Page 165 of The Blame Game

“Less than you will in a few weeks, I’ll bet!” Shea said cheerfully. “C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

“Fun my ass,” Dom grumbled.

“Your ass is fun,” Shea agreed and Dom let out another sputtering noise that made him laugh. “C’mon, stop taking everything so seriously.”

“It’s what I do,” Dom pointed out, finally grabbing his laptop back and setting it on the coffee table.

“Well, time to try something new then,” Shea said. “And how about this? If you get an A in the class, we’ll go to the Louvre this off-season.”

Dom froze. “Really?”

“Sure. You can afford that too,” Shea teased.

Dom laughed, shifting so Shea could see his face. “I can. And I’d be happy to take you to Paris. You mean it though? You’d want to travel with me?”

He looked excited about it and Shea smiled, a little surprised by his reaction. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

Dom shrugged. “I thought about asking you before. God, I came this close to inviting you to come with me to when I went to the Bahamas for bye week this season.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t sure if you’d say yes or if you could take the time off with your other clients—”

They both froze.

It was a little weird now that Dom knew that Shea hadn’t had any other clients then. Hadn’t had any for a long time.

“You could have,” Dom said slowly. “But would you have?”

Shea hesitated. “I don’t know. I would have been tempted.”

“But you’ll come if I plan something for this summer?” Dom pressed.

Shea licked his lips. “Yes. I’ll have to request time off at the clinic but I’d love to go. I’ll pay for our tickets to the Louvre if you get an A in your art history class.”

Dom chuckled and leaned in to kiss him. “Yeah, okay. It’s a deal.”

Later that night, Dom sprawled on the bed, waiting for Shea to join him.

He was busy setting out their clothes for the next day, a habit that Dom was both amused and touched by.

Although it wasn’t something he expected Shea to do, three people in the press box had complimented him on the suit, shirt, and tie combo he’d worn last night to the game, so Dom certainly wasn’t going to argue if Shea enjoyed it.

Besides, it made him feel like Shea was with him even when they weren’t together.

Since Dom had surgery tomorrow, he assumed Shea was picking out something a lot more casual than that. Guess he’d find out when he got up at the crack of dawn.

Dom picked up his phone, catching up on a few messages he’d missed. Which reminded him …

“Hey, did you join the group chat?” he called out to Shea. “Matty was bugging me about it yesterday.”

Shea popped his head out of the closet. “The Out in the NHL one? Yeah. Why? Do you mind?”

“God no. Maybe he’ll leave me alone about it finally.”

Shea grinned. “Yeah, I think I’m in there in your proxy. Technically I don’t actually qualify.”

“No, it’s perfect. You’ll enjoy it and I won’t have to deal with it.”

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