“How hungry are you?”
“Starving,” I snap and he chuckles, ripping off his towel to reach for a pair of underpants. “You’re the worst.”
I watch as he draws them up over his thighs and firm ass. He palms his thick cock, his eyes locked on mine as he makes a production of tucking himself away. When his little show gets him nowhere, he pulls on jeans, a dark red dress shirt that he tucks in, and a dark brown leather belt. He pulls on dark brown boots and a coordinating wool blazer. He looks good. Like how a king would dress to go to a hockey game.
“Ready?” His voice knocks me out of the fog that watching him dress put me in.
I smile and nod as I set aside my book, knowing that later tonight it’ll be even more fun to watch him take it off.
I stand and grab a dark red and brown baseball style suede jacket from the closet and sling it on before following Rhys out the door. With our detail in tow, we ride the elevator down to the ground floor of this hotel and step into the restaurant. The hostess looks a little star struck as she realizes who Rhys is, and honestly,same girl. He got me too. She seems to shake it off and leads us to a quiet table in the back where there are no windows and the lighting is dimmer, handing us each a menu.
We’re quiet as we look over the menus; there’s not much to say. We’re in public with a sexual undercurrent that’s… simmering but not boiling. Rhys orders a bottle of wine that we sip on while waiting for our meals.
“What are you thinking about?”
“That it’s weird to be back in North America when not so long ago, it was all I thought I knew,” I answer. “It’s not bad, just… different I guess.”
“Are you excited to be going back to the states?”
“Yeah.” I answer after I think about it for a moment. “I think I am.”
“What are you most excited about, wife?”
“Clam chowder,” I laugh. “That’s what I miss.”
“Well, we’ll make sure you get it, hen,” he says gently.
“Anything you’re looking forward to?”
“I already have everything from the Americas that I could want,” he answers, his eyes heated as he sips his wine.
“I don’t know what to say to that,” I reply shyly.
“You don’t need to say anything at all,” he says as our meals are set in front of us. We spend the rest of the meal quietly chatting about nothing and everything and before long, it’s time to leave for the arena.
I discreetly fix my lipstick before we head out of the hotel to our car and camera flashes blaze across my eyeballs. There’s significantly more paparazzi here than at home and that is terrifying because if it’s crazy in Canada, how will it be in America? Thankfully, Rhys wraps a protective arm around my waist in a way that looks romantic and swoops me into the car.
“How did you ever pass as a businessman?” I ask when the door closes behind us.
“I have my ways,” he chuckles.
“Apparently.”
Before I know it, we arrived at the arena. Our car parks near a private entrance and our security team escorts us as we make our way to the doors. Leo pulls open the heavy glass doors of the arena and we proceed hand in hand, Rhys just before me. There’s a noticeable difference in the air temperature inside versus outside and I’m glad for the heavy suede jacket Dahlia helped me choose for this outing.
My heart pangs when I think of Maeve and the friendship I thought we’d built. I relied on her to help me plan for royal duties like this trip.
Thankfully, Dahlia, a blood princess and my friend, has slid seamlessly into the role. When we’re alone, I’ll have to talk to Rhys about making his little sister an offer of an official role working for my office. She’s grown so much in the short time that I’ve known her. Gone is the wild party girl with cocaine dust on her clothes and empty booze bottles in her purse. Now,she’s got the confidence and poise to carry out this new job with assured success. If anyone can keep me on the straight and narrow in this job, it’s her, and more importantly, I trust her to do it. Trust is something I’ll never take for granted again.
We’re led down a flight of stairs with fans filling in the seats on both sides, taking the time to smile and shake hands as we go. It feels like it takes forever, but we hurry so that nothing is held up on our account. Our seats are front row, right against the glass on the corner so that we can see the whole ice from one goalie to another. Wow.
We take our seats just in time for the house lights to dim. I flinch at the sudden change, but Rhys helps me cover it up as he pulls me in for a kiss. The lights for the opening call-out begin to flash and the crowd cheers wildly. One by one the players are called out onto the ice and then we all stand for the Canadian anthem.
A Canadian TV star walks out on a red carpet wearing an Ottawa jersey and holds a ceremonial puck in front of two massive hockey players. Cameras flash for the photo op before she drops the puck and the Ottawa player scoops it up and hands it back to her with a smile. The way they stare at each other is flirtatious and charged in a way the entire arena can feel it and whatever he says to her makes her blush. Then he winks and skates away, and I think the whole arena swoons. The actress shakes her head and walks out ofthe spotlight as workers clear the carpet from the ice. I really want to know what their story is.
After that everything moves so fast. I’m both terrified and fascinated as the players line up against each other on the ice. I can’t seem to keep track of the puck as they pass it back and forth to each other, flying up and down the ice. When a fight breaks out on our end of the ice, I jump as the huge bodies slam into the glass in front of us. If I thought the players seemed huge on TV, the reality is so much more. The blond one winks at me after the fight is broken up and players are led to the penalty boxes. My heart is pounding in my chest. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. How do people watch this all the time? It’s wild. Although, I guess they’d think all the people trying to kill me are pretty wild too. To each their own, I guess.
Toward the end of the game, the big blond man has the puck, and he fakes left before cutting right when his skates are taken out from under him by another player’s stick from one side, while he’s hit by someone else from the other side.