Page 39 of Breaking the Ice (Denver Stampede #6)

DANI

“ T hanks for driving with me,” I said the following night as I headed into the Blizzard’s arena with Josie and Harper for the game.

I was trying not to be nervous, but I knew it wasn’t going to be a smooth night.

There was no way Roger wasn’t going to be a dick.

That was his MO. I guess I could’ve stayed home, but I refused to let him have that control over me.

The last time I’d been at this arena was to cheer him on.

We’d only started dating toward the end of last season, so I hadn’t gone to that many games.

And it wasn’t like Denver and Colorado Springs were that far apart, but it was easier to shove aside my nerves when I had Josie and Harper along for the drive.

“Of course. We stick together,” Josie said, linking her arm through mine. “And we’re going to root for our boyfriends to kick your ex’s ass. Obviously not literally because of that whole don’t touch the goalie nonsense. Which I guess makes sense when they’re on the ice.”

Normally I wasn’t a fan of this kind of full-contact friend, but Gabe must have been softening me up. Hell, he’d made me freaking boneless in the shower last night and then again in his bed this morning. The man was insatiable, and I couldn’t get enough.

“So, are you nervous?” Harper asked, drawing my attention out of the gutter where it had taken up residence since the first time I’d kissed Gabe.

Hopefully, we could repeat last night again tonight.

I tamped down a shiver that had nothing to do with the fall temps. Yes, I was definitely up for a repeat.

But without Pucks trying to goose me like he had this morning when I’d walked out of the bathroom in a towel. I bit back a grimace at that memory. I’d fallen for most of his adorable antics, but not that one.

“A little. More just annoyed that I’m still dealing with this,” I muttered. The conversation dropped when we approached the family entrance for the visiting team. We showed our tickets and passes, then headed inside.

“Annoyed that you’re still pretending to not be in love with Tucks too,” Josie whispered.

I froze.

“I’m not in love with him. Oh my god, it’s only been a few weeks, maybe a month.” Had it even been a month since we started this ruse? Hell, I hadn’t shared any feelings aside from lust with Roger, and we were together for four months.

There was no way what I was feeling for Gabe was love.

No. Way.

Then I realized that both women hadn’t said anything, and I glanced up, meeting two very smugly curious expressions.

“What?”

Harper burst out laughing. “You’ve got it so bad.”

“You were seriously in some dreamy space right now. I knew you’d fall for him.” Josie practically crowed with excitement.

I shook my head. “I did not. He’s helping me out. And who falls in love that fast anyway? I’m too logical for that.”

“Love is not logical. I knew right away with Micah. He was just a dummy and didn’t realize it for ages. And Timmy fell for Harper when they were kids. There’s no rhyme or reason. Man, that fake dating trope wins every time,” Josie said, full smirk in place.

My eyes darted around the space, but I didn’t think anyone had heard her. “Could you not blurt that out? Especially in enemy territory? For some reason, Roger is revered in these halls, and the last thing I need is for him to find out he was right about me and Gabe.”

At least she looked chagrined when she apologized. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I said, trying not to direct my irritation at her. It wasn’t her fault I was in this mess. Roger had left me without many options, and I’d gone the ridiculous route and now needed to see it through.

“All teasing aside, Tucks is such a great guy and you two are perfect for each other. And maybe Jenzy will see you tonight, decked out in Tucks’s number, and realize he needs to move on,” Harper said.

I was wearing Gabe’s jersey and a scarf with his number on it. “Did I go overboard? I considered a hat but thought it would be too much.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t write Tucks’s number on your forehead. Maybe that’ll get Jenzy to fuck off,” Josie muttered. “I still can’t believe he’s commenting on every post of you and Tucks. How does he not see how pitiful that is?”

“He can only see his ego,” I replied.

“And it’s fucking massive. Is the next step holding up a sign asking Tucks to marry you?” Harper asked from the other side of me.

“Holy shit, that would be perfect,” Josie chimed in, a huge grin on her face.

“That’s taking it way too far.”

Josie quirked her brow. “But is it really?”

I sighed. “Who fucking knows at this point? Roger just needs to find another woman to date. Not that I’d wish his bullshit on anyone else.”

“Enough about him. We’re going to focus on cheering on our boys and Jenzy can just fuck off. Flirt like hell with Tucks and maybe that idiot will be so focused on you that he’ll miss every puck fired on him. I hate that we haven’t beaten the Blizzard so far this season.”

