Page 20 of You’re The One (Saints Hockey #2)

NINETEEN

Summer, River, Emma, and Victoria are all gathered around the breakfast nook, sipping coffee and picking at their breakfast. There are eight of us left now, but the five of us have formed the closest bond.

I’m back later than usual and feel like I’ve been caught sneaking in after curfew. Luckily, the crew hasn’t shown up yet.

“Where were you?” River asks without preamble.

“Oh, I just took a walk.”

“You rebel, you,” Victoria singsongs.

“Want coffee?” Summer offers, holding up the pot like it’s sacred. One of the many reasons she’s my ride-or-die in this house.

“I—” I catch myself. Saying no would raise questions. “Yeah. Thanks.” I smile as she pours, even though I know this will probably make my already frayed nerves worse.

“I didn’t realize you were still walking in the mornings.” Summer raises an eyebrow. She’s the only one who’s caught me. I probably shouldn’t have let it slip that it was with Dominic, but I trust her. Even if she’s figured out it’s become a daily thing.

“This is a regular thing? I hadn’t noticed,” River says. “You must be like a mouse.”

“Pretty much.”

“I’m just glad you don’t wake me up,” Victoria mumbles. “You do not want to see me before eight a.m. Only filming makes that borderline acceptable… Still offensive, but, you know. No choice.”

“If you ever want company…” Emma adds softly.

I smile back, but don’t commit. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll let you know.”

I take a sip of the bean-water and immediately miss the coffee shop. And not just for the quality caffeine. If it weren’t for my morning walks with Dom, I’m certain I would’ve already spiraled. As it is, I’m teetering on the edge.

“You know, I kind of like the alone time,” I explain. Which is true enough.

“I get that.” Emma nods. “I feel like I’m gonna need a whole year to recharge my social battery after this.” She takes a bite of toast, then adds with a faint smile, “Hopefully it’s worth it.”

“So, you’re feeling good about everything with Dominic?” I ask, trying to sound casual. Call it curiosity.

The other girls all look at Emma.

“I think so. We’re taking things slow, which I appreciate. He’s going at my speed. We have a good connection, and I think there could be something there. Long term, I think we could work.”

“That’s great to hear,” I encourage, even as something tight lodges in my throat and sinks to the pit of my stomach. Today’s going to be one of those days. I already know it. That’s the only reason I’m this on edge. Has to be.

“How slow are we talking?” Victoria asks. “Are you scared of the kissing curse, too? I feel like if anyone’s safe, it’s you.”

Emma laughs and shakes her head. “No. I’m just weird about intimacy with the cameras around. It doesn’t bother you?”

Victoria shrugs. Summer tilts her head, undecided. River shifts in her chair and pulls one leg up to sit cross-legged.

“But what about feelings?” I ask, maybe a little too bluntly, based on the round table of raised brows.

I probably shouldn’t have said anything. I’m not exactly an expert on feelings. But the way she talks about him… it’s missing something. That raw edge. Real emotion. Passion, maybe?

“They’re growing.” She smiles into her mug and takes a sip.

“Slow is good, but he’s practically a tortoise,” Victoria quips. “Did you hear? He kissed Ashley last night?”

She kissed him.

Hell, I guess Dominic really hammered that point home this morning.

River nods, and Summer chimes in, “Brave move, doing that so close to the rose ceremony.”

“You think she’ll get sent home?” Victoria asks, but their eyes land on me like I’ve got the inside scoop.

“How should I know?” I blow on the liquid in my cup, despite the lukewarm temperature. Only Summer knows about the deal between Dominic and me, and I don’t think she would’ve told the others without checking first.

“C’mon. You guys are like besties now,” Victoria teases as I take a sip.

I make a sound somewhere between a laugh and a scoff, coffee dribbling down my chin. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

I look around the table, seeing nothing but raised brows—even Summer is in on it.

Best friends with Dominic are words I never thought could be true, but I can’t think of anyone I’m closer to at this point. Which, honestly? Freaks me out, so I try to push the thought away.

“If I had to bet, I’d put money on her going home,” I finally say. Mostly because I told him not to, and he hasn’t taken my advice since my initial matchmaking sabotage.

The conversation keeps going around me, but I’m suddenly over it. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep the day away. Too bad that’s not an option with today’s group date looming.

Summer’s watching me, her head tilted slightly. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just tired.”

“All right,” Bodhi announces over the chatter, “today’s going to be a fun one.”

Is it, though? An escape room isn’t exactly my idea of a great date . Under normal circumstances, with friends, sure, I’d probably love it. Which, I guess, is technically who I’m with—friends.

This is sure to bring out everyone’s competitive streak, not their heart eyes.

“You’ll be split into two teams,” he continues. “But Dominic needs a teammate, too, and he gets to choose who he’ll spend most of the day with… locked inside a room.”

Bodhi chuckles, like locked in a room is the height of romance, and Dominic tips his head back as if asking the universe for patience.

