“It’d be nice, but I know you, you want to deflect it.”
“’Cause it’s so weird!” she laughs and I shake my head. “I’m not perfect. I’m far from it.”
“But in my eyes, you are,” I say softly as her laughter subsides. I hold her beautiful gaze and love burns in my chest for her. She’s so perfectly not perfect. A beautiful fucking mess and she’s all mine. But I can’t say that. “To me, man, Bay, you have no clue.”
Heat creeps up her neck as she looks away, toeing the ground with her foot. “I don’t let anyone but my dad call me Bay.”
“Oh. My bad,” I say with a shrug. “Do you want me to stop?”
Looking up at me, she slowly shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Then I won’t,” I answer back, my eyes burning into hers. I want to touch her so bad. Just a small caress, anything. Man, I’m dying here and it’s only been twenty minutes! “This not touching you shit is wack.”
Grinning up at me, she says, “Wonder how long it will last?”
“We could just say fuck it and do what we want?”
She shakes her head. “My dad would flip, and plus, I don’t want that getting in the way on the ice.”
“Why would he flip?” I ask, and she lets out a breath, looking toward her dad’s house.
“He doesn’t want anything distracting me,” she says before looking back at me.
“So I’m a distraction?”
Scoffing, she nods her head quickly. “Hell yeah, you are.”
“Good,” I say with a wink. “But we got this. When we are on the ice, it’s business. We work.”
“Agree,” she states with a nod. “But off the ice…”
A smirk comes over my face as my body burns for hers. “I’ll be looking for every private spot just so I can touch you.”
As she bites into her lip, her eyes darken. “Well, just to let you know, if Markus and Jace weren’t watching us right now, I’d kiss you.”
Say what?
Looking toward the window, I see my dim-witted brother and his best friend. “Idiots.”
“Yeah, but they are funny,” she says as they start to act like they are making out with each other.
“I think I should kick their asses.”
She laughs. “Don’t. I like them. They are so cute, like little puppies.”
When Markus starts to hump Jace’s leg, I can see the resemblance.
Chuckling, I look over at her and smile. “Look at you. All liking people and shit.”
She grins at me, her eyes bright as the sun peeks through the clouds to warm her face. She looks almost like an angel, but I know that looks can be very deceiving. She may look like a beautiful, harmless flower, but she’ll lash out at you with that mouth of hers and kick you in the balls faster than you can say hockey.
Which is why I’m completely taken by her.
With a wink, she nods her head at me. “Don’t worry. I like you the most.”
As we stare into each other’s eyes, I decide I’ll take what I can get. But my mother’s words weigh heavy on my mind.
Don’t be a doormat.