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“Wish I could,” I said, winking at Cadence. “But you know I’ve got to go with the team. We’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” She gave me another practiced pout. “I’m gonna skate better than you soon.”
I slipped her skate off and put it in her gym bag. “I don’t doubt it. You’re improving fast.”
“Score lots of goals, then,” she said. “And make sure Harry is a good boy.”
I tried not to bust up laughing. What on earth did she know? Maybe more than I did. “Harry?” I asked innocently, ignoring the way Cadence was shaking her head at me.
“Bergy said he was bad and went to jail. Tell him to be good, like you.”
Cadence snickered, no doubt thinking of how very bad the two of us had been last night, but Sophie didn’t pay her any attention.
The doors down at the other end of the ice opened, and both Bergy and Paige came through.
“Will do, Sophie Bug” I said, tying her shoelace. Cadence had already finished the other shoe, so I picked up Sophie’s coat. “Now let’s get you all bundled up, okay?”
“Okay.” She let me slip her arms into the sleeves, but then she turned and gave me her serious face.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“You should take your skates with you. You need to practice.”
“Yeah, 501,” Koz called out from the ice, where he was already warming up. “Bring your figure skates so you can practice for The Nutcracker on Ice.”
I was about ready to crack his nuts, but I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything I’d regret. No chance was I going to slip up and curse in front of my Sophie Bug.
I could take care of Koz later. Or maybe, if I was lucky, he’d forget all about it.
Not likely, but a man could hope.
SURELY ONE OFthese days, Levi and I would get around to taking our time and enjoying sex with each other. That hadn’t happened yet, though. Every time we started off heading toward his bed, we somehow ended up getting all sorts of random bumps and bruises from various pieces of furniture, and we typically ended up on the floor in a sweaty tangle of limbs.
I couldn’t say I minded in the least, and it didn’t seem like he did, either.
That said, there was zero chance I’d ever look at the rounded corner of the kitchen counter the same way again. Even now, as I said as much in hushed tones to Katie and her sister, the small of my back ached something fierce. I rubbed it while they busted a gut laughing.
“Keep it down or someone else will come over here,” I said, laughing just as hard as they were. I glanced around the owner’s box, where we were hanging out after the Storm’s game, waiting for the guys to finish cleaning up. No one seemed to be paying the three of us any attention, thank goodness, but that could change at any moment. Especially if we kept it up the way we were now. “If my brother gets word of this, I’m blaming both of you.”
“Lips. Sealed.” Dani dramatically pretended to zip and lock her lips, then tossed away the imaginary key. It was a Thursday night, and she’d driven down from Seattle for a long weekend away from her fashion school, to coincide with the team heading out of town. The plan was for me to stay with the two of them for the weekend, since the guys would all be gone, and since Anthony and Jesse were still gone on their honeymoon, so I’d brought a duffel bag with me.
“So how, exactly, do you get into the right position for that?” Katie asked. “I mean, you’re tiny.”
“Not on my own,” I said, blushing. “He’s so much taller than me that we’re always having to make adjustments.”
“Good thing you’re flexible,” Dani said. “I sincerely doubt I could last like that for longer than three seconds. He’d have to be strong enough to hold me up like that.”
“Good thing you’re single and don’t have to worry about it,” Katie shot back at her.
“Just because I’m single, that doesn’t mean I’m not—”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not what?” her father asked ominously from behind us. We hadn’t been paying much attention, so none of us realized the guys were starting to make their way up to join us. If we had, no doubt we would have changed the subject well before now.
“Nothing, Daddy,” she said, trying to pull off a sweet, angelic note.
“Mm hmm. Let’s keep it that way, hmm?” He stalked off to collect his wife, and the three of us burst out laughing.
We looked around to see which of the guys had made it upstairs so far. Nicky Ericsson and Keith Burns had already come up to give their families good-bye hugs, but Levi and Jamie still hadn’t joined us. I caught a glimpse of Harry, with his flaming-red hair and matching bowtie, hanging out in the corner and keeping a wary eye on Katie and Dani’s father.
