Page 21 of Season's Schemings
I think Imiiiiiiightbe a little—a lot—drunk.
“What are those?” Seb eyes them cautiously, but luckily, he doesn’t wait for an answer. He throws back two of them, then winces. “Urgh.”
“That bad?” I raise an eyebrow at the big ol’ Hockey Man getting his cute little panties in a twist over a couple of teeny shots, but then I shoot one myself. “Ewww, you’re right. Yuck, yuck, yuck.” I flap my hands and grimace. “That’ll teach me for ordering nipples.”
“Nipples?”
“Don’t say nipples.”
“You said it first.”
“Yeah, but it sounds obscene coming from your mouth.”
Seb considers this for a moment, then nods. “Fair.” He wipes his mouth, takes a huge breath like he’s working up the courage to do something, then looks me dead in the eye. “Maddie, I have an idea. A crazy one.”
“I like crazy.”
“I know. Hence why I’m asking you.” He smiles. “You know the way you said I should come pretend to be your boyfriend for the holidays?”
“Ha. Yeah.” I dreamily create a beautiful mental fabrication of Elizabeth drooling over the absolute hunk that is Seb as she scrapes Adam’s jaw off the ground for him.
“What if I actually did that?”
I blink, sure that I’ve heard him wrong. “Sorry?”
Seb’s gorgeous blue eyes are wide… and a little wild. Hazy. “We could help each other out.”
“How would you pretending to be my boyfriend in front of my annoying family and even more annoying ex helpyou?” I raise a brow. “Are you looking for a Good Samaritan project for Christmas or something?”
Seb frowns, then leans forward and puts a big hand on each of my arms. “You are not a charity case, Maddie.”
The way he says this, all growly and firm and low—coupled with the delicious feeling of his warm, callused palms moving along my bare skin—stirs something deep in my stomach. “You’re going to have to explain what you mean then.”
“You want to stick it to your ex, right?”
I really, really do. Spending Christmas with stupid, smug Adam and stupid, stunning Elizabeth is going to be miserable. Unless I can somehow hoist myself up out of the discard pile and onto their hellish playing field.
“And I want to keep playing in the NHL. Keep playing for the Cyclones, specifically.”
I shake my head, entirely confused. “I don’t see how these two things are connected.”
“What if we didn’t go to the cabin as boyfriend and girlfriend…” Seb takes a deep breath and his eyes lock on mine. “What if we went as husband and wife?”
I’m not sure how I’m meant to react to this statement, but even in my drunken haze, I know the wrong thing to do is choke on my own spit.
“Whoa, there.” Seb claps my back a few times. “Breathe, Maddie.”
I sputter a few more times. “Sorry, sorry. I think I’m horribly mistaken. Because I’m pretty sure I just heard you say that we should get married.”
“Temporarily.”
“How drunk are you, exactly?” I demand.
“Very,” he replies.
I stare blankly at Sebastian Slater. Number 19. Leading scorer in his division.Asking to be my temporary husband.“Well, there’s no such thing as a temporary marriage. That’s the point of marriage. It’s forever.”
Seb rolls his eyes. “And how often does that actually happen?”