Page 53 of The Husband Game

Charlie wet his lips and Dustin leaned in a little, wondering if he was reading Charlie’s body language right.

God, he was dying to kiss Charlie. Maybe it was all for show but damn it, Dustin didn’t care. With a greedy fierceness that took him by surprise, he realized how much he wanted it to be real.

“Oh dear, it’s much worse than I feared.”

The dry tone behind them made Dustin straighten and he turned to face Kate Foster.

She was average height for a woman, but that was about the only thing about her that could be called average. She was one of the most formidable people Dustin had ever encountered in his life and he’d faced down his share of grizzled NHL veterans.

“Worse?” he asked with a lift of his eyebrow.

“You’re completely smitten.”

Dustin grinned.

“Guilty. Kate, this is my husband, Charlie Monaghan.” He settled his hand on Charlie’s back. “Charlie, this is Kate Foster. She’s the Vice President of Communications for the Toronto Fisher Cats.”

“Nice to finally meet the woman behind all of the sternly worded emails,” Charlie said in a pleasant tone as he shook her hand.

Her blue eyes were coolly assessing as she raked her gaze across Charlie. “I see you’re no shrinking violet.”

Charlie laughed. “Oh, I’m quite sure you had that pegged about twenty minutes after you found out my name.”

Her grin widened. “You had quite the reputation in the skating world for flouting the rules.”

“Oh, trust me, I held back most of the time when I was skating.” Charlie’s smile was sweet.

There was something in his tone that made Dustin step a little closer, silently offering his support.

Dustin liked Kate a great deal but she hadn’t gotten a position like this by being a shrinking violet either and she was formidable to go up against. Dustin was usually on her good side, so they rarely butted heads.

He wasn’t going to let her try to push Charlie around though.

Charlie could handle her but Dustin never wanted him to feel like he’d have to do it alone.

Now, Charlie and Kate reminded Dustin of hockey players silently circling each other on the ice, gloves off, ready to duke it out at the first sign of encouragement.

He’d underestimated Charlie.

He patted Dustin’s stomach, the diamond on his finger glinting in the light. “I can feel you getting all worried from here, dearest, but don’t fret. Kate needs to be sure I’m good enough for you.”

“Of course you are!” Dustin protested.

Kate laughed and shook her head, her blonde hair swishing as it tumbled over her shoulder, her polite smile melting into something more genuine.

“I can see you two are going to be fun to deal with.” Her tone had turned dry again and she pivoted on her spikey heel, gesturing for them to follow. “Come along then.”

Dustin wasn’t entirely sure what had happened but he took a seat in her office and waited to see what would come next.

“So, Charlie,” she said after they were all settled. “Typically, I’d suggest some media training to a new spouse, especially since you’re the captain’s husband and there will be more scrutiny on you, but thanks to your skating career, you’ve been dealing with the media for years and are a pro at it.”

Charlie nodded.

“I’m not going to ask you to have no opinion but please be mindful of hot button topics like politics, race, and religion.”

Dustin let out a little laugh. “Let’s be honest, our marriage is inherently political. It shouldn’t be, and Canada does have a better history than the US, but we both know there are anti-LGBTQ politicians in both countries looking to stir up trouble.”

Kate grimaced. “You have a point.”

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