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“You play full ice?” I asked, trying to remember what I played when I was his age.

“Half. But my grandpa plays full ice with me. What position do you play?”

“I’m a Centerman,” I said. “You wanna race?” He nodded up at me eagerly. He reminded me a lot of my friend Ryke’s daughter Melody. Ryke wasn’t even 30 and he was fully domesticated – married with two kids. I couldn’t blame him, he’d found a woman he couldn’t live without in Kate. But I didn’t plan to settle down for at least another decade.

Kyler skated with such heart that I had to suppress my laughter. The focus on his little face was like an Olympic athlete in the race of his life. He was fearless – thinking only of reaching the wall, not of the chance he might fall.

“Hey, Ky,” Niko said, skating up to us as we were catching our breath after a race.

“Niko!” Kyler beamed. “Wanna race us?”

“For sure. I know I can beat Luke, but I’m not sure about you. You’re pretty fast.”

“Kyler!” Dell called from the bench. We all looked her way and she was waving him over.

“Just one more,” I said, meeting her eyes. She rolled her eyes a little but nodded.

The other guys cheered Kyler on in our three way race, and we let him edge ahead at the end. His goofy grin reminded me how much I’d loved hockey as a kid. Back then there’d been nothing on the line. I only played for love of the game.

Kyler skated over to the wall and Dell reached for him, kissing the top of his head as she swung him over and he sat down on the bench.

“Nice kid,” I said to Niko.

“Yeah. She’s a good mom.”

“Where’s his dad?”

“He visits a couple times a month.”

We skated over to line up and wait for Tanner to start practice.

“She never got with anyone else?” I asked, watching Dell and Kyler laughing about something.

“Dell? No, she doesn’t date. Never has time for anyone but Kyler and us. Plus her dad would probably castrate any guy she tried to date. He still wants her to marry Kyler’s dad.”

I gave him a look of disbelief. “The kid’s what, five? If she hasn’t married him by now—”

Niko interrupted me with a laugh. “Yeah, well, Butch Price is pretty stubborn.”

“Butch Price? The Nashville coach?”

“You didn’t know Dell’s his daughter?”

I had to force my lips closed. “Holy shit, no. That guy’s the biggest asshole in the league.”

Niko nodded. “I heard he broke a player’s arm once.”

“But that’s … Dell’s nothing like him. He’s a lunatic.”

“Yeah. Rookies come here and get the warning from Tanner, but they still look at her … kinda the way you’re looking at her right now.” Niko arched his brows at me. “Then they hear she’s Butch Price’s daughter and they pretty much piss themselves.”

Tanner blew his whistle and everyone took a knee. I looked over at Niko and spoke in a low tone.

“What do you mean
the way I was looking at her
?”

He looked at Tanner but gave a single, low note of laughter. “Don’t go there, man. She’s hands off in so many ways. Find someone else.”

Tanner started sketching out a play on his dry erase board and I turned my attention to him. But my mind was still on Dell. This explained her deep knowledge of the game, and why a beautiful woman would opt to become a hockey trainer. She’d been born into it.

I knew the feeling. Playing hockey had never been a choice for me. My dad had made the choice and molded me into the player I was. I’d grown to love the game, but every time I played, it was with the knowledge that he was watching – and judging.

I sighed and tried to focus on the play we were about to run through. Pissing Tanner Welch off would be a headache. But pissing Butch Price off would be a catastrophe. He had clout and a reputation as a ruthless asshole who stopped at nothing to get his way.

Dell surely knew that. And she probably kept men at arms’ length to protect them as much as herself. My gaze wandered over to her, and our eyes locked. A hot surge ran through me as I realized she’d been watching me. It should’ve unnerved me. But fuck if it didn’t do just the opposite.

Dell

Luke flew past me, eyes darting around the rink to check other players’ positions out of habit. He was alone, and I was enjoying the view. Not just because he had an amazing body, but because he was such a skilled player. He handled the puck with polish and was incredibly fast for a man his size. I could see why he was being considered for the Olympic team. His skills rivaled those of the best players I’d ever seen play the game.

