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A special kiss cam

Callie

The air was cool, smelling of ice. Did ice have a smell? I thought so. Excitement vibrated through the people in the arena, the crowd still a little sparse as the players spilled onto the ice for their warming up routine.

My first hockey game, and we were here early enough for warm-ups.

A couple of rows over, I saw one of the guys from the team—Ducky, who’d been at the driving range. He was sitting in the stands, not wearing his hockey uniform, with a woman sitting beside him. He waved, so I waved back.

“Why is one of the players sitting in the stands?” I asked Darcy. He was keeping me company on my first foray into live sportsball. He’d been fully Team Cooper since we started…dating? Two weeks ago. That sounded kind of high school. We were in a relationship. Where we were exclusive and had sex and where I agreed to come to the first hockey game of the season, wearing a Cooper 57 jersey.

One Cooper provided for me and signed. Conspicuously. Enough so that three people had already asked me about it. Darcy had a jersey too, but his didn’t have the big autograph. When anyone asked about mine, he just giggled.

“Where?” Darcy asked.

“Up two rows and about ten seats over. Ducky.”

Darcy craned his neck. “I read that he’d injured his knee. He must be sitting out.”

“Is that his wife or girlfriend with him?”

“He’s single! He was one of the ones I hoped was on Team Closeted.”

“Maybe she’s just a friend.”

Darcy sighed. “Probably not. But you met him, right? We could ask him to sign my jersey?”

I’d rather do a tax audit, but I didn’t say so. I owed Darcy. And I was saved from answering when the crowd started to make noise as the players appeared on the ice.

Darcy fixed his attention on the players. “Do you see him?”

I peered, and yes, I saw Cooper. I ignored Darcy and for the first time watched my…boyfriend skate.

He was fast. They were all fast. They whipped around in some pattern that made sense to them but none to me, fortunately not hitting each other. Still, once I spotted him, my eyes followed Cooper. He spoke to a lot of the guys as they paused to do…stuff. It was easy to see he was respected by his teammates. Sure, he was the captain, but that was just a title. The way he acted… He was really a team leader.

Then he skated over to the glass near our seats, looking up and finding us easily. He beckoned, and Darcy pushed me out of my seat to walk down to where Cooper waited. By now there were more people, and some had gathered by the glass. Mostly kids, all excited to be near him.

He smiled at them, let them take pictures, but waved at me again and they parted enough for me to get down to the glass, feeling incredibly self-conscious.

He made a spin motion. I rolled my eyes but turned around so he could see that yes, I was wearing the jersey he gave me and hadn’t bought another one with someone else’s name on it.

He held his hands up to the glass, making a funnel around his mouth. “Second intermission—stay in your seat.”

I nodded, but was I going to be bored out of my mind by the second intermission? Darcy had refused to let me bring a book.

Everyone watched as I climbed up to my seat again, while Cooper went back to doing whatever stuff hockey players did before they all left the ice again.

The lights went down, and the players came back on. The visiting team first, from Ottawa, and then the Blaze. The arena was full by now and the crowd was loud for their favorites.

“And number 57, playing defense, your team captain, Cooper!”

Everyone cheered, including Darcy. I stood and applauded. I’d known Cooper was kind of a big deal. But here, now, with all these people screaming for him? He was really a big deal.

I didn’t let people in. But I’d let in this guy who was bigger than life, and losing him would destroy me.

The national anthem was sung, the lights went up, and the game finally started.

I really didn’t know the sport at all. I didn’t realize the players got on the ice, played for a few minutes, and then sat down on the team bench for a while. That meant Cooper wasn’t on the ice the whole time, but I watched him closely while he was.

They went so fast. And hit each other really hard. I flinched as some bulky Ottawa player smashed into Cooper. He shook it off, said something to the guy, and skated away again.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” I asked Darcy. Some other guys were skating now so I didn’t need to watch as obsessively.

“They wear pads, but yeah, it must. I hear they can get pretty bruised up in a game.”

“What?”

He shook his head at me. “They’re big boys and they play hard. And they get well paid for it. It’s part of his life.”

I apparently was missing essential information about being with an athlete. I hadn’t seen Cooper with bruises when we were together, but it hadn’t been hockey season. Would he be bruised up tonight? “They don’t mind?”

He looked at the ice. “Apparently not.”

Cooper jumped over the side back onto the ice along with some other players. He didn’t look upset, just focused on the game.

