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“Remember Zuri?” he asks.
“She works PR for the Ice Dragons.” I slide the black coffee to Myles. He silently gives me a look to ask are you sure, but he doesn’t voice the question, probably because he’s worried I’ll snatch it up from him, again.
I grab the sweeter coffee and take a taste, and much to my delight, it is delicious. It’s like having dessert for breakfast.
Wordlessly, I offer him the marshmallow flavored creamer, but he shakes his head, and I place it back into the fridge while he sips his coffee, black.
Gross.
“That’s right. She called me this morning; the post on our social media page is going wild. But that’s not the only thing.”
“Okay,” I say and sip my coffee.
Myles retrieves the bag of bagels from the counter. “I wasn’t sure your preference,” he says. I grab two plates, and he starts pulling out tubs of plain and flavored cream cheese, butter spread, and several different types of bagels. “I’ve got your sweeter variety and savory, depending on your taste.” The bagels are in two separate bags inside the large paper bag containing everything.
I grab the onion bagel from the savory pile. “Smart that you had them bagged separately. Or else your blueberry is going to taste oniony.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think that’d be too appealing.” He grabs a seat in my kitchen, making himself right at home.
There are plastic utensils, and he opens up the cream cheese container. The bagels are already sliced and still warm from the shop. “So, you brought me breakfast and coffee as a thank you for an amazing date?” I tease. “You know, you could just ask me out again.”
“I didn’t technically ask you out the first time.”
I take a bite of my bagel and glare at him. “You’re not helping your case of—” I gesture at him, “—whatever this is.”
“Zuri thinks my image needs a makeover. Two sponsors pulled out after the charity event. There’s talk that more might bail, and those sponsors that the rumors are swirling about, they represent the team. She’s convinced the owner and coach that I ought to do more to fix my image.”
I put my bagel down on a plate and grab a swig of coffee. “She’s right. You can’t be picking fights with Archer or me out in public.”
His gaze tightens. “You picked a fight with me, if I remember correctly. Accusing me of getting you and your friend kicked out of the arena.”
I shrug nonchalantly. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”
“Oh, you most definitely did,” Myles says, and takes a bite of his bagel. He opted for a sesame seed with cream cheese. It’s a bit plain for my taste, but he seems to be enjoying it. “Here’s the fun part.”
“Fun part?” I ask between bites. Something tells me this isn’t going to be fun.
“Zuri wants you and I to date.”
“What?” I nearly choke on his suggestion. “Zuri? That sounds like something you want, Myles. Don’t use your PR girl to do your bidding.”
“The photos of the two of us together were a huge success. Half the work is already done.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “You can’t even stand to be in the room with me.”
“We wouldn’t actually be dating,” Myles says. “I mean, Zuri would know, but she’d be the only one; we could fake date. Pretend to be in a relationship together. It would only have to be a few months, at worst until the end of the season or maybe summer if the sponsors are still an issue, but I swear it’s not forever. A year, tops.”
I laugh at his absurdity. “No.”
“Hear me out—”
“Myles, you and I would kill one another. We hate each other. I’m not dating you.”
He can’t be serious. We survived each other for one night together, with the cameras on us for most of it. Does he honestly think we could do that for months?
“You wouldn’t be dating me, just pretending to date me. You’d have to go to a few of my hockey games, maybe a couple of events, and to Blue Line with the guys. It’s more a matter of optics. People need to see us together, take pictures, let the rumors fly.”
“If you want rumors, why don’t you get hitched in Vegas?”
