Page 55 of Faking the Shot

“I’d love you to do that. Tell her I said hi. And that I’d love to meet her one day.”

“One day.” When Hades froze over. He couldn’t begin to imagine the horror of his mom meeting Ainsley and then seeing pictures about her for the rest of his life, especially if this didn’t work out.

“Okay, well, I am going to hold you to that.”

He had no doubt.

“Now, make sure you give that big Mitch Reilly a whupping tonight, you hear?”

“Yes, Ma.” He rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Love you, Zac.”

“Love you too, Ma. Say hi to Dad for me.”

“Will do.”

He ended the call, and lay on his bed, grateful that on this road trip, he had a room to himself.

Chris’s words wafted through his mind. He could give up on Ainsley, ask God to take away his feelings once, and for all. Or he could keep battling and trying to wrestle them down. And because he’d never consider himself a quitter, he decided to keep battling a little longer.

He got out his phone. Tapped out a message then deleted it. If he called, she might just pick up, which would be awesome. Even though he doubted she would, because contacting her like this felt like pushing the boundaries with what they’d discussed about things. They’d contact when something needed to be said. Which, in some ways, this probably did. He’d go with that anyway.

Her phone rang, and his heart thudded, waiting for her to pick up. Then dropped when her voicemail greeting clicked on.

He cleared his throat. “Hey Ainsley, I’m checking in from Saint Paul in Minnesota. Just touching base because I spoke to my mom today, and she wants to know if she’s allowed to say anything about the fact that you are shooting your Christmas mysteries show on the island. I spoke too soon, so sorry about that. She gets excited and posts all sorts of things, and yeah.”

And yeah, he rambled too much when a woman got in his brain. He winced. “Okay, let me know. And don’t worry, I won’t bother you again. Okay, this is Zac, your fake boyfriend, by the way.” He ended the call, threw the phone on the bed, where it bounced once, twice, then landed on the carpeted floor.

He groaned and swooped it up, then grabbed his bag and hustled out the door.

A to-go coffee later, he boarded the bus to the Xcel Energy Center, suit on like the others as they prepared for tonight’s game.

The Wild weren’t a team they faced too often, three times this season, according to the schedule. They played in the Central Division, while Vancouver was part of the Pacific. Minny were currently third in their division, while Vancouver was coming first. But Mitch Reilly was having an excellent season, leading their scorers, despite being one of their bruisers. He was a big body, someone Chris didn’t like to play against as the man wasn’t shy about pushing his way into getting dirty goals.

Reilly wasn’t dirty, per se, but he was fierce. And while Zac always respected a player with an intensity similar to his own, there was an edge to Reilly’s game he didn’t trust. Reilly’s checking wasn’t Logan-bad, but on the same wavelength.

Like most arenas they travelled to there were fans waiting, which meant signing autographs and taking a few pictures. A couple of blondes wanted a photo.

“Hey girls, leave the man alone. Didn’t you know he’s taken?” Drew winked at him.

He nodded his appreciation, even as the women complained. “So itistrue?”

He paused. “What?”

“You and Ainsley Beckett?”

“Yep.” His heart lifted as their faces fell.

Him and Ainsley.

He mightn’t like a lot of things about this arrangement, and he might struggle with tamping down his feelings, but their arrangement had helped in tamping down the interest flung at him by other women.

“Here!”

He skated to the neutral zone, letting his feet do the talking, as he kept the puck on his stick. A tap to Drew, who skated then shot at the Wild’s goal. It rebounded off the pipes, and Zac scooped it up, wristed it to the top right over his shoulder.

Goal!

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