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“Sophie. I’m so glad you came!”
Sophie gave Bliss a huge hug as she met Bliss and Faith at her seat in the arena.
“Thanks for the ticket. I didn’t expect you to pay for it, though. Let me—”
“I didn’t pay for it.” Bliss waved away her concern. “The guys get comps so don’t worry about it. I’m just so excited you’re here. How’d you get your dad to give you a Friday night off?”
“Just had to ask.” That was the thing about her dad. He basically gave her anything she wanted. “Besides, if I work any more hours, he’s gonna need to make me a full-time employee. Hey, am I dressed okay? I had no idea what to wear. It’s a hockey rink, so I figured it’s cold but, damn, now I’m thinking I should’ve put on more layers. And I guess I didn’t get the message about the dress code.”
Bliss laughed and waved her hands in the air again, showing off her red gloves that matched her red scarf and red knit hat with the Redtails logo on the front.
“It’s always cold in here but you should be fine. And there’s no dress code. Some of us are just more...supportive than others.”
Bliss gave a pointed look at the woman sitting on the other side of her, who rolled her eyes.
“Yes, yes, I know. I’m no fun. Hey, Sophie, how’s it going?”
Sophie walked by Bliss to give Faith a hug. Confined to a wheelchair due to a spinal injury, Faith still managed to smile and be a generally decent person, despite the fact that her asshole ex-fiancé had been the cause of the accident that’d left her paralyzed. And had basically left her at the altar. The prick. Sophie had had her grandmother lay a curse on the bastard. Of course, she’d never told Faith. Better to keep some things to yourself.
“It’s going. Haven’t seen you for a while. What’ve you been up to?”
“Work. Rehab. Work. Rehab.” She shrugged and smiled, no hint of darkness in her expression. “You know, moving forward. So what brings you to the game tonight? I mean, it’s great to see you but it’s Friday.”
“I do get days off, you know. Maybe I just wanted to spend it with girlfriends.”
As she settled into the seat next to Bliss, she saw Bliss and Faith exchange a look. And knew Bliss had already told Faith her version of why Sophie had come tonight.
“Uh huh.” Bliss nodded, her expression suspiciously wide-eyed. “And maybe it has something to do with a certain redhead you spent most of Wednesday night talking to.”
Sophie felt a blush creep into her cheeks, even though she had nothing to feel guilty about.
“So what if it does?” She turned to look at her friends, who were grinning so widely now they practically looked maniacal.
“Hey, I’m all for you getting out more, Soph. It’s just...Derek.”
Sighing, she shook her head. “Is there something I don’t know about him? Is he a freak? Does he pick his nose in public? Does he kick puppies? Tell me what’s so bad about him?”
By the time she finished, Bliss was shaking her head so hard, Sophie was afraid her friend was going to hurt herself. And Faith was laughing.
“No, no, no!” Bliss looked so distressed, Sophie felt a little sorry for her. “Nothing like that. Ugh. Sorry. I like Derek. You two just seem...”
Bliss looked at Faith for help. Faith made a show of whistling and watching the flashing lights bouncing along the seats and the ceiling.
“Too what?” Sophie prompted.
Bliss gave a huge sigh. “I figured neither of you would ever get a word in edgewise and you’d hate each other. It honestly never occurred to me that you’d hit it off.”
“So you think I talk too much?”
Faith snorted and put her hand over her mouth as Bliss looked increasingly flustered.
Sophie couldn’t help herself. As the youngest of five girls, she’d always felt like she had to make sure everyone remembered she was there. Not that she hadn’t been spoiled rotten by her parents and her sisters. She had been. She’d been loved and adored. But in her house, if you didn’t speak up for yourself, someone would do it for you. And her sisters were completely different people.
So yes, she was teasing the hell out of Bliss. She’d let her off the hook soon enough but for now...
“No, of course, I don’t think that. And oh my god, you are totally playing me right now, aren’t you?”
Sophie started to laugh. “Yeah, pretty much. Sorry, but you’re easy, sweetie.”
Bliss’s eyes gleamed. “Shane says that, too. But he likes that about me.”
“I’m sure he does. So what are you two going to do this summer? Is he going to stay in the area or is he going to go home for a while like he did last summer?”
