Page 59

Fifty-Nine

SUNNY

I help lace Ellie’s skates and make sure her helmet is on straight before following the rest of the team’s families onto the ice. Some I recognize, and some I don’t. Scottie is already out there, flinging pucks at the net toward Emory, who continues to laugh with each one he catches.

“Okay, you’re gonna have to help me,” I say to Ellie. “I’ve never stepped foot on a rink before.”

“What?!” she shrieks.

I laugh and follow her onto the ice.

Naturally, being the child of a pro hockey player, she does just fine. She spins around once, and I try to mimic her. Except, I’m in shoes, and I have zero traction. My foot slips, and I instantly think about how this was an awful idea, considering I was in an accident two days ago.

“Have you lost your mind? If you fall…” Rhodes swoops me up a millisecond before I land on the hard ice. It’s unbelievable how often he catches me when I fall.

I try to hide my surprise and wrap my hands around his neck. “Are you a vampire?”

His eyebrows fold. He tries to hide his amusement, but I see the hint of humor on his lips. “What?”

“You’re so fast,” I explain. “You’re somehow always ready to catch me mid-fall, even when you’re not even paying attention. I’m going to start calling you Edward.”

He looks disgusted at the thought. “Please don’t.”

I’m surprised he knows what I’m referencing, and now that I know he doesn’t want me to call him that, I’m going to have to make a point to do it.

“That’s an upgrade from Oscar.”

He grunts.

When I realize he’s making no effort to put me down, I decide to press his buttons. “Put me down… Edward .”

A burly growl rumbles from his chest, and he tightens his arms around me. People are starting to look at us like we’re something that we’re not.

“For the record, I’m always paying attention to you,” he admits.

I roll my eyes. “You are not.”

He looks at me with his vibrant green eyes that look more like a dare than anything. “I’m watching you even when you think I’m not, Sunshine.”

He is?

“You better put me down,” I whisper. “Or else people are going to start thinking there’s something more to us than me being your daughter’s nanny.”

His jaw flexes. “Good.”

I stiffen. “What?”

“Then maybe my teammates will stop picturing you naked.”

I flatten my lips and glance toward Ellie, who is playing hockey with a couple other younger kids of guys on the team. Malaki, a kid himself, is in the middle of them, acting as the ref.

“They don’t do that,” I argue.

“Trust me, they do. They tell me.”

Rhodes slowly skates us over to the bench. He sits me down and then takes a seat beside me and grabs his water.

“Well, I guess kudos to you for being the only one who actually knows what I look like naked,” I joke.

He turns toward me and slants his head. His eyes darken, and there’s a sudden shift in the air.

“You shouldn’t say things like that while we’re in public.”

My heart falls when I look out onto the ice. He’s right.

“I don’t think anyone heard me,” Most of the kids are skating with the team, and the rest of the families are watching from the other end of the arena. “But you’re right.”

Talk about being a hypocrite. I just told him to put me down so no one thought anything and then I go and say that out loud?

Rhodes slips his gloves off one by one and places them on the other side of him. I sit back and watch Ellie playing with the other kids, laughing with Malaki as he blows a fake whistle for a made-up penalty.

“You took that the wrong way.”

I slowly turn and stare at the side of Rhodes’s sharp jaw. He keeps his focus pinned to the commotion on the ice, but I know he feels me looking. There’s a little bit of scruff on his high cheekbones that I remember feeling against my skin the other night, and I can’t stop staring at his flickering temple.

“How so?” I ask.

“I meant you shouldn’t say things like that while we’re in public, because now seeing you naked is the only thing I can think about.”

My lips open with surprise.

Rhodes snaps his attention to me, and the air sizzles.

I start to sweat when he stares at my mouth.

Oh my god. Is this all it takes? One glance and I’m burning for him?

He turns away with an exhale, and I do the same.

I do my best to focus on the rink, but when he scoots an inch closer, my heart leaps out of my chest.

If he touches me, I’m a goner.

I watch Ellie skate circles around the other kids. It’s a desperate attempt to distract myself so I stop wondering what’s happening with me and Rhodes, but then his body heat surrounds me.

My hands fall beside my legs so I can grip the bench. A shaky breath tumbles from my tight chest, and by the faint groan I hear from Rhodes, he hears it.

Kane starts playing with the kids, joining the losing team. He glances at us and stares for a beat too long. One quick nod in our direction, and Rhodes’s finger grazes mine.

Excitement rushes through me, as if I’ve never been touched before.

Each brush of his skin against mine leaves a fire behind.

I can’t breathe.

“What are you thinking about?” His voice is velvety. Smooth and silky against my skin.

I continue to stare at the ice, but I can’t see a single thing. “I’m thinking that what you do to me isn’t normal.” My breaths are ragged, and my heart beats so hard it hurts.

He laces our fingers together. The grip is heavy and grounding, yet I’m floating.

I turn with the sound of his heavy inhale, and our gazes clash. “You told me to be the rational one.”

He nods. “I did.”

“Which isn’t hard for me to do. I’ve been making rational decisions all my life,” I say.

His throat bobs with a slow swallow.

My teeth sink into my lip, and it draws his attention. “But what if I don’t want to be rational when it comes to you?”

There’s a wild look in his eye. My heart leaps when he pulls me to my feet.

The rink disappears at our backs as he pulls me down the long hallway leading to the locker rooms.

“Rhodes!” I exclaim. “What are you?—”

He seals his mouth against mine.

It’s an intense kiss and one that erases reality.

Rhodes is hungry, and I willingly open up to feed him. His hands dive beneath my sweater, and a shiver runs through me.

“I love it when you do that,” he groans.

He goes right back to kissing me with force, and I match every last stroke of his tongue.

Someone could walk down the hall at any given second.

Ellie could come searching, wondering where we disappeared to.

“Rhodes,” I murmur.

His finger fiddles with the button of my jeans, but he pauses and peers down at me with worried eyes. “You want me to stop?”

I glance behind me. “Well, no, but what if someone sees?—”

He silences me by pulling me farther around the break in the hall. “Kane is keeping watch.”

What? He is?

Rhodes, in his practice gear, seeming so much bigger than without it, pushes me against the wall while keeping a hold of my hips. “Can I keep going now?” His tongue slips from his mouth, and he wets his lips.

Unable to deny him, I grab onto his jersey and pull him in fast. He watches me with a held breath and so much hope in his eyes. “Yes.” I embrace the thrill of him taking me like this, right here. “And don’t stop.”