Charming as Puck(87)

“How’s young love?” Alina asks me over wine while we munch on cheese and, in Felicity’s case, sparkling grape juice and hummus.

“Good,” I answer automatically. I’ve cleaned my face off, but I can still smell chocolate under my nose, and I’d rather be pigging out on toffee and brownies than cheese and vegetables.

All four of my friends gawk at me.

I rub at that spot under my right nostril where I swear the chocolate is hiding. “What? Do I have it on me still?”

Felicity’s eyes bulge, Maren doubles over laughing, and Alina and Muffy give each other a high five.

“What in the—oh! Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen him all day. I was eating—you know what? Never mind. Yes, can someone please check and make sure Nick’s semen isn’t in my nose?”

“I kinda wish I was still morning sick,” Felicity says.

“That’s really disgusting,” Muffy informs me.

“Trouble in paradise?” Maren wants to know.

“No, it’s just—hormones, okay?” It’s just that I think he loves me, but I can’t go blabbing to his sister that I’m afraid I’m reading the signals wrong because I’ve always been hopeless when it comes to Nick, and what if I actually scared him off and now he’s biding his time until he can break up with me because there was that super slim chance I was pregnant, and now that he knows I’m not, he wouldn’t be abandoning both me and his unborn child, whom I would be more than happy to carry, but not if I’m going to have to do it on my own?

Or possibly hormones are actually the right reason I’m cranky.

“So…no lasting implications from…you know?” Felicity hedges.

“He told you?” I gasp.

“Nick’s like a book when you’ve known him long enough.” She flutters a hand. “And I’m also really good at spying on him when I want information. Don’t tell him that. It’ll cripple me in the war to know what he’s up to. And given that it’s Nick, it’s always a good idea for someone to know what he’s up to.”

I can’t exactly argue with that. “He sent me flowers and chocolates today,” I tell her.

She frowns.

“The chocolates had terrible, awful, hilarious sayings inside them,” I add hastily, because yeah, flowers and chocolates are not Nick.

But then, he probably didn’t have time to throw together a gift pack of things with his picture on them.

“Oh. That’s better,” she says, but she’s still frowning. “Are you okay?”

“What are you two talking about?” Maren demands.

“Oh my god, Kami’s pregnant!” Muffy shrieks.

I lift my wine glass and jiggle it in her direction.

“But you could’ve been,” Alina guesses.

“That’s totally what I meant,” Muffy says quickly.

“He would’ve been thrilled,” Felicity tells me.

“Really?” I wince, because I hate the doubt creeping into my voice.

I know the hockey blogs—except Maren’s—are saying that dating me is his good luck charm, which is ridiculous, because Nick’s a pro. Even if people don’t think he works hard, he does. There’s just a lot of pressure this year.

But at the same time…I don’t know that he’s ready for the whole wife-and-kids thing either.

And not knowing how long it might take him to be ready sometimes makes my stomach drop to my toes as I realize that choosing to be with Nick might mean it never happens.

Felicity rounds the island to stand next to me and squeeze me in a shoulder hug. “He’s different, Kami. He knows what he has now, and he doesn’t want to fuck it up again. Just…give him a chance. He won’t let you down.”

“I know.” I do know. I do. He has been different. And even if he’s not saying he loves me, he’s doing everything I ever dreamed he would, but more, because he’s doing it his way. And he’s funny and sweet and romantic and obnoxious and imperfect and Nick. “No one’s more dedicated when he has a goal.”

My friends all snicker at that, because we all know it’s true.

“Did you know he was going to glitterbomb Zeus?” Maren asks.

I shake my head. “He doesn’t consult anyone when he gets a plan.”

“Ares said it was worse than when their sister got all of them in her husband’s office,” Felicity tells me. “And that was apparently pretty epic.”

“Did they use dick glitter?”

“I think that was the difference.”

“Do you have tickets to Thursday’s game?” Maren asks.

“I have tickets for all the games,” I say. “But yes—want to go?”

“To watch them play Indianapolis? Oh, hell, yeah.” Last year’s expansion team almost kept the Thrusters from reaching the championship finals. It’ll be a hot match-up. Nick’s already asked four times if I’ll be there. “But I have to go check on a project in Colorado this week, so I can’t go.”

“I’m on the last week of my tour,” Alina says, frowning. “That was terrible planning. Think you’ll get tired of going to every game?”

I consider it for half a second. “Nope.”