Page 12

Chloe

The beginning of the week flies by, and things go back to pretty much normal for me.

That all comes to a screeching halt on Thursday morning.

I leave my house a little before six in the morning to get to the private airfield on time.

The flight leaves at seven-thirty sharp, and I don’t want to be late.

I park and grab my overnight bag, laptop bag, and purse.

I’ve learned how to pack pretty light for these trips.

When I turn back around, I startle.

“Coftman, you scared me.”

“Sorry. I just wanted to get this to you before you get on the bus.”

He hands me a small black box.

“Oh. Thank you.” I glance around to make sure nobody’s watching, but his body blocks me from view of the plane.

When I open it, I stare at it.

“Are those...”

“Hockey sticks,” he says quietly.

I breathe out a laugh.

“Oh my word. It’s gorgeous.” The band is white gold with a fairly large diamond in the center nestled between two smaller diamonds on its side.

But it’s what’s on the outside of the diamonds that catches my eye.

Two small hockey sticks cross each other, somehow still making the ring look elegant.

“It’s,” I blow out a breath.

“It’s beautiful. I didn’t see anything like this when we were there.”

“I told him that you love hockey, and he came up with this.”

My stomach tightens.

“You had this custom-made; it must have cost a fortune.” I close the lid and try to shove it back at him.

“I can’t wear that.”

He opens the box and takes out the ring.

“Try it on.”

“I can’t; it’s way too expensive. Let’s just get a fake one.”

“Chloe.” I look up at him.

“You’re dating a professional hockey player; the ring has to match that. They will take pictures. Somebody’s going to know if it’s fake.” He holds out the ring.

“Try it on to see if it fits or if it needs to be resized.” I shake my head.

“Come on, Chloe. I need you to wear this. We have a long way to convince anybody that this is real; a ring is just the start.”

I reluctantly hold out my hand, and he drops the ring into it.

I slide it carefully onto my left hand.

I hold my hand out in front of me.

“It fits,” I point out the obvious.

Gunner looks down at it.

“It looks good on you.”

“What if I lose it?”

“Don’t take it off.”

“Wait. Not when like I wash dishes or take a shower?”

He meets my eyes.

“Don’t take it off. Then you won’t lose it.”

“Yeah, okay.” I slowly blow out the breath in my lungs.

“Okay. This just got a whole lot more real, right?”

He nods solemnly.

“We’re about to go right into the deep end with this trip.”

I open and close my fist, watching the ring as I do.

“I know.”

“Chloe, when we step on that plane, it needs to be as a couple.” He leans down until he’s eye to eye with me.

“I’m going to need to touch you, tease with you, and somehow pull off that we’re a couple. There are going to be a lot of eyes on us both on the plane and at the game. So just go with whatever I do, okay?”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” I ask.

He’s still staring into my eyes.

“Whatever I need to, to convince everybody that this is real.” I don’t get a chance to even think of a response.

He takes my bag and laptop bag from me and throws them over his shoulder and then puts his hand out.

I frown in confusion.

“I can carry my purse.”

“Your hand.”

Oh.

I stare up at him a moment and then remind myself that I’m a professional.

I put my hand out, and he wraps his big hand around mine far gentler than I thought possible.

“Ready?” he asks in a low voice.

I nod because I can’t seem to find my voice.

And then suddenly, we’re walking towards the plane.

.

.

hand-in-hand.

I refuse to think; I just force myself to keep my stride even, so I don’t trip in my heels.

When we get to the plane, Gunner hands my overnight bag to one of the guys helping load up.

He doesn’t give them my laptop bag thankfully.

Then he walks towards the stairs, keeping my hand in his.

When we get to the stairs, Coach comes down and glances between us.

“You two need to sell this thing. We need the media off Gunner’s back, so he can actually focus on hockey.” I nod.

“Chloe, you get that change-up I sent over this morning?” I blink at the change in conversation.

“Yes, I saw it this morning. I’ll make sure the media has it before game time.”

“Thanks.” He looks behind us.

“Let's go, Hart. Look alive.” He moves away from us, and Gunner pulls me towards the stairs. He keeps his hold on my hand as we walk up the steps and into the plane. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that we’re one of the first few on board. Gunner stops at his usual seat.

“I know you like the window seat,” he says, stepping aside.

“Oh, I’m fine. You take it.” I know the bigger guys don’t like being in the aisles because their knees get knocked around.

“It will be easier if you’re on the inside.”

“Fine.” I step into the window seat and put my purse under my seat and pull the tray down for my laptop. I open my laptop and pull out my headphones, so I can get to work. Gunner eases into the seat next to me a moment later, and I’m reminded that I usually sit by myself on these flights.

