“I’m not lying. We’re not together. We’re just dating.”
“So, does dating mean we spend every night together for a week?”
She looks away. “Sure does.”
“And it means that I hold you for hours on end while we watch all those weird, scary shows you like?”
She won’t look at me. “Supernatural is not scary.”
“It is too, which is why I hold you.”
She shrugs. “Fine, yes.”
“And tell me… Dating means we stay up all night talking and learning more about each other, naked, in bed.”
She finally meets my gaze, that determined look on her face that drives me wild. “Those are all details that don’t need to be mentioned. Especially the naked one.”
I grin with a wink. “But the naked part is my favorite.”
“See, which is why we’re dating, maybe even fucking.”
I shake my head. I hate that more than the “we’re just dating” bullshit. “No, we left all that behind when I learned the names of your family, your friends, and how many men you slept with before me. We—me and you—are doing something here, Harper. Admit it.”
“No way,” she says, very resistant. “Never.”
“You’re going to admit it,” I promise her, and she presses her lips together. “And you’re coming to my game to cheer me on because you want to watch me win.”
“Or I’m coming to the game because I want to hang with my friend.” I give her a dry look, and she sends me one right back. “Don’t rush me, Jakey.”
I laugh from the gut, despite her annoyed look. “But you’ve given me a nickname and we’re only dating?”
She glares as her face warms with color. It’s so beautiful, the color, but on her, it’s breathtaking. “Hush.”
“Never. I will get you to admit this is more than just dating.”
She rolls her eyes. “I won’t.”
“You will, and when you do, it’s gonna blow us both away.”
She narrows her eyes. “This will probably end before that could ever happen.”
I laugh. “This is never going to end.” She rolls her eyes, and I look at her seriously. “Why would you say that?”
“Because things don’t last.”
“This will.”
“How do you know?” she asks mutinously.
“Because I feel it, just as you do. But you choose to ignore it.”
She sets me with a pointed look. “I don’t feel anything.”
“You can say that all you want, but I feel it in your kiss,” I say, moving my thumb along her lip. “In the way you look at me. The way you hold me. And most definitely the way you smile.”
Her eyes soften, and her lips quirk at the side. “People don’t stay with me.”
“Do you give them a chance?”
She stares at me, her eyes burning into mine. “I don’t have to.”
“Well, give me the chance, Harper, because I’ll prove you wrong. Over and over again,” I promise, taking her mouth with mine. I know she probably has a lot to say to that, but thankfully, she falls into the kiss.
Just like how I want her to fall in love with me.
Just like how she will fall.
I know it.
When I come onto the ice, the first thing I see is Harper.
She’s wearing a purple jersey, and I’m pretty sure I see a number two on each of her cheeks, but I won’t get my hopes up. She has her hair spiked tonight with the purple throughout it. She’s wearing bright purple eye stuff and even lipstick. Her style excites me. Like her best friend, who is wearing every piece of Shea Adler merchandise there is, respectively, Harper looks as if she is a fan, but I know that’s not the case. Or at least, that’s what I’ve been told. This is the first game she’s ever been to. And I don’t care what she says; she’s here for me. I didn’t know where Elli’s seats were, but to any hockey fan, they’re badass. Right beside the penalty box and immediately across the ice from where we come out.
As I put a puck to my blade, I watch as Shea skates right for where Elli and Harper are sitting. Even though no one can tell, I watch as he talks through the glass to Elli, who looks more like a teenager than a grown woman. She is excited and basically bouncing while looking at Shea. She is all about him, and Shea is eating it up. Harper sits beside Elli with this look of disgust on her face, and it annoys me. I want her to be excited like that for me, but her words from earlier taunt me. She hasn’t even looked at me. Fine, two can play at that game.
