Page 35 of Slapshot Summer
He sighed.“If I sign the contract, yeah.”
“Would you?Sign, I mean.”
He shrugged.“If no one else wants me.”
Lust took a back seat as her concern for him climbed.She leaned forward.“Care to tell me what happened that got you to this point in your professional life?I’m a good listener.”
He matched her pose and placed a fingertip on the end of her nose.“I will, if you tell me what happened to you.”
One side of her mouth twitched.“I guess we know each other well enough now to trade a few secrets.”
“Yeah, we do.Especiallysince we learned each other’s middle names and all.”His eyes scoured her, lingering on her breasts—which he seemed particularly fond of—and she recognized raw hunger lurking in them.A sudden shyness had her wishing she’d thrown on a bra under her tank, which was ridiculous because he’d seen it all—multiple times.Unfortunately, her embarrassment made her nipples pop and reveal themselves through the thin fabric.A knowing smirk curved his beautiful mouth.
She squirmed under his scrutiny.“Eyes up here, goalie.”
“Sorry.Distracted again.Happens whenever I’m around you.”He toyed with his fork.“Not sure you can call me ‘goalie,’ though.I haven’t played since the first of the year.”
“How come?”
“I got hurt in a game.My own D-man collided with me in the net when he was trying to clear an opposing player out of my crease, and I wound up with a concussion.”Her alarm must have shown on her face because he rushed to add, “I’m okay now.The medical team cleared me to play a while ago.”
Settling in, she propped her elbow on the table and cradled her chin in her palm.“So is the team still worried about your health?Is that why they didn’t put you back in?”
“Nope.They played my backup while I was out, and he didn’t do so well, so they brought up their minor leaguer, a twenty-something who’d never played in the NHL.That guy played lights-out, and they went on a winning streak while I watched from the bench.They rode that kid all the way until the end of the season.”
“So you never got to play again?”
He glanced to the side and swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his neck.When he brought his gaze back to hers, anguish reflected there.“They put me in a few times, but the guys playing in front of me forgot they were supposed to defend in their own zone.They’d done a stellar job of it when the kid was backstopping them, but when I was in there, they seemed to lay back.I stopped the shots I could see, but when there was a lot of traffic in front of me, I didn’t do so well.”
“Traffic?”
“Bodies in front of me blocking my view—and that happened a lot.Our guys weren’t defending, weren’t getting their guys out of the way.In fact, they were half the problem.I couldn’t stop what I couldn’t see.”He let out a defeated exhale and shook his head.“That’s not right.I’m blaming it on my teammates, and that’s bullshit.It comes down to the fact that I couldn’t win us a single game once I got put back in.Coach thought it was lingering effects of the concussion, like my vision was off or something, so I got sent down to the organization’s AHL team for a conditioning stint.Basically, the kid and I swapped places.I didn’t see much action in the minors either, and I didn’t play well when I did.I really didn’t give my team a reason to call me back up.That’s on me.”
“Are you so sure about that?Couldn’t it just have been a run of bad luck?”
“You make your own luck, babe.The fact that the Forge isn’t interested in re-signing me—even as a backup—and that no other team has come calling means they all think I’m not worth the risk.I’ve had my vision checked multiple times, gone through a battery of tests, and the docs keep telling me my head’s okay.And Ifeellike everything’s working the way it’s supposed to, except my … my confidence took a hit and probably isn’t where it needs to be.Bottom line: Teams don’t want to take a chance on me.”
He was still leaning forward, weight on his forearms, and she reached out and squeezed his clasped hands.“That seems so unfair.”
“What’s the old saying?Life’s not fair.I’ve had a good run.”His expression told her he was trying to convince himself that what he said was true.
“But you still feel like you have a lot left to give,” she added softly.
He gave her a wistful smile that crinkled the fine lines around his eyes.“Yeah, I do.”He uncoupled his hands from hers and crooked a finger.“Come here.”
She angled in, closing the distance between them, and he cupped her head and laid a languid kiss on her mouth that curled her toes.
“How come you’re so smart?”he quipped when they pulled apart.
She sighed.“Not so smart, or I wouldn’t currently be unengaged and unemployed.”
“Tell me.”
Sucking in a breath of courage, she steeled her spine.
Chapter 13
Goner