Bliss’s gaze flashed away for a few seconds and Sophie frowned. Trouble in paradise? No way. Shane and Bliss were so right for each other, it was scary.
“Hey, is something wrong?”
“No, no, nothing’s wrong. It’s just,” she turned to Faith, who gave her a lopsided, sad little grin, “Shane’s probably going to spend half the summer training in Minnesota with some top goalie coach and...I think I’m going to be moving out with him.”
“Seriously? You’re going to give up your job and follow him to Minnesota? What are you going to do out there?”
Bliss shrugged, nibbling on her bottom lip. “Not sure yet. Maybe nothing. Maybe take some online courses? I don’t know. I only know we don’t want to be apart for months. And it’s not like I can’t find another job. I knew if we continued to see each other, I’d have to make some choices. I guess...I’m ready to move on. And it’s not like I won’t be back. Shane will probably be back with the Redtails next season, at least for the start. After that...”
She shrugged, but Sophie could tell Bliss was excited. And happy. Happy to be spending the summer with the man she loved.
Just then the music got louder and the lights went out as the announcer welcomed everyone to the game and the teams began to skate onto the ice.
She was happy for Bliss. Honestly. She just couldn’t imagine giving up her entire life to follow a guy as he bounced around from team to team. What about Bliss’s plans? Her dreams?
So why are you here, lusting after a hockey player?
Because she was sick of being the good girl who stayed home every night and did her homework or went to work because her parents needed her or babysat her nieces and nephews because her brother-in-law had to work late or her sister had a meeting.
She was ready for a little fun. Okay, a lot of no-commitment fun with a hot guy. And Derek seemed like he’d be more than willing to provide that fun. Even if no one else seemed to think they’d be good for each other. Hell, it wasn’t like she was going to marry the guy. She only wanted to have sex with him.
With Bliss and Faith’s attention focused on the ice, she let herself look at the guys lined up on the bench across the ice from where she was sitting. With their helmets off, she immediately picked out Derek.
He was the one who couldn’t stand still. He shifted back and forth from foot to foot. Like most of the players, he had his head bowed but, every now and then, he shook his head, like he was having a conversation.
As the chorus of elementary school kids who couldn’t hit a high note to save their souls wrapped up their ear-piercing rendition of the anthem and the lights came up, Derek’s head popped up and his focus narrowed to the ice.
She could practically see the determination on his face, even from across the ice. She had to admit, if only to herself, that just looking at him made her stomach hollow and her lungs labor.
Yes, she knew how stupid that sounded but at least no one else could tell just by looking at her.
Sneaking a peek at her friends, she saw their attention riveted to the ice. She waited until play started and the loud music stopped before she leaned over to Faith.
“I didn’t realize you were such a big hockey fan.”
Faith shrugged and glanced at Sophie before looking back at the ice. “I wasn’t always. It grows on you.”
“Oh, there.” Bliss tapped Sophie on the arm. “Look. There’s Derek. No. 20.”
Sophie’s gaze immediately sought out the players clustered around the goal but didn’t see him. She found him a little farther out, closer to the center. Amazingly, he was still. At least at that moment. He watched the action around the goal for several seconds before he made a move.
After that, she barely took her eyes off him. When he wasn’t on the ice, her gaze strayed toward the bench more often than she watched the game.
He was surprisingly quiet on the bench, at least as far as she could tell from where she sat. Which didn’t mean he was silent. He was the first to stand and shout if a call didn’t go their way or if one of his teammates got crunched by another player. Then he had a lot to say. And since she was watching him so closely, she realized he usually had something to say to that other player if they met up on the ice. She figured it wasn’t anything nice, considering the way he’d just slammed an opposing player into the boards.
By the end of the third period, the Redtails were winning by two goals and the other team seemed to do everything wrong, which meant they were taking some cheap shots.
“Hey!” She yelled at the ice before turning to Bliss. “That guy just stuck his stick in Derek’s side. Why isn’t he getting a penalty for that?”
Bliss and Faith both grinned up at her with identical, knowing smiles. Which just made Sophie wrinkle her nose at them.
“This late in the game, they’re not gonna call a penalty unless it’s blatant.” Bliss’s smile shifted to a wry grin. “Besides, Derek’ll repay him for that jab.”
“What do you mean?”
