Page 68 of The Proposal Pact
“A-ha!” Sophie exclaims, dragging the remote out from underneath the couch. “Found you, baby.” She even kisses the thing. “I hope we didn’t miss too much.”
“Okay, you have fun. I’m gonna go make some calls.”
“But what about the game?”
“Sophie, I don’t really care about hockey.”
She quirks an eyebrow. “Have you ever watched it?”
I mull that over, trying to think back but don’t recall any time that I’ve actually seen it apart from those few minutes at my parents’house the other day. “No, I was more of a football guy in high school.”
I’m barely done talking when she snatches my wrist, pulling me down onto the couch next to her. “You can’t say you’re not into hockey if you’ve never watched it. Give me at least one period.”
I pucker my lips. “Just one period and you’ll leave me alone about this forever?”
“Yep.” She pops thep,and I sigh.
“Fine. One period it is.”
17
Sophie
“I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” – Rita Rudner
“What the fuck?” Clover yells at the TV. “He totally tripped him! Did you see that? Why aren’t they sending him to the prison?”
I should be furious at the referees for not calling that penalty as well, instead I’m barely managing to hold back my chuckle from watching Clover rage over here.
We tuned in right as the first intermission was coming to an end and second period was starting. And now we’re almost done with the third and my fake husband has yet to move a muscle off this couch since I made him sit and give it a try. Even during the secondintermission he used the time to ask me questions about the sport, the rules and teams.
Clover also ordered food for us again without telling me what he was getting, and even though I pouted about it again, I secretly kind of liked it.
Not to mention, I was still trying to downplay how much it got to me that he remembered I wanted grilled cheese last night.
I’m downplaying a lot of things right now. Like the fact that I’ve never had so much fun watching a game before. I even stopped correcting him when he’d named the penalty box, the prison.
My ex couldn’t care any less. Vassar simply didn’t have a spare minute to sit down, let alone watch something. I guess the closest was back when Grace lived in New York and she’d watch with me, but that girl was only there for the eye candy. Not that I blamed her, but she didn’t care about the game itself as much as Clover seems to.
“That always frustrates me to no end. It should've totally been a penalty. But watch...” I grin at the TV. “Quinn will never let it slide just like that.”
“Quinn is that defensemen? The one whose jersey you’re wearing?”
“Mm-hmm.” I nod. “Here, here.” I jump up on my spot just as Exton cuts off Jones from the other team, the one who tripped Anez Goram, and slams him into the boards hard enough to rattle the whole structure and a second later a fight breaks out.
“See?” I purr with satisfaction, watching Exton teach that guy a lesson.
“You have a vicious side,wife.” Clover chuckles, turning his gaze back to the action from me and my insides liquefy as they have been doing every time he used that little title for me.
Why I love it so much when I’ve never given it even a thought in the past is beyond me, but I do.
“And don’t you forget it,husband.” I send him a wink and we spend the last five minutes of the game cheering and screaming at the TV together. “Admit it, you loved it,” I say, glee coating my voice.
Clover rolls his eyes, but I still catch the tiny, covert smile on his lips. “It wasn’t the worst,” he announces.
“Theè mou, just admit I was right,” I groan.
“Okay, I wouldn’t go that far,” he teases, getting up from the couch, and I lunge at his back, clinging onto him like a monkey. “What are you doing?” he yelps.
