The Penalty Box (Vancouver Wolves Hockey #3) - Odette Stone Page 0,47

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.

On non-game nights, we cooked dinner together, and once we sat at the kitchen table and played cards. It was unlike any relationship I had ever had before. We joked around and kept our conversations light. It felt like we were both trying hard to keep up the camaraderie we had developed so far. Each night that passed made the threat of that night seem almost like a distant, bad dream.

Mica didn’t touch me again. He respected my decision, and he kept his distance from me, but that didn’t stop him from constantly tracking me with his eyes. I often would look up and find him watching me or studying my body. The man wasn’t remotely self-conscious about displaying his attraction to me, even in the face of outright rejection.

I attended two more hockey games and had a good time, mostly because I sat with Zoey. I was quickly finding out that she made everything fun.

And then the time came when the Wolves were going on the road for eight long days, and I was dreading it with my entire heart. Partly because the best part of my day was my time spent with Mica, even if it was just cooking and eating together. And partly because I was shit scared about being alone in that house. Especially at night.

Mica had insisted I use his car while he was gone, so I was driving him to the stadium to drop him off at the team bus. I pathetically ground through all the gears of his Porsche, each time worriedly glancing at him to see how much it bothered him, but he didn’t seem to notice. Something distracted him.

I pulled into the parking lot along with the other wives who were dropping their husbands off. We got out, and I watched as he pulled his bags out of his car.

“Wait here,” he said. I stood beside the car and watched as he brought his bags to the bus before walking back to me.

He stood close and looked down at me, wearing a serious look on his face.

“You going to be okay?”

No! I don’t want to be in your house alone. “I’ll be fine.”

“You going to text me?”

I shrugged, which made him smile.

“Call me if you need anything, okay?”

“I will.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “People are watching.”

My heart started its slow thud as I pretended to look around. “I don’t see anyone.”

He smiled and stepped closer. “Oh, they’re watching.”

His hand moved behind my head and his mouth came down on mine. How had I forgotten how perfect his mouth was? It felt like sin and salvation. He expertly nibbled at my mouth until I sighed. Only then did he slant his