Chapter 16
Miller
“Hey man, have you seen this?” Tank asks as he kicks his way through my front door.
I hit pause on my Xbox as I glance up at him. “Seen what?” I ask.
He throws his phone down into my lap as he passes me and heads for the kitchen, opening up the fridge and pulling out a beer. “The girl’s latest article was just posted.”
“Ah,” I say, picking up his phone and lighting up the screen to find the article. I quickly read through it and find a huge grin on my face by the time I get to the end. “Fuck, they make us sound so much better than we are,” I laugh as I scroll through the pictures Dani had attached to the article. I get to the end to find the article has already been viewed over two thousand times.
Tank comes and joins me on the couch and picks up my discarded controller and hits play “I know,” he says. “They are killing this assignment,” he smirks proudly and I must say it’s a nice change to see this guy finally with a woman he loves.
“Yeah,” I smile. “So, what’s up?”
“Nothing, wanted to chill,” he says.
“Bullshit. I saw you two hours ago, you never want to chill after a gym session,” I scoff.
He places the controller down on the coffee table next to his beer and takes a deep breath “I’m thinking about asking Sophie to move in with me,” he says just as I take a drink from my own beer.
I do my best not to spray it all over my lounge room as I take him in. “What?” I ask completely shocked. Tank prides himself on living alone and hates the company, hell, the dickhead didn’t even want to move in with me. “That’s pretty serious, I mean, that’s a huge step for you,” I comment.
“I know, man,” he says. “But I can’t imagine not living with her. We’re practically together every night anyway.”
“True. How do you think she’s going to take that?” I ask with a smirk, knowing just how hard Tank has had to fight to get any sort of commitment out of that girl.
“Fuck man, you know what she is like,” he laughs. “It won’t be good. She’ll have my balls for even asking but she’ll give in eventually.”
“Yeah, she will,” I agree.
“How're things going with Dani?” he asks, picking up the controller once again.
I smile thinking about my sweet girl. “Great,” I tell him honestly. “She’s amazing, but I feel like she is hiding something.”
“Hiding something?” he asks with curiosity. “What? Like she’s cheating?”
“Nah, nothing like that,” I tell him. “I don’t know, it’s like something has her freaked. She puts on a brave face and acts like nothing’s wrong, but I can see it. Something’s bothering her.”
“Did you ask her about it?”
“Nah,” I comment with sarcasm then give him a stupid look. “Of course, I asked her, what kind of shitty boyfriend do you think I am?” I scoff.
“Sorry man, it was just a question. No need to bust my balls,” he laughs.
I smirk over at him and shake my head in exasperation. “I’ve asked her a few times and she just shrugs it off, but I’ll get to the bottom of it, even if I’ve got to beat a few heads together to do it.”
He nods his head and I know he is thinking that he would do the same had it been Sophie. “Alright man, let me know if you need my help with anything.”
“Sure.”
We sit for another thirty minutes going back and forth between the Xbox controller when I finally decide to get up and plug in the second one and switch to an NHL game so I can beat his ass on the screen as well as the ice.
There is a soft knock at the door and I put the controller on the table and head to the door. I open it up to find Dani and Sophie standing before me with bags upon bags of groceries. “Well, well, to what do I owe this pleasure?” I ask, getting pushed aside by the girls who rush in towards the kitchen and put the groceries down on the bench, then glance down at their reddening hands.
“We’re making you two dinner,” Dani declares as she strides up and presses a kiss to my lips.
“Oh really?” I ask, catching her around the waist before she has a chance to escape me. I deepen the kiss and moan as her tongue slips into my mouth.
She raises her hands to my chest and gently pushes me back. “Get out of here, we have work to do,” she says as she ushers me out of the kitchen. I get pushed back into the lounge room and can’t help the grin that takes over my face as I flop back onto the couch beside Tank.
“Who was that?” he asks, taking in my face.
“The girls. They’re in the kitchen, they want to cook us dinner.” I smirk.
“Shit,” he groans. “What are we going to do?”
I laugh at his response knowing there is nothing worse than Sophie and Dani’s cooking. There is a reason they live with Jared and let him rule the kitchen. “What we always do, man. Suffer through the pain with a smile.”
“Shit. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for that girl,” he grumbles.
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I groan at the early morning light as my alarm goes off from beside me. I reach over and turn it off and uncurl myself from Dani’s beautiful naked body. She groans in her sleep as I climb out from around her and pull the blankets back up to tuck her in.
I head into the bathroom and do my best to piss with my morning wood and quickly get ready for training not wanting to disturb too much of her sleep. I go about the house making sure I’ve got everything I need, feeling good, sure that today is going to be yet another great day.
Once I’ve downed a protein shake I head back up to my room and give Dani a kiss. She stirs under my touch. “Where are you going?” She mumbles into her pillow with her eyes closed as her fingers lace through mine.
“Got hockey practice,” I remind her as I run my finger along the side of her face, tucking a stray lock of golden hair behind her ear. “Go back to sleep.”
“Mmmkay,” she whispers.
I smile down at her and give her another kiss. “I’ll see you later, baby,” I whisper as she falls back asleep, her hand coming loose from mine.
“Kay” she grumbles again. I pull the blanket back up again and get up off the bed “Mmm, luv you,” she moans in her sleep as she burrows her face into the pillow.
What? Did she just say love you?
