“It’s okay.” She rolls her eyes playfully at me before climbing into the passenger seat and shutting the door, forcing me into the car if I want to continue our conversation. “Besides, no one knows where we’re staying.” Her lips twist into a quick frown before smoothing out. “There haven’t been any reporters camping out on our front lawn.”
She’s right, of course. I’m being overbearing. Indie has lived through this kind of shit many times, and in a city teeming with reporters and paparazzi. She may run into one or two obnoxious reporters willing to overstep in the Twin Cities, but it will have nothing on the way things are back in LA.
“Promise you’ll use the keys if you need to.”
Batting her pretty lashes at me, Indie offers me a syrupy smile. “I promise.”
We spend most of the drive in silence, both of us lost in our thoughts. Indie’s probably thinking about whatever herpublisher wants her to do for her identity reveal, and I should be thinking about the finals and winning game three, but my mind is stuck stubbornly on the beautiful woman beside me.
I can’t shake the worry gnawing at my stomach. The women have already invited Indie, Lola, and Megan to their watch parties, so Indie won’t be alone. She’ll be safe in buildings with security and doormen.
Still, I can’t stop feeling like there’s something else I’m missing. Some risk I should be anticipating.
“We’ll have a day off between games four and five,” I say, needing to distract myself from hypothetical problems that haven’t even happened. So I bring up an idea I had last night as I was drifting off to sleep. It was still swirling around in my mind when I woke up this morning. “I was hoping I could take you somewhere special to me.”
Curious hazel eyes study me as trees blur behind her out the window. “Of course. Do I get a hint about what this special place is?”
“Nope.”
She chuckles as I shake my head. “So mysterious. It’s not like your secret lair or something, right? Because I get nervous enough that you have high-speed pucks flying at your head every night. I don’t think I can handle finding out you’re some kind of masked vigilante on top of it.”
God, she’s cute. “Definitely not a superhero. Don’t worry.”
“Good. Do I need to dress up?”
“Nope. Just normal clothes.”
“Curiouser and curiouser,” she muses, grinning.
“I promise you’ll have fun.”
Indie smiles softly at me, and it eases some of my tension. “I always do with you.”
When I pull up in front of Indie’s rental and park the car, I stare at her for a moment. Sometimes I still can’t believe I foundher again, let alone that we’re finally together after all these years. Kissing her soft and slow, I savor the moment, unwilling to let her go.
She sighs when she pulls away, brushing her fingers across the stubble on my jaw. “Text me when you land?”
I nod.
“Miss you already.” She kisses me again before climbing out of the car. “Have fun tonight. I know you’ll win.”
“I already have,” I say to myself as she walks into the house, flashing me one last bright smile before closing the door.
“What the fuck?”
In between pulling my gear on in Florida’s visitor locker room, I glance over at Maddox. He’s already suited up and frowning down at his phone. I’m not surprised to find him frowning. We’re all on edge after our loss last night in game three and feeling the pressure to win tonight and tie things up.
“What’s wrong?” Griffin looks over Maddox’s shoulder at the phone in his hand. His eyebrows knit together, and soon his expression matches his brother-in-law’s. “The fuck?”
I’m going through my normal pre-game routine, visualizing shots and how I’ll stop them as I get ready, so I ignore them. Or at least try to. That becomes more difficult when my teammates look at me in unison, brows furrowed, jaws tight. “What?”
Griffin and Maddox turn to each other, holding the kind of silent conversation that belies their long friendship. Whatever they’re mentally debating, it doesn’t look great, and my stomach twists.
“What are you two going on about?” Logan asks, taking the phone from Maddox’s hand. Ryder sidles up next to him, and the two of them read whatever has Griffin and Madds in a tizzy.
“Oh, shit.” Ryder grimaces when he looks up at me, and my heart starts racing.
“Someone needs to tell me what’s going on.”
