Chapter 34

Luca

S liding off my helmet, I was unable to suppress my grin as I skated toward her. Fuck, she looked good in my Jersey. So good the grin wasn’t all I struggled to contain. “Princess, I didn’t know you were coming. Had I known, I would have dressed for the occasion.” I slammed into the boards, stretched over the divide and pulled her closer, so close her warm breath tickled my ears as our foreheads came to rest on each other.

“You look pretty damn good to me, Cowboy.”

“I do, huh?” I smirked, then kissed my nose. “Do you like what you see?”

“You know I do. But you may not like what I’m about to say.”

“Nonsense. I like everything you say. Even when I hate it.” With that, I gripped her by the waist and hoisted her tight light ass over the boards.

“Luca!” she squealed, trying to cover her ass and grip onto me as we skated towards the rest of the team that stood waiting and laughing at the center of the rink, “That makes no sense, and everyone’s looking at my butt.”

“Since when are you shy?” I chuckled, “Besides, you’re my wife, in my jersey. Let them get their fill of what only I can touch.”

“Oh, is that right?” she scoffed, feigning indignation when my possessive words had her neck red with flush. Seeing the effect I had on her, feeling her body mold around mine had my dick throbbing in my cup. Down boy.

“That’s right. You’re mine. And I want to show you off.” I gave her one last kiss, an accidental of my togue over her bottom lip then pulled away for my own sanity. “Hey boys!” I yelled over her shoulder, “Come meet my wife.”

Did I strut a little more? Push a little harder? Show off more than any man has ever showed off? You bet your sweet ass I did.

The hottest woman to ever don an Islanders jersey was standing on the sidelines, charming the pants off my teammates, winning over my idol—my coach—and watching me.

Me. The best part? She was my wife, and everyone knew it. The gooey, sappy, pink, and sparkly bubble of love I skated around in over the next hour or two would burst as soon as I hit the showers.

“D’Cruz. Is this your way of trying to one-up me?”

Fucking Brookes. I clenched my fists at my side. “What, washing my ass crack?”

“No, you dumb prick. Your wife. The one who mysteriously appeared the same day I proposed to Clara.”

He proposed? Seething, I switched off the water and turned to face him. Dallas’s eyes dropped to the semi I had been rocking since I held Polly in my arms on the ice and paled. Yeah, that’s right, Pin dick. You should be grateful this monster never fucked your fiancée. Yes, it was immature but fuck him. “One, I didn’t even know you were engaged, congratulations. And two, even if I did, I wouldn’t give a fuck. Clara running off with you is what led me to Polly, and she is the best thing that has happened to me.”

His mouth dropped open. Damn fool looked like a guppy. “So, all that pining over Clara was just fake?”

“No, it was real.” I said, schooling myself not to smash his face. “I thought I loved her. I was wrong.”

Looking more pissed off by the second, Dallas scoffed and pushed me in the chest. “You used her. You lied—”

“You fucked her.”

“You … you.”

“I what, Dallas?” I snapped, “Was patient? Naive for believing her when she said there was no one else? Stupid for not seeing what was right in front of me. Yes, all of that is true. What’s also true is that unless Clara has the world’s second known case of immaculate conception, you two were the ones lying to me .” Eager to offer some form of retaliation, I responded to his shove with a light tap between the pecs. “Even knowing that, I have not said one bad word about her since being humiliated in front of the world. If anything, I should be the one still pissed at you . But I’m not because I’m happy and in love and don’t give two shits about two people who never gave two fucking shits about me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get dressed and go see my wife.”

A few wolf whistles and cheers trailed behind me. That felt good.

Looking at my phone thirty seconds later did not. Mom had called twice; Ana had called seventeen times.

Seventeen.

One. Seven.

Dead man walking.

Another confrontation was not what I wanted, especially with Polly waiting for me outside. But I figured when you disappeared for a couple of months and then reappeared with a wife, there were bound to be questions. Picking the easier option, I tried Ma first, but when she didn’t answer, there was only one person left to try.

“How could you escape one fame-hungry, gold-digging slu—”

“Ana.” I cautioned.

“Fine, one fake marriage and jumped headfirst into another?”

“It’s not fake. I told you I loved Polly when I was still in Byron, and I meant it.”

“Luca! You’ve known this woman for weeks. You don’t love her.”

“I do.”

“You don’t. You can’t. You’re a kind-hearted fool being manipulated all over again.”

“Stop saying that to me, Ana. I know you don’t get it. I know I’m a bit slow.”

“Wait,” she cut in, “I didn’t mean.”

“I know what you meant, and you’re worried and want to protect me, but for once, can you just be happy for me?”

