Page 24 of On Thin Ice (Calgary Mounties #1)
Chapter Twenty-Three
I BET IT WAS HOT
Adele
When I join Claire and Diana in the family box at the arena, Kylie raises an eyebrow. She’d only returned from her trip a few hours earlier, but from the wary expression on her face, I can tell she’s spoken to Seth about last night.
“I’ll be back in a sec,” I say to Claire before grabbing my cousin’s hand and dragging her back outside.
“What’s going on with you and Lincoln? Seth said you guys were acting all lovey-dovey last night at dinner,” she says, not even bothering with the pleasantries.
“So… He kind of let his mom and sister think we were dating.”
“But he told you he wasn’t going to lie to his family?” The confusion on her face is almost comical as she tries to work out what’s going on.
I nod. “I know, and I called him out on that after he let them talk me into staying at his place last night.”
Her eyebrows fly up until I can no longer see them beneath her bangs. “You stayed at his place?”
Crap… Seth must have left that part out.
I let out a puff of air. “Yeah…” Kylie stares at me, apparently sp eechless. “Where your brain is at right now was where I was about twenty hours ago.”
She scans my face. “So… Are you guys, like… What are you guys?”
I shrug. “Um… well, we’ve kind of agreed on a friends-with-benefits kind of deal.”
Her eyes bulge out of her head. “What?! Last time I checked, you two hadn’t even kissed, other than that time in front of the whole team, which I totally do not count.”
I grimace. “Okay, so don’t freak out, but…” I bite my lip, wondering if I’m about to make a mistake in opening my mouth, but I need to talk to someone about all of these confusing feelings I’ve been having.
Kylie narrows her eyes. “What is it?”
I sigh. “So… you know how I slept on Lincoln’s couch that night in Tahiti?”
“Yeah?” she says, stretching out the word while rolling her hands to tell me to hurry up.
“I didn’t actually sleep on the couch. And there wasn’t a huge amount of sleep happening…”
“But… you’d just broken up with Ben?!” Her voice has risen, and I have to shoosh her when a few of the other WAGs glance our way while they walk by on their way into the box. She lowers her voice to a whisper. “Are you telling me you slept with Lincoln at our wedding?”
I swallow hard. “In our defence, we were very, very drunk and regretted it when we woke up.” She smirks, and I know she’s thinking of all the ways she can use this to her advantage to torture Lincoln for all the times he’s given her and Seth a hard time.
“We avoided each other for three months, and then you suggested the whole fake dating thing… I mean, he hasn’t admitted it, but I’ve caught him checking me out so many times since then, and I’ve been having flashes of remembering wh at happened that night, and it was…
” I don’t quite know how to put my feelings into words.
“Hot. I bet it was hot.” Her smile is playful, and I let out a breath, relieved that she doesn’t seem to be fixating on how shitty it was of me to jump straight into bed with my ex’s friend on the same night we broke up.
“Yeah… yeah it was.”
She shakes her head. “This is wild. So, this is really happening?”
“Kind of? We haven’t really discussed how this is going to work, but… well, we kind of fooled around in bed this morning before he got up and made breakfast for us all.”
She laughs. “And from how red your face has just gone, I’m going to assume that it was very, very satisfying for you?”
Coughing, I look away, unable to meet her gaze. “Maybe.”
She cackles, clapping her hands together. “This is too good. I’m going to have so much fun with this, you realize that, right? All the times Lincoln and you have given Seth and me a hard time when you’ve shown up unannounced while we’re trying to get it on.”
Looking up at the ceiling, I shake my head before bringing my gaze back to hers. “I didn’t tell you this so you could use it against me.”
“No, but it’s part of the cousin slash best friend deal.” She gives me a cheesy grin, before nodding back towards the door, pausing to turn back to me. “So, I’m meant to make this seem like you guys have been together for a few months when I’m talking to Claire and Diana, right?”
“Yeah. I haven’t outright lied, but Claire is very, very excited that Linc seems to be ready to settle down, so she’s kind of just rolled with it all. Diana seems a little more suspicious.”
Kylie shakes her head again. “This is all just so bizarre. I never thought I’d see the day when Lincoln admitted he had feelings for you.”
