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

As we settled into our respective seats, I set my notebook aside and let Ryder talk. This was where my focus had to be every day. Helping kids and their families.

As stressful as my job was, I truly loved it, even when I hated it.

TUCKS

I drummed my fingers on the table at Sugar on Top that Friday afternoon.

Dani had texted that she was running five minutes late, so I’d already grabbed her a few of my favorite treats, having told Anna that I was just meeting someone here.

The fewer people who knew what was up, the better.

If it all worked out, I’d probably end up cluing Dom and Micah in since they were there for my altercation with Jenzy and I’d already given them a few details.

To anyone else who asked since the altercation, I’d just said Jenzy was running his mouth and it was nothing.

And if Dom and Micah knew, then Ally and Josie did, which meant Harper would end up finding out.

Not that I was really concerned—my boys always had my back—but the more people who knew, the higher chance of someone outing us.

Of course, I wasn’t going to tell Dani that.

I knew she was already on the fence with everything.

The bell over the front door rang and Dani walked in, glancing around the bakery before spotting me.

Her smile was tight, but I wasn’t about to take offense to that.

She had every right to be prickly and upset with the turn of events.

I wasn’t mad that I shot Jenzy down, but I had to admit I could have been smarter about it.

Then again, nobody said hockey players were nuanced.

That prick needed to be put in his place for talking about Dani like he could easily just have her back, like she was some sort of fucking trophy. Misogynistic dick.

Even with her not beaming at me, she was gorgeous, with wavy auburn hair that fell past her shoulders and full lips that I was on board with kissing again.

I shifted in my seat. I even liked her snarky comebacks.

Was it weird that I wanted to tease her just to see those beautiful green eyes glare at me?

I chuckled.

Probably.

But I was a goalie and we were weird, so it tracked.

“Hey, sorry I’m late,” she said when she got close to me. “I’m just going to grab a coffee. Need anything?”

“Nope, I’m good. And I got snacks to share.” I smiled and lifted a plate that held a few of my favorite cookies and treats.

“Okay, thanks.” She walked up to the counter to place her order and waited for the barista to finish her drink.

Less than a minute later, she was back and sat down at the seat across from me, an iced coffee in hand. “That’s a lot of sweets.” She nodded to the plate.

“Coach would kill me if I ate the whole plate, so you have to help.” I gave her a wink, and her eyes widened as she took her first sip.

“They have the best coffee here,” she said.

“And cookies. The iced snickerdoodle is my favorite.”

Her smile was friendlier than before. “Seriously? That’s my favorite, too. I grabbed one yesterday on the way to work.”

“See? We’re clearly meant for each other,” I joked.

Having just taken another sip, she sputtered and then coughed.

Shit. Why had I said that? It made no sense.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

“And I just meant that we have similar tastes so we should be friends. Then it’ll be easy to fake date.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Based on a cookie preference?”

“I just want to make this painless as possible.”

“Ouch. Okay.”

“I didn’t mean that for me, I meant for you. Can we start over?”

“Okaaay,” she drew out.

Wow. I was acting stellar over here.

“Hi. I’m Gabe Tucker, and we like the same cookies, so I think we could be friends. And I would love to help you show your ex that you’re not going back to him by fake dating you if that works for you since he seems to be a stupid asshole.” I paused. “Better?”

“Uh, not really.”

But her lips tilted up in very small smile, so I was taking that as progress.

“This is never going to work,” she added.

Okay, maybe just a smidge of progress.

“It will. We go out a few times, post a picture online here and there, and fizzle it out in a month or two. Plus, the season is just starting, so he’ll be in Colorado Springs anyway. Yeah, it’s not far from here, but he’s not actually in Denver, right?”

“I guess. But what is the actual plan? Like, how many dates would it be and how long do we have to do this?” I pushed the plate of food toward her. She broke off a piece of an iced snickerdoodle and popped it into her mouth. “Sorry, it was eying me.”

I chuckled. “It’s all yours. I can grab another.”

“I’m not stealing your cookies.”

“I wasn’t really planning to eat a full plate of baked goods. I got them all for us to share. And to answer your questions, we can play it by ear. Although I think we should do a picture today, for sure.” I looked at the plate. “Yeah, with the cookie. It’ll be great.”

She eyed me warily again as I scooted my chair next to hers and leaned in, holding my phone in front of us.

“What are you doing?”

“Pretend you like me. Smile and hold up that cookie.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “What? That’s dumb.”

“Nah, people will love it.”

“Except that I haven’t agreed to dating you yet.” She frowned. “Fake dating.”

“I want to snap it before we finish the cookie.” She really must not be big into social media. Everyone knew you had to take the picture or it never happened.

“This is ridiculous,” she muttered.

“Come on. It’ll be quick and painless.”

“Just because you keep saying painless doesn’t make it so,” she fired back.

