Page 136 of Rise Above

“Just kisses?”

The tone of her voice raised my brows. She sounded

sultry, like a vixen. My whole body revved at her words. She may have been kind and sweet, but there was a darker side to my Aife.

“Whatever you want, darling.” My voice also had

deepened. Aife had that impact on me. This woman always kept me on my toes.

“Maybe a conversation for after dinner,” she said,

flicking her eyes to meet mine.

My mouth instantly dried. Picking up my water

glass, I took a long sip. My mind was playing out inappropriate situations; things I wanted to do to the gorgeous woman across from me. Aife had no idea the power she had over me.

“New topic, please.” My voice was very low. I was

fighting back lust and desire.

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She smirked, the corners of her lips tugging up

further. “How’s hockey going?”

Hockey. Hockey… I could do. Talking about

hockey came as naturally as breathing.

“I doubt we make playoffs this year. We’re just

having an extremely off year. Part of that is my injury, but we are just having trouble clicking as a team.”

“Like y’all are in a slump?”

The waiter placed our food in front of us. We both

thanked him and took a bite. “Yeah, like a slump. I started seeing someone about my anxiety.”

Her eyebrows raised. “Oh? Do you feel comfortable

opening up to me about your experience? Or just wanna focus on the slump?”

The social worker in her was clearly piqued. I loved

that about her. She always wanted to help others when she could. Her massive heart was her biggest strength and weakness.

“I like what I’m doing with the therapist,” I said, “I

didn’t realize the fear I was holding in my body. Chris was right about that. I’m starting to feel like myself on skates again. So, that’s nice. Slumps are slumps, darling. They happen. If we let the slumps impact us, we would never win,” I said and put some steak in my mouth.

“You have a really good attitude about life, Talon.”

Aife smiled at me and bit into her potatoes. “It’s an admirable quality. You get so passionate when you talk about hockey. Your entire demeanor changes.”