Page 69 of Not A Chance

I tucked that inconvenient truth away for later as her answer finally sank in. I was two-for-two tonight in taking too long to realize what she had said. I couldn’t even blame hockey because I’d only had two concussions in my whole career.

“Yes?” My voice came out at half volume, as if I was about to break whatever magic spell that had made her agree.

Her smile had regained its snarky edge, and her eyes had turned sly once more. She was cooking up something I was either going to love or hate, but I was here for it either way.

You are so gone for this woman, Yao.

“Yes. I’ll be your girlfriend, Theo.” This time, her tone sounded sure. “I want that. But…”

I squeezed her hips gently as I mock groaned. “A catch, of course. What is the ‘but’ here, Ms. Layne? Other than this excellent pair of cheeks I look forward to getting better acquainted with.”

I let my hands slip down to cup her ass, tugging her against me so we were pressed together, torso to thighs again.

Indie gave my hair a little pull with one of her hands. The sting just made me want to get my teeth on her again.

“Just listen, goalie. I’m saying yes, but I want you to promise me that I get to be the one who decides when we tell people about us.” She narrowed her eyes in warning. “We work together. I need to clearthis with Jermaine first. I don’t want you going all ice Neanderthal and shouting our business to the whole locker room because you don’t want anyone looking at me.”

“Hey. That’s offensive, baby. What’s an ice Neanderthal, anyway?” I would have put my hands up in a gesture of surrender, but I couldn’t make myself let go of her peach of an ass.

She let go of my hair with her right hand and brought it around and poked me on the tip of my nose like I was a misbehaving pet.

“An ice Neanderthal is a special breed of dumbass whose brain has been frozen and thus thinks with his dick instead of his head. Oh, and he also demands his female counterpart only wear his jersey number.”

A chuckle rumbled in my chest. If Indie was conscious, she was keeping me on my toes. The only time my mind didn’t have to race to keep up with her was when she was asleep in my arms.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not a thing, Ind.” The smile on my face ruined any possibility of convincing her she’d actually insulted me.

“It’s a thing if I say it’s a thing, Theo. And don’t lie. You’re more territorial than Giz, and that’s what Chihuahuas are known for! First, you’re all fired up about me hanging out in Connor’s hotel room. Then, you steal the hoodie that he lent me and replaced it withthreeof your own. You’d love nothing more than to rub it in his face, even though he and I are just friends.” She arched an eyebrow as if daring me to disagree.

“Fair.” I couldn’t deny her words. My lower lip might have jutted out in a slight pout at being called out on my less-than-rational behavior.

She pressed a hard kiss to my lips. “Just don’t piss a circle around me, and we’ll be fine. But most importantly,Iget to be the one to tell Emery about us. No more of this calling her up out of nowhere. If you really want to make a go of this, I need to make sure my friendship with Em is okay first.”

“Even though she’s my sisterandwe’re all adultsandwe don’t actually have to justify our choices to anyone, I can agree to that.” She could have asked for anything in this moment, and I would have given it to her. The reality of us being official had my chest swelling with an excitement I hadn’t felt in years.

“Good. Now, you and all those ‘ands’ better move this date along before I change my mind on the whole girlfriend thing, hmm?” The teasing look in her eyes reassured me that we were back to our usual banter.

Her bluntness made me laugh as I moved back far enough from her too-tempting body.

“Shall we?” I held out my hand like I was some gentleman from a Regency-era TV show.

Indie rolled her eyes but still placed her hand in mine. “Yes! That’s what I’ve been saying.”

I wasted no time in entwining our fingers and led her through the hallways and into the locker room.

The smell of whatever cleaning supplies maintenance used couldn’t quite cover the scent of a bunch of sweaty hockey players and their equipment and had Indie wrinkling her nose after the locker room door was shut behind us.

“Let me get you into your skates and out of here. The air is much fresher on the ice,” I reassured her. No matter how many times I stepped on the ice, the cool air in my lungs never failed to wake up my mind and body.

Hockey and skating were such a huge part of my life. I wanted Indie to experience it with me rather than as a job on the sidelines merely gathering a set of data points that needed to be posted to social media.

Indie settled into my bench space. Next to her were the two pairsof skates I’d arranged for player services to leave for me.

I knelt in front of her, ignoring the small twinge in my knees from the action.

I grabbed the brand-new pair of figure skates that I’d ordered for her and undid the laces. A part of me had considered getting her hockey skates, but I’d guessed that she might prefer the toe pick and a longer blade for balance.

I looked up to see Indie watching me carefully. “Foot,” I said and held up my hand to the level of her calf, a mirror image of the way I’d just asked for her hand back in the hallway.

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