Page 64 of The Chase

He shook his head and ordered two more beers, and handed one to me. “Cheers, man. Oh, to answer your question, I think my sister’s the best. She plays for U of T.”

“Wow, she moved to Canada?” I asked.

He nodded. “She lives with me. We’re pretty close.”

I pointed to my sister, who was tipping back her head in a laugh while Benny kissed her neck from behind on the other side of the bar. “I get that. I have a twin sister. She’s my best friend.”

“No way! My sister’s a twin too,” he said.

Max’s eyes were wide with excitement. “Hockey twins!”

I slid my eyes over to her empty glass of wine. “I think you had a little too much wine, eh, baby girl?”

She shrugged and gave me a sly smile. “Maybe…”

Blaise smiled at me. “You two are cute. I hate this being single shit.”

I shrugged. “It can be fun, but yeah, it’s nice to have your person.”

Max slid her hand into mine at that, and I squeezed her tiny hand in my bigger one.

Blaise waved to one of his teammates who had walked in the door. He tipped his beer to me in salute. “That’s one of my boys. It was nice meeting you. Let’s get a drink the next time you play in Toronto, okay?”

We shook hands again. “Definitely, dude.”

I thanked him for the beer, and I noticed Max typing away at her phone. I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her temple. She giggled against me, all girly like. Yup, she definitely had one too many glasses of wine tonight.

“What are you doing?” I asked her and nodded toward the phone in her hand.

She laughed. “Oh! Texting Blaise’s younger brother Ayden to get the details on Blaise’s situation.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s hot, and I’m sure I have a friend that would be interested in him.”

My blood boiled at her saying another man was hot.

She must have seen the look on my face because she arched a blonde eyebrow at me. “Are you jealous?”

I took a swig of my beer. “No,” I grumbled.

She looked up at me through her long lashes and bit her lip. “T?”

“Yeah, baby girl?”

Her cheeks were tinted pink, and then she got up on her tip-toes and pressed her lips to my ear. “You’re the only man I’m taking home tonight.”

I gave her my signature grin and pulled back to look at her. She was still biting her lip, and she dipped her head down, avoiding eye contact. I tipped up her chin with my finger. “You want me to take you home?”

She nodded.

“You gotta say the words, baby.”

She blew out a breath.

Max had gone a long way from that awkward one-night stand in October. I loved that I helped her get over some of her apprehension in the bedroom, but sometimes she still didn’t vocalize her needs. She’d avoid eye contact or not tell me what she really wanted. Sometimes I had to coax it out of her. That frustrated me because I was still terrified I wouldn’t be enough for her. When I held her in my arms or kissed her, she made me feel safe and warm, and I never wanted those feelings to disappear. I had never felt this way before, but I was still so scared of ruining things.

“Please,” she said.