“Hey!” Jenna stood when we got down to our seats. They weren’t as good as the ones at the Garden, but close. She gave me a hug while Tomasso and Max did some one-armed shoulder hug thing. The game hadn’t started yet, and people around us started to whisper. A few took out their phones and snapped pictures. Max had only been recognized a few times while we were out during our staycation, but I guess it was impossible for it not to happen when we were in an arena full of hockey fans. A girl from the row behind us asked him to sign her jersey.
“You want me to sign a jersey for a team I’m not on?”
She twisted a bracelet on her wrist. “I’m sorry. It’s all I have.”
“I’m teasing.” Max grinned. “I don’t give a shit. I’ll sign it.”
She handed him a Sharpie, and he leaned down to sign her jersey, but he stopped before he’d finished, putting his hand up in front of her friend.
“No, she’s off limits,” he said.
I then realized her friend had been aiming her camera at me. She apologized and put the phone down.
“Sit here,” Jenna said. “I don’t need to sit next to my husband. He’s been home two weeks, and I’m already ready for him to go back to practice. The other day I told him to take some initiative, because unless I tell him to do something, he will spend an entire day lying on the couch like a lump. I meant for him to maybe load the dishwasher or start a load of laundry. When I came home that night, he’d gutted our bedroom—removed two windows and there was no sheetrock on two of the walls anymore. He said I’d complained about the window having a leak last winter. Umm…caulk around the window, don’t gut the room.” She shook her head. “When I asked him what the hell he was doing, he said he was taking initiative. The man has an off and on switch and no in between.”
I laughed.
“Anyway…enough about me. How are things with you and Max? I was so excited to hear you two were still going strong. You know when you just have a feeling about two people? Your gut just thinks they’re right for each other?”
I smiled. “Things are good. I took some time off from work, and we’ve just been doing stuff in the city.”
“I’m happy for you. Though my auction total is going to take a hit without Pretty Boy in the lineup.”
“Auction?”
“I run a charity auction every fall. We raise funds for kids who can’t afford to go to hockey camps all over the country. People donate things for us to auction off, but the highlight of the night is always when we auction off dates with some of the single players. Last year we got thirty-five thousand for Max—the most we’ve ever raised on an item.”
Max finished signing autographs and sat down next to me. He took my hand and weaved my fingers with his.
“You were auctioned off?” I asked.
He groaned. “They made me do it.”
Jenna laughed. “Yeah, we made him do it. But we didn’t make him take off his shirt and start flexing when the bidding started.”
Max hung his head. “I got into it. I wanted to get the bidding higher.”
I grinned. “You wanted to make sure you pulled the biggest price tag ever, didn’t you?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Like you would’ve done any differently.”
“Thirty-five thousand, huh? You must be a hot commodity. I hope I don’t get a big fat bill later.”
Max leaned to me and lowered his voice. “I’ll take it in trade.”
The game started, and within the first five minutes, I saw a side of Max I’d never seen before. He and Tomasso yelled and screamed. They jumped up out of their seats a hundred times, and when they did sit, they sat on the edge. They were completely focused on the game. Max had started with his hand resting on my thigh, but I had to ask him to remove it, because every time something happened in the game, he squeezed so hard I was definitely going to have finger bruises. He’d had no clue he was even doing it. But I found his intensity and passion kind of sexy.
I leaned over to Jenna when the two of them jumped to their feet to yell at the ref during the second period. “These two are hysterical. I’ve never seen Max like this.”
“Is this the first game you’ve been to with him?”
I nodded. “Why do I find it kind of hot?”
Jenna wiggled her brows. “Wait until you get home later. They need an outlet for all that adrenaline coursing through their veins. Unlike with their own games, it doesn’t matter if their team wins or loses. So it’s a win-win for us.”