Page 95 of Pucking Revenge

He turns to me, pulling both hands out of his pockets, and takes hold of mine. “Because I want you to know me. All of me. I’m obsessive and crazy focused when it comes to the game. I told you I’ve never dated during the season, but that’s not the exact truth.”

My heart rate kicks up, and I have to fight the urge to take a step back.

The gentle way he squeezes my fingers is a reassurance. He reads me so freaking well. “It’s not a lie. Just not the full truth.” His swallow is audible, and his Adam’s apple bobs harshly. “I don’t broadcast this, but I’ve never dated. Period.”

This time my heart trips over itself. “Oh.”

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve focused on nothing but being the best goalie, and before you, I never met anyone who could compete with the game.”

The smile that overtakes me is so broad it makes my cheeks burn, and heat creeps up my neck and into my face. If this room were any lighter, I have no doubt Brooks would be able to see just how pink I’ve gone.

My voice quakes right along with my knees when I push the words out. “But I compete with the game?”

“It’s a shutout, babe. There’s no competition. For all these years, I thought that I had to pick. Between the game and a relationship. But not being with you didn’t keep me from obsessing over you. I couldn’t get you out of my head last year, and we still won the Cup.” He rubs circles against my hand with his thumb, a little too quickly, like he’s nervous. “So if you’re open to it, I’d like to try being with you. For real. Instead of being my fake girlfriend, I was hoping you’d want to be my first real one.”

“I’d be your first?” The thought makes it hard to breathe. How has Brooks never dated before?

“You’d be my first everything.” He’s so quiet, and his voice is filled with so much vulnerability.

Sincere green eyes study my reaction. They’re swimming with a potent mixture of fear and hope. The tension in the air is almost suffocating.

“Brooks.” It’s hard to breathe all of a sudden. “Never?”

He sucks on his bottom lip and gives his head one firm shake. “No.”

“Holy shit.”

Dammit. I wish I knew how to respond in a way that would put him at ease. But he knows me. He shouldn’t be surprised that I turn into a babbling idiot at moments like this. I clamp a hand over my mouth, hoping to stem the idiocy threatening to spew from me, but the words tumble out anyway.

“No one else has taken that bedazzled penis for a ride?”

He snorts, and his cheeks flame. I’m pretty sure mine match.

“Your pretty penis is all mine?”

Oh God. Someone stop me.

“Tell me it sparkles, and I’ll drop to my knees right now.”

“Are you done yet?” he teases. Even his ears are pink now.

I suck in a deep breath. “Yes, I think I am. Wait.” I groan. “Nope. One more. Does it shoot actual pearl necklaces?”

“Sara!” His chest heaves with laughter.

I throw myself against his broad chest and cling to him, and we hold each other up as we dissolve into giggles. He smooths a hand over my back, calming me with his touch, and I snuggle further into his chest.

“Thank you for trusting me with another secret. I promise I don’t take the fact that you’re a virgin lightly. We can definitely go slow.”

He drags his hand down to my ass and squeezes. “Never said I wanted to go slow.”

My skin heats, and tingles shoot up my spine. I look up at him, my chin on his chest, and breathe him in. “Right. That was me.”

“Mm-hmm.” He lowers his head, casting his face in shadow, and stares down at me. His tongue slides against his lip again, making heat pool low in my belly.

I groan against him. “Why did I want to take things slow again?”

“Because my uncle stomped on your heart, and then I hurt you.”

---