Page 35 of Cash

He did have a point there. "And you'd be okay letting them think that?"

"Yep."

"Seriously? You'll what? Be my pretend boyfriend for the weekend?"

"If that's how you want to think about it."

"This is crazy."

"It's not so crazy," he said with a small smile.

"Evie," called a teenager from the ice. "I'm drowning in five-year-olds out here."

"I'm coming," she said as she turned for the ice. But before she could leave, she felt Cash's hand take hers, and damn it if her heart didn't melt at his mere touch.

"She'll be there in a minute," Cash called.

"I really do have to go," she answered quickly.

"Go out to dinner with me."

"Tonight?"

He nodded. "We can work out all the details over dinner."

"Okay," she said, trying to bite back the grin that wanted to stretch across her face.

"I'll text you."

"Okay, I have to go," she said, turning toward the ice.

"Make sure I'm not blocked," he said with a cocked eyebrow.

"You're not blocked."

"Good."

What the hell just happened? The past fifteen minutes felt like a whirlwind. She never thought she would be looking forward to going into a rink full of five- to eight-year-olds to catch her breath, but her head was spinning. She couldn't figure out what the fuck just happened. Cash was going to pretend to be her boyfriend for her sister's wedding and they were going out to dinner tonight. She was going to need to reign in her feelings. She was already dangerously close to having real feelings for one of hockey's biggest playboys. What the hell was going on?

15

CASH

Cash watched as she walked away. He couldn't help but smile, those leggings really were magical. But even more was what had just happened. He was confused, really confused, but happy. He wasn't sure what was going to happen with this wedding, but he knew for a fact that she would be his when it was all over.

After the day was over, Cash called River over.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yes..." he grumbled, looking less than pleased. "I still don't see why I had to come."

"Because you went into the city on your own again."

"Why are you being like this?” he complained. “I thought you’d be cool."

"You thought wrong," he said, dropping his bag in the back of his truck. "Your mother is trusting me to look out for you while you're here. And you can't be trusted to stay out of trouble, so you get to keep me company at the rink."

He just sat there; his arms crossed over his chest staring out the window. Cash almost felt bad for the kid, but not bad enough to cut him some slack right now. He ran away across the country from his mother and then went back into the city without permission. River thought being seventeen meant he was grown.

---