Page 121 of Face Off With Fate

“I don’t think you should do that. They all think you’re in a relationship with⁠—”

“I want them to know I’m in one with you.”

Her eyes went wide. “Monroe.”

“Graciella.” I dislodged her bottom lip from between her teeth. “We’ll work it all out. But it’s happening.” I could tell she was racking her brain for something to push back with, but I cut her off. “Get out of that pretty head of yours and objectify me while I play.”

She barked out a laugh, the creases at the corners of her eyes softening a touch.

“You sure you even know how to? It’s going to be pretty embarrassing if you go out there and get your ass handed to you, old man.”

Brat.

I tilted her chin up, keeping her eyes on mine.

“I’ll make you a bet. I get my ass kicked, you get your way. We go back to hiding whatever this is from the world, even though we both know that’s bullshit.”

“I didn’t⁠—”

“But if I win,” I said, holding her gaze. “Then we go public. Give us a real shot.”

“Josh,” she whispered, the slight hitch in her voice doing something to my chest. Her eyes dropped from mine, and she picked at the edge of her bright orange nails.

My thumb and forefinger found her chin, tipping it back up.

“I like Itzel.” My words had her brown eyes snapping to mine, mouth tipped into a frown. I chuckled, low and quiet. “But not the way I like you, Trouble. I don’t like anyone the way I like you, and I want people to know that.”

I was damn sure like was not the right word for what I felt about her. But I kept the one I wanted to use where it was, tucked back behind my teeth.

She looked at the guys out on the ice, then back at me, a war playing out across her face.

“Monroe.” A breath. “Both of our careers are on the line here.”

Fuck my career.

I opened my mouth to say exactly that, but something in the set of her shoulders stopped me. “Graciella, this fake-relationship shit was always supposed to end. Let’s just move the breakup date.”

“It’s not that easy…” She exhaled through her nose, a far-off look on her face. “I didn’t lose my last job. I mean, I did. But it wasn’t—” She pressed her lips together. “I got fired because I broke into my coworker’s apartment.”

I blinked.

“Caleb,” she said, like the name tasted bad. “He got the promotion I’d been working toward for two years. Two years, Monroe. And something felt off about it, so I…” She let out a humorless laugh. “I showed up at his place with Monica, and I found him fucking our boss.”

The pieces rearranged themselves in my head.

“My hockey stick, Monica? How many crimes have you committed with her?”

She finally looked at me. “Out of everything I just said, that was what you locked onto? Not that I got fired for catching them together?” Her jaw tightened, but there was the tiniest of smirks on her lips.

The rink noise filled the silence between us, blades on ice, pucks hitting boards, the guys chirping at one another.

“If this campaign goes sideways…” She shook her head. “There’s no coming back from it. I can’t have two previous employers who have negative things to say about me.”

I studied her.

“Okay,” I said.

She frowned. “Okay?”