Page 129 of The Husband Game

And yet, he didn’t want to do anything to ruin the night Dustin had planned. Because he’d clearly put so much effort into it.

“Dustin,” he said, interrupting what Jordan been saying about training this week. “You’re amazing.”

Dustin looked at Charlie, lips parted, and blinked. “Thanks?”

“No, I mean it.” Charlie leaned forward and touched his hand. “This dinner, getting everything set up tonight, and how understanding you’ve been that I couldn’t help out. Every last bit of it. I’ve noticed it all. And it means so much to me. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me.”

Charlie’s throat went thick as he thought about every guy he’d been with in the past. The ones who had never once put in even a tenth of the effort Dustin did.

This wasn’t even real and Dustin was acting like the perfect husband.

Dustin gave him a long, steady look. “They should have.”

“They should have. But maybe I’m glad it was you,” Charlie admitted.

“Oh, kitten.” Dustin’s voice was soft and rough and he cupped Charlie’s cheek in his hand, half-standing and leaning over the table to kiss him.

Charlie sighed against his mouth, so indescribably happy he hardly knew what to do with himself.

But that ache of needing to tell Dustin the truth about him fluttered up again, beating at the inside of his chest like a bird hitting itself against a window.

He drew back. “Dustin, I …”

“You two really are adorable,” Natasha said.

Charlie jumped a little. He’d forgotten there was anyone else at the table with them. How embarrassing.

“And here the team was taking bets you’d be divorced by Thanksgiving,” Jordan teased.

Dustin froze, hand halfway to his wineglass. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

Jordan shrugged. “Mostly. A few of the guys were kinda joking about it though. That it was going to last as long as your previous relationships.”

“You guys are all terrible,” Natasha said, but she was laughing. “You shouldn’t bet on things like that.”

Dustin grimaced and took a sip of wine. “I know my dating history was bad but shit.”

“You had a little bit of a rep, man,” Jordan said with a laugh. “But clearly you were waiting for the right person.”

“Guess I was.” Dustin smiled, reaching out and resting a palm on Charlie’s thigh.

His hand was warm and heavy. Although he took his wedding ring off when he skated or worked out, he had it on now and it glinted in the light.

Charlie’s chest tightened at the sight of it.

Yeah. He desperately needed to talk to Dustin about his eating disorder.

He was starting to feel like a fraud.

By the time everyone else had cleared their plates, Charlie still hadn’t finished his salmon and root vegetables.

“Sorry, I’m a slow eater,” Charlie said with a sheepish little smile.

“No, that’s good,” Natasha said. “Better for digestion, right? I’m always telling Jordan he should slow down.”

Dustin laughed. “Yeah, well, we hockey players grew up trying to cram as much food in as we can manage before we burn it all off.”

Jordan laughed, shaking his head. “My poor mom, she had to feed three boys in hockey.”

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