Page 26 of Ice Cold Rival

I hadn’t checked, but I suspected she dotted the I in her name with a heart too. Under all the big talk about having fun, I think she just wanted to make the people around her happy. Previously, I might have scoffed at the idea of living for others’ happiness, but her inner core seemed to be made of kindness forged into solid steel.

No wonder Kane wasn’t ready to let her go. Deep down, neither was I.

10

The next morning, I broke the news to Sellers after our workout as a reward for only texting me three times the night before.

He stared at me with his mouth open for several long beats before he shook his head. “No. I refuse to believe it. You don’t have a girlfriend.”

We were alone in the locker room after a cardio session, one of the many extras I’d been working into my schedule with anyone who would join me. Coach had been right about one thing—I’d been treating hockey like a hobby the last couple of years.

“Too bad. I like her, and I’m going to keep her.” Strangely, the words didn’t feel false at all.

Ididlike Kenzie. She seemed so proper and put together, then the sweetest burn would come out of her mouth. A mouth I desperately wanted to taste again.

Last weekend, when I’d rushed to her rescue, I’d been ready to play hero to her damsel in distress while having second and third thoughts based solely on my body’s reaction to her. Except the second I walked into the tennis club restaurant and saw Kane’s smirk, I knew I wouldn’t leave her to deal with him alone.

Then she’d flaunted me in his face, and I couldn’t have been prouder. She hadn’t needed me to rescue shit. After he ran his mouth yesterday, he might need her to protect him fromme.

Sellers waved his hand in front of my face. “Dude, this is sad. You get a girl for five minutes, and you’re already losing it.”

“Don’t be an ass.”

“Me? You started daydreaming in the middle of a conversation. I had to say your name three times.”

I threw my towel at him. “I’m tired, and I still need to finish a paper when I get home.”

His face scrunched up. “Why?”

“Because I want to graduate, dumbass.”

Sellers scoffed. “I haven’t done a single paper since freshman year, and I’m still graduating. Try again.”

I grunted, not ready to admit I’d taken a hard look at my life and seen a few too similarities to my dad’s. “I don’t want to take the easy way out.”

This time he straight up laughed. “Since when? You know what—it doesn’t matter. We got off topic, nice try by the way. Are you seriously telling me after over three years of being TU’s most eligible bachelor you’ve suddenly decided to settle down?”

“Yes.”

He shook his head. “Coach will never buy it.”

I frowned at him. “What makes you think I’m selling anything?”

“I was in the room with you, remember? He said you needed to settle down if you wanted to be captain, and you took it as a personal challenge.”

Somehow, Ihadforgotten he was there when I talked to Coach. Sellers surprised me sometimes with his perception. He mostly used it on the ice, which I appreciated, but occasionally, he dropped a truth bomb.

Faced with Sellers calling my bluff, I doubled down with a mix of truth and lies even I couldn’t completely untangle. “It doesn’t matter what Coach thinks. Kenzie is fun and smart and so fucking beautiful. I like her. Deal with it.”

He held up his hands in surrender, taking a step back to grab his bag. “Whatever you say. I’m not about to ruin your shit by talking. I might have my doubts about you as captain, but if I hear Kane run his mouth one more time, I’m going to stuff him in the toilet.”

I chuckled. “That sounds like a good reason for me to ask him about it.”

Sellers threw my towel back at me. “Now who’s being an asshole? If you’re so into this girl, why haven’t I met her yet?”

“You have. Remember the Chi Omega party?”

“Oh shit, the one with all the curves? Damn, I had my eye on her, but she was only interested in you.”

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