I cock my head to the side as I study her face. “What’s that supposed to mean? He doesn’t have feelings for me. It’s just sex.”
She rolls her eyes. “He’s clearly had a thing for you for years. I don’t think he ever admitted it to himself, because of you being with Ben and his whole ‘I don’t date’ bullshit, but I’ve seen it.”
This is all news to me, and I stare at her, mouth open, while I try to process her words.
I’m still silently freaking out when Claire sticks her head out of the door. “Game’s about to start, girls.”
Kylie gives me a small smile before heading inside, leaving me to follow while I try to reconcile her words with every interaction I’ve had with Lincoln in the last four years.
It turns out Mama Claire is a blood thirsty hockey mom. We’re only halfway through the first period and she’s declared war on several Detroit players for so much as breathing near Lincoln or Seth. It’s hilarious, and also a little scary.
“Come on, ref, that was hooking! Open your eyes!” she half yells as Lincoln turns to shove Sean Campbell, the Detroit centre, aside after he caught him with the end of his stick and yanked backwards.
My heart rate picks up when Campbell goes at Lincoln, who just laughs in his face, shaking his head. There’s just something about cocky hockey players… And this one… This one is all mine. Well, kind of.
I have to admit, I’ve always enjoyed the fights on the ice, but now that one of the players is my… whatever… I just pray that his pretty face stays intact .
Seth inserts himself between the two, and the ref finally blows the whistle, declaring a penalty on Campbell for hooking.
“Yeah, that’s right. Get in the box, you little brat,” Claire says, and it’s honestly hard to keep from laughing when this normally very sweet and calm lady turns full mama bear.
Once the first period finishes, the TV in the back of the room flicks over to the intermission discussion from the team reporters out on the mezzanine level.
Colin’s obnoxious face flashes on the screen as he discusses the lack of goals during the power play, and I growl under my breath.
Claire glances towards the TV before looking back at me. “What’s wrong, honey?”
I jerk my head towards the screen. “That guy is just a douche, that’s all.”
“That’s the reporter who was being rude to Linc the other day, right?” Diana asks from beside Claire.
She’s been mostly quiet throughout the game, but I see the dangerous glint in her eye as she glares at the smarmy asshole on the TV.
“Yep, that’s him,” Kylie replies for me.
“Oh. Well, he can just get in the bin, then,” Claire says, her eyes flashing.
Choking on a laugh, I put my arm around her and give her a squeeze. “I agree, Mama Claire.”
She turns to smile at me, patting my knee.
“I’m so glad my son has you, beautiful girl.
He’s spent too many years avoiding his happiness with crappy flings like that one that caused all these problems,” she says, glaring at the screen.
“Between those two and that awful entertainment reporter, I’d really begun to worry he was just going to swear off love for life.
But I can see how happy you both are together. ”
I don’t know how to respond to that, so I just smile and nod while Kylie looks away, hiding her laugh behind a cough .
The rest of the game flies by. In the last minutes of the third period, we’re all sitting on the edge of our seats when the score is tied.
“Look at Seth!” Diana screams, pointing towards where Seth is streaking down the ice with the puck on a breakaway.
Lincoln takes off after him, keeping the Detroit players from getting any closer to his friend as he takes a swing at the puck. It ricochets off the post and we all groan, but Lincoln is suddenly there, smacking it back to sail over the goalie’s shoulder, where it bounces off the back of the net.
I jump to my feet and smack the glass. “Yes! Go baby!”
The others all whoop and cheer around me, but I’m too busy locking eyes with the blond hockey player who is pointing at me with a grin.
It’s like everyone else around us has disappeared, and I can’t keep the stupid grin off my face as I kiss my fingers and hold them up to the glass.
He taps his glove to his chest just as Riley and Seth smash into him, cheering, and breaking the spell that I’d been under.
“You’re so gone for that man,” Kylie murmurs beside me, shaking her head.
Opening my mouth to protest, I clamp it shut again as I ponder her words. I refuse to acknowledge that there might be something more on my side. I told Lincoln he wasn’t allowed to fall in love with me.
I just hadn’t considered that I needed to have that same conversation with myself.