She might not have been happy, but she was silent.

“Ana, are you still there?”

After a long pause, she softly replied, “No.”

“Well, I wish you were. Then I could tell you about Polly and how happy she makes me. And about how she knows about Dad. She knows I’m bi that I say yep and nope and blush every time someone hot says a dirty word. She even knows I have a sister who’s an absolute pain in my ass but who I love with all my heart. Then I’d ask you to dinner at our house next week so you could meet her.”

“If I were there I would probably say yes.”

“Really? That would be awesome. Especially since I would ask you to do me a favor.”

“And I would likely say yes to whatever it was because I would do anything to make up for being a total bitch.”

“You’re not a total bitch, Ana. Just a mini, angry, bitter one.”

“You have five seconds to tell me what you want before I change my mind.”

Four of those seconds were consumed by both of us cackling before I finally spat out my request. “So that favor … I need you to buy us a house to have dinner in.”

The high I felt a shower and a phone call ago, which had evaporated into nothingness, resurfaced the second I saw her sitting on the bench in a helmet and gloves.

“You look so fucking cute, I can’t take it.”

“Thanks.” Her smile was barely visible through the mask, but I could see it. Just as I could the glint in her eyes. “It really stinks in here, and these,” she said, motioning to the gloves and almost dislodging the helmet, “these are wet. I didn’t know hands could sweat so much.”

“Yep. They sure do. If you think the helmet stinks, wait till you smell skates.”

“Yeah, I think I can live without that.”

“Oh, but you can’t, my dear.” I plonked down beside her and tapped the top of her head. “You’re an official hockey wife now, and that means you need to wash and clean my bag after each game.”

“I hate to get you off your high horse, Cowboy, but if you wanted a little woman to run around doing all your cooking and cleaning, you picked the wrong one.”

“But you love cooking, and you’re so good at it.”

“I am. And any more nonsense like that will ensure you’ll never taste it again.”

“Fuck you’re hot when you’re grumpy.”

“And you’re hot when you’re skating.” The helmet came off, and Polly’s lips instantly met mine. “Will you teach me?” She said between kisses. “I went to the skate shop in the foyer while you were showering and bought some.

“Teach you to skate? Now?”

“If you’re not too tired.”

I was tired, exhausted, in fact, but nothing was keeping me from slapping my skates on again and carrying my girl out onto the ice.

“Polly, I have to say, you look so hot right now. Flushed cheeks, denim cutoffs, tanned legs, and white skates are a special kind of sexy. Maybe we should forget the skating and go make out.”

“Or maybe you can keep it in your pants for five seconds and be professional.”

Gripping her by the waist, I wriggled my brows and ducked down to bury my face in her neck. “God, you smell good, and I am being professional ... a professional player.”

“Look, creepoid, are we doing this or not?” She laughed despite herself, and fuck if I didn’t love it. Under my touch, the self-declared ice queen had well and truly melted.

“We’re doing it, we’re doing it. Okay, so the first thing you need do to become an awesome skater is get a super-hot, sex-machine husband. You got that already, so you’re streets ahead.”

“Oh, good. I’m thrilled.”

“As you should be.” I nodded. “Second, you need a nice juicy ass to land on. You got that, too.”

“Damn straight,” she said with a tush wriggle that instantly caught the attention of my cock.

“And third, you need to be brave.”

“Brave? Does it hurt that much when you fall?”

“Yep. Especially when I do this.” Gripping her waist, I lifted her from the ice, straightened my arms, and held her above my head.

“Luca, oh my god, you’re going to kill me!” she squealed while laughing so deep and hard her body shook in my hands.

“Babe, I promise I won’t. I did figure skating for five years in high school. It was a great way to meet cute skater girls and even cuter gay guys before I came out.”

“Please don’t talk when you are holding me in a death lift.”

“This is not a death lift. It’s a basic group 2li hand-to-waist hold. Death lifts are lesson two.”

“Luca! I don’t know your stupid skating lingo! Put me down.”

“Okay, okay.” Since I was unable to stop laughing, letting her down was probably wise. Taking all the care in the world, I relaxed my arms and slowly lowered Polly to the ice, unnecessarily rubbing her tight little body over as I did so. Once back on land, kind of, I hoped to see a cute giggle or to take a playful slap. But tears? Tears were unexpected and devastating.

“Hey, hey, Pol. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. You’re okay,” I whispered, cupping her rosy, tear-stained cheeks in my hands and kissing her forehead. “You’re safe. I’ll never let anything hurt you. You know that, right?”

“I do, but sometimes knowing something and trusting it are two different things.”

“Not when you’re with me, they’re not. With me, you trust. With me, you never need to be afraid.”