Page 131 of Overtime
“When does this start?” Mom asks behind me.
Before I can respond, Aran’s mom answers. “I think in five minutes.”
“Is anyone recording this?” his dad asks, his voice breathless even though he’s been parked in his seat for exactly an hour.
“It’s going to be available on demand, Dad,” Luz shouts without turning around.
Meanwhile, my eyes have been fixed onRODRIGUEZ 31emblazoned on the back of my husband’s jersey. I forwent the WAGs jacket and donned my matching jersey over a hoodie. This turned out to be a good choice, because the nerves have drained me of any body heat.
Aran finishes stretching his legs and gets back up, turning around to grab his water bottle hanging from the back of the net. He lifts his mask, which is adorned in the team colors and multiple lightning bolts that pay homage to his college team, and sprays water on his face and hair.
“Ugh,” I grunt to myself. He looks so dang hot when he does that. No wonder he’s amassed a whole fan club by himself. There isnothinglike a goalie with swagger.
And Aran has it in spades. He’s practically guaranteed the Vezina Trophy, even if his team doesn’t bag the whole show, and there are strong rumors that he may also get this season’s Hart Memorial Trophy.
Yeah, his fan club isn’t just women in the audience. Everyone in the league is going bananas over the guy who’s been dubbed this generation’s wall. Sounds a bit cooler than “the Iceberg” if you ask me.
His eyes catch mine from clear across the ice. I’m in the corner between his net and our team bench, in the front row, so it’s not hard. We’ve been keeping tabs on each other the whole time. And every single time, my stomach jumps like it’s the first time our eyes have ever met.
Yes, I’m the number one member of his fan club. Aran still makes my belly flutter just as it did when we met at the library years ago. It’s kind of embarrassing, but what can I say? I’m a romance girlie to the core, and he’s my TDH brought to life just for me.
My heart hammers harder as he pushes away from the net and glides over to the glass partition separating us. I toss my popcorn bucket haphazardly to my sister and jump to my feet.
“Hey, wife,” he says louder than his usual grumbly tone.
“Husband.” I smile at him. “Don’t forget the reward I have for you tonight, no matter what happens.”
The corner of his delectable lips rises. “I won’t.” And maybe that was all he needed, because he pivots around and heads back to his net.
“Ew.” Olivia, his younger sister, elongates the word until her voice gives out.
Luz makes a grimace, complete with her tongue sticking out. “Yeah, I totally didn’t have to know that.”
“Know what?” I frown as I retake my seat.
Meg offers my popcorn back to me. “They think you were talking about boinking.”
I jump. “What? No! I learned to make pabellón criollo for him,” I explain. I completely botch the pronunciation, but it’s enough for my sisters-in-law to relax.
“Oh.”
“Whew.”
I roll my eyes. Please, as if Luz isn’t married to an objectively hot man, and as if Olivia doesn’t have a boyfriend too. They know about the birds and the bees. It shouldn’t be shocking if my bee-husband really loves my flower.
“What are you youth talking about?” Mom kind of yells from behind us.
It occurs to me now to be extra thankful that the place is packed full and noisy. Mom still likes to pretend that there’s no such thing as bees and flowers between Aran and me, even though we’ve been married for a couple of years. I think it’s her way of masking the disappointment that I haven’t been able to give her more grandbabies to add to the collection Meg and Justin have produced.
“Nothing, Mom,” Meg and I chorus.
“Please stand for the national anthem,” a voice finally booms, and everyone who is able in the arena scrambles to do so.
Well, no matter what happens with the game, everything is going to change tonight.
The game starts with a bang… ish. The opponent wins the initial faceoff, one of their forwards breaking away for an aggressive slapshot, and Aran plucks it from the air as easy as popping a soap bubble. We’re on home ice, and I’m notexaggerating when I say the entire place almost goes down from shock.
Not me. All I do is smirk like the villainess of my next book. It’s really bold to try to frazzle the best goalie in the whole dang league like that when that gives him plenty of opportunity to demoralize the other team.
