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When he’d taken a puck to the face.
I swallowed. “You’re Tanner Jeffries.”
Pressing his lips together, Tanner nodded. “Yeah.” He pushed his hands into the front pocket of his yellow hoodie, and a blush rose in his cheeks. “I, uh… I thought it would sound crazy if I just told you, so…” He shrugged, regarding me uncertainly but… hopefully? Was thathopein those beautiful brown eyes?
I laughed, sliding my hands into my own pockets. “Well, damn. I guess we don’t really need to introduce ourselves, do we?”
“No, I guess not.” He chuckled, the uninjured corner of his mouth curling in the most adorable way. “Sorry for the cloak-and-dagger, but…”
Eh.” I shrugged. “I did the same thing.”
“True.” Tanner tilted his head. “And hey, now that we’re face to face and there’s nothing to screencap, I’ve been curious for ages—whatdoyou do?”
I couldn’t help the self-conscious laugh, though I had no idea why. “I teach. Middle school history.”
Tanner’s eyes lit up. “Oh, so you’re not just a history buff—you do it professionally. Nice!”
“Yeah. Might as well make a living doing something I love, right?”
“I can’t argue with that.” He tugged at his hoodie.
“Right. Yeah. You’re…” I exhaled. “God. Of all the ways I saw this playing out, I didn’t really envision getting starstruck.”
That blush was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. “Surprise?” He shrugged, and then he studied me. “I think we’ve met a few times before, though.”
I tensed. “You… remember me?”
Tanner smiled as much as his stitches allowed. “Yes. I remember you. I had no idea you were, well, you. But…” His expression turned a little shy. “I remember you. You were there after the game the other night. When I…” He gestured at his lip.
Holy shit. He really did remember me.
“I was, yeah.” I laughed nervously. “Would you believe that when you stopped to sign stuff, I’d been standing out there freaking out about the message I’d sent to you about meeting?”
“Really?”
“Mmhmm. The guy I was with—my friend—he’s been telling me since forever to just drop the hammer and meet you. Saw me messaging you during intermission and told me to just do it already.”
Tanner’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
Suddenly self-conscious again, I nodded. “Yeah. I wanted to. I’ve wanted to for a long time. Just… needed that shove to work up the courage, I guess.”
The surprise held for a moment, and then he laughed again, this time touching his lip as if to keep from overstretching the stitches. “So that means you saw my play fall apart after that intermission? How I came out and just…” He waved his hand. “Forgot how to play hockey?”
“Yeah, I—” Horror straightened my spine. “Oh, fuck. Was thatmyfault?”
He shook his head. “Nah. I mean, it wasn’t like you knew who I was or what I was doing. And there’s a reason Coach tells us not to fuck around on our phones during intermission.”
“Oh my God.” I covered my mouth as I leaned against the fountain’s edge. “I… Jesus. I distracted you during a game.”
Tanner gestured dismissively. “You couldn’t have known. And this?” He motioned toward his mouth. “That wasn’t anyone’s fault. Not mine, and definitely not yours.” He rolled his eyes. “The hockey gods were just being dicks.”
“Yeah, I guess when it’s flying that fast, there isn’t a whole lot you can do.”
“Not really, no. And hey, it got me off the ice and gave Aston a chance to play some more minutes.”
“True,” I said. “He’s been great this season. You think they’ll keep him when he’s a free agent?”
“Don’t know. We all try not to talk about that too much because it can get really unnerving and stressful.”