A shadow falls across us just as a familiar voice sounds. “Ooo, isn’t this nice and cozy? Hey Cap. Chloe.”

I turn to Sebastian and resist the urge to sigh. “Hey, Hart.”

Aiden shoves him forward and barely nods in our direction. Each of the guys that come through after that stop to talk to Gunner, but most of them don’t pay much attention to me. When I finish what I need to on my laptop, I turn to my phone. I start into the social media accounts for the team and make a note of what videos and photos I need to get on this trip. I do a quick search and see that Jenny and Gunner are still making headlines. I turn on the camera on my phone and turn to Gunner. He tugs out his headphones as soon as I tap on his arm. “Hey, we need to put a pic on your socials, so we can at least start things rolling.” I put my phone up and lean closer to him. “Ready?” I smile and snap our pic and then look at it. “Ooo, that was terrible. Could you act like you sort of like me?”

“I do like you,” he says close to my ear as I try to position myself closer to him. We finally get one that’s not terrible.

“Okay. I’m sending you that one now, so you can post it to your socials. I’ll post it to mine as well, just in case people check.”

I post it with a little bit of blurb that I hope doesn’t sound as fake as it feels. “I hired a private photographer to do engagement photos for us.”

I turn to Gunner in surprise. “Oh, that’s a good idea. When?”

“She sent back dates and times. What works for you?” He hands me his phone.

I check the available times. “I can do Sunday if we do it early because I need to go to Grandma May’s after that.”

“That works for me too.”

“What do we wear?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “Whatever we want.”

“We need to coordinate somehow.” I think through the engagement photos I’ve seen of the other guys on the team. “How about a Green Thunder one and then a dressy one?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll figure out what in the world I’m going to wear, and then I’ll let you know. Or maybe we can just raid your closet when I get there.”

I know he has good dressy outfits from the events he has to attend. “You should wear the red dress you wore at the gala.”

I turn to him. “What?”

He looks me in the eye. “You should wear that red dress you wore at the last gala.”

“How do you remember what I wore to an event months ago? I don’t even remember.”

He’s quiet a moment. “I just remember.”

“Okay,” I find myself agreeing. “Do you have a red tie that would match?” He nods. “Okay, you can wear your black suit and black or white dress shirt with a red tie, and I’ll wear my red dress. Perfect.”

The rest of the flight passes quickly, and then it’s time to get off and load up on the buses that will take us to the hotels. I snap a few pics of the guys but mostly stay out of the way as we get the entire team and staff switched over. Once we’re on the road, it’s only a short drive to the hotel. Last-minute instructions are given and then we all head inside for room assignments. I wait as Gunner is given his key card and room assignment and then put out my hand for mine. Gunner suddenly slips his hand into mine and pulls me away. I look up at him and frown. “What are—”

He shakes his head and tugs me forward. “You’re in my room,” he says in a low voice.

It hits me then. We're engaged, supposedly; we’re going to have to share a room every time we’re on the road. My stomach starts to hurt. “Do you think there will be two beds?

” I ask softly.

He gives me a look, and I feel my hope sinking.

When we get to the door, he opens it and steps inside first.

I follow him and take in the king-size bed.

The only bed.

“ Well, at least it’s a big bed.”

He cuts me a look.

“I’m not going to make you sleep in bed with me, Chloe. I’ll take the floor.”

I laugh.

“Yeah right, and have Coach Seers and the rest of the team kill me when their captain doesn’t play well because he slept on the hard floor all night. No thanks. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“You’re not sleeping on the floor, Chloe,” he says calmly.

“If you won’t let me sleep on the floor, then we’ll just share the bed.”

I stare at the bed.

“Okay. Yeah, we’re both adults. Fair warning, though. I really didn’t think this through. I might have to borrow a t-shirt of yours to sleep in.”

He smirks at me.

“What? Do you sleep naked at night?”

I feel my face heat a thousand degrees.

“No, I don’t sleep naked at night,” I say indignantly.

What I don’t share is that one of the things I indulge myself with is beautiful night clothes for sleeping in.

I’m drawn to beautiful colors and soft, silky materials and have quite the collection of nightgowns, silk shorts and shirt sets, and pant sets.

I also don’t like heavy materials when I sleep, and the silk on my skin doesn’t irritate me like sleeping in cotton does.

I try and fail to remember what I might have packed for this trip.

I can only hope it’s not something terribly inappropriate for spending the night with Gunner.

I quickly unpack and put my things away and then sit at the desk with my laptop.

“The guys are heading over now for dinner. Are you ready to go now or did you want to wait?”

“I’m good,” I tell him and shut my laptop.