Parental Guidance (Ice Knights #1)(26)

“Ouch there, Caleb.” Asha laughed. “That’s not quite a ringing endorsement.”

He didn’t seem fazed, just relaxed against the love seat and draped his arm across the back of it, not touching Zara but coming close enough that she could feel his presence.

“I’ve got three more dates to convince her,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll be able to before the final buzzer goes off.”

It was annoying and sexy and weird and a total turn-on for reasons that made no sense. She really needed to go home, have an orgasm, and get her brain straight. Also, she really needed to not say any of that out loud, which was why when Asha made eye contact, Zara gave a subtle shake of her head.

Smooth and cool again, Asha turned to the occupants of the other love seat. “Jasper and Britany, any last words of advice?”

“Give him a chance,” her dad said, the soft look in his eyes showing just how much of a romantic dreamer he was even after all these years. “You never know what you’ll discover about people when you do.”

“That’s excellent advice for all of us,” Asha said as she turned to face the camera. “Now, as all of Harbor City’s Ice Knights fans know, non-rookie training camp starts tomorrow, and then it’s straight into the first preseason game, so we’ll all be on the edge of our seats waiting for at least a week until these two can meet up again for date three and we can find out if there really is something to Bramble’s parent-involved dating algorithms.”

A week?

Zara’s stomach clenched—obviously because she wanted to get these dates knocked out as quickly as possible and not because she had already kinda gotten used to seeing him on a regular basis and now she wouldn’t.

“From all of us at Harbor City Wake Up, this is Asha Kapoor wishing you a great rest of your day. We’ll see you back here tomorrow!”

Asha held her friendly smile for a count of three, and then the camera light blinked off while Zara was still trying to figure out why in the hell she was so annoyed.

…

Caleb had spent his formative years around women. He’d learned early on to recognize the it’s-fine expression on Zara’s face and know that it meant his ass was about to be mowed down. He had to fix whatever he’d done to fuck this up and fast. He hustled after her to the elevator, where she was already pressing the down button repeatedly while looking straight ahead.

“Hey,” he said, coming to a stop next to her. “Can we grab some coffee real quick?”

“Why?” She took out her phone and started scrolling through email. “It can’t be an official Bramble date unless we schedule it through the app.”

Oh yeah, she was pissed, and he had no clue why. Everything had seemed fine when they’d gotten there. The interview had been awkward as hell, but he’d been figuring on that. The only thing unexpected had been when Asha had brought up training camp and— He nearly smacked himself on the forehead. Zara didn’t follow hockey. She had no idea about the schedule, that even preseason was crazy busy. Once again, he was an asshole.

The elevator doors opened right as his mom and Jasper joined them. He let everyone get on the elevator before him and then made sure to get a spot next to Zara. She hit the lobby button and kept her attention focused on the little TV screen above the buttons.

“I’m sorry I didn’t explain about training camp and the preseason games,” he said, keeping his voice quiet. “I know that slows us down for knocking out the five dates. Let me make it up to you with coffee, and we’ll figure out how we can still get through the dates as fast as possible.”

“It’s fine, really, just a surprise. But I’m not ever gonna turn down coffee.” Zara turned to look at their parents, who were standing really close together for an elevator that had plenty of room in it. “Dad, do you have time for coffee before I take you home?”

“Actually,” Jasper said as the elevator slowed and announced they were at the lobby level. “I was going to go have lunch with Britany.”

“We want to talk about you two when there aren’t cameras around,” his mom said.

He automatically held his hand in front of the elevator’s open doors so everyone could get out. “What’s there to talk about?”

“Caleb Cutie, there is so much to discuss.” She kissed him on the cheek, gave Zara a wave goodbye, and walked out of the elevator with Jasper, the two of them disappearing into the crowded lobby.

Shaking her head, Zara let out a deep sigh. “Nothing good will come from that.”

She wasn’t wrong. His mom was trouble when she was on her own. He couldn’t imagine how bad her interfering disguised as coaching would be if she had a sidekick. “Does your dad think this whole parent-guided dating thing is nuts?”

She rolled her eyes. “He and my friend Gemma, who was the one who got me to sign up for Bramble, think it’s hilarious and exactly what I need to get out of my work-only rut.”

All the possible shit outcomes from their parents ganging up to take this from a dating agreement to really dating—because that’s exactly what his mom would do—ran through his head as he held the door for Zara. “We are in so much shit.”

She nodded as they walked outside into the bright sunshine. She looked like she was about to say something else when her phone started beeping. Shooting him an apologetic look, she took it out of her purse.