Page 68 of The Love You Win

“Dude.” Archie’s eyes are so wide it’s comical. God, it’s so hard not to laugh.

“All right, all right,” I say. “Clear a path, you gawkers. You’ll all meet Maddox, but these cases of soda are heavy, and I really don’t want to drop it on my foot.” That snaps them all out of their fan-induced stupor, and soon the cases are being taken out of our hands. We all gather in my classroom, but no one touches the pizza.

Maddox runs his hand through his hair again, looking bashful. “Everyone enjoy as much pizza as you want. If we need more, I’ll order it, so don’t worry about taking too much. I just wanted to show my appreciation for what you all do. Teachers deserve the big bucks more than dumb hockey players,” he says with a charming smile. There’s a beat of silence, and then everyone’s opening boxes and digging in.

“Hockey players aren’t dumb,” I say, grabbing his hand and resting my head against his arm.

Rich brown eyes peer down at me. They’re soft and warm, and I want to burrow into them and never leave. “Maybe not, but what we do isn’t nearly as important as what you do.”

His words heal something broken in me, or at least start to. I never needed anyone to approve of what I do or praise me for it, but I can’t deny how warm and gooey it makes me that Maddox does. “You make people happy,” I tell him. “You give people something to cheer for when they may not have anything else to get excited about in their lives. Don’t downgrade what you do. I know how hard you work.”

Those mahogany eyes of his soften even more, and then he’s cupping my face in his large, callused hand and kissing me softly right there in front of everyone I work with. There are a few whistles and cheers, but I don’t pay them any mind. My attention is all for the man before me. “Thanks, baby.”

For the next hour, we stuff ourselves with cheesy goodness, and all of my coworkers chat with Maddox. His shoulders loosen with each new conversation as the nerves he was battling fall away. Soon, he’s laughing and joking around with everyone. Winning them over easily, and not because he’s some famous hockey player. He wins them over with his easy smiles, his studious attention to me, and his abundant charisma. He could be a parking cop, and they’d still hang off every word he utters.

Eventually, everyone filters out of the room, offering parting words of thanks and hoping they’ll see Maddox around again. Then it’s just the two of us, and I wish the afternoon didn’t have to end.

“Thanks for visiting me and for bringing lunch for everyone.” I wrap my arms around his waist and press my face into the sculpted planes of his chest. “You seriously made my day.”

Maddox’s arms cocoon around me, and once again I’m struck by how protected and safe I feel when he holds me. I want to chase the feeling, but I’m also terrified of letting myself grow to love it too much. It’ll just hurt more when this inevitably ends.

“Kicking me out already?” Maddox arches an eyebrow at me, one corner of his lips quirking.

“Oh, no, I just have to do some more work setting up my room, and I figured you had more important things to do than watch me.”

“I do,” he says. “Helping you. Now put me to work, Teach.”

Swoon again. I’ll have to carry smelling salts around. “You don’t have to do that.” Even though I want him to.

“I know. I want to. If you don’t think I’ll just get in your way.” He hides a flash of vulnerability with a broad smile, but I catch it.

I rest my chin on his chest and blink up at him. “You’re pretty big, but I think I can work around you.” He chuckles, and I continue with a smirk. “And I’d love the help. Thank you.”

The descent of his lips is slow enough that anticipation builds low in my belly. And when he kisses me, I feel it down to my toes. One of Maddox’s large hands braces against the back of my neck, while the other goes to my hip. It’s slow, sweet, and so damned hot I consider abandoning my classroom to go back to my place, push him down onto my bed, and have my dirty, wanton way with him.

“If you keep looking at me like that, we won’t get much work done.”

A sigh escapes me, puffing against his lips. “I know.”

He kisses me again. This one is quick and playful. And then my body mourns the loss of his heat. Maddox heads toward a stack of posters piled haphazardly on one of the empty student desks and checks out each one. “Where do you want these?”

And that’s how Maddox Graves spends the rest of the day helping me set up my classroom.

thirty-one

ISLA

The week goes by in a blur of school prep and flirtatious calls and texts with Maddox. He shows up again on Friday to help me finish up all the last-minute little things I didn’t get to. The first day of school is Tuesday, so it’s crunch time. Maddox also arrives with a food truck in tow, telling everyone that he’s booked them for the next three hours, and lunch is on him. He really has a fan club at Center High, now.

A bunch of the teachers post photos to their social media, tagging Maddox and gushing about how sweet he is and how he’s shown up twice to help and provide lunch. My coworkers are pretty good at avoiding posting any lovey-dovey photos of Maddox and me, but I’m there in the background of quite a few, and when a reporter from a local news station shows up, I know they’ve put the pieces together, and she beelines it to where I’m inelegantly scarfing down a street taco. The reporter asks how long Maddox and I have known each other, if we’re dating, and if I’m ready for what a relationship with a pro hockey player will look like once the season kicks off. I’m taken by surprise at first, but Maddox quickly swoops in and turns the whole interview around so that the focus goes to the school and the teachers.

He’s amazing, and I spend what feels like every waking moment thinking about him.

That half of the Minnesota Rogues are following my Instagram account doesn’t go unnoticed by my friends, and I get quite a few comments, calls, and texts from people I haven’t heard from in ages. Even “friends” who likely never spared me a second thought after Alex dumped me. They sure as hell didn’t check in when my life was imploding, but now that I’m dating a hockey star, they’re popping up all over the place telling me how they’ve been thinking about me for so long and they’ve wanted to check in, but things were awkward for a while there.

Right. I suppose it is awkward to know your friend broke things off with his fiancée two weeks before the wedding with almost no explanation. I don’t respond to those people. It seems unlikely that Alex hasn’t heard about my relationship with Maddox, but I can’t seem to care. The idea of Alex fuming with jealousy doesn’t make me all tingly with glee like some evil mastermind the way it used to. Look at me, growing and maturing and stuff.

Maddox and I spend the weekend together. We don’t do anything extravagant like another hot air balloon ride, but I almost love the simple things we do more. We sit at coffee shops and get to know each other better, meander around a farmer’s market, and eat takeout at my place. I try to get Maddox to tell me what he plans to say at the assembly, but he’s adorably tight-lipped.

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