I rolled my eyes. "There is no look."
"There absolutely is."
I hated that he was right. The worst part was that I wasn't even thinking about the things most people would assume.
Yes, Kieran was attractive. Painfully attractive.
Yes, I loved waking up with him curled against my side. I loved the way a simple kiss could derail an entire evening. I loved how naturally we'd fallen into sharing a bed whenever our schedules allowed it, and how difficult it had become to leave him this morning.
But there were other things. The way he tried to pretend he wasn't impressed by Christmas lights, even while staring out the window like a kid discovering magic for the first time. The way he'd somehow turned baking cookies into a disaster neither of us wanted to end.
I shook my head. "He's funny."
"Funny how?"
"Dry sense of humor. Smart. Gives me a hard time when I deserve it."
"So constantly."
"Exactly."
That earned a laugh.
“Mom practically adopted him within two minutes of meeting him.
Tannen barked out a laugh.
The memory warmed something inside me. Even after we'd had to cut the visit short, Kieran hadn't complained once. He'd spent the entire afternoon talking to my parents, listening to their stories, and somehow making them laugh as though he'd known them for years. He’d fit in so seamlessly that realization hit me with surprising force. I wasn't used to imagining people fitting into my life. Hockey had a way of making everythingtemporary. Cities changed. Teams changed. Schedules changed. Relationships changed.
By the time we'd left, my mother had already informed me twice that she expected to see him again.
Yet every time I thought about Kieran, my mind seemed determined to place him in the future… my future.
Tannen simply sat there watching me with the kind of expression that only existed between people who had known each other long enough to recognize the truth before it was spoken aloud.
Then one corner of his mouth lifted.
"What?"
The grin widened. "You're smiling."
I immediately scowled. "I'm not."
"You absolutely are."
"I'm sitting here having a conversation."
"You're sitting there looking like an idiot."
I pointed at him. "Pretty sure insulting your alternate captain is against team policy."
"Pretty sure there isn't a policy."
"There should be."
Tannen laughed, and for the first time all evening, some of the heaviness I'd seen in him eased slightly. Then his expression softened. "You really like him."
I could have denied it. I could have brushed it off with a joke or changed the subject the way he had earlier. But after everything that had happened over the last few days, pretending felt pointless.
