Page 51 of He Has Charm

“Amazing,” I say, grinning at the replay of his third goal. “I’ve only seen that happen once before in all my years of playing and watching hockey,” I admit. She snaps her head to mine.

“You played hockey?” Her voice rises so high I fear for any dogs in the vicinity.

“Yes, from when I was ten years old all the way through college.”

“I can’t believe how freaking perfect you are.” She throws herself at me in a big hug and I feel like I’ve been adopted. “Plus,” she adds in a confidential voice, “I just have to say this, you are so freaking gorgeous. And a hockey player. OMG.”

Her excitement makes me laugh. “Then let me tell you I think you are so freaking adorable,” I say for no reason except it’s true and we’re sharing, though I’m not used to sharing with relative strangers.

“I feel like I’ve found a new friend,” she says. “I’m so glad you’re with Maddox.” I panic.

“I… I’m not with Maddox, not like that.”

“Whatever, honey.” She takes my hands. “Don’t worry. We’ll work on it.” She smiles and her hands are warm over mine and I relax. It feels good, like I don’t want to ruin our newfound friendship with pesky details like she’s out of her freaking adorable mind wrong about me and her brother.

“I’m glad too,” I say.

Maddox skates around the ice waving to fans as the refs gather up the hats and, as is the tradition, he reaches down and picks up one of them to keep. He raises his hand and I see that he’s clutching my silly earmuffs, waving them around like a big prize.

Skating back to the bench, Maddox looks for us in the stands and winks at me.

“Aren’t those your earmuffs he’s holding?” Katy grins at me and gives me a light elbow in the ribs. I really like her. The camera must have followed Maddox’s line of sight because the Jumbotron now shows me and Katy, then focuses in on me. Shit. Not what we need after the debacle at Buttermilk & Bourbon. But I manage a smile and the shot quickly flashes away to cover other fans doing crazy things and I sink down in my seat. The general roar of the audience hadn’t changed when we showed up on the Jumbotron so I force myself to breathe and will my heart rate to slow. No harm done.

After the game Katy is excited to meet the team so we wait in the hallway near the locker room rather than the friends and family room. O’Rourke comes out and I introduce him to Katy.

“Were those your earmuffs he snagged? He’s so weird, insisting they belong to someone he knows when we busted his balls about picking up fluffy earmuffs.” I’m turning pink and hoping Katy understands hand signals as I squeeze her hand in an effort to tell her to keep quiet. It works.

“Oh sure. They’re cute, aren’t they?” I say.

O’Rourke nods and I see when he notices Katy’s wearing a hat and I’m not, his smile widens and he doesn’t call me out on it. This is a night of miracles. A hat trick and people keeping their mouths shut about me and Maddox for a change.

“Knight’s going to be a while with the press, being he’s the star of the night,” O’Rourke says.

“We’re going to have to work hard to keep this from gong to his head,” Katy says, her smile still breaking her face.

After introductions to Finn, Rafe, and Aiden, Maddox finally appears and finds our cluster. He throws his arms around both Katy and me and I hug them both back. It’s only a little awkward when he releases us. At least a dozen people come and go, thumping him on the back and congratulating him while the guys discuss going out.

They insist on taking the Mad Knight out to celebrate his hat trick. It’s perfectly natural. The right thing to do.

“I don’t know, guys,” he says. “I have this moratorium on going out to bars and drinking.”

“One beer,” Finn says.

“We’ll go to Sullivan’s Tap,” O’Rourke says, “They have pool tables.” He winks at Maddox. Maddox looks interested. He grabs my arm.

“What about it, su—Harper? Just one beer, like Finn said.”

“Let’s do it,” I say. He looks surprised, like he expected he’d have to fight me. I give him a friendly hip check. “I’m not an ogre. I’m not Delaney.” He laughs and a couple of the guys snicker.

“Who’s Delaney?” Katy says.

“Did I hear my name?” Shit. The unmistakable voice of the ballbuster herself comes from behind me and I whip around to see her moving fast. “Congratulations, Knight. Hat trick is exactly what we needed to take the edge off. Consider your probation lifted—partially. For tonight.” She looks around at the knot of players and me and Katy.

“Thanks, Delaney. This is my sister Katy,” Maddox says. “Chaperone reinforcements for the night. I’m sure I’ll manage to stay out of trouble.” She nods and then takes off, tearing through the crowd, destination unknown, but definitely on a mission.

“So that’s Delaney,” Katy says. “Got it.” The others laugh, but I’m half worried she’s left behind a bug to spy on us. Could be paranoia, could be the measure of my respect for the ballbuster

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