Page 270 of Power Play

“I was unbearable before.”

“That is unfortunately true.”

I shifted enough to look at him and found that his expression had changed while I wasn’t paying attention. Teasing remained around the edges, but he was looking toward the ceiling with the distant concentration he got whenever something sat heavily enough in his head that he hadn’t decided how to explain it.

I traced one finger over the ink near his ribs. “What are you thinking about?”

Ryan looked down at me. “I think occasionally.”

“Not like this.”

His mouth twitched, but I waited.

He exhaled through his nose and rubbed his hand slowly along my back. “The Saturday game after Thanksgiving.”

“The scout game?”

“Yeah.”

I pushed myself higher against the pillow. “What about it?”

Ryan went quiet long enough for me to understand that he hadn’t told me everything.

“You already know scouts are coming,” he said.

“I know it’s important.”

“You don’t know how many organizations are sending people.”

I stopped moving.

Ryan looked away again. “Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Washington, and a couple of AHL guys I know about. There’ll be agents and media too. Frost has been pushing the game hard because Minnesota is the biggest rivalry we have, and apparently everybody decided Saturday is the night they want to watch.”

My heartbeat picked up. “Ryan.”

He shrugged, trying for casual and failing badly enough that I almost smiled. “It could be nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

His eyes returned to mine.

“You tell me not to lie to you,” I reminded him.

“I’m not lying.”

“You’re doing that thing men do when something is terrifyingly important and they call it no big deal so nobody sees how badly they want it.”

His eyebrows lifted. “That sounded specific.”

“I know you.”

Something in his expression softened.

I slid my hand across his chest. “How big is this?”

He stared at me for a second before finally giving me the truth.

“Huge.”