a visitor that wanted to say hello,” Millsy said from the center of the room.

Was Violet or one of my other teammate’s kids coming in to read out the lines? It was adorable every time.

But then Albans walked into the room.

“Hey, boys, just wanted to come and wish you all a quick good luck tonight. Even if it’s against my hometown team,” Malcolm said, finishing with a chuckle.

“Fuck. Malcolm Albans,” Booksy whispered next to me, nudging me with his arm. “Man’s a legend. And your idol, right? Still can’t believe you’re dating his daughter.”

“Me either,” I muttered. Booksy hadn’t been at my table at the charity event, and I wasn’t sure if he’d been around when Malcolm had come over to say hello.

I glanced around the room as Malcolm greeted my teammates.

The guys from my table were all looking at me.

They knew something was going on between Dani and her father, and even without any additional information, they were wary.

We’d all be polite as expected because I would not cause a scene with him. Dani didn’t need any extra stress.

“Hey, Tucks, Booksy,” Malcolm said cheerfully. I shoved down my anger as he stepped in front of us.

Booksy held his hand out. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir. I watched all of your games when I was a kid. How you managed to stop that sick shot from Bailey in the Cup final was epic,” he said, shaking Malcolm’s hand.

Normally I would chuckle at Booksy’s fawning, but his excitement just felt bitter now.

“Sorry. You’re just a legend,” Booksy continued when Malcolm dropped his hand.

Malcolm chuckled. “No need to be sorry. It never gets old meeting a fan, especially when it’s a fellow player. How’s your shoulder doing?”

“Uh, good. Thanks.” The awe was still in his tone. The man was smooth and he’d done his homework, which made sense since he was helping call tonight’s game.

“And Tucks. Good to see you again. Sorry we didn’t get to chat more the other night. It was a great event and a wonderful cause. I’m always happy to help support local charities.”

Ick. He was giving me the ick and it pissed me off.

“Yeah, our foundation is wonderful.” I knew I sounded wooden.

“Excited to watch you between the pipes tonight. You have a solid game, I’ve been watching it for years. Hopefully, you guys will have an even better season this year than last,” he said, giving me a blinding smile.

I was fucking weirded out. If this conversation had happened even four days ago, I probably wouldn’t have been able to contain myself. My idol praising my play. But all it had taken was Dani giving me the smallest of details about who this man really was, and his flattery did nothing for me.

But I also didn’t want to cause a scene. I kept my focus on being ready to stand on my head tonight if needed, so my expression remained neutral when what I really wanted to do was tell the man to go fuck himself.

“Here’s hoping.” My knee started to twitch and I wanted to pop up and just get on the ice.

“I know that feeling,” he said, gesturing toward my bouncing knee. “You can taste the anticipation in a season opener. I’ll let you boys finish prepping. Oh, and Tucks, I’m still in town for a few days. Maybe you and Dani could join me for dinner?”

Was he serious right now?

“Yeah, you should set something up with Dani. Oh, and I know Mal is back from his vacation, so hopefully he can join, too. I wasn’t sure if you knew he was back. I haven’t had a chance to meet him yet, but he sounds awesome. Dani clearly loves him, can’t say enough good things about him.”

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed for a brief second before his happy mask was back in place. “Yeah, Malcolm’s great, of course. A family dinner sounds great.”

Then he turned away, wished us all good luck one last time, and walked out of the room.

I couldn’t help but feel slightly smug.

Fucking asshole.