Page 106 of The Puck Stops Here

‘Yeah.’ Blake looked at him. ‘Tonight, when you went to see him?’

‘Oh right, yeah, that. Yeah, all good.’ Aiden pushed away from the counter and turned away. ‘I’m going to hit the sack, big game tomorrow, make sure you get your beauty sleep, bro.’

He watched his brother leave, sensing his quick exit had more to do with cutting the conversation dead than a desperate need to sleep. And if that was the case, why? What had he been up to that he didn’t want Blake to know about? Was he back to protecting his ass again?

Now he wished he hadn’t poured the beer away.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out.

Astrid

Thank you for a great night. When you’re ready for a rematch let me know x

And just like that he was smiling again…

Blake

Any time, anywhere, Twinkle Toes x

16

PMDD hit and it hit hard.

Which served Astrid right after the way she’d behaved. Getting all cosy with Blake when she should have left with Aiden. Offering up a rematch, too – gah!

How could she have been so duplicitous?

Only she hadn’tmeantto be duplicitous.

She’d sent a text to each twin. One to Aiden saying thank you along with praise for his cooking. And the other to his brother, also saying thank you but wanting to say so much more, because she’d been overflowing with… with so muchfeelingtowards him… and the rematch had rolled from her fingers.

She was useless.

PMDD-ridden useless. And so she’d spent the rest of the week in hiding. Keeping up to speed with her girlfriends via message, keeping her distance from the twins, and carrying out research for her article while trying to track down their father too.

But she’d known come game day, she’d have to do something to try and take the edge off. Something to exorcise every Blake-induced craving from her bodybeforeshe saw him on the ice.

Something that would exhaust her body so much it wouldn’t dare get all perky for him. And exhaust her mind so much that it would quit the negative spiral of PMDD gloom.

So that afternoon, she’d dragged Bella to NYC’s most extreme hot yoga class…

Bella, who could help Astrid get out of her own head.

Bella, who could refocus her on the plan and boost her with an update on Chase.

Bella, who couldn’t know the truth about her feelings for Blake –hell, Astrid didn’t want to know about those – but could be told enough to sympathise with her.

And now here Astrid was, at the game, sore in places that hadn’t existed before today, head still ranting, body too…

‘Good evening, New York!’ A roar rippled through the crowd as the announcer cut through the music and Astrid’s head shot up, her heart too. ‘Welcome to what promises to be an electrifying matchup here at Empire State Ice.’

The noise around her built, reverberating through her limbs as she stood with the crowd and cheered the teams onto the ice. The Knights came first, unperturbed by enemy ice as they swooshed around, sticks and fists pumping the air.

‘And now, it’s time to welcome your Titans…’

She turned to watch the players launch onto the rink, her eyes eagerly taking in every jersey, waiting and waiting until…

Blake appeared, his eyes finding her as though they were connected by some invisible thread, his grin making her perkier than perky! And in that moment, she didn’t care.

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