Page 20 of Home Ice

She just shrugs, so I look at Kayden who gives me a thumbs up. Good. "Are you able to drive?" Her breathing, which was slowing down, speeds up again, so I rub my thumbs on the backs of her hands. "Not far. Just a..." Shit, where can she go? "You know the hotel on the next block? The big one?" The one that undoubtedly has security cameras and will certainly report a crashed car sitting in its lot. This is a bad idea.

But when Lily nods, her eyes are so wide and expectant that I have to follow through, bad idea or not. It's like facing a fast break when the shooter twitches to his right. Maybe he's deking me, but once I commit, I have to stick with it. I just need to think of a way to turn this bad idea into a good one, or at least one that won't come back to bite her in the ass.

"Drive there," I tell her. "Kayden will follow you to make sure you make it safely." I don't turn to make sure he's hearing me. I know him well enough to know he is, and I have the feeling that if I break eye contact with Lily, she could shatter right now. "You park the car in the back of the parking lot, and then you're going to walk back here. You took TRAX to work today. Got it? While you're doing that, I'll call someone to take care of everything with your car."

She blinks a few times, processing, then she nods. "Does TRAX run this early?"

I try to remember if I've ever seen one of the passenger trains rolling around the city this early, but I can't. "It's close enough. No one will ever know." I hope. "So you're going to walk back here from the hotel, and then if anyone asks why you're late, you'll say it's because you took TRAX. You're new in town, so you aren't familiar with the routes."

"I'm not. New in town, that is. Not really."

This takes me aback. I expected that since I'd never seen her, she must not have lived here until just a few weeks ago. It's foolish. There are over a million people in and around the city. How can I expect to have spotted her in all of those? But I'm mad at myself that I didn't. "Doesn't matter. Just stick to the basics. Kayden will drive behind you to make sure you make it back. Coach might be mad at him for being late, but he can handle it."

"I feel like you're throwing me under the bus, dude."

I wave him off.

"But what about Coach's car?" she asks.

I haven't thought that far ahead yet. There’s still about two minutes before I need to worry about that. "I'll take care of it. And don't ask. As far as you know, nothing unusual happened this morning. You'll just go in and go to work like normal, got it?"

She nods but then stops. "I can't afford to pay you back. I'm barely living paycheck to paycheck as it is."

I don't mean to, but I laugh. "Lily, I'm a professional athlete. I'm not bragging when I say I'm a millionaire. You don't have to pay me back."

She pulls her hands away, and for the first time today, the muscles in her face relax. But only a little. "But I do! Maybe not money, but something. I won't let you guys do this for free."

"You might not have to pay Brant back," Kayden says, "but there is something you can do for me. Be my teammate at the Charity Bee. It's the first weekend in October."

A bolt goes through me when he asks her that, and although the last thing I want to do is make a scene, I stand and face him. His chest just inches from mine. "What are you doing?" I snarl under my breath.

"I don't know what that is, Kayden, but sure, I'll literally do anything."

Kayden raises an eyebrow at me, and I growl. I know him. Next to my sister, he's the best friend I've ever had. He wouldn't do something like this. He wouldn't take advantage of a woman like this. Yet here he is. "Absolutely not, Lily, you're coming with me." She's staring up at us, unsure what she's supposed to do. "Come with me to the Charity Bee, please. Be my teammate. We pick the charities we compete for. You'll have fun. I promise." And here I am, making promises to this woman again. But this is one I'll make sure I keep.

"We choose our own charity?" Lily bites her lip, and heat flashes through me. I want to be the one biting that lip.

I squeeze my hands to resist the temptation to do something I'll regret. Like kiss her. Or more. "We do." I have to force the words to come out evenly. "Do you have one in mind? I usually play for the no-kill animal shelter. And does this mean you'll do it?" Just like that, I'm back in high school asking a girl to prom. In high school, though, I could get any girl I wanted, and I knew it. So my stomach didn't do the things it's doing now.

"I don't know. About the charity. I might know one. And yes. I meant it when I said I'll do anything."

"Good." I nod my head when what I really want to do is shout my excitement. "Now go to the hotel before someone sees you. Kayden," I spit out his name, "will be right behind you. And I'll take care of everything with Coach."

She nods and slips her car into reverse. The engine ticks and rattles and makes some noises I don't even recognize, but other than a bumper that is barely hanging on, there's no sign of any damage to the outside. Coach's car, though, is worse than I thought. The entire driver's door is bashed in so far I'm not sure if it can be opened. As soon as Lily is out of earshot, I spin on Kayden. "What the hell was that? You're not the kind of person who manipulates someone in a situation like this."

He laughs. "No. But I am the type of person who manipulates his best friend into asking out the girl he has a crush on when he's too chickenshit to do it himself."

Oh. He set me up perfectly. Had me going left when the whole time he was planning to wrap around to my right. "So that was?—"

He pats me on the shoulder as he walks around me to get to his car. "You're welcome, Branny. Don't fuck it up."

CHAPTER 17

I WANT YOU TO WARM ME UP

LILY

When I finally get inside the arena for the morning practice, I want to run straight to the training room, but I force myself to take slow steps and smile at everyone I pass by. It's just any other morning right? So I need to do what I do every time I come to work. That doesn't include locking myself in a stall in the ladies’ room to dry heave and cry. Unfortunately.

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