Page 66 of Icebound Hearts

I give the host our name, and he nods as he checks our reservation.

“Perfect. Some of your party has already been seated. Please, follow me,” he says, then leads us to a table in the back corner of the restaurant.

Our dates, Mia and Ethan, are already seated next to each other, chatting quietly.

Ethan, who looks like he’s in his late twenties, catches sight of Violet right away and stops mid-sentence to stare at her. I can’t say I blame him, but I also can’t say I like the way he’s basically undressing her with his eyes. After a small beat, he shakes his head slightly and jumps up out of his seat, straightening his tie and rushing over to Violet.

“Violet? It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ethan,” he says, hurrying to pull a chair out for her.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” she says, smiling at him as she sits.

“Hi, Sawyer,” Mia greets me, pulling my focus away from Ethan and Violet. She’s a petite woman with curly brown hair and a nice smile—although it can’t come close to competing with Violet’s.

“Hi,” I say, more gruffly than I meant to. “Have you been waiting long?”

“No, only a few minutes. Ethan got here first, so we were just chatting a bit about how unusual this whole thing is,” she says with a little laugh as I take my seat across from her.

“Yeah, I can’t say I’ve ever been on a double date as a first date before,” Ethan comments.

“Well, thank you both for agreeing to it,” Violet says brightly. “Sawyer and I have both been off the market for a while, so I figured this would take the pressure off all of us a bit.”

“I love it!” Mia beams, glancing from Violet to me.

The waiter comes by to take our drink orders, and we all make conversation as we wait for him to come back with them. Mia definitely has first date energy, her smile unwavering as she keeps the conversation flowing smoothly, asking the usual ‘get to know you’ kind of questions. But I keep finding myself two steps behind whatever we’re talking about, because I can’t stop glancing over at Violet and Ethan.

Our waiter returns with the drinks and takes our food order, and I pick the first thing I see on the menu—chicken parmesan. Ethan orders the woodfired pizza, and Mia and Violet both get pasta.

“Wonderful.” Our waiter smiles politely. “I’ll bring those out for you soon.”

He disappears back into the kitchen, and I reach for the beer I ordered, taking a long sip. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Ethan reaching across the table to rest his hand on Violet’s, and I lurch slightly in my seat like my body’s fighting itself not to interrupt them. Not to rip his hand off hers and snap his wrist for even daring to touch her.

Fucking hell. It’s like he’stryingto get his ass kicked.

It’s suddenly hot as hell in the restaurant, and my suit feels like it’s suffocating me. Mia is beautiful and seems nice, as niceas any guy could hope to meet—but I’d honestly rather be in a laundry room full of my teammates’ sweaty hockey gear right now than keep sitting here watching Ethan flirt with Violet and pretending that Mia has any hope of seeing me again.

Ethan’s thumb drags across Violet’s knuckles, back and forth, over and over, and it makes my blood boil. But what’s worse is that she’s laughing at his jokes and nodding along as he speaks, as if she’s actually enjoying talking to him, although I don’t see how that’s possible. All his lines are corny and overdone, and there’s no substance to the guy. He’s all for show.

This was a terrible idea. Truly fucking terrible. What was I thinking agreeing to this?

“So, Sawyer, what got you into playing hockey?” Mia asks, brushing her dark hair over her shoulder. “I’m assuming you started pretty young?”

“Yeah, I did,” I admit, trying to force my mind back into focus. “When I was a little kid, I was positive I was going to be a fireman. I stuck with that for a while, but when I was about eight, I picked up my first hockey stick, and it was like lightning just hit, you know?”

“That’s amazing.” She smiles warmly at me. “I guess when you know, you just know.”

Her words hit me in a way I don’t think she intended for them to, and I nod and clear my throat. “Yeah. You do.”

Mia and I discuss our upbringings a bit—she grew up on the west coast, a far cry from my east coast upbringing—and then she asks everyone at the table for their favorite movie. As we’re in the middle of discussing that, our food arrives.

I breathe a silent sigh of relief as the waiter deposits the steaming plates of food on our table.Thank fuck.

The sooner we finish eating, the sooner we can get out of here. And having something to eat will put the awkwardconversation on pause—and hopefully keep Ethan’s hands off Violet.

“Your carbonara looks nice. Perfectly cooked,” I tell Mia, doing my best to keep myself from fixating on my irrational irritation toward Violet’s date.

“Honestly, now that I’m seeing your chicken parm, I regret not ordering that too,” she says, laughing as she spears a bit of pasta. “It looks delicious.”

“You’re welcome to try a bite if you’d like,” I say, pushing my plate a bit closer to her.

---