Sophie had already returned her attention to the ice, where Derek was skating toward the opponent’s net.
Damn, the guy was fast. Not as fast as some of the other guys but, holy crap, she’d kill herself is she ever tried to skate like that.
And don’t get her started on skating backward. For some reason, watching Derek glide so effortlessly turned her on. It was an inexplicable response to something so random that she shook her head to get rid of the thought. Of course, that didn’t really work but...whatever.
Derek reached the puck first but the Charleston Renegades player who’d followed him the whole way down the ice barely slowed as he plowed into Derek’s side and flattened him against the boards.
“Hey!” She stood, booing as a few other fans did around her. “Get off him!”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Faith and Bliss exchange more grins, which she completely ignored. She had a game to watch and the action never stopped.
Derek never slowed at all. He kept working to get the puck, shoving his stick into any place he could fit it and moving his feet, finally kicking the puck away to another Redtails player, who shot it toward the net. It didn’t go in but the Redtails had the other team by the short hairs. They were winning and had all of the momentum.
As she settled back into her seat, Derek skated back to where he seemed to spend a lot of time when the Redtails had the puck near the goal. On the outskirts. She’d figured out that it was his job to keep the puck near the net where they wanted to score and away from Shane’s net.
She had a feeling her father was wincing right now and had no idea why. Of all his daughters, Sophie was the one who’d never really liked sports. Her high school hadn’t had a hockey team when she’d been a student. She could fake her way through football or basketball if she had to. And baseball was easy. Hit, throw, catch, run the bases.
This sport was more like soccer, which she only knew a little more about because several of her nieces and nephews played and she loved her family and attended as many games as she could.
But there wasn’t as much contact in soccer as there was in hockey. And the soccer games she attended were played by adorable little kids in shorts and matching t-shirts. Not six-foot-plus, two-hundred-pound men who crushed each into the wooden walls of an ice rink on a regular basis.
She still couldn’t watch any of the guys take a hit and not flinch in sympathy. How the hell they took such a beating at every game and made it back onto the ice for the next one astounded her.
Like now. The Redtails in front of the net were being hammered by the Renegades players. She knew there had to be major penalties being inflicted but none of the refs were blowing their whistles.
It was seriously starting to piss her off. And she wasn’t the only one.
The chant of “Ref, you suck” had gone up a few times earlier but now practically everyone in their section was saying it.
Of course, she had to join in.
They kept the chant up until the clock clicked down to zero and the buzzer rang. Jumping to her feet, she yelled and high-fived departing fans as they made their way up the stairs to the exit, right by her seat.
“Okay, I get the appeal.” She turned to face Bliss and Faith, who were laughing. At her. She didn’t care. She’d had a blast.
“So I guess you want to come to the game tomorrow night?”
She groaned. “I wish. The bar’ll be busy and Dad would tell me to go but he won’t bring in anyone to cover for me and he and Carlos would be all alone in the kitchen and that’s not a good scene.”
“Soph.” Bliss gave her the look, the one with the raised eyebrows that made her feel like one of her nephews after he’d stolen the tray of baklava at the church party. “What’s he going to do when you leave for good?”
She shrugged, but it wasn’t something she liked to think about. Because she knew it’d be a struggle. And she hated knowing she’d be leaving him in the lurch. Even though he kept telling her she needed to start living her own life.
“He’ll have to hire someone. But for now, he’s got me. And I don’t mind. I like working at the bar. I like the people.”
Bliss opened her mouth like she was going to say something else then closed it with a sigh.
But Faith continued to grin. “Like all those hot hockey players.”
Sophie gave Faith a discreet middle finger with a smile, which Faith laughed off. But it worked to get Bliss to move on.
“Then I guess you have to come out with us tonight.” Bliss waved a hand in front of her and stood. “That wasn’t a question. Of course you are. We won’t be out late because of the game tomorrow but Shane said several of the guys are going to Kaley’s. Derek will be there.”
Then, hell, yes, she was planning to go out tonight.
“Sure, I guess that’d be okay.”
Faith snorted as she maneuvered her wheelchair toward the exit now that most everyone else had already left.
“You are so not good at being nonchalant.”
Sophie shrugged, knowing Faith was totally right about that.
“Lead on, ladies. I’ll follow wherever you’re going.”
