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I wait for Rux to hit the ice and cheer as he skates by giving us a grin as he raps the glass and leaves me just a little breathless.
The game is fast paced and intense. Rux ends up in the box in the second and finishes the game with two assists. Julia and I end up on the big screen a few times, which I’ve gotten used to since her career took off. When the final buzzer sounds, we’ve won and I’m a little hoarse from all the cheering and laughing with my sister.
Julia checks her phone and looks up toward the owners’ box where Greg gives her a wave.
“Okay, he’s going to hang back with the guys and meet us over at the Five Hole later.”
I give him a wave too and then shoot Rux a quick text congratulating him on the game while a couple kids wearing Baxter jerseys come up to say hi to Julia and give her a note to pass to her husband.
After, we make our way over to the bar with what feels like half the arena. Everyone’s pumped from the win, talking about the game, but I’m quiet, my thoughts revolving around a certain player and what my chances are of scoring with him tonight.
I’m sure we said more than once. But I don’t want to make any assumptions.
I mean, we might not be in the same place. Rux hasn’t suffered any shortage of available and willing gorgeous women… Cripes, I suddenly don’t want to think about that at all.
Julia and I find Nat and George in back and join them at their table.
“I’m just saying, a big wedding isn’t really my thing,” Nat hedges. “Not that I don’t want one at all.”
George nods, then looks to Julia. “You went through this a couple years back. Think small is even possible with this team?”
I snicker, remembering Julia sweating over the plans, and tease, “Have you gotten enough distance from the trauma of that guest list to be able to talk about this, sis, or do you need another year or so?”
Julia snorts over her beer and shoots me an evil glare before answering. “I think you can do anything you want. You just have to have a really clear idea of what that is. If you’re not entirely firm, you’re going to end up with a list a million people long and… it can get overwhelming. That said, once the planning was done, my wedding kicked ass.”
Nat and I agree. And then we’re going through pictures on our phones to show George. Brainstorming about wedding favors and catching up on Quinn O’Brian’s latest unsuccessful effort to secure George’s Dad’s approval to marry his daughter.
“You can never, ever, tell Greg this,” Julia says, waving us all in over the table to hear whatever dirty secret she’s about to reveal, though I’m pretty sure I know what it is.
“Spill,” Nat says, eyes gleaming. Nothing makes her day more than having something over her brother.
Julia takes a dramatic breath and then confesses in a rush, “My childhood dream wedding happened on the fifty-yard line at Soldier Field.”
Yep, that’s the one.
Natalie actually blanches, while George’s head spins back and forth, like she’s terrified someone might have overheard. But anyone who knows Julia knows the only thing that could make her love Greg more was if he’d played football instead of hockey.
Nat reaches for Julia’s hand and swears, “l’ll never breathe a word.”
Recovering over a slug of her beer, George elbows her buddy. “Tell yours.”
“I wanted a wedding on a yacht,” Nat says, her cheeks turning pink. “With the wedding party on Jet Skis at either side.”
Julia’s nodding, her grin wide. “Nice. Bikinis or formal wear?”
“Formal all the way,” George chimes in with delight. “She confessed it after too many Jell-O shots junior year. Spilled every detail.”
And those details keep piling up, until we’re all cracking up so hard we don’t even notice when the guys arrive until George looks up and leaps out of her chair, with Natalie quick to follow. Quinn and Vaughn catch them up in their arms, while Greg catches Julia’s offered hand and leans down for a kiss. Rux is bringing up the rear and despite what I told my sister earlier, I have no idea what to expect seeing him tonight. He slants that epically sexy grin at me, grabbing a chair from the other end of the table and circling around to park it beside mine.
We always sit together, but this time watching him move into the space beside me has my belly going into freefall and a million questions about what happens once we’re alone taking flight.
“Hey,” I say, smiling at him like a total goof.
“Hey, yourself, Sunshine,” he answers, sliding his hand around the back of my neck and drawing me forward in a move so smooth, I don’t even realize what’s happening until his mouth meets mine for a kiss. A kiss that lasts. And lasts.
When he draws back, he’s sitting beside me and my hand is on his chest. Our eyes are locked, his crinkling a little at the edges. “Been waiting all day for that,” he says with a wink. “Guessing you didn’t tell them we’ve joined the cutest couple competition?”
I blink and turn back toward the table, where six sets of eyes are locked on us, mouths hanging open to varying degrees.
