Page 11 of Clear Shot

She wrinkles her nose. “No. Definitely not. If I’m going to do this, I would want it to be with you.”

I don’t respond, letting her get whatever it is off her chest.

“But if we’re married…it’s inevitable we’re going to sleep together.”

Oh, yeah.

“And that makes things messy. Because once we’re intimate, there’s no going back to being just friends. And then when we divorce…”

“I know.”

“That’s why we opted to stay just friends, because we both know there’s a spark. I don’t know how to unlight that match once it's lit.”

“I’ve thought about the same things, but it boils down to how much you want to stay.”

“More than anything.” Her eyes meet mine. “I really don’t want to go back, Aiden.”

“Then let’s get married tomorrow.” I reach out a hand but wait for her to put hers in it.

She looks at it for what feels like a decade.

Then, ever so slowly, as if she needs to use every last second to make her final decision, she slips her hand into mine.

“Okay.”

“I’ll call Coach and tell him the situation so I can skip practice.”

“You don’t have to?—”

“Ido,” I interject firmly. “We’re getting married. We have to go ring shopping.”

“I don’t need an engagement ring,” she says quickly.

“You do. You can’t marry an NHL player without a ring. It’s expected. If I don’t get you one, everyone will know something is off.”

“Oh. I guess that’s true.”

“I’ll pick you up early and we’ll go to my attorney’s office. If you want, you can get another attorney in the firm to read it on your behalf and?—”

“No.” She shakes her head. “I trust you.”

Why does that make me feel good?

“All right. Then we’ll go buy rings and head to the courthouse.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“We don’t have time to fuck around,” I say with a shrug. “We can panic once it’s done.”

She frowns and then looks down at our linked hands.

“I’m in. But I have one question before we do this.”

“Shoot.”

“What’s in this for you? And don’t give me any bullshit about how you know it’s important to me. You’re marrying me, Aiden,and we both know that even though it’s not a love match, there’s friendship, chemistry, and attraction there. So I get to stay in the US? What do you get?”

I get you.