Page 202 of Waiting Game

I arch a brow at him as I think about our interlude at a coffee shop. “You wouldn’t be jealous if someone tried to kiss me over a caffe latte?”

“You know I don’t ask for it.”

“And I don’t have to like it.”

“Jealousy.” He holds out his hand to high-five me. Begrudgingly, I tap his. “I can deal with that. Week five, baby. Only three to go.”

I hide a smile. “You trying to frighten me off?”

“Does it frighten you?”

“I have nothing to lose and everything to gain,” I point out as we pad toward a cluster of trees. “I don’t wantyouto lose Gracie.”

“I think… I have to worry more about her payback.”

“Payback?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s a real bitch when she gets the bit between her teeth. Like Gloria, eh?” he chirps as he leans over and tries to rub Gloria’s nose, but she lifts her head to avoid his touch.

“That’s it, girl. You show him he’s not a hockey god out here.” That has him snickering. “What kind of payback?”

“She’s an evil genius, a prankster.”

I think about the woman I worked with for years… “Gracie?”

“Yup.”

“Graciepranks people?”

“Well, she pranks her family,” he reasons. “Liam used to be called ‘Peter Pan’ in the early days because he flew around the ice. Then, one day, her brother gets it in his head to fuck her best friend. I still don’t know how she did it, but she put something in the whirlpool that turned them green.”

My brows lift. “She dyed them green?”

“Yup. It was an important game too.”

“But what did Liam do?”

“Got caught up in Kow’s bullshit as usual.”

“So he was an innocent bystander?”

“Yup. She’s not afraid of collateral damage.”

“So, what happened?”

“They came onto the ice looking like the Phillie Phanatic’s twin brothers, and Kow got into a massive fight with the other team. He was kicked off and Liam morphed from Peter Pan to the Leprechaun because he scored his first-ever pro hat trick… While bright green.”

I whistle. “She’s hardcore.”

“Oh, yeah, she definitely is.” He winces. “I got mine coming to me. But I’ll take it like a man.”

“My hero,” I breathe, though a second later, my lips roll inward at his doomed tone.

Maybe I wasn’t wrong about his premature demise.

He visibly braces himself. “It’s all good. Worth it to have you.”

I tug so hard on Gloria’s reins that she stomps her feet in outrage. Cole turns back to find me staring at him. “Say that again.”

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