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Axel swept an arm back, scooped up his woman, and drew her to his side.
Dessie and I dodged and weaved, the path made easier by Axel and him shielding Bailey with his big, broody hockey player body. People gave him a bit of a wide berth—though they didn’t do exactly the same for Dessie and I, even with Joel and Ryan in front of us, lending their hockey bodies to fighting the crowd.
But Dessie and I were small, so they just swarmed back in, bumping into us left and right.
“Ugh,” Dessie muttered, “I hate the city.”
Even as those words crossed her lips, Ryan was turning back, tossing an arm around her shoulders and shielding her in a way that made me look twice—if only for a second. Because the difference between him and Dessie and Axel and Bailey was night and day.
Friends.
Lovers.
Distance andnone.
I processed that, silently wondered if I should put some effort into that pair—after all, I’d found that my calling as a matchmaking mayor and was batting one for one on happy endings (that being Axel and Bailey). Dessie and Ryan might work—especially since I’d heard through the town gossip channels that Ryan, the one chronically monogamous player on the Rush, was now single.
But…
I didn’t see it.
Ryan was too…
Quiet, maybe.
I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why he and Dessie wouldn’t work. I just knew in my matchmaking belly that they wouldn’t.
Dessie needed someone else.
My mouth turned up.
And I had an inkling who would be perfect for her.
Thatwas when I had an arm aroundmyshoulders, and there was absolutely not one inch of body between the side of my body and the side of Joel’s. He held me close and tight, automatically shielding me from the crowds, surrounding me with his heat and his scent and…
Just him.
More at home than I’d ever been.
Thatwas the feeling he gave me every moment I spent close to him like this.
Holding me. Not sniping at me. Not calling me harpy or bitching about my overworking tendencies.
Just getting close…and talking softly.
Like he did right then, leaning in, murmuring in my ear, his hot breath making me shiver. “Why are you smiling, baby?”
I went still, my smile fading.
“What are you talking about?”
A finger tracing one side of my mouth. Then the other. “You were smiling.”
“I was happy about the escape room and spending time with Bailey and Dessie.”
His arm tightened.
And I ruined it by added, “That’s all.”
