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I’d already opened my mouth to tell her that wouldn’t be necessary, that Anthony and I were a good fit and we could go ahead and move forward with things, when he spoke up beside me.
“I think it’s a great plan.” He turned to me, tossing his skates in a duffel bag. “Do you have plans tomorrow afternoon?”
“I promised Sara I’d help her take the kids to an indoor park—”
“Perfect,” he cut in before I could finish putting words to my excuse. “Sounds like a fun way to hang out together. And we’ll have your sister-in-law and the kids as a safety net. Should I meet you at your brother’s house, then? What time?”
A safety net. He was determined to protect me in every way. I couldn’t exactly say I was surprised, since his protectiveness and general kindness had as much to do with why I’d chosen Anthony to be my new partner as his skill level, but his determination still took me aback. I wasn’t used to men treating me this way. Not anyone other than Cam. And he was my brother. I was his youngest sister, the baby of the family. He had to treat me like that. It was written into family law or something.
Five minutes later, Anthony and I were finished removing our skates and had our plans for tomorrow all worked out. He and Ellen headed out, but I wanted to make my way up to see Mr. Sutter and thank him for letting us use the ice today before leaving.
In order to go upstairs, I had to walk past the side of the rink where the team was congregating next to the benches. Cam skated over as I passed.
“So? Is he the one?” he asked.
“Maybe. Probably.” I shifted my gym bag from my left shoulder to my right and hitched my hip against the boards. “We’re getting together tomorrow afternoon to hang out. Get to know each other, that sort of thing.”
His forehead creased over his nose. “He’d better not try anything.”
“We’re going to be with Sara and the kids,” I said, rolling my eyes. Cam could go from docile to murderous in 0.18 seconds. I appreciated that he wanted to look out for me, but there was no call for him to go all caveman. Especially not over Anthony. “You do realize he’s gay, right?” I added, just in case.
Cam raised a brow. “You’re sure?”
“One hundred percent positive.” I couldn’t count how many times I’d caught Anthony holding hands backstage at various competitions with his longtime fiancé, Jesse Schwartz. Jesse was a men’s singles skater, so he was always around at the same competitions. “Anthony’s gay, and he’s been with his fiancé for close to forever. Frankly, I’m shocked they haven’t gone ahead and tied the knot yet, since gay marriage is legal all over the country. And even if he weren’t gay, he’s just as overprotective of me as you are, already, and we aren’t even officially partners yet.”
“Good.”
“Good for you,” I said in a huff.
“And for you, too.”
I rolled my eyes.
“I worry about you,” he said. “About you getting hurt again.” The tone of his voice made it clear he didn’t only mean physically. Of course, he and the rest of the family knew that Guy and I had been a couple, not strictly an on-ice partnership, but I’d done everything possible to keep the whole truth from them. There were some things it was better they didn’t know.
“I know you do.” I stretched up on my toes and tugged on his arm so he’d bend down enough for me to kiss him on the cheek. “You don’t need to, though.”
By that point, the coaches had made their way out onto the ice, and several of the guys were starting to skate drills and shoot pucks at the goaltenders. But not Levi. He was skating toward us, which made me antsy to get the hell out of Dodge.
“You should probably start warming up or something,” I said, inching back to make my exit.
Cam glanced up at the clock on the scoreboard. “Still have ten minutes before practice officially starts.”
Damn. I took a full step back, starting to turn. “Well, I should—”
“501 tells me he asked you out last night,” my brother interrupted, reaching for my hand to stop me. “He said you didn’t answer. You just disappeared.”
“Yeah…” I shifted my gym bag to the other shoulder again, glancing past my brother. Levi had been held up by one of the other guys. Thank goodness. But I didn’t know how long this reprieve would last.
Cam glowered at me. He should know better than to think looking at me like that would make me nervous. I knew him too well. Underneath all the muscle and bravado, he was as soft and sweet as a marshmallow.
He kicked his skate against the boards. “So he was doing what I thought when I came in.”
“Wait a minute. You mean you weren’t sure what was going on, but you threatened him for the heck of it?”
“I’ll threaten anyone who steps a toe out of line around my baby sister.”
Didn’t I know it. He’d already proven that by having a minor freak out moment about Anthony.
