Page 46 of One Steamy Pucking Meet Cute

“Too late,” she says, pulling out her phone and widening her eyes. “She’s already…” her fingers move. “Doing it!”

She backs out the door and leaves me alone in the lobby.

I sit back in the chair. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Mia has acted suspiciously. The Mia I know would be excited for me to get married. It’s not that, exactly. There’s just something subtle about the way she’s acting that doesn’t feel right, and I can’t put my finger on it.

I get up and grab a mob to clean up the water that has dripped all over the floor.

Jake comes back from his latest away game this weekend. Then they’ve got the whole week off for the team’s bye. I’m excited to see him just as much as the thought makes my stomach feel like it’s in knots. We’ve been butting heads over my plans to do wedding games. While I understand where he’s coming from, I don’t think I know how to handle this any other way. It’s what my mom would do. She always turned every good thing into a celebration–a reason for Frosty Harbor to come together and bond.

Even if it will be hard for us, I know it’s the right thing to do for the town. I also understand Jake’s arguments to the counter. We’re just deepening the lie with this event. We’re putting more stress on ourselves. We’re going to look like even bigger assholes when we have to finally come clean to everybody in the end if they know we did something like this, too.

But I haven’t told him that I also wanted to do this as a kind of dry run. If we can’t survive a week of fun and games with ourselves as the centers of attention, we’ll never make it through an entire fake wedding. Does it hurt that the town will also love the games and activities? Nope.

I think me and Jake both need a reality check. And… Cynical or not, I need time to find out if we can do this. I still have three months until I need to get married for the contract. If Jake wants to back out, then, well, maybe I’d have time to find another fake husband.

I run my hands down my face. I feel like such an asshole for even thinking like that, but I’d be lying if I said things between us have been good the last three months. Maybe if we could just go live on a deserted island with us and Walker, things would still be good. Instead, he’s squeezing in time to see us during a busy NHL season that started shortly after our trip to Manhattan. I’ve felt like the past three months have been a reminder of why we never jumped from casually hooking up to dating in the first place, even if I don’t like admitting it.

We're pretty great when we’re together and not arguing about how to handle the ongoing lie between us and all our friends. But the rest of the time, Jake is away playing for the Vandals and I’m here like I always am, except now I have to pretend to be as excited as everyone else for a wedding I’m dreading.

Yay me. I hear Walker stirring from his crib, and a familiar smell reaches my nose.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I groan.

19

JAKE

Gatherings at Jesse’s Frosty Harbor cabin have become something of a team tradition over the years. The entire team is off for our bye week, and the usual suspects have gathered in Frosty Harbor to celebrate. Me and Jesse showed up first, welcomed by Andi, Amelia, and Jude. Once Jesse was done making out with my sister in front of me and greeting his kids, Amelia took my hand and dragged me to her room. I spent half an hour sitting cross-legged while she brought me every flavor and shape of wooden food. If I didn’t make my “nom nom” sound enthusiastically, she whacked me with a wooden chef’s knife.

Scary kid, but adorable.

The guys showed up throughout the day, little by little. I knew Caroline wouldn’t come until the evening when her duties at the B&B could be put on pause for the day.

Even when she leaves, she has her phone on standby so her guests can call if they need anything. It isn't entirely uncommon to see her rush off for half an hour because somebody can’t find the muffins she left out or got locked out of their room.

I’m playing battleship with Carter on the patio while Liam and Maddox sit idly at the table, phones in their hands.

It’s chilly but comfortable and the atmosphere is always pleasant here. Mountains stretch as far as I can see over the balcony railings and birds chip as a soft breeze rustles the leaves.

Carter cackles as I plug a little red peg into one of my ships.

“That’s a hit,” I say, voice dry. I’m not a fan of this game, but Carter always wants to play. Probably because he’s too impatient for poker and too stubborn to admit he doesn’t understand the rules.

Carter claps and rocks in his chair like an excited kid. “You’re so fucked.”

I grin. “B-4?” Whether I like the game or not, I enjoy days like this. Just hanging out with the guys. I try to remind myself in my darker moments that this isn’t going away. Even if everybody retires, we’ll still have this.

“Miss!” Carter shouts.

Liam looks up from his phone with a dark expression.

“You good?” I ask. “It sounded like you were trying to break your locker in half after yesterday's game.” My normal instinct would be to leave it alone. I know he’s pissed about something. But my team captain's instinct is to pry because unresolved issues show up on the ice, and part of my job is making sure everybody is on the same page when we go out there to play. It’s part of why keeping such a big secret from everybody but Jesse is eating at me so much.

“It’s nothing,” he says. “Just this girl…”

“Ahhh,” Carter says, narrowing his eyes wisely. “Girl trouble in paradise, Liam? Speak your problems to me, and I’ll make them a memory.”

“You’ll what?” Maddox asks, setting his phone down and looking up. “His problems are already a memory. That’s how memories work. If you have the problem, then you remember having it… Or were you trying to say you’ll do nothing? Because then… I guess that’d be true.”

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