“Move, lazy bones!” I called, cupping my hands around my mouth. “My grandma could get to the net faster than you!” My teasing in our late-night practice sessions never rattled him, but I enjoyed it all the same.

He slid to a stop next to me. “So motivate me, Coach. What would I have to do to convince you to have dinner with me?”

My cheeks warmed instantly. I’d figured he wouldn’t ask again. “There’s only one thing,” I said, arching my brows.

“Name it.”

“Light the lamp.”

He grinned at me, his perfect white smile making my heart beat erratically. “I score in our next game, and you’ll have dinner with me?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and looked at the goal. “Okay.”

It was nothing – probably a sandwich at the deli down the street before we met to practice some night. So why was I already excited about the game tomorrow night? The thought that dinner with me was a reward for him made me hot in places other than my cheeks.

This was what charming guys could do. They could wind their way into your heart and mind and make you into a mushy, tongue-tied mess. I’d been there and done that.

But since meeting Luke, I’d realized something for the first time. I was lonely, dammit. And he reached a place deeper in me than anyone ever had. It was scary, but at the same time, too exhilarating to deny. I wasn’t banned from being friends with a player. And friends could have dinner.

“Let’s get to work,” Luke said, tugging my ponytail playfully.

“Right.”

He was about to skate off when he turned to look back at me. “So do you want me to score tomorrow night?”

“Of course I do.”

His cocky grin threw me off balance. “Because you want to have dinner with me.”

I tried to laugh it off, but I knew my fair skin was betraying my embarrassment. “Because I want us to win, Luke. Go channel that swagger into your game.”

For a second I thought he was going to skate back to me. I imagined him shoving me against the wall and kissing me hard. But he went back to practicing instead.

With a sigh, I reached for my stick and skated out to help. We’d be having dinner. Maybe. It was as close as I’d been to sex in years. Which was sad, since it wasn’t close to sex at all. It was dinner. But I relished the idea of a conversation with Luke outside of the rink. It was alone time, and if he scored, it would definitely be a win for me, whether the team came out on top or not.

Luke

The smooth, perfect curves of Dell’s lower half were on full display in a pair of form-fitted black yoga pants. Where the hell were her baggy sweats?

“Can you massage my groin?” Matt Vanderschmidt asked Dell. I glared at him, but his gaze was fixed on her. It was close to ice time, but she dropped down to her knees in front of him on the locker room bench and did her best. I turned away, repelled by the sight of her hands in another guy’s crotch, even if it wasn’t sexual.

She finished and we all rose for Tanner’s final pep talk before taking the ice. I stood in the back of the group and snuck over to the wall Dell stood against.

“I think I’m gonna need my groin massaged later,” I said in a low tone. “It’s gonna be really sore after this game.”

“Don’t make me blush,” she whispered, her face blazing.

“But I like it.” Damn, did I ever. I was thinking of all the dirty things I could say to make her cheeks pink. “You want me to score early in the game or draw out the suspense?”

“Just do it,” she said, smiling shyly.

The guys were heading for the ice, and I gave her a final glance before I fell into line. “You look really good tonight.”

“Thanks.”

I could tell she hadn’t been complimented enough. She looked self-conscious and unsure every time I said something about her appearance. When it came to hockey training, she was the picture of confidence. But the hint of a smile I’d seen told me she liked the compliment. I needed to do more of that. Nothing with a sexual meaning laced in; just straight-up compliments.

I could start over dinner tonight. Because even if I had to fight dirty to do it, I was scoring in this game.

Dell

I was used to the lightning fast pace a game launched into as soon as the puck dropped. But I was downright jittery as I watched this one. Up and down the ice the guys went, my heart hammering.

As our star player, Luke drew more attention from the crowd than anyone. Cheers rang out when his line took the ice. The game was still scoreless when another line took over and he climbed over the wall, sat down on the bench and squirted water from a bottle into his mouth.

I tried to look casual. It required me to force my foot to stop tapping nervously against the concrete floor. I focused on the game, groaning with the rest of the bench when the other team scored on a sluggish Scroggins.