And hopefully wherever that was, Derek would be there as well.
*****
“So, D-man, you coming out with us tonight? Bliss is gonna meet us there. She said to tell you Sophie’ll be there. Just in case you wanted to know.”
Sitting with an icepack on his shoulder and another on his knee, Derek knew the answer to Shane’s question should be no.
He should head home to spend a few quality hours with alternating hot and cold packs and a bottle of ibuprofen. They had another game tomorrow against the Renegades and he needed to be in good condition because those bastards would be gunning for them.
And he probably had a huge target on his back from the game tonight.
But...
Sophie would be there.
And he wanted to talk to her again. Okay, so he wanted to do more than talk but he’d settle for talking if that’s all she wanted.
He looked down at his shoulder, already turning a pretty spectacular shade of blue. Talking might be all he was good for tonight. Damn, that hurt.
“Yeah, at least for one beer.”
Shane’s expression didn’t change but Derek could swear the guy was laughing at him. Silently, of course. Shane was one of the quietest guys he knew besides Robbie.
“We’ll meet you there.”
“Sure. Meet you there.”
He stood, biting back a groan as multiple aches and pains hit him at once. But the thought of seeing Sophie again kept him moving forward. Pulling on his clothes, he listened to the guys around him talk, pumped from the win and looking forward to the game tomorrow.
“Hey, D, you going out?”
Rolling his tie and putting it in his jacket pocket, Derek looked over his shoulder at Robbie.
“Yeah, you coming?”
Robbie nodded. “Mind if I catch a ride?”
“Course not. Let me just— Fuck. Shit. Goddamm, that hurts.”
“Aw, does Derek have a few owwies?” Richie called out from across the room. “Maybe you can find someone to kiss them for you.”
“Fuck you, Dickhead.” Derek tossed out, exactly as he normally would. “You’re just jealous because I won’t let you do it for me.”
Richie gave him the finger but the completely normal exchange with his teammate felt off tonight. Or maybe he just didn’t care enough to put any real effort into ribbing Richie, which was usually one of his favorite pastimes because Richie was the one guy on the team who could take it as well as he dished it out.
He just wanted to get out of here and see Sophie. And that in itself was a strange feeling. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been excited about a girl.
As he made his way out to his car with Robbie, he mulled that one over in his head.
Who the hell was the last girl he’d even dated more than a few times? Hockey had been his life for so long that girls had slid off his radar. Not that he didn’t pick them up and get laid but...
Shit, maybe he was a total douche and that’s the reason he never had a girlfriend?
Getting into his truck, he turned the key and let Robbie get strapped in before he said, “Am I a douche?”
Robbie’s head turned so fast, he’d probably have whiplash tomorrow. His mouth opened but it took him a few seconds to formulate an answer.
“Dude, what the hell?”
“Am I an asshole? I mean, I don’t think I am but maybe I just don’t see it.”
Robbie stared at him like he’d grown three heads and had started licking himself with one of them.
“Are you s-sure you’re okay? Did you take a s-shot to the head I didn’t see?”
Derek gave him the finger before he put the truck in gear and headed out of the parking lot. The bar was in West Reading, not far from Sophie’s place. It’d only take a few minutes to get there and Derek needed an answer before they arrived.
He trusted Robbie to give him a truthful answer.
“I’m fine. I just...You don’t think I’m a douche, do you?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Robbie shaking his head. “No, I don’t think.”
“Do you think women think I’m a douche?”
Stopped for a red light, Derek glanced over at Robbie, who stared back at him with so much what-the-fuck written all over his face it’d be funny if his answer wasn’t so important.
“I don’t even k-know how to answer that. I’m t-totally confused.”
“It’s not a difficult question. Do you think women think I’m a douche? I mean, I like women. I don’t want them to think I’m this asshole who doesn’t respect them, right? But I am who I am. I just need to know if I’m an asshole.”
“Are we being s-secretly recorded?”
Derek shifted in his seat, wondering if he wanted to know the answer, which Robbie seemed in no hurry to give. “Just answer the question.”
“No, I don’t think you’re a d-douche. You can be a pain in the ass but that’s d-different. You’re just you, man.”
Since those were the most words Robbie had strung together in as long as Derek had known the guy, he didn’t think he could let that go without saying something. “Damn, man, I didn’t know you could use that many words in a sentence. I appreciate the effort.”