“Whichever team wins gets extra time with Dominic tonight,” Bodhi explains. That gets Emma’s attention. Summer catches her little hop of excitement, too, and shoots me a look.

Not that I want the extra time. But it would mean more time out of the house.

The heavy feeling I confessed to Dominic this morning is still clinging to me, and I’m itching to shake it off.

“But don’t worry, ladies,” Bodhi adds. “Everyone will get equal time during the second part of today’s plans.”

He turns to Dom. “So, who will it be, Dominic?”

It’s fairly obvious who he’s going to pick. And I can’t exactly complain about being stuck in a room with Summer. She’s my first choice , I remind myself. This is good.

“Mia,” Dom says, without hesitation.

Emma’s eyes widen slightly, and I’m sure mine are doing the same. Summer glances over at me with a slight smile and gives a not-so-subtle thumbs-up.

I follow Dominic into a room designed to look like the inside of a submarine, with rippling blue lights, faint underwater sounds, and walls painted with coral and kelp. It only takes a second to realize it’s Atlantis-themed.

“Didn’t want to be on the winning team?” I ask once the door clicks shut behind us. “Bold move, choosing me over Emma. She looks like she came here to win.”

Dominic grips my wrist and pulls me toward a smaller alcove sectioned off from the rest of the room. He scans the instructions out loud, then gestures to the wall of spinning blocks. “We line these up to spell a word, then use the music key to play it on that giant xylophone.”

Okay. Straight to business, then. Someone’s taking this a little too seriously.

“You’re not gonna let her beat you, are you?” he teases, already spinning the blocks.

“I’ll do my best.”

He lets out a low chuckle.

I move beside him, though I’m still not entirely sure what he’s doing. After a few seconds of silently watching him work, I take a small step back to give him space.

“You know if I ‘win’, I get the date tonight, right?”

He nods but doesn’t look up.

“… So, you’d miss out on time with one of the women you’re actually dating.”

“I’m technically dating you, too, aren’t I?” he mutters, eyes fixed on the puzzle.

Sure, technically, as far as the show’s concerned, it looks like we’re dating. But we’re not?—

Are we?

Dominic lines up the blocks to spell WATER, then glances at a nearby plaque showing which musical notes match each letter.

“I just figured you’d want time with Emma. I thought you liked her.”

“I do. But I like you, too, Mia,” he says easily. “If we win, we can hang out tonight. Don’t you want that? You said you were going stir-crazy. Getting out of the house would help, wouldn’t it?”

That makes sense. He’s looking out for me. Again. If matchmaking is my full-time job here, I guess his is watching out for me.

Thanks, Ryan.

“Here. Read these notes to me.”

I rattle them off, and he taps them out on the xylophone. Something clicks, and a panel in the wall slides open, revealing another corridor.

We move on to another puzzle, this one more complicated than the last. But Dominic’s surprisingly good at them, so I let him take the lead again. If this were Survivor , I’d nominate him as our team’s puzzle guy.

The next one requires a little more effort from me, though. We’re on opposite sides of a wall, and I have to call out symbols while he enters them on his end.

“Looks like a snake wrapped around a trident,” I say.

Dominic grunts. “Next one?”

We go back and forth for a while, calling out shapes and matching them as fast as we can. At one point, I mess up the combo and have to repeat it.

Through the wall, I can hear Summer and Emma making progress. A moment later, their shout of success rings out loud and clear.

“Fuck,” Dominic mutters. “Mia, focus.”

I hope he realizes this isn’t actually a life-and-death situation, because the urgency in his voice is a little alarming.

We move fast, matching and rotating until the final piece clicks into place.

I’m not sure if we won, but at least we “escaped.”

“Fuck, yeah.” Dominic grins and holds up his hand for a high-five.

I laugh and slap his palm.

Apparently, that’s not enough, because he catches my hand and pulls me in, wrapping his arms around me in a hug that lingers longer than expected.

For a second, I freeze, caught off guard by the sudden proximity. And by how badly I needed it.

My hands find his back, fingers brushing over the soft cotton of his shirt, damp with sweat. I let myself lean in. Just a little. Enough to feel his heartbeat thud steadily against my ear.

And when he doesn’t let go, I don’t either.

I breathe him in—linen and leather.

We stay like that, still and close, as time slips sideways. Not even my restless thoughts can pull me out of the moment.

His fingers dip underneath my T-shirt, tracing the warm skin of my back just above the waistband of my jeans. The soft touch leaves my skin overly sensitive, the feeling staying long after his touch retreats.

The door creaks open, and we jump apart. Thankfully, it’s Summer. I wring my hands in front of me, and Dominic clears his throat.

What the hell was that?

“Did we win?” Dominic asks, the question laced with more hope than I think he meant to show.

Summer’s lips drop into a grimace. “Nope. Sorry. We beat you fair and square.”

Emma bounces on her heels, rushing over to Dominic. They embrace, and Summer slips an arm around me.

“It’s okay,” she whispers.

“Of course it is.” I brush her off quickly, not wanting to make a big deal out of something so dumb. “It’s only a game.”