Page 169 of Face Off
“You can answer it.”
“Nah. I’ll call him later. I got a whole lesson on love from him, Reid and Hudson, so they know now. I’m sure the rest of the boys will find out soon, since apparently you stare at me when we’re on the ice.”
I gape at him. “I donotstare at you, you conceited man.” I press my fingers into his ribs, and he giggles. “Take it back.”
“Don’t shoot the messenger.” Maverick dodges my attack and stands up, hauling me over his shoulder. He smacks my ass and I grab a fistful of his shirt. “Where’s Piper today?”
“Doing something at the rink,” I say. “Why? Do you have plans for me, Miller?”
“Lots of plans, Red. I’m going to stare into your eyes. Say all that ooey, gooey shit I thought I hated, but with you, I can’t say it enough. Then I’m going to?—”
His phone rings again, and he stops us in the hallway, halfway to my bedroom.
“Answer it,” I say gently, and he keeps me in his arms as he pulls out his phone. “Your friends want to talk to you, and that’s okay, Maverick.”
“It’s not my friends. It’s Coach.”
“Oh.”
“Why thefuckis he calling me? He said he’d let me know in forty-eight hours.”
“Answer it,” I repeat. “I can handle it. Really.”
“I know you can, baby.” He sets me down, and his gaze meets mine. “We’re going to be okay. I promise we’re going to be okay.”
“Yeah.” I nod. “I know we are. We’ll figure it out.”
His shoulders sag when he answers. “Hey, Coach. Yeah. Okay. Right. Yeah, I’ll tell her. No, man. It’s fine. You don’t need to—mhm. Right. Okay, thanks. See you tomorrow.”
“Well?” I ask, and from the look in his eyes, I already know what he’s going to say.
“There was a lot of interest in Harper, and management had to act quick.” His throat bobs, and he tucks his chin to his chest. “They approved the trade pending physicals, and ESPN already picked up the story. The Stingrays want you in Toronto in three days.”
“Three days.” I scrub a hand over my face and nod. “Okay. Well. That’s that.”
“At least you can come to team dinner tomorrow,” he says, and that soothes the ache. I’ll get to be with my favorite guys one more time. “And I’ll help you pack a suitcase.”
“Thank you.” I rest my cheek on his shoulder and sigh. “I can’t believe I found the place where I’d be happy to stay forever, and now I have to leave. I guess it’s my fault for finally planting roots somewhere.”
“You’re planted with me, Emmy girl, and we’re going to have roots everywhere. Here. There. Wherever our friends end up. We’re stuck together now, and we’ll take this one step at a time.”
“I know the guys will have heard about the trade by tomorrow, but I want to tell them in person at dinner. And I want to tell them about us too.”
“We can do that. We can tell the whole world, if you want.”
“Let’s start with the team first. Then we’ll go from there.”
He squeezes my hand. “We’re going to be okay, baby.”
“Yeah.” I smile, and for the first time since he told me I could be leaving, I believe it. “We’re going to be just fine.”
FORTY-NINE
EMMY
Grady
I’m not great with geography, but I’m pretty sure Toronto is closer to San Diego than DC is.