I move the puck back and forth as I skate with my team. I love warming up; it gets the blood going, and I usually know how I am going to feel throughout the game from the twenty-minute warm-up. I love seeing the fans, especially the kids. I never got to go to games when I was a kid. My birth father was too busy beating the shit out of my brother and me, and my birth mom was off doing something other than raising us. Or protecting us. When my parents came to save us, I stayed scared for about three years, and then finally, I started to come into my own. Sometimes, I feel it was easier for me to let go because it wasn’t as bad for me as it was for Erik. Our birth dad really hated Erik, and I think it was because he looked so much like our birth mother. I favored our birth father. But seeing the kids here only fuels me to have my own and love them how I wish Erik and I had been loved before our parents came for us.
I move around the goal, and I stand there grabbing pucks and throwing them up and over the glass. Kids squeal, parents smile in gratitude, and it makes me feel a certain way. Out of the corner of my eye, though, I notice Harper is watching me. Her brow is furrowed and she looks pissed, but I don’t pay her any mind. While we had a great afternoon and even a great night when I went back to her place after my dinner with my parents, her claim of our not being together is still annoying me. I know the truth, but it bugs the shit out of me that she is holding so tightly to her insistence on not giving us the label we deserve. I get that we don’t need a label and I’d probably be better off by not putting one on us, but I already told my parents she’s the one.
And I won’t be wrong.
I know I’m not.
When Shea hollers out, “Break!” I haul ass to the blue line as we start our drills. We do them every warm-up, and they bring us together. We rush the net and then go to the blue line. We do these many times before our goalie takes his position and we start shooting on him. Word is this is his last year, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Liyamia has been here longer than Shea and me combined. Who could possibly replace him?
As I watch my teammates, I move my feet quickly, taking in deep breaths. My parents are up in the stands along with Erik, who flew in to watch. He’s still playing for the Philadelphia Flyers’ farm team, but he’s gonna make it soon enough. I feel it. He’s a badass player. As I look up toward the box my parents should be in, I can’t see them, but I know they’re there. They don’t miss warm-ups. When it’s my turn to shoot, I crash the net and I take a good shot, going five-hole before skating off to the right where Harper and Elli are sitting. I look up to find Harper watching me.
I can’t help it. I smile before jutting my chin toward her. She stands up, a grin on her face before she turns for me, showing me the Number Two jersey she wears. She then points to the side of her face where my number is painted on her cheek, and everything inside of me goes hot. I send her a wink, my heart in my throat, and she blows me a kiss. I purse my lips to her, wishing mine were against hers. I know it’s not professional, but I sure as fuck don’t care. As she lowers back into her seat, admiration all over her gorgeous face along with a lot of excitement, I can’t help but laugh at her words.
Her claims.
I don’t get why she is so resistant to me. So, she’s been hurt. Yeah, it sucks. But I’m not them. I’m me. And I am everything she needs and wants. I know it’s only been two weeks since I met her, but I swear I knew the moment I saw her. A confident, loud, wild woman with a smile that knocks me on my ass? Yes, that’s who I want. Who I need. Who I see as the mother of my children. I’ve seen how she speaks of Elli’s nieces and nephews, how much she loves her own sisters, and I want that kind of love for myself. For our children. After seeing my number on her, that smile as she danced just for me, I know for a solid fact that Harper is who I see my life with. And she’s gonna see it too. I will get that woman to fall for me because that’s what she deserves. A life with a good man who will erase what those other fuckers did to her.
Who will love her for her loud, stubborn, gorgeous self.
I’m that man.
Jakey!
Harper
I am doing something I swore I would never do.
I am missing a man.
Desperately.
Figures the first guy I allow myself to miss really fucks with me. I find myself wandering into Elli’s office. She was on the phone before, but now she’s doing whatever on the computer. She doesn’t even seem to care Shea is gone. Really confusing to me since they spend every waking moment together. I worry she’s going to ruin this because of her insecurities. But really, am I one to talk? I won’t even admit to what I’m feeling for Jakob. What we are. I know it’s gonna really piss him off one of these times, and I may lose him.