When I chanced a glance at Luke, he gave me a quick wink and slid over the wall to go back out with his line.

Casual, casual, casual.
But I was anything but.

“Tape my hand?” Brian McLaughlin asked, wincing as he pulled his glove off.

“Sure.” I wound the tape mechanically, wondering who had the puck. When I looked, I saw Niko passing it to Luke. He hooked it with his stick and headed toward the goal.

“Ow,” Brian whined, glaring at me. “Too tight, Dell.”

“What? Oh, sorry. Just a sec.”

With a long slap shot, Luke sent the puck into the net with such style fans were jumping up from their seats. I cheered with the rest of the team, but inside I was even more excited than I let on.

My social life was so nonexistent that this dinner would be the closest I’d been to a man in years. At least, a man I wasn’t training. But I never thought of touching the guys as anything more than my job.

I shook my head at my giddiness. We were going to eat before practice some evening – that was it. I needed to get a grip. But when Luke looked over at me from the circle of players celebrating with their sticks in the air and smiled, I lost hold of all rational thought.

Luke

I’d always been a closer. I wasn’t aggressive off the ice, but on it, I would kick however many asses I had to in order to score. My dad had drilled it into me: score at all costs. Any explanations about why I hadn’t scored growing up had been disregarded as lame excuses.

So I scored. It was second nature. But tonight had been my first goal in a long time. When I watched the puck slide home, only one thought was ringing in my head:
Now I get to take Dell out to dinner
. But then the guys had clustered around me, slapping my back and pumping their sticks in the air.

It surprised me how much I liked it. I hadn’t scored because I was supposed to, but because I wanted to. I knew as I looked at the faces of teammates circled around me that I was one of them now. And it felt fucking good. I wasn’t a multimillionaire trying to land an endorsement or a fatter contract – I was just playing hockey.

When the fanfare died down and I glanced over at the bench, Dell was smiling. It was the best moment I’d had in a long time.

I kept my head in the game, which required not looking at her again. When I saw her, my mind always started wandering. I’d think about her soft-looking pink lips or ways I could make her blush.

When we took the game 5-1, the guys were in the mood to celebrate. Tanner took it easy on the post-game analysis, letting us savor the win. Niko told me my attendance at the bar they liked to party at was mandatory, but I was planning to beg off. I wanted to take Dell out to dinner right now. I planned to shower, get my suit on, and make plans to meet up with her without anyone noticing.

I didn’t care where we went. We’d be alone and not working on my game. That was all that mattered.

Rifling through shit in my locker, I located my phone and pulled it out to search for a restaurant. A text from Ryke greeted me on my home screen:
kickass, bro
. I smiled to myself. He’d been following my games. Damned if that guy wasn’t my brother in every sense of the word.

A message below that one from my younger sister Lindy made my brow furrow:
call me ASAP. Urgent.

Lindy and I didn’t talk much. She lived in a Chicago suburb, where she worked in marketing. My mind swam with possibilities about what could be wrong, and I decided I couldn’t wait ’til after I showered to call her. I took my phone to the empty weight room and dialed her.

“Luke. Thank God,” she said, her voice tight.

“You okay, Lin?”

“I’m okay. It’s Dad.”

My heart thudded like an approaching freight train. As much as I resented the old man, deep down I loved him.

“What is it?” I asked, dread constricting my chest.

She burst into tears, but talked through them. “He was in a car accident. We’re at the hospital.”

“Shit. Is he hurt bad?”

“Yeah.” She sniffled and took a breath. “His pelvis is messed up really bad and his head has a huge cut. They’re still working on him to figure out everything that’s wrong.”

“Is he conscious?”

“He wasn’t when they brought him in, but he is now.”

I sighed deeply. “Okay. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

“Good. I’m scared about what to do.”

“All you can do is wait, Lin. Let the doctors do their work. We’ll make sure he’s in the best place he can be and get him transferred if we need to.”

There was a pause on her end of the line. “That’s not what I mean. The police are here, Luke. They’re waiting for the doctors to let them question him. Should I tell them they can’t go in?”