Page 16 of Melting the Ice

She laughed. “I couldn’t resist. They wanted dirt on you so freaking badly.”

“They’re ridiculous.”

“So, do you forgive me for telling them your nickname now?”

“Absolutely not. They’ve been tormenting me ever since.”

“Ah. But it’s with love.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I know. Doesn’t mean it’s not annoying. And if Sin ends up putting fake spiders in my gear bag or something, you are in serious trouble.”

“Oh, shit. He’s totally going to do that, isn’t he?”

I shook my head. “Yup.”

A little smirk played at her lips. “Sorry about that.”

“No, you’re not.”

She chuckled. “No, I’m not. You need to let loose and have a little fun. Don’t be so boring.”

I huffed. “I’m not boring. I’m dependable, stable, and I get the job done.”

“You just described what I look for in a bra, Micah.”

“Seriously?” I barked out, refusing to think about what kind of bra she was currently wearing.

“Come on, that was funny. Now, drive us home so you can get your beauty rest.” She lightly punched my shoulder. “And if I didn’t tell you before, thanks for letting me come to the game. You were awesome out there. I’ve missed watching you play in person. It’s exhilarating.”

Then she did a little shimmy, and my cock took notice.

Fucking hell, I wanted to kiss her.

***

“These fuckers are pissing me off,” Fishy said two nights later as we sat on the edge of the bench, ready to take our next shift against DC.

“Lisbon should’ve been ejected at the end of the last period,” I grumbled. The refs had their thumbs up their asses tonight, andLisbon was a known dirty player. This time, he’d knocked Sweets into the boards at a dangerous angle, sending Sweets back to the locker room with a banged-up shoulder and a split lip. Sweets wasn’t coming back for this game, and I was waiting for my moment to face off with Lisbon. I had a slight edge on his height and weight, and I was pissed.

“Stay out of the penalty box unless necessary,” Millsy said behind us, and I nodded, reading him loud and clear.

As Timmy and Batesy, the second D pair, made their way to get off the ice, Fishy and I already had a leg over to quickly replace them. Fishy tapped his stick against mine, and then we hit the ice, moving seamlessly into position with our forwards. Dom had the puck on his stick and was tracking toward DC’s goalie with Lisbon trying to poke the puck away. Dom sent it over to Haldy, who caught it perfectly in the center of his blade, and Lisbon crowded Haldy toward the boards. I moved in closer, knocking into the asshole before he could make a hit on Haldy.

“Fucker,” Lisbon bit out, jostling against me as I sent him into the boards, the hit clean and perfect. “Hope little Sweets is okay?”

“You want to fucking go that bad?” I fired back, pushing away from him to help out my teammates.

Fishy had the puck and knocked it back to Dom, who didn’t have a shot lined up, so he sent it to Haldy. That line was getting tired since they’d been out here for longer than the normal shift. Haldy hesitated to take his shot, and Lisbon skated in front of him just as Haldy took his shot. The puck banged off the pipes, but Haldy managed to catch the rebound and started skating around the back of the net to find his shot.

Just as he sent it to Dom, Lisbon checked him high into the boards, his elbow coming up under Haldy’s chin and sending his head back.

Then the whistle blew—but not for a penalty. Instead, it was for DC’s goalie covering Dom’s shot and ending the play.

Haldy shook his head. “I’m fine,” he muttered to me when Lisbon skated to the nearby face-off dot to start the next play.

The crowd was loud and obnoxious as Dom and one of the other DC forwards leaned over the face-off dot. We were down four to two, and I was fuming.

“What the fuck,” I barked at Lisbon as I stopped in front of him. He poked me with his stick.

---