Page 10 of Two for Charging

Breezy smiled over at him. He had dimples when he smiled, and his new haircut made him look even more boyish and charming than before, highlighting his strong nose and cleft chin. Luca’s stomach filled with butterflies.

No. He could not keep doing this to himself. They could be friends and roommates, but Luca needed to let his feelings go by any means necessary.

“Howie told me he is looking at apartments around our area,” he said casually. “How much do you think he’ll end up paying?”

“Hm…” Breezy considered. He’d rolled his window down as soon as he started the car, his left forearm resting on the ledge. He guided on the wheel with his other hand, confident and easy, and it was so big. Luca wondered how those hands would feel on him. Would Breezy’s touch feel as soft and gentle as the way he spoke and acted? Or would he be as decisive and forceful as when he was on the ice?

“I bought my place for around 800K,” Breezy said. “But I’m sure Howie got a much bigger bonus last year. He had a way better plus/minus than I did.”

Luca frowned. “Howie is a forward. And you played on the PK almost all year, no?”

“Yeah.”

“So you played in the most difficult defensive situations. How would you get a good plus/minus?”

“By letting in less goals.”

Luca pursed his lips. “Plus/minus is a stupid statistic. It doesn’t take the team around you into account, and it doesn’t take into account your position.”

“Yes, it does. Goalies don’t have a plus/minus.”

“Technically accurate, but not a helpful point. You are a different type of player than I am.”

“Yeah, I’m supposed to stop pucks from going in our net. You’re supposed to score on the other guys. How many goals get scored against us when I’m on the ice is, like, my most important stat.”

“But I didn’t—you—” Luca wished he’d taken a statistics class at university so he could explain why Chris, yet again, undersold himself. “I cannot begin to explain how wrong you are.”

“I think that means I win.” Breezy looked so pleased with himself at the thought Luca wanted to kiss him.

This was not why he had started this conversation. “So you think Howie can get a place for, what, a million?”

Breezy nodded slowly. “Yeah. Maybe even a bigger place. I mean, property values go up all the time around here, but it’s only been a year, so he might get lucky.”

“Your apartment could be worth maybe 900K now, then.”

Grinning brightly, Breezy nudged him with his elbow. “Totally. There’s this famous NHL star living there. He got to go to the All-Star weekend last season.”

Luca rolled his eyes. The All-Star weekend was the most ridiculous event he had ever attended, and he’d spent the whole time wishing Breezy had gotten to go as well because Luca had become unfortunately used to spending all his time and playing all his hockey with Breezy by his side.

Still, he had the information he wanted—how much Breezy’s apartment was worth. With the figure in mind, he could extrapolate what he should be contributing per month if Breezy charged him rent. Discovering the extent of Breezy’s generosity sobered him. Luca could cover groceries, gas, and utilities, and come nowhere close. And Breezy wouldn’t let him pay for any of those either.

The other part of the conversation bothered him more though.

“I like how different our playing styles are,” he said as Breezy shut off the motor and made to get out of the car. “I think we complement each other. It is a strength, not a failing.”

“Oh.”

The underground garage was dark, but Luca could swear he saw Breezy blush.

“Well. I, uh…” Breezy rubbed at the back of his neck. “Thanks, and same.”

Warmth suffused Luca from the inside out, a steady glow that came from being appreciated by someone he cared about. It wasn’t poetry, let alone the romance Luca craved, but it was very Breezy.

He trailed Breezy to the kitchen and watched as he set about making dinner. For all their banter in the car, Breezy often invented meal-plan-approved variants on his mother’s carb-and-cream-heavy cooking. For her “carbonara,” he used whole wheat pasta and lean ham instead of bacon (which also wouldn’t have been right, but Luca conceded that finding decent pancetta in the USA involved going to specialty stores, a time investment not worth the effort during training camp), and he came full circle on the sauce, using whisked eggs instead of cream.

“I figured out a way to do it where it comes out pretty saucy,” Breezy told him as he cooked.

Luca listened in bafflement as Breezy proceeded to explain in great detail how whisking the eggs into the pasta while it was piping hot yielded a sticky, thick, flavorful sauce.