I tamped down my grin, not wanting to piss her off.

She sighed. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

Leaning back, she picked up the cookie while I adjusted the phone to get the best snap.

“Okay. Now, smile like you love me.”

Her lips tweaked. “I love this cookie.”

“Good enough.”

Her eyes brightened and the grin that came out was a punch to my gut. I wanted to make her smile like that for real. Quickly, I took a few shots and shifted away.

She smelled incredible. And it had nothing to do with the treats between us.

“Does it look okay?” She peered over my arm as I scanned through the pictures, then pointed. “That one’s the best.”

“We need a caption that’ll get attention. Maybe ‘my girlfriend has the best taste… in cookies.’” I waggled my eyebrows.

She snorted.

I met her gaze. “What? It’s cute.”

“And kinda cheesy. Plus, girlfriend? Aren’t we just casually dating?”

“Fine. How about ‘iced snickerdoodles are the best’? That way, people will wonder if we’re together. Adds a little mystery. You have to post it on your socials, too.”

“I still haven’t agreed to this,” she muttered.

“Trust me, this won’t be such a big deal. People casually date all the time, and it doesn’t have to mean anything more than that. You want your ex to acknowledge you’ve moved on but words aren’t working. Maybe pictures will.”

“I know. It’s just…” She took another bite of the cookie rather than finish the sentence.

“Just what?” I was starting to get frustrated; I just didn’t get it. This was a simple solution, and it’s not like I was that awful to hang out with. At least, I hadn’t gotten any complaints before.

“I hate the attention.”

“You kissed me first.”

“And you implied that we wake up in bed together every morning,” she pointed out.

“Okay, fair point. He riled me up, but I shouldn’t have reacted like I did.

I know that the last guy you dated being a hockey player and me also being one isn’t great, and you can’t even believe how sorry I am about what I said to him, but honestly, I’m a nice guy otherwise.

I don’t have ulterior motives. My friends and family all love me if you want some character references or something. ”

She chuckled. “No, I’ll take your word on it. But why are you so determined to help me? For the record, I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“Like I said before, I don’t expect anything from you. I’m just trying to make it up to you since I made this messier. Please, just let me help you get Jensen to leave you alone for good.”

I’d never tried so hard to convince someone to hang out with me. I was a gem of a guy, dammit.

“Okay, fine, let’s do this. A few dates and I’ll go to a game or two.”

I grinned. “I’ll get you my jersey. Hey, maybe you can come to our last preseason game Sunday night.”

“Maybe. Do I have to wear it?”

“You going to fight me on everything?”

“No.” But there was that twinkle in her eyes again. She liked pushing my buttons.

“You’re going to have to kiss me when we’re out,” I said, taunting her right back.

“Hmm. I guess.”

“We should practice.”

Her lips parted. Was she thinking about our last kiss? Had she thought about it as much as I had in the last few days?

“I think we already proved we can kiss.” She squirmed slightly in her seat, and I would have given anything to taste her lips at that moment.

“Thinking about it?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“What? No. Okay, yes.” She took another bite of her cookie and I kept my smirk on the inside.

“Don’t be annoying,” she muttered after she took a drink of her coffee.

“It’s one of my finer qualities.” This time I did smirk. “I’m kidding.”

“Just for that, I’m not saving any of this cookie for you.”

“I wasn’t even going to ask for a bite.”

She sighed. “Look, I know I’m being testy, but I guess thanks for doing this. I mean, you seem nice and not a dick.”

“Glad you noticed. But speaking of, has he tried to contact you at all? He wouldn’t show up at your office, would he? I can get you a picture of me for your desk if that’d help.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m good. And no, I haven’t heard from him. I did block him everywhere, and luckily he hasn’t shown up in person. Maybe he’s moved on and we don’t have to do this.”

“Let’s just post this picture and spend some time together, then see what happens, okay? You know, just in case.” I was committed to this idea, and I wanted to help get Dani out of this mess with Jenzy. A mess that I hadn’t fixed at all when I ran my mouth.

“Fine.”

“Great. I just posted the pic on Instagram and sent it to you,” I said just as her phone pinged with my text.

“What’d you say?” She opened up the app and searched for me. “Okay, that’s not bad. You already have a bunch of hearts and comments. Shit, that was like seconds ago.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t already follow me. Such a terrible fake girlfriend.”

She glared and poked at her screen. “Very funny. There. I liked you now.”

“And I’m sort of popular online. Not like some of the guys, but people like my goalie antics.”

She started swiping at her screen. “Whoa. You’re very bendy.”

“Why, thank you. Wait. Which picture?”

She showed me the shot of me bent in half with the top of my helmet touching the ice.

“Oh, yeah. Goalies have to be super flexible.”

Was she blushing thinking about my dexterity? This was going to be fun.