Page 64 of Body Checked By the Defenseman

“Okay.” He kisses the side of my head.

I hear a noise coming from downstairs. My eyes turn wide. “I think they’re back.”

“I heard that too. I told Finn to text me and give me good warning,” he complains, sounding irritated.

We quickly get out of the bath, knowing our little bubble has to end and we have to face reality.

“Where should I go? Should I come to your room?” I ask because I am panicking. “Shit, my clothes are in my room downstairs. I only have lingerie up here.”

“Go to my room. I’ll get dressed and see what’s going on,” he whispers. “Just keep quiet.”

We tiptoe across the hall quickly to Macklin’s room. He grabs a T-shirt out of his drawer and passes it to me. He also passes me a pair of jogging pants. He then gets dressed.

“This is huge on me,” I say quietly.

“I’ll try to signal to Charlie to bring you some clothes, but put my stuff on for now,” he states. He walks over to me and kisses me. He looks me in the eyes and says, “I love you.”

“I love you too.” This whole day feels surreal, and this moment also feels like a dream.

He sneaks out of his room and closes the door behind him.

I take a deep cleansing breath. I can’t explain it, but I feel different.

I hear a big ruckus downstairs, and I put my ear to the door to try and figure out what is going on. It sounds like Cade and Luc are here and my panic increases tenfold. They are Hayden’s very good friends and teammates. They cannot catch me in Macklin’s room before Macklin has a talk with him.

I find a brush on Macklin’s dresser and begin to brush out my hair since it got wet in the tub.

A soft knock has me spinning around and my heart stops for a second. When I see it’s Charlie at the door and she’s brought me clothes, I sigh with relief. “Thanks, Charlie.” I walk over to her and hug her.

“How was your day?” she asks.

“Amazing. What is going on down there?” I ask because it’s more pressing right now.

“Cade and Luc left Florida on an earlier flight than planned. They called Aaron to pick them up while we were at paintball. Finn and I offered to go with Aaron. Finn was texting Mack and I was texting you, but you guys weren’t answering.” She winces.

“Shit, I left my phone in our room downstairs.” It used to be my and Charlie’s room down there, but now she mostly stays with Finn.

“I hope we didn’t come home too early,” she says.

“If you’re asking if we had sex, the answer is yes and it was unbelievable,” I tell her with a whisper and what must be a radiant grin.

“You’re glowing. I’m happy for you, Rubes.”

“Thanks. Now we can’t get caught before Mack tells Hayden we’re together.”

“So you guys are official?” she asks with excitement.

“Charlie, I’ve loved that boy ever since I can remember. We were both hiding our feelings for so long, but now that they’re out in the open we’re official in a secretive way.”

Charlie squeals and I hush her.

I take my clothes and get dressed.

“Come with me to Finn’s room. We can act like we were hanging out or something,” she offers.

“But why would I be in Finn’s room when you guys are out?” I ask.

“Good point,” she says. “You can’t go downstairs with your hair half wet. You look like you just had sex.”

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