After a one night stand on New Year's Eve, Lia and Derrick don't expect to see one another again. After all, she's a Harvard PhD student and he's a professional hockey player for the Boston Knights - there's no way their paths should cross again.
E...
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"You sure your new team is going to be okay with you bringing two extra suitcases back on the flight?" Nyberg asked.
With my knees on top of my second suitcase to weigh it down, I finished zipping it up before glancing back at him. "They're going to have to be."
I had let my Coach know I'd be flying back with my remaining belongings tomorrow morning, though to be fair, I hadn't specified how much. I figured I'd be able to squeeze everything into a large suitcase. Though I'd underestimated. It'd taken a trip to the department store for another suitcase to finish packing my clothes and the rest of my belongings that I'd left lying around the apartment, and even that was a tight squeeze.
"Well, if you do need to lose some weight in those bags, I'll happily take the PS4 off your hands."
"I'm sure you would." I chuckled as I stood up, dusting my hands off on my jeans. "In fact, I'm surprised you didn't try to hide it and keep it for yourself."
"Thought about it," he drawled before shrugging, "but it's yours. I'll buy a new one when I get the chance."
"Great." I punched him lightly in the bicep. "Then I can kick your ass from across the country."
A bark of laughter escaped him and he shook his head with amusement. "You're dreaming if you think that's true."
"We'll just have to wait and see then."
The good-natured ribbing continued—back and forth—as we each took one of the suitcases from my now-empty room and rolled them toward the door. We'd already agreed that they'd stay at the apartment for the rest of the day and I'd pick them up early before having to board the team bus to the airport.
"So, do the Royals need extra practice time this afternoon to get ready to face us?" Nyberg asked teasingly. "Or do you have time to grab lunch?"
"You forget that I know all your moves, so you can bet we'll be ready to put up a fight," I replied before rubbing my chin a few times with my right thumb. "But, uh, I can't do lunch."
He lifted a brow. "Oh?"
"Yeah, I—"
My phone buzzed in my pocket, cutting me off as I pulled it out to see a message from Lia confirming we were still meeting in half an hour. And knowing how tightly packed her schedule was lately at work, I quickly shot off a reply.
"I'm assuming you have other plans?"
"What?" My gaze snapped back up to meet his as I tucked my phone away. "Oh, yeah. I'm, uh, actually meeting up with Lia before I head to practice." While I expected some sort of reaction, it was a bit surprising to see how quickly his expression shifted. Suddenly he was looking at me like I'd been transformed into a unicorn right before his very eyes. "What?"
"Nothing," he replied, shaking himself out of it. "Sorry, I just didn't know the two of you were still talking. I thought, you know, you would've cut her loose by now with the move."
