The Penalty Box (Vancouver Wolves Hockey #3)(41)

Mica was quiet after the game. He didn’t speak much on the way home and he seemed distracted. Still trying to figure out his moods, I decided this might be one of those nights he needed his own space. I retreated to my room to read and got lost in a book. I only realized how late it was when I finished my book.

Outside my bedroom, the house was dark and quiet. I changed into a T-shirt and then washed up before crossing the dark room to get into bed. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. A large menacing figure, its face obscured by a dark hood, stood just outside my balcony doors looking in on me.

My mouth opened to scream, and at first, no sound came out, but then the most piercing, horror-movie shriek escaped my throat. I almost fell over as I bolted out of the room. I ran through the dark with only one thought.

Mica.

In the dark, two strong arms grabbed me. I screamed harder, fighting to get away.

“Charlie, it’s me.” Mica’s voice penetrated my fear.

“There’s a man…” I babbled. “Outside.”

He charged across the living room. I watched in mute horror as he disappeared out the balcony doors.

I rushed after him, stopping at the doorway. I saw him sprinting barefoot across the deck before he disappeared into the dark. I stood there, heart pounding, imagining the absolute worst-case scenario. After a lifetime of anxiety, he reappeared on the deck. He walked towards my balcony doors and was looking at the deck. He was wearing nothing more than a pair of black boxer briefs. Half of my brain was freaking out about the potential intruder, and the other half was trying to compute the vision Mica created.

He was built like a Greek god, with broad shoulders, rippling abs, a tight ass, and monster thighs. He turned and came back towards me, unabashed that he was wearing only his underwear. I, on the other hand, tried to look anywhere but at the manly bulge that promised to be in proportion to the rest of his huge body.

He was slightly out of breath. “I didn’t see anyone.”

“There was someone there, I swear.”

I could tell he was debating how much he wanted to tell me. “There are muddy boot tracks outside your balcony door. Someone was there.”

Stress made my voice get progressively higher. “Who was that person? What did he want? Was he trying to break in?”

Mica put two hands on either side of my face. “It’s okay. Just calm down.”

I clung to his wrists as my body trembled in a very un-calm state. “What’s happening?”

His expression was grim. “I don’t know.”

“Should we call the police?”

His nostrils flared. “They will not do anything except discover the same footprints I did. The guy is long gone.”

“What do I do now?”

“You should try to get some sleep.”

There was zero chance I was sleeping after that. “You go on. I will stay up for a while.”

He gave me a speculative look. “Want me to hang out with you?”

God, yes. “You don’t need to.”

He disappeared into his bedroom and reappeared wearing a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. He was also carrying a deck of cards. “Want to play a game of cards?”

Actually, I would have pretty much done anything to keep him up with me. “Sure.”

He looked at his still-destroyed couch. “Come to my bedroom. We’ll be more comfortable there.”

I was so scared that I didn’t even care if this was some ruse to get me naked. I just didn’t want to be alone.

Mica was a perfect gentleman. He sat cross-legged across from me and shuffled the cards. “Have you ever played Durak?”

I shook my head.

“This is a popular card game from Russia. The objective of the game is to get rid of all your cards first. The person left with cards is called the durak, which means ‘the fool’ in Russian.”

I laughed. “Okay.”

He patiently explained the rules to me and then we got started. He totally crushed me the first game. Impatiently, I gathered the cards and handed them back to him.

“Shuffle up.”

He grinned. “You want to play again?”

“I want to destroy you.”

I learned two things about my husband. He was competitive to the bone, and he loved to trash talk. I loved how he concentrated on his cards and talked under his breath.

“So, you think you can take me out, do you? You’re going to have to do better than that.”

“I feel a win coming on. I think my years of Durak playing are going to annihilate my little wife.”

I giggled into my cards. “Bring it on.”

Much later, I woke up with a start. The room was dark and I was disoriented. I was cuddled under warm blankets, and I wasn’t alone.

“Mica?”

“You fell asleep.”

“Who won?”

His laugh sounded sleepy. “The person who stayed awake the longest, naturally.”

“I should go back to my room.”

A big hand lightly touched my back. “You can stay.”

So I shut my eyes and drifted into the best sleep of my life.





*



Five more days passed without incident. One day I came home, and we had new living room furniture. Mica went into protector mode, barely letting me out of his sight, and I let him. I allowed him to drive me to and from work. We didn’t talk about what had happened, but it changed something between us. It made us feel more like a team.