Page 29 of The Cupcake Cottage

“Yup.”

“I have an idea.”

“Yeah?” He hoped it had to do with kissing her again. A lot.

“How do you feel about a wardrobe makeover? You know, wearing something a bit different?”

The way she narrowed her eyes had him shaking his head and holding up his hands as though he needed to physically ward her off. “No. No way. No, no, no.”

“What?” she asked innocently.

“A princess?”

“It would drawa lotof attention.”

He tipped his head back and groaned. She would not stop busting him over that.

Truthfully, he hoped she never did.

“What if you did it for charity? Dak is working on that one for sick kids that Miranda started for the team…” She lifted her brows, trying to entice him to cross-dress. Publicly.

“I had something else in mind.”

“What’s that?”

He shrugged, doubting his idea. The idea of hiring their own paparazzi—AKA the team photographer to shadow them again—felt icky when he considered saying it out loud.

She bounced in her seat, her eyes lighting up. “Do crazy stuff in public like kiss and—”

“No.” He frowned. He wanted to keep their lives personal. At least the kisses. The hot ones. An innocent peck was probably okay.

“Or have this secret elopement—which, of course, will hit all the major news channels—after a big, public engagement where you post signs up around the arena asking me to marry you?”

Actually, that would draw some serious attention.

“Ha!” She pointed at him in delight. “You’re considering that one! Keep it in your back pocket. I was also thinking we could sunbathe on a yacht wearing not much—if you know what I mean. Have a helicopter fly overhead…”

He was pretty sure that growling sound was coming from him. He could feel the structure of the cup in his grip giving way to the pressure of his closing fist. As evenly as he could muster, he said, “I was thinking we could rehire the team photographer.”

She fake pouted. “But that other stuff would be so much fun, Mavvie.”

“The photographer worked the first time. We could build on the initial photos.”

“You’re not going to propose in front of the entire rink?” She gave a dramatic sigh, and he realized, like a sucker, that he’d fallen right into reacting to her teasing.

Except now he couldn’t get the vision of them sunbathing together out of his mind, or that she might be receptive to an engagement. Would she say yes to him? For all of their lives, just the two of them? Quiet times. Busy times. They’d be together. Nobody else. No more of this dating garbage. Just two happy people in love, holding hands through the ups and downs of life.

Wow, okay. He needed to get his brain checked. He was way ahead of things here.

“The calls about deals are still coming in, right?” She looked concerned enough that he wanted to lie to her.

He shook his head. “It’s early days, of course.”

“So we could try going a bit more bold? Bigger? Play it up on the weekend?”

He felt a smile lift his mood again. He loved she wasn’t afraid of fame, of sharing him a little. Even though he’d much rather stay out of the limelight and spend all of that time with her instead. It made him think that maybe he could have it all—a relationship and hockey—if it was with someone like Daisy-Mae.

“If we do, it means no shying away from the cameras.”

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