Page 36 of Defensive Zone

He swore Dom stiffened, and Max bit back his smirk. The pest had it coming. Dom might act like whatever happened between him and Harty’s little sister didn’t mean anything, but he wasn’t fooling anyone.

If she didn’t know better, she would’ve sworn that Max was jealous or even staking his claim on her when Dom introduced himself.

That thought was ridiculous, of course.

She bit back a snort. It’s not like he was having sex dreams about her like she was about him.

Dammit. She didn’t want to think about that right now.

Right now, she was doing her best to stay on her skates and not roll her ankle, and she still hadn’t moved an inch from her death grip on the boards.

She didn’t want to be here, on the ice, but she’d caved. She wasn’t even sure why and if it’d been Max, the kids, or Ava. Regardless, here she was, with tiny knives strapped to her feet and wobbly ankles.

“Auntie Gabi, come out here. It’s so much fun,” Amelia called out as she skated toward the center of the ice. The arena was filled with Strikers players and their families. Laughter and levity surrounded her. They truly were like a family, and it’d only taken her one game to figure that out. Today confirmed it.

Max had introduced her to more of the players—at least the ones with wives and girlfriends. It hadn’t escaped her notice that he’d steered her away from the guys who weren’t there with their significant others.

She didn’t want to read anything into it, but sometimes she had no clue what Max was thinking.

Hell. Most of the time, she had no clue. Yesterday morning had thrown her for a loop. After her vivid dream and then falling off the counter into his arms, it’d been sensory overload.

That’s probably why she’d agreed to come today. It had nothing to do with four sets of pouty Bastian eyes looking at her yesterday morning and today. The guilt trips were strong with that group.

“I’m going to stay here with Elise so your mom can skate with you,” Gabi said.

Ava laughed. “Like I would let you hold my baby while you can barely stand upright. I mean that with love, of course.”

Gabi stuck her tongue out at her friend. “Yeah. Lots of love in that statement, Av. But I obviously can’t skate out there. Maybe Elise and I can sit on the bench and hang out with some of the other families.”

“You’re coming with me,” Max said, grabbing her hands and pulling her from the boards before she could protest.

“What? Why?” she asked, stumbling into his chest.

His rock hard and surprisingly warm chest. Must be the thermal he was wearing. Why did he make the stretched cotton look so good? She’d always been a sucker for strong shoulders. And arms. Her true weakness was arm porn, and unfortunately, Max had that for days. Deliciously inked arms that she’d thought about way too often. Along with that mysterious Harry Potter tattoo.

Why was she constantly losing her mind around him? He knocked her off balance, and in this case, literally, as she stumbled against him.

“Are you sure you have any Canadian blood in you?” he asked, grinning down at her and cradling her against his stupidly warm body.

What had he just said?

Oh right.

“Very funny, Max,” she said sternly. “Not all Canadians can skate.”

“I know that, but raising your hackles is my favorite pastime.”

“You need to work on your hobbies,” she fired back.

“Nah. Just loosen up a bit. When you lock up your legs like that, you make it harder to skate,” he said.

She sucked in a breath when one of his hands settled at the small of her back. She needed to focus, but he surrounded her.

“I’m loose,” she said, her hand tightening on his as he propelled them forward. She tried not to think about going down in front of everyone. Or crashing into the boards. Or rolling her ankle.

“You’re as loose as a petrified tree,” he said.

She turned and glared at him, and he shrugged.

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