Page 31 of What About Us

“To pick up Cooper and his wife.”

Her head whips over in my direction, and she almost face-plants, but I have her firmly in my grip.

“Oh.”

“He’s bringing his wife.”

“Oh. Wait. You said that.”

Right. I said that.

“If you tell me that Coop is really your favorite and you’re sad that he’s married, I’ll let you fall on your face.”

She smirks. I don’t know why the thought of any of my teammates being her favorite doesn’t sit well with me.

Yes, you do.

Because you’re attracted to her, you want in her pants, and you want her to like you.

I’m not wrong.

“We need to finish up,” she says, not out of breath at all. “I don’t want you to overdo it, remember?”

“All right. Come on, let’s get off the ice.”

I lead her to the side and help her walk to where our shoes are, and when she’s seated on the bench, I sit next to her and take a breath.

“You okay?” She frowns up at me. “Is your knee hurt? Shit, did we do too much?”

“No, the knee is fine.” I bend over and start to unlace my skates. “It just felt good to be out there. I missed it.”

“I understand.” Her voice is soft and soothing. “We’re going to get you there. Your form was good. You didn’t seem to be favoring your leg.”

I take her skates and put them in the bag I bought for her, then do the same with mine and zip them up, and we head out of the rink. The drive to the airport only takes a few minutes, and as we pull up I see that Cooper and Britney are already standing on the sidewalk.

“You’re late,” Coop says as he offers me a fist bump.

“I was skating.” I grin at him, and he raises an eyebrow. “So, not sorry.”

“Hey, handsome,” Brit says in that southern accent that charmed her husband, and wraps me up in a hug. “You’re skinny.”

I snort and step back, then scowl when Ivy’s not next to me.

“Hold on.”

I walk to the passenger side and open her door.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll sit in the back.”

“No, I want to introduce you.” She looks confused. “To my best friend, not your favorite player.”

That has her rolling her eyes as she pushes out of the car and walks with me to where Cooper’s loading their things in the back.

“This is my physical therapist, Ivy. Ivy, this is Britney and Mark Cooper.”

“Pleasure,” Ivy says with a smile and shakes their hands. “Sorry to interrupt your time together. Xander should have let me bring my own car.”

“No,” is all I say and guide her back to the front passenger side. Cooper raises his eyebrow at me, and Britney simply winks before climbing into the back.