Page 46 of Time to Shine

Chapter Seventeen

“Oh.”

It was the following morning, and Landon had emerged from the basement in need of breakfast. He’d heard footsteps upstairs, and thought he’d find Casey in the kitchen but instead he found a stranger.

No. Not a stranger. The man Casey had been dancing with.

The man smiled at Landon now. “Good morning. Sorry if I startled you.” He held out his hand. “I’m Zach.”

Landon shook his hand, an action he never enjoyed but especially not now. Zach’s hand was warm and solid and stupid.

“Nice to meet you,” Landon lied. “I’m Landon. Casey’s roommate.”

“He mentioned you. I hope we didn’t wake you last night.”

Miraculously, they hadn’t. Landon had fallen asleep quickly and deeply after getting home. “Nope. Didn’t hear a thing.”

An awkward silence filled the kitchen, a mutual acknowledgment of the sorts of noises Landon could have potentially heard, had he been awake.

“I’m making omelets,” Zach said. “You want one?”

“No,” Landon said, even though Zach was definitely using his eggs, cheese, and vegetables to make them. Also, Landon was starving and would actually very much like an omelet.

“I haven’t made coffee yet,” Zach said apologetically. He looked like he hadn’t slept much, but he was still unfairly attractive. Closer to Casey’s height, and obviously very fit the way his T-shirt was stretched across his chest. He was white with dark hair, dark eyes, and dark stubble, all a bit rough looking at the moment.

Landon walked past him and began making coffee, just to give himself something to do.

“So you’re a goalie, right?” Zach asked cheerfully as he flipped an omelet.

“Yes.”

“I don’t follow hockey much, but I’ve heard the goalie for Calgary is a big superstar. Is that you?”

Landon huffed. “No.”

“Oh. So there’s more than one goalie?”

“Yes.” Landon was being an asshole, and he needed to stop. He turned on the coffee maker, then turned to face Zach. “I’m the backup goalie.”

“Gotcha.” Zach’s gaze slid over him, appraisingly, and he smiled. “You’re so tall. It must be hard to get pucks past you.”

Landon wanted to say something pointed about how there was a lot more skill involved than simply blocking the net with his height, but instead he said, “It helps.”

“It probably helps with a lot of things.” Zach bit his lip flirtatiously.

Landon folded his arms across his chest. “I can reach things on high shelves.”

Zach smiled. “Maybe you can come over sometime and help me put up Christmas lights.”

Well. Zach was certainly making a lot of assumptions.

Thankfully, in that moment, Casey finally came downstairs. “Oh, cool, you guys met. Do I smell breakfast?”

“I made the coffee,” Landon said quickly, and with too much pride.

“He got here just in time,” Zach said. “I was a little lost on how to use your fancy coffee maker.”

“Aw,” Casey said, then kissed Zach quickly on the cheek. Landon turned to focus all of his attention on the coffee maker, as if it needed to be watched.

---