Page 51 of Halftime

“Stop staring.” I mock frowned at her.

“Make me.”

I turned, boxers in hand, and started for her.

“No!” She raced for the bathroom and slammed the door in my face, squealing.

I promised retribution, which only made her laugh. Then I checked the time and swore, because it was late. I quickly pulled on my clothes, promised to catch up with her later, and headed back to the hockey house. I needed access to a toilet and a shower, and I needed to eat something before I had to be in class. That meant I had to rush.

Fifteen minutes later, I was back in our kitchen, assembling a smoothie with protein powder, hair wet and mind firmly back on Faith. I almost leapt when Cooper slapped my back.

“What the hell?” My heartrate was still several levels above normal.

He grinned at me. “Someone is looking very…satisfied this morning.”

I felt my cheeks warm. “Uh, yeah, Faith and I are back together.”

Cooper bowed with a flourish. “Then my work here is done.”

“What about you? I mean, I owe you—”

He stepped back with his hands raised. “Oh no, I don’t want to be paired up.”

I cleared my throat. “Thanks. This… It means a lot to me.” It meant everything, though I couldn’t really say that. But yeah, I was in Cooper’s debt, big time.

“Then you won’t mind that I let Jill? Julie? Use your towel, right? She said she had to clean up.”

He turned to leave while I was gaping at him.

“Have your…women use your own damn towels, Coop!”

I got only a laugh in response.

* * *

Faith

Seb was waiting when I got out of practice.

The guys were on the ice next, but I normally didn’t see them. They were in their locker room getting ready while we were on the ice. And when we were done, they headed out for their own practice. Today, Seb was standing outside our locker room waiting for me. It was sweet, and I felt a smile form on my face.

“Hey.”

I got glances from some of my teammates as they headed out. I wasn’t sure what they might think about this, so I started walking to the exterior doors, hoping to move Seb along. I guess if we were dating now, people were going to know. I hadn’t really thought that through. I probably shouldn’t worry about what my teammates thought, but even though I was getting more starts, at least as backup, I wasn’t sure Coach was really on Team Devereaux. And if word got back to her…

“Shouldn’t you be getting dressed to get on the ice?”

Seb shrugged. “I’ll be there. Just wanted to see you first.”

“Why?”

“For this.” He framed my face with his hands and kissed me.

It wasn’t a long, drawn-out kiss, but it packed a wallop. I heard someone whistle in the background. Seb ignored the whistle, and anyone else who might be around. He was focused on me. Only. He pulled back, and it took me a minute to remember where I was. I blinked, coming back to the here and now.

“Wanna go for pizza tonight?”

I was feeling the effects of the kiss and was still confused about how to break this news to my teammates, so I nodded and took off for class.