“Baby?” I whisper into the darkness, only to get no reply. Damn, she’s asleep. But I could have sworn she said she loves me. Yep, I knew today was going to be a great fucking day. I leave her be and make my way out the door feeling pretty damn good about myself.
I get to the rink right on time and meet the boys in the locker room. “Look alive, boys,” I holler across the room to the bunch of boys who all look half asleep.
“Geez, what’s with all the energy this morning?” Jaxon groans as he takes a seat to lace up his skates.
“You’d be like this too if you had the hottest chick on campus in your bed,” I smirk, making sure to nail him in the back of the head as I pass him.
I take my spot next to Tank and get to work on my training gear. “Seriously though,” Tank starts, “What's with the good mood?” he asks.
I grin over at him like a five-year-old boy. “Dani said she loves me this morning,” I explain.
“Shit, man,” he grins. “That’s what I’m talking about,” he says as he claps me on the back.
“Well, she kind of said it” I cringe.
“Huh?” he grunts, looking at me in confusion.
I can’t help the grin on my face, knowing exactly how he is going to react to this. “She was kind of asleep when she said it.”
“Fuck, man,” he booms in laughter, falling to the chair and holding his stomach. “That shit doesn’t count.”
“Fucking does,” I grumble.
“Maybe to you,” he scoffs at my expense. “But not to her.”
Fuck. I hate when he is right. I slouch down into my chair and get started on my skates when Coach Harris walks in. “Alright ladies, on your feet,” he demands. We all quickly finish up in the locker room and file out onto the ice.
We start with our usual morning warm-up routine of skating sprints and practice shots into the goal. Each and every one of us pulls it together and gives 100% during training. By the end of our two-hour training session, we practically fall back into the locker room, dripping with sweat.
“Good work, boys,” Coach praises as we start stripping off our sweaty gear. “Now, we’re two-thirds of the way through the season and it’s getting into crunch time, we’ve started spotting a few scouts at the games and I don’t need to remind you what that means for all of your futures,” he says as his gaze specifically lands on me and Tank. We both give him an understanding nod “Good,” he murmurs with a slight grin which we all must thank Dani for as he apparently has continued dating Professor Whitaker after the auction and had seemed a shit load happier lately.
“Now, Game night, tomorrow night. You’re up against the team from New York. Last year, these guys almost cleaned the ice with your asses, you guys had the speed and strength but they had the agility and the footwork. So, keep your heads in the game, no doubt they will be playing dirty so get in the attacking zone and get that damn biscuit in the basket.” We all mumble our approval of his grand plan.
“Ok, get yourselves cleaned up. I expect you all to put in at least an hour of gym time today, preferably focussing on your speed and agility,” he tells us as he disappears out the door.
We all head to the showers, getting ourselves cleaned up for another day full of classes and now apparently another gym session.
We leave as one as the Zamboni finishes up on the ice and the figure fairies get started on their own session. Jaxon, Bobby, and Aaron all hang back to get the girls attention, hoping they might want to drop their panties for them the same way the Puck Bunnies do, but these figure fairies are not the kind of chicks you want to be messing with.
Tank and I keep walking, making our way out front. We each get in our own trucks after making plans on meeting at the gym at 5 pm. I get my ass back home to find Dani strutting around my place in a tight little single and tiny sleep shorts. Did I mention she’s not wearing a bra?
I dump my gear at the front door and collapse on the closest couch. Dani makes her way over and straddles my lap. My hands instantly take possession of her waist as she bends down and places a kiss on my lips. “I missed waking up with you this morning.”
“I missed it too,” I tell her, pulling her down harder against me. “But I got to say, I loved hearing your sleepy monolog as I was leaving though,” I grin.
“Oh shit,” she gasps, sitting up a little straighter and looking at me with wide eyes. “What did I say?” she asks, thinking hard, trying to remember what she might have slipped up with.
“Nothing baby,” I say giving her a kiss and grabbing her ass. I stand and lift her with me, her legs wrapping around my waist as I walk us up the stairs to my bedroom. “But just so you know,” I tell her, looking right in her eyes so I know I have her full attention. “I love you, too.”
Her body tightens in my arms as she looks at me in shock. “You do?” she asks as her eyes grow watery.
“So fucking much,” I declare.
She leans forward and kisses me with everything she got. “You don’t know how amazing it is to hear that,” she says between kisses.
“I bet it feels a little something like when I heard you say it this morning,” I smirk.
“God, you’re such a smartass,” she laughs as I dump her on the edge of my bed and drop to my knees while I rip her shorts off her body.
She puts a foot up on my chest, halting my progression. I take hold of her foot and wait to hear what she needs from me. She pulls her foot from my grasp and sits up on the edge of the bed, placing me right between her thighs and at eye level. She looks at me nervously and bites her lip. I reach up and free her lip from her teeth. “What is it, baby?” I ask.
She looks deep into my eyes and scoots herself forward so she falls into my lap. I catch her effortlessly and look down at her. “I love you,” she tells me from the absolute bottom of her heart, the emotion loud and clear in her voice.
My chest aches for her as I desperately catch her lips in mine and hold her body against me. I raise us up off the floor and gently lay her on the bed. Taking the utmost care as I worship her body and make love to her, knowing for the first time in my life that not only do I love this beautiful woman with everything I am but she will be my wife, the mother of my children. The only woman that I will ever give myself to for the rest of my lifetime.