Page 75 of The Grinder

He was so fucking happy to see her, his heart literally felt like it could pound out of his chest.

She was here. Holy fuck, she was actually here.

All the bullshit he’d told himself about how he was over her and how it didn’t matter if she didn’t like him… Yeah, that was all shit. He knew that now.

The only thing that mattered was that she was here. She’d taken that huge first step and showed up.

And he wasn’t about to let her hang.

Skating over to the ice, ignoring the catcalls from the few guys still there, he put his hand on the glass and waited.

The fans on the other side high-fived him but soon realized that he wasn’t looking at them.

He only had eyes for Aly.

He watched her make her way down the stairs, trying to wade through the sea of blue-and-white-clad fans to the glass, where the usher, a guy wearing a huge, shit-eating grin, made a space for her.

She didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure he would’ve heard her anyway. But the smile on her face was all he needed to see.

And then she looked down and pulled something out of her purse.

A piece of paper that she held up on the glass next to his hand.

She’d only written one word in perfect block letters.

Please

Then she put her hand on the glass to mirror his and he smiled until his face hurt.

“Stay.”

He wasn’t sure she’d heard him, but she nodded and her smile widened.

And Riley knew, no matter how the game ended, he’d already won.

* * * * *

The guys were pumped after tonight’s win and the locker room sounded like a frat house on homecoming weekend.

“So, Riley. Guess you’re not coming out to celebrate tonight, huh?”

Ignoring Travis’s sly dig was easy, considering Riley had somewhere infinitely more interesting to be tonight.

He’d been able to keep his attention focused squarely on the game, but the second the final buzzer rang, he’d started to grin. And not because his team had won. Well, not only that.

“Hell, I wouldn’t be going out with you tonight if I had someone who looked like that waiting for me tonight,” Colin responded. “Damn, Riley, how’d you snag her, anyway? Seriously, man, she looks way too smart for you.”

Riley didn’t bother to look up as he shoved his legs into his pants then shrugged into his shirt. He was on a mission and wasn’t about to be deterred. But he did manage to shoot Colin and Travis the finger over his shoulder.

While the two of them laughed, Riley rolled his tie and stuffed it in the pocket of his jacket. He didn’t want to take the time to knot it. Coach had already done his post-game talk, which meant Riley was free to go as soon as he was ready.

And he was pretty much ready to go now…when he remembered he’d driven in with CJ. Because he was sharing a hotel room with him.

Shit.

He stopped, totally stymied.

“Uh, Riley?” Sitting next to him on the bench, CJ looked up, frowning. “You okay?”

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