Huh. Maybe I’d thought he’d be shooting glances at me. Nope. Totally into the game.

After the first period, Ottawa had scored, and the Blaze had not. Darcy asked if I wanted to stretch my legs during the intermission, maybe get something to drink. We went out to the mezzanine where there were vendors, and just like at the movie theaters, the prices were inflated. It rubbed me wrong, but I still bought us beer because Darcy was here to keep me company and I wanted to thank him. Though, based on the way he was absorbed in the game, he didn’t mind being here at all.

We missed a couple of minutes of the second period by the time we were back in our seats. Not long after we returned, Ottawa scored, and the mood of the crowd deflated. Even more after another goal.

I didn’t have to know hockey to know this wasn’t good.

Then, a few minutes later, Cooper was on the ice and something happened—it was kind of a blur, and there was a loud noise and everyone around us stood and cheered.

“What happened?”

“Watch the Jumbotron.”

They replayed what ended up being a goal. They slowed it down so I could see it better.

“Cooper got the assist!” Darcy pointed out.

“Yay?”

Darcy nudged me. “Yes, yay.”

Then the crowd got to me. I found myself groaning when someone was pushed into the boards by another player, and sighing when Ottawa scored. I booed loudly before I realized what I was doing.

Darcy laughed at me. I poked him. “Don’t say anything.”

The game was going again before everyone sat down.

Intermittently everything stopped. We were in another of the commercial breaks Darcy had explained to me in the first period.

He sighed. “Something is wrong with the team.”

The guy sitting beside Darcy agreed with him.

Despite myself, I asked, “Why?”

“Ottawa was one of the lowest-ranked teams last season, and they didn’t do much to improve over the summer. The Blaze aren’t looking good against them. Maybe it’s just a hangover from that loss in the finals, but I hope they shake it off.”

Darcy’s new friend nodded. “They had a short offseason. Maybe they haven’t got what it takes. And losing, in overtime like that? Brutal.”

Not long after, the players all cleared the ice and the second intermission started. There were a couple of fans out to play some kind of game. I’d have chanced getting through the ladies room if Cooper hadn’t asked me to stay put. Darcy was talking with his new friend, and I didn’t want to intrude on their conversation. An announcement distracted me from my complaining bladder.

“And now, a special kiss cam you won’t want to miss.”

The kiss cam had been going on all night. Darcy and I had debated what to do if they put it on us. My suggestion had been walking out, while he thought he should kiss my hand or pretend to make out with me. I’d vetoed both ideas, so fortunately it hadn’t come up.

But suddenly the spotlight was on me. And before I could escape, someone was in the aisle by my seat.

I jerked my head around and forgot to breathe.

It was Cooper, bulked out with pads and skates, but no helmet. His hair was flat and sweaty and as messy as I’d ever seen it outside of when we’d been in bed together. He had a sexy grin on, dimples in full force, and his eyes were lit up—mischievous. He dropped to his knees and grabbed my chin with one hand.

“Ready to go public?”

All of my doubts pushed forward. “Are you sure? I’m not good at the hockey stuff.”

“I’m sure. I’ll handle my hockey, and you handle your law stuff. I just want you there while I do it.”

I drew in a breath. “Okay, then.”

He leaned over and pressed his lips to mine.

Those lips were lethal. His whole mouth was. I lost track of time and where we were till he pulled away.

His pupils were dilated and he was breathing fast. I was the same. The sounds of the arena around us rushed back in, loud and intrusive. Cheering? Why the hell would he kiss me like that here? I wanted to shove off his gear and?—

“Someone will bring you down after, okay? So I can see you when I’m done here.”

I nodded, a little short of the brainpower to make words. Then he was gone, and I realized we’d been on the kiss cam. Everyone in the building had seen that. We’d gone public, all right.

People commented around me until the start of the third period distracted them.

“Wow,” Darcy breathed in my ear. “I’m swooning over here.”

I let out a shaky breath.

I’d been claimed, publicly. And in return, I’d claimed Cooper as mine.

No one could predict the future. There were no guarantees. But for the first time, I was someone’s priority. He wanted the world to know we were together.

It wouldn’t be easy, I knew that. I sat up a little taller. A relationship would take work, and that was something I could do. I would work the hell out of this.

Cooper was on the ice again and I let a big smile escape. For once, I felt confident, saying in my head, Mine .