Page 97 of Miami Ice

I furrow my brow. “Your story?”

“I’m the ‘Falling Into the Weekend Like’ meme girl. The girl who tumbled down the steps at the Copperheads game and sent Antoni running into the stands.” Becca raises her hand. “That was me. And I did it at the first game he invited me to.”

I gasp, my hand flying over my mouth. I know the meme, but I had no idea Becca was the girl in it. “No!”

“Yes, it’s true. So, Georgie, I promise you, you’ll never have an introduction like that and you’re going to do just fine,” she says reassuringly. “I survived that. And I have made some lovely game buddies with some of the wives and girlfriends. It’s like any other organization or group you join, you know? You’ll like some. Some you won’t. But you’ll find your people.”

“I feel like I need a handbook. I have no idea what to do. All I know is the captain’s wife has made me a bedazzled tube top to wear with Beckham’s name and number on it.”

“Bedazzled,” Beckham says, chuckling. “My name is going to be bedazzled, and I didn’t even know that was a thing until last week.”

“Bedazzling is big,” Becca says. “We all have bedazzled gear supporting our guys.”

“I notice you don’t say WAGS.”

“I used to before I was one,” she says. “But we’re so much more than that. There are some crazy talented women in the Copperheads group, and I notice a lot of them don’t use the term, so I kind of adopted that, too.”

Becca walks me through what a game day is like for her, and what I could possibly expect going to the Manatees game.

“Believe it or not, I’m going to be working in the TATS suite next Friday,” Becca says. “I hostess on hockey nights as part ofmy job in advertising. If you would like to come up and hang out in our suite between periods, I could get you a pass. It would be nice to have someone to chat with on game nights.”

I can’t explain how elated I am. I’m starting to feel a kindred spirit in Becca, and I hope this is the beginning of a friendship.

“I would love that so much,” I say happily.

Becca’s eyes light up. “Great. I’ll get your email before you leave, and I’ll transfer a ticket over to you.”

“Prepare to be bedazzled, Becca,” Beckham quips.

I turn and shoot him a mock glare.

“Perhapsyoushould prepare to be bedazzled, Becks,” Antoni teases.

I grin. I love that Antoni is already calling him Becks.

We spend the next couple hours outdoors, eating and drinking and getting better acquainted. I’m both entertained and appalled at some of the fan interactions Antoni has had. Then Beckham shares some of his, with a lot of his stories about being the fixation of BookTok features. Time flies by, and by the time we leave, I have a ticket to the TATS suite next Friday night, new friends in Becca and Antoni, and I feel less nervous about going to the hockey game.

After the door is shut behind us and we’re walking to Beckham’s car, he reaches for my hand and entwines his fingers around mine.

“I like them,” he says. “Antoni said he’ll hook us up with some tickets if we want to go to a game.”

“Oh, that would be so much fun, I’d love that.”

Beckham squeezes my hand in his. “I can’t wait to see you all bedazzled next Friday night.”

I arch an eyebrow at him. “So you’re not opposed to the tube top now?”

He grins. “Nah. I just didn’t want you in it when you weren’t mine because I knew as soon as we did our breakup, there wouldbe sharks circling all abound you and the idea of that drove me crazy.”

Swoon.

Then he draws my hand to his lips and brushes a kiss across my knuckles. “By the way, I’ve never kissed another woman’s hand. Ever. You’re full of firsts for me, Georgie.”

We reach the passenger door to his SUV, and Beckham draws me into his arms, holding me tight.

“So are my parents the first you’re going to meet?” I ask, gazing up at him.

He exhales. “Yes.”

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