Page 98 of Ice Dance Hockey

“Anticipation.” He trails tender kisses to my Adam’s apple and sucks.

A string of hot pants leaves my lungs. My hands sink into the round firmness of his ass cheeks.

He kisses my lips again and then he leans to speak into my ear. “I’ll be careful for your first time, but you’ll still feel like you’re mine,” he promises.

The cocky bastard. “Who says my first time is going to be you?”

“You’d let me have your ass now if I didn’t stop us.”

“I was only considering it. I wouldn’t have done it.” I don’t know if that’s true. I’d like to think I have self-control with Rhett, but he’s proving me wrong about that at every turn. I should suggest that we head back to where there are people, instead, I place a hand on the side of his face.

One of his bear paws closes around it. “Your first time will be me. Deal with it.” He presses one more kiss to my lips and tugs me along by the hand.

“You’re a dick, Rhett.” I don’t pull my hand from his, so I don’t know if what I said counts.

The corners of his lips twitch into a smile.

He’ll be my first time. I don’t want it to be anyone else and that’s whether we’re together or not. I wouldn’t feel safe enough with anyone else.

That’s what’s real, it’s shocking, and I am going to have to deal with it.

* * *

“What did you Meyer sorts teach my … Logan about hockey today?” Rhett asks Theo, who climbed into his lap ten minutes ago with a million questions for him.

With Rhett being such a dick, no one would suspect how good he is with children. I hate that I love watching him with them.

“We taught him about penalties ‘cuz Casey and Jack get a lot of them. We taught him about smashing the other players.”

I laugh. That’s what Theo taught me, but I already knew those parts of hockey.

“Want to see what he knows?” he asks Theo. Theo nods and Rhett leans to whisper into his ear.

“How many men on the ice per team?” Theo asks.

“Six, including the goalie.”

Rhett nods and leans to whisper into Theo’s ear again. “What does offside mean?”

“If an attacking hockey gorilla crosses over the defending hockey gorilla’s blue line before that rubber whatchamacallit does, the gorilla is offside.” I convey how unamused I am by crossing my arms. “Do I know enough to watch you—using Theo’s terminology—smash the other guys into the ice?”

Rhett pretends to think about it and then he whispers to Theo.

“Who’s the best player in the NHL?” Theo says.

I let a mischievous smile leak onto my face, recalling a name Casey quoted earlier.

“The answer had better be me,” Rhett warns.

“It’s you, obviously. Best gorilla in the league.”

“Damn right, I am.” He puffs up his chest, knowing it’s true. He might even be. Mercy doesn’t have good things to say about Rhett generally, but when it comes to hockey he begrudgingly—very begrudgingly—commends Rhett's prowess on the ice.

After the street hockey battle, the Meyer family broke into divisions to get a barbeque together. Mercy invited Rhett to stay, and I almost died. I didn’t exactly ask if he could be here in the first place after his recent ban.

“You want another burger, baby?” I say, getting up.

“Are you having another one?” he asks, shocked to death that I’m going for seconds.

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