Page 62 of Hat Trick
“Same. But Emmy is traveling. Maven and Madeline have kids. We’ll always come second to them,” I say.
“I’m okay with that, because they’re cute as hell, and I love being an aunt.” Piper stands on her toes and peeks over my shoulder. “Speaking of cute as hell, I saw Riley eyeing you during our class.”
“That wasn’t a subtle segue at all.” I snort and twist the cap off my water, kicking myself for leaving my reusable bottle at the studio. “And I’m sure he was eyeing me. It’s part of the routine when I give directions on the moves we’re doing.”
“He was eye fucking you.”
“Stop.” I laugh and throw the cap at her. “He was not.”
“Guess I must’ve imagined him looking at your ass then.”
“He was in the back of the room. How the hell would you have even seen that?”
“I see everything,” she says slyly. “Even Liam picked up on it, and that’s saying something. You know he never wants to get involved in people’s personal business. He’d rather gouge his eyes out than talk about someone’s relationship.”
“Such a charmer, that goalie.”
As much as I want to deny Piper’s claim, I’m not oblivious.
I could feelattention on me this afternoon. It went beyond the usual awareness I experience while teaching a class. It was intentional. Like I was being watched for a reason, and I’m not surprised it was Riley.
It seems like he’s always watching me these days. I’ll glance across the tunnel where we’re standing during the game and see his gaze flick away from me and back to the ice. In our rehab sessions, he looks my way between stretches. There’s a small smile. The dip of his chin to his chest, as if he’s embarrassed he got caught, but then he does it again.
I don’t mind.
It’s nice to be looked at, especially by him, and it’s not because I can’t get the image of him shirtless with those damn sweatpants out of my head.
His attitude shift is encouraging. Minus the four-game trip we just wrapped up that took us away from DC for a week, Riley and I have been spending time together. We’ve been texting here and there—mostly progress reports about his exercises while I was out of town—and it’s fun to know I finally have his attention after trying for weeks to get it.
“Riley and I are friends.” I move to the cabinets and grab a stack of plates to use for the pizza. “And working together. That’s all that’s happening between us.”
“That was a very neutral answer.” Piper hands me a mountain of napkins. “Did his crush magically disappear?”
Crush.
That word makes me want to blush because when was the last time someone had a crush on me?
And when did it start to make me feel giddy?
I bite on my bottom lip to stop a smile from forming, feigning nonchalance. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Are you two gossiping in here? I love a good gab session with the girls.” Grant strolls into the kitchen and grins. “I want to know what you’re talking about. Unless it’s who has the biggest dick on the team. I can tell you the answer is?—”
“Unprofessional. And not in front of ladies.” I flick his ear. “I’ll tell you what we’re gossiping about if you telluswhat’s in that notebook you carry around. You’ve been holding onto it for a year.”
“It’s not important,” Grant rushes to say. “Only women’s numbers. I got hoes in every area code, you know?”
He can’t lie to save his life.
I haven’t seen Grant with a woman in months. He’s not sneaking anyone back to his room at away games. I’m not sure he’s thrown a puck to a female fan since the season started, and he’s so protective of the black leather notepad he pulls out now and then, I’m starting to wonder if he’s keeping nuclear codes in there.
Whatever he’s hiding, it must be important. He doesn’t let it out of his sight.
“Not a good enough answer to hear our gossip.” I stick out my tongue and head back to the living room with the plates.
The guys are spread out throughout Maverick and Emmy’s house. Some are playing video games. Others are sitting on the couch and talking. Ethan is shirtless—again—and asking Connor to count his abs, and I shake my head. When I spot Riley outside on the terrace, I slip away from everyone and the conversations they’re having.
Some fresh air sounds nice.
