Page 12 of On Thin Ice (Calgary Mounties #1)

Chapter Eleven

BLOWING MY MIND

Lincoln

It’s my last day off before the season starts, and I’m at the arena.

I’m not entirely sure how this happened, but Sarah and Adele used their combined powers of persuasion, and now I’m skating around the rink while Adele films me batting a puck around with Milo.

My furry companion is absolutely loving all the attention he’s getting.

Which is good, because we’ve been at this for hours.

“How much more content do you need?” I ask, smacking the puck towards the net, shaking my head as Milo slides after it.

A few feet away, Adele follows his path with her phone held in front of her face, filming a video. She lowers the phone to inspect the screen for a moment before sliding it into her pocket and skating over gracefully.

I knew she’d played hockey a little as a kid, but I’ve never seen her skate before now, and I have to admit, it’s turning me on more than it should. It doesn’t help that she does everything gracefully, making it near impossible to look away from her.

“I think that should be enough. With everything I’ve filmed today, hopefully that will cover a few weeks of posts. Sarah is convinced Milo’s account is going to be a hit, but I have to post every day to build the followers.” She grimaces. “Something I never thought I’d care about before.”

“Are you sure you’ve got time for this?” I ask, leaning on my stick while I hold her gaze. “It’s going to be a lot of work, and I know you’re getting busier at work.”

She shrugs. “It’ll be okay. And besides, they are paying me, so that makes it even more fun.”

I snort. “Well, just remember to get them to throw in a few dog treats for the star over there. Can’t expect him to work for nothing.” I nod towards where Milo has rolled onto his back with the puck held between his paws above his face, staring at it with hearts in his eyes.

Whoever would have thought that a dog could love hockey so much?

Honestly, it’s going to be difficult to keep him off the ice tomorrow night when we play our first game at home.

Adele has agreed to bring him along so that Sarah can film some content for the official team page and will keep him in the family box during the game.

“Of course. I’ll be showering him with gifts.” Adele skates away backwards before doing a little twirl. “This is blowing my mind, by the way.”

I watch her with far more interest than I should be showing.

We’re alone out here, so no need to play the fake dating game, but the more time we spend together, the harder it is to remind myself about the fake part.

I’ve always been an affectionate person and have no problem sharing physical affection with friends, women and men alike.

But the urge to pull her close feels decidedly non-friend-like right now.

“What’s blowing your mind?” I ask, smiling as she skates in circles.

“Being on the ice here. I’ve been coming to games at this arena since before I can remember. But the closest I’ve ever been to the ice is that seat right there.” She points towards the seats right next to the home team bench.

The seats where I first laid eyes on her, sitting next to Ben and Kylie at the game that changed Seth and Kylie’s lives four years ago.

Thoughts of Ben pull me back to reality, and I grimace. Even though I know Ben has moved on, it’s only been a few months, and I have no idea how he’s going to react if he finds out about us.

When he finds out about us. Cause it’s only a matter of time before someone takes a photo of us together at one of our planned engagements. I’m sure I can expect a phone call from my old friend once that happens.

I shake off my anxiety and return to the conversation.

“I remember the first time I played in Vancouver after all the years of watching as a fan. It’s a pretty awesome feeling.”

She grins. “Well, I’m not playing, but it’s still pretty cool to be down here. Going to make it hard to just watch from the stands now.”

Getting an idea, I skate over to the team bench where I’d left a few hockey sticks to use as props. Grabbing one, I head back to meet her at centre ice and hand it to her.

She looks down at the stick before squinting back up at me. “What’s this for?”

“Let’s play.”

Her eyes widen. “What?”

I nod towards where Milo is still lounging around in front of the net. “We can play a little one on one with the goalie over there.”

A grin slowly crosses her face. “Really?”

“Yeah, come on.” I skate off, leading the way towards the net. “I’ll go easy on you.”

“You better not,” she replies, following behind. “I can take it.”

I wrestle the puck off Milo before turning back to face her. “You do remember I’m a professional hockey player, right? I don’t want to hurt you.”

The competitive gleam in her eye is almost terrifying as she lowers the stick to the ground and faces off against me. “Oh, it’s on O’Malley. Bring it.”

And it’s at this moment that I remember that I’m facing off against a hockey-mad Canadian woman who has no fear. Seth has no idea how lucky he is that his wife can barely even skate, cause I’m pretty sure Adele could actually take me on and win.

When I drop the puck on the ground between us, we both look down at it before I grin at her. “Come on, little darlin’. Let’s see what you got,” I drawl, barely containing my laughter when she growls at me.

She pushes me out of the way and takes off with the puck. Unable to contain myself any longer, I double over, laughing when she smacks it right into the net over Milo’s head and throws her hands in the air.

“Very good. But that doesn’t count. Two minutes for roughing,” I say as she skates back over to me with the puck in her hand.

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever, you’re just a sore loser.”

“Oh, them’s fighting words now.”

“Bring it, O’Malley. I’ll slam you into the boards like a pro.”

I slowly raise an eyebrow, unable to overlook the innuendo in her words. “Not if I take you there first.”

She blushes a little but doesn’t rise to the bait, simply dropping the puck and nodding towards it. “Go on. I’ll give you a head start.”

Shaking my head, I skate away, casually showing off my puck handling skills while I narrow in on the net.

Adele zooms past and turns to skate backwards in front of me, and I’m stunned when she steals it from me. Perhaps I’d actually underestimated her?

This time, Milo decides he wants the puck for himself and leaps into the air, catching it in his mouth as she tries to score a second goal.

“Yeah! Good dog!” I cheer, clapping my hands.

We spend the next half an hour or so playing together, and I’m truly taken aback by her skills. I’ve stopped going easy now, and while I’m not quite playing my hardest, I’ve definitely worked up more of a sweat than I thought I would.

Adele steals the puck off me just as I’m lining up a shot, streaking off across to the other side of the ice before I’ve even registered she was there. I race after her at full speed, and she shrieks when I come to an abrupt stop in front of her, showering her in ice.

“Show-off,” she mutters, brushing the ice shards off the front of her sweater.

Standing close, I grin down at her. “You love it.”

She licks her lower lip as her eyelashes flutter, and I’m distracted by the movement, my gaze drifting to her mouth.

A second later, I’m on my ass and she’s skating around me with the puck, smacking it into the net as soon as she’s clear. Milo has given up and just watches it slide past while he lies sprawled out beside the net.

She turns back to me, grinning while she skates back to stop beside me.

“I think I win,” she says, putting her hand out to help me up.

I take her outstretched hand, pulling her down on top of me with a smirk. She shrieks, landing on top of me, and I wrap my arms around her waist, holding her there.

“What are you doing?” she asks, squirming to get up, but I’m stronger and she accepts defeat after a moment, her hair falling over us both as it spills down over her shoulder.

“That was fun,” I say, pushing her hair back behind her ear.

“Yeah, it was.” She holds my gaze, and I have no idea how much time passes while we lie there, just staring into each other’s eyes.

Eventually, Milo comes to join in on the fun, pushing his nose between us and licking my face. I push him away, but the spell that was over us seems to have broken, and I let her go so she can get to her feet. I pop back up myself, and neither of us says anything while we pack the equipment up.

What was I thinking? Honestly, it’s like my subconscious forgets this is all just an act. I shouldn’t have pulled her down on top of me like that. It was too intimate. Too real…

And possibly something I want to do again.