“Yes. Let’s change that tonight. Oh, I think warm-ups are about to start.” Harper nodded to the security guard at the head of the ramp that led to our section of the glass.

The music picked up and the teams streamed out onto the ice, the Blizzard at the far end from us and the Stampede in front of our section.

“Perfect timing, ladies.” Cora turned to grin at us before taking her attention back to the ice, where Tally skated over to her and blew her a kiss. “That captain sure is dreamy,” she gushed.

“Aren’t they all?” Josie cupped her hands around her mouth and called, “Hey, Micahtron. Looking hot out there.”

Her boyfriend shook his head at her, but he was probably also grinning. I’d witnessed their antics more than once at this point, and their dynamic was entertaining to say the least.

I couldn’t help but glance down the full length of the ice to spot number thirty-two on the back of a Blizzard jersey. He was skating around his net, looking tense. Good. I hoped he had a terrible game.

I knew Gabe could handle whatever Roger threw at him, but I still felt guilty for putting such a nice guy in this mess. Speaking of, I moved closer to the glass just in time to watch him skate toward me. He removed his helmet and raked his hand through his hair, an ear-splitting smile on his face.

Dammit, he was so freaking hot. He shouldn’t be allowed to flash that dimple at me. I was totally not in love with this man after less than four weeks. That would be absurd.

Lust. Absolutely.

Love. Nope. Uh, yeah, absolutely not.

Or at least that’s what I was going to keep telling myself. Falling for him would just make all of this worse.

When I stepped up to the glass, he waved at me and I waved back.

“You two are so cute,” Cora said. “I always thought of Nate as a golden retriever, but Tucks takes it to an entirely different level.”

I laughed. “You’re not wrong on that.”

“How’s everything going?” she asked when both of our men skated away to warm up.

Our men.

He wasn’t mine. Not really. I needed to get my head on straight.

“Great. Working with Meredith has been wonderful. She’s very organized. And the guys are showing up in a few days to play some street hockey with the kids and for a Halloween costume contest. Gabe stopped by with Pucks yesterday to hang out and the kids loved it.”

“I’m glad you got something set up so quickly. Meredith is awesome. And the boys love dressing up for kids. They do quite a few hospital visits a year and somehow always manage to either be in costume or wearing festive headbands or something. Anything to get those kids smiling.”

“That’s so sweet.” I loved seeing these big, strong men have softer sides. Over the years, I’d come to realize that charity work was a big part of these professional sports teams, and I had more than one memory of my dad bitching about doing them when I was a kid.

“Thinking of those sick kids makes me sad, too,” Cora said.

“What?” I recovered quickly. “Oh, yes, it’s just awful.” I hadn’t been thinking about the kids, but she must’ve read something in my expression when I’d thought about my father.

I shoved his image aside and focused back on the ice, just in time to see Gabe really start stretching out.

“Damn, he’s flexible,” I muttered.

Cora laughed and my cheeks heated.

Guess I hadn’t kept my voice low enough.

TUCKS

I wouldn’t say I was nervous about tonight’s game, but I was apprehensive.

Facing the Blizzard again and not knowing if Jenzy was going to try and start up shit was irritating.

He hadn’t been much of a nuisance aside from a few comments on any post I put up with Dani in it.

Of course I had zero plans to ask Dani if she thought we still needed our ruse.

Hell, at this point, it wasn’t a ruse to me.

I figured I should just try to keep her in my bed—or hers—until she realized she never wanted to leave.

Waking up with her this morning was exactly what I wanted every day. I just had to convince her of that, but I was treading carefully.

“Hey, earth to Tucks,” Micah said, nudging my leg pad with his stick.

“What?” I looked up to see him standing in front of me and my teammates starting to file out of the room.

“Want to join us?”

I popped up. “Like you could do it without me.”

“Where the hell were you? I know goalies can get away with looking like they’re in their own little world, but did you even hear any of Tally’s pep talk?”

“Of course I did. I can multitask. It might’ve looked like I wasn’t paying attention, but I heard it all.”

“Sure, whatever. You gonna be good tonight? I saw Jenzy try to knock into you before we left the ice.”

“He’s such a damn child. Kinda hoping he would’ve lost his footing when I stepped out of the way at the last second.”

Micah chuckled. “We all were. At least he will be at the other end of the ice. Fuck, I wish I could trip him or something.”

“Don’t touch—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

“—the goalie.”