Then he smiled to let Robbie know he was kidding.
Robbie pointed at him. “See. You’re a p-pain in the ass but you’re not an asshole. What the hell’s with all the q-quest—Oh.”
“Oh what?”
Derek gave the car a little gas as they headed over the Penn Street Bridge.
“Heard you met a girl. Did she b-blow you off?”
“No, she didn’t blow me off. She’s gonna be here tonight.”
“And you d-don’t want to come off like an asshole.”
He shrugged. Maybe this conversation had been a bad idea. Robbie wasn’t exactly known for his skill with women. The guy barely opened his mouth around them because of his stutter, which wasn’t really that bad.
“Dude, women love you. Why so emo?”
Derek had to laugh. When Robbie wanted to be funny, the guy totally nailed it.
“I’m not being emo. And don’t use that word in public. You sound like you’re twelve. And a girl.”
Robbie gave him the finger, which just made Derek laugh again. “I just wondered. I know I can be...”
“Loud? Obnoxious? Abrasive?”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t use all your words at once.”
“You’re not.” Robbie shrugged. “You’re just t-talkative. It’s not a bad thing. I run out of s-shit to say in a minute.”
“Talking’s easy. Better than awkward silence.”
There’d been a lot of that in his house, which is probably why he’d learned to fill it.
Robbie either didn’t know what to say to that or he’d used his quota of words for the day. He fell silent as Derek parked across the street from the bar.
Tugging his suit jacket closed as the wind whipped through the buildings, he hurried across the street toward the one-story building on the corner. Short, square, and no frills, Kaley’s had become a popular hangout with the team, mainly because it was close to their apartments, the food was decent, and the beer was cheap.
Robbie had already pushed through the door and was holding it open for him. Laughter drifted out and he stopped just outside. Sometimes, the flashbacks were brutal reminders of what he tried so hard to forget.
Sometimes, it was the sound of drunken laughter, sometimes it was the simple sound of liquid being poured into a glass or the sound of glass hitting a wooden bar. Sometimes, he just needed some fresh air before he walked through the door and shoved all of that baggage away so he could have a good time.
Tonight was one of those nights. Even though he had something amazing to look forward too, sometimes he just needed to get his head on straight before he walked in.
“Derek? You okay?”
He turned to find Shane behind him, his arm wrapped around Bliss’s shoulders.
He grinned, nodding. “Just getting some air.”
Trying not to be blatant, he looked around Shane but didn’t see anyone else. Damn, had she gone home?
“Don’t worry.” Bliss grinned at him. “She’ll be here. She got caught at the light at Second and Penn.”
He affected an innocent look. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
Bliss rolled her eyes and huffed out a laugh. Shane just shook his head.
“Uh huh. Since she’s driving herself, why don’t you wait for her? She never took her eyes off of you the entire game, by the way.”
Oh yeah? Well, that was a damn good thing to know. Which meant he was still smiling when he heard another car coming down the street.
Shane began to walk toward the door, tugging Bliss along with him. “We’ll see you inside, D.”
“Uh huh.”
“We will see you inside, right?”
Bliss’s question barely registered as she disappeared inside the bar. He was too busy watching Sophie get out of her car across the street.
She practically bounced out of the car then bit her lip and turned back, as if she’d forgotten something. Bending at the waist, she reached inside. Which meant he had a clear shot of her ass. And damn, the girl had a nice ass.
Okay, probably not something he wanted to mention to her. Or get caught looking at.
His gaze snapped up to her face just as she turned around. And the smile on her face... Well, damn. She looked happy to see him. Like, genuinely happy. And not in a, Hey, I wanna jump your bones kind of way.
Maybe he shouldn’t be so happy about that. Maybe he was destined to be shoved into that unholy “let’s be friends” category, where he’d spent much of his college years. Between his hockey schedule and his class schedule and his workout schedule, he hadn’t had much time for girls. And especially not after Mandy eviscerated him publicly.
Which had probably kept him out of even more trouble than he’d managed to get into between his mouth and his short fuse. Add in the stress of needing to maintain his grades to keep his scholarship... Yeah, that had been fun. Not.
But tonight... Tonight was gonna be fun.