faster tonight since he knew I was on my own. His protectiveness wasn’t something I was used to, but it was so sweet. So I wasn’t surprised in the slightest when he came striding toward me as I was just finishing the last of my drink.
“Congratulations on another great game.” I rubbed my cheek against his broad chest when he wrapped his arms around me.
He brushed his lips against the top of my head before ending the hug. “It’s starting to look like we can’t lose when my good luck charm is cheering me on in the stands.”
“You’re turning me into a true fan already. I think I’m starting to understand how hockey works.” I pulled my mittens off and rubbed my hands together to warm them up. “About halfway through the game, some of the rules started to click in my brain.”
Corby’s blue eyes gleamed with happiness as he grinned down at me. “Nice. Which rules did you figure out?”
“The frosting one, for sure.” When his brow wrinkled, I bit my bottom lip and wondered if I’d gotten it wrong. “You know, the rule where you can’t hit the puck past the red line all the way at the end on the other team’s side of the rink?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “That’s icing, babe. Not frosting.”
“Oops,” I giggled, my cheeks heating over my mistake. “So you ice the puck and frost cupcakes?”
“You’re the only person I know who would put it that way, but yeah.” Any embarrassment I felt was wiped away when he cupped my cheeks and tilted my head back. My breath caught in my chest as he lowered his head, and my eyes drifted shut when his mouth touched mine. My lips parted on a gasp, and he took full advantage by sweeping his tongue inside to tangle with mine. I clung to his arms while he kissed me until my head was spinning. Before Corby pulled away, he nibbled on my lower lip and groaned deep in his throat when I trembled in response.
I was so going to bake a batch of cupcakes tomorrow in honor of our first kiss. And not the gluten-free kind that my mother would approve of, either. I needed to commemorate this moment, and cupcakes with tons of frosting were my new favorite dessert.
10
Corby
I didn’t feel great about hitching a ride with Emme for a college visit, but she’d been damn insistent on planning this trip when she found out I hadn’t been to my top pick’s campus during a random conversation in the cafeteria at lunch. When she’d threatened to go without me on my first bye weekend from games, I’d finally caved. No way in hell did I want to spend my only free time in months away from Emme while she wandered around a college campus where tons of guys were bound to hit on her. Not when I’d barely gotten any time with her since we’d started dating. Until now, we’d been limited to me driving her to school in the morning and home from my games on the weekends, plus hanging out at school. For the first time in my life, I resented how much time I spent on hockey because it kept me away from Emme so much.
I still wasn’t sure why her parents had bought her sudden interest in a random state school she’d never talked about before when she had already applied to several Ivy League universities, and Yale had already accepted her through their early action program. But whatever she’d said must have been convincing because only days after she came up with the idea, I found myself walking off a chartered jet with my girl right behind me—and no parents in sight.
Flinging my duffel over my shoulder, I reached for the handle of Emme’s rolling bag before she could grab it. “I’ve got it, babe.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes as she slid her hand in the crook of my elbow. “Sorry, I didn’t realize the whole macho thing still applied when I wouldn’t actually be carrying anything.”
“It’s a respect thing,” I corrected while we walked away from the plane. “The manners my mom and dad drilled into me when I was little have stuck with me.”
She tilted her head back to smile at me as I opened the door to the building we needed to walk through to meet our ride share driver on the other side. “They did a great job with you.”
“I like to think