Hands Off The Ice King novel Chapter 179

2: LIA

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Lia’s POV

I forced myself not to look at his biceps and forearms as he drove quietly to the post office. He was wearing a tight black shirt with some jeans, and despite its simplicity, the challenge of not looking at him was proving to be a very difficult one

In the end, I settled for checking the content of the envelope instead, making sure everything was complete before I sent it to the Colorado Rams, where a player would be swapped with one of ours.

“So, who’s going to join us from the Rams?” Desmond asked, breaking the silence.

“Archer Madden,” I responded.

“Tyler’s going to be swapped with that rookie?”

/

“Although the Colorado Rams were eliminated early on in the Winter’s Crown, they still managed to qualify, and a big part of that is because of their rookie Center, Archer.”

“It seems you’ve researched a lot about him.”

I glanced at him, but quickly looked away. “Of course. It’s part of my job now. We’re making sure that the Glaciers will have the most balanced line-up this year.”

“Hmm,” he hummed. “Well, I guess it’d be good to have new faces on the team. I heard Hope’s brother’s going to sign with us, too.”

“Yeah,” I said, unable to hide my excitement. “That’s already a done deal. He’s really good, I’m not even joking. Even if he wasn’t Hope’s brother, we would have signed him. It’s really fortunate that he agreed right away.”

Whenever I felt excited, I felt tingly in my fingers, so I had to squeeze my hands together just to calm the feeling down.

I heard Desmond chuckle from beside me, so I turned to him again.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head with a wide smile. “You still have that habit?”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Old habits die hard, you know?”

Like old feelings, too.

They were damn stubborn.

I wished I could terminate them like a fire with an extinguisher, but the more years passed, the more difficult it was to shut them off. No matter how many times I told myself that I needed to let go, my heart never seemed to get the message.

“I know,” he chimed. “It’s cute.”

My eyes slightly widened at the word.

Cute?

Desmond just called me cute?

Since when?

Well, he only called my habit cute, but I couldn’t help the racing of my heart again. It was ridiculous how quickly a single

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Hands Off The Ice King

word from him could affect me. I had to look out of the window so that he wouldn’t see how red my cheeks were

I saw my reflection on the window, and my face was definitely giving it away.

There was no hiding the stupid smile threatening to form on my lips, either.

Fortunately, we quickly arrived at the post office, and I didn’t waste any time opening the car door.

“Woah, what’s the rush?” he asked.

“Deadlines,” I squeezed out amidst my racing heart, still not looking at him as I closed the door.

“I’ll be waiting for you right here!” he called out through the open window.

Oh gosh, no.

It was better for him to leave before I confessed my love to him and got my heart broken.

I couldn’t afford that right now.

There was too much for me to do, and the last thing I needed was to make things even more complicated by letting my feelings for him get the better of me.

Fortunately, I was able to calm down by the time I finished mailing the files to the Colorado Rams.

Just like Desmond had said, he still waited for me, his red car parked in the same place. I let out a deep breath before walking toward it and getting inside, placing my seatbelt on.

“Back to the rink?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Can you drive me home? Beth said I can come back tomorrow.”

He didn’t respond and continued driving, and only then did I realize something.

“Wait, what were you doing at the rink anyway? You don’t have any training until next week. You usually go on vacation during breaks, right?”

“I can’t this time,” he said, making me even more confused.

“Why not?”

A soft smile was on his lips as he glanced at me. “Seriously, Lia? You really don’t know what I was doing there?”

“No. You didn’t text me anything.” I answered honestly.

He chuckled and shook his head. “Look at the backseat.”

I frowned, every second confusing me more. I turned around and gasped when I saw what was behind me.

A box was there, the clear top showing that it was a cake, and beside it was a sizeable square record-a vinyl record with a sign on it.

“Noah King?” I exclaimed, turning to him with wide eyes.

Noah King was my favorite artist in the entire world!

His songs and lyricism were something I deeply resonated with, and I’d always wanted his vinyl, but it had run out of stock before I could get my hands on one.

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Hands Off The Ice King

“How’d you even get this?”

“Wait. is it for me?” I asked, suddenly doubtful.

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