Page 58 of Ice Cold Rival

“Is that…”

Reece chuckled and gently pushed me forward. “With those ears, you should be able to recognize him anywhere.”

The kitten yawned, then blinked up at me. His nose twitched as he sniffed the air, and I knelt next to him.

“Hey there, buddy,” I crooned.

He perked up and walked toward me, trying to stretch all four legs at once. Sunny didn’t seem to care she’d lost her napping partner.

“What’s he doing here?” I whispered as he rubbed his head against my knee.

“I adopted him, but really I’m just fostering him until you’re ready for full custody. I couldn’t let someone else go home with your soulmate.”

“Thank you.”

Tears burned in my eyes, and I pressed my lips together, worried about the emotional mess threatening to come out of my mouth. Reece crouched down to rub his finger over the cat’s sleek back. He immediately started purring so loudly I thought his whole body should be vibrating.

“What are you going to name him?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting anything like this. What do you think?”

“No, this one’s on you. He’s your cat. You get to name him.”

I picked him up, and he head-butted my chin. “How about Boo?”

Reece stood, pulling me up with him. “Sounds good.”

“Are you sure you can keep him here?”

He pulled me close and kissed my temple. “As long as you need.”

This affectionate, doting version of Reece wasn’t exactly new, but since last night—since his big reveal—he’d been… different. As if he’d stopped holding himself back.

I cuddled Boo until he squeaked, then sent Reece a sly look. “A tiny cat in a house full of giant hockey players. How much crap did the team give you during the game?”

“So much. Cole can’t keep a secret to save his life, but we did get in some quality comedy. Seriously, I’m slowly dying inside keeping the pussy jokes to myself now. We won, by the way.”

“Oh yeah?” I teased, as if I didn’t have the score up on my phone the whole time. “Did Rafe save the game again?”

Reece mockingly growled at me. “Rafe played great, and I got a goal along with Vanhauten.”

I knew he’d been working with Rafe—and I’d already seen Reece’s goal—but I loved the fact that Reece would let me tease him about hockey. He took the game and his responsibilities seriously, but he was happy to play the rest of the time.

“You mean when the puck bounced off the ref’s butt before you tapped it into the net?”

“As long as it didn’t go directly in, which it didn’t because I touched it first. How was your group project meeting?”

The reminder canceled out some of my fuzzy happy feelings. “It went as expected. Only three out of the five of us showed up, and only two of us had done any work yet. At least the presentation isn’t until the end of the semester, but the meeting was a waste of my time. One of my partners actually had the gall to ask me which hockey player I’d pick next. Jerks.”

“Sometimes notoriety sucks, but at least you have a pussy to play with tonight.”

I shook my head. “Couldn’t help yourself, could you?”

He held out his hands. “It’s been at least five minutes since you walked in.”

I gave his bicep a patronizing pat. “You did great.”

Reece caught my wrist and spun me back to face him, dropping a kiss on my nose. “Not to sound needy, but you’re staying, right? Boo would be devastated if you left. It’s his first night in a new home.”

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