Page 13 of Hat Trick Heart

He grins wickedly. “I can’t promise that. I for sure want one date. Probably more. So I can’t promise that I’ll only want one date.”

I eye him, nodding up and down and wondering if I should even be considering this. But I haven’t dated and something about this guy really makes me want to get to know him better.

I sigh. “Fine.” I hold up a hand when he smiles and reaches out his hands to pull me in for a hug. “No! Wait! I’m only promising one date. That’s it.”

He backs away from me. “I’ll take it. Thank you, sweetheart. I’ll see you tonight.” Then he takes off like a shot, leaving me standing there and wondering if I really should have agreed or if I should have stuck to my guns and told him I wasn’t interested.

But he’s out of sight now and like an idiot, I didn’t get his phone number so even if I wanted to change my mind, I don’t have any way to contact him. No matter what, I’m stuck until I see him tonight. And I’m assuming that he’s gonna come and pick me up since I don’t know where he lives either, and since he walked me home from that bar, he knows where I live.

Honestly, it’s obvious it was a spur of the minute thing because neither one of us really made good plans.

Now I’m stuck and I can’t think that it’s a bad thing. Excitement wells inside me as I stare at the place that he disappeared to.

I’ve got a date! With the most gorgeous guy I’ve ever seen! I head to work and groan when I walk in the door to see the director there. Time to get back to work and stop daydreaming about the guy that’s captured my attention.

I run in the door and groan when I see the time. It’s so freaking late I’ve only got about half an hour to get ready for this date and I can’t call Emile to tell him that I’m running behind.

I jump into my shower and wash so quickly that it feels like I’m only in for about a minute. I jump out and dry my hair while wearing my towel wrapped around me. I won’t even have time to flat-iron my hair which is going to leave frizzy waves and bumps in my hair in weird spots. I grunt in frustration and pull on a pair of jeans and a soft green sweater that settles lightly on my curves and doesn’t make me feel like a sausage. Then I grab a pair of high-heeled boots and pull them on.

I glance at the clock and realize I only have about five minutes so I grab my makeup and just put on a little bit of peachy-pink blush, a shimmery taupe eyeshadow and chocolate brown liner and then a little black mascara. As soon as I finish, there’s a knock at my door and I sigh, running for it.

I whip it open and smile, gasping for breath. “I’m sorry. I’m just finishing up. I only got home about half an hour ago. The director had a lot of things to run through and we’re getting ready for Christmas festivities.”

He smiles. “Seems a little early for Christmas.”

I laugh. “We have to get everything ready to go so there’s no problems. We actually start the tree decorating process right after Halloween. There are clinics that we do with children to make ornaments that they can leave on our tree or take home with them. If they leave them, we take a photo of the kids with their ornaments and they put their names on the ornament backs and then we put the phone numbers and names on the photos so we can match them all up with their ornaments after Christmas and they can get them back to keep forever.”

He follows me inside and I grab my coat, which he pulls from my hands and holds out for me to slip into. “That sounds like an amazing program. You ever think about having some hockey players there to help? The guys love doing things with kids. We’ve got several hockey clinics that we do to help kids in unusual situations with home life that can’t afford to get a coach or any kind of practice routine so that they can move into a hockey team to play and possibly get a future career that will move them out of those difficult situations that they grow up in. I do two clinics a month myself and I know the other guys all try to fit them in as well. Even during the season.”

I turn around and find him so close to me that I can see the gold flecks in his bright green eyes. My breath stalls and I can’t think. I feel hot all over and I don’t move, paralyzed by the hunger in his eyes.

I’ve never had a man look at me like he does. Like he could eat me up. My breath comes soft and quick. I clear my throat. “That’s really nice of you.”

He laughs. “It’s fun. I like to talk to the kids. They’re the future of our sport.”

I nod my head and gulp a swallow. “Yeah. Sure.”

He clears his own throat. “Well, let’s get on out of here.” He eyes me up and down and tugs at my dark green parka. “At least you’re dressed warm.”

“Why?” I ask him, following as he walks out my door and I grab my keys and slim wallet, putting them in my pocket. I hate to carry a purse unless I’m at work. I also grab my phone and then I lock the door after us. He’s standing watching me patiently.

“Because we’re going to do my favorite thing.”

“Which is?” I ask again, a smile creeping up on my face at the sheer joy on his.

“You’ll see.”

6

EMILE

“Oh my god! Don’t let go, don’t let go!”

I can’t stop laughing as I hold her hands and lead her around the arena. We don’t have a home game tonight and I made arrangements with some of the night guards and the guys that take care of the ice to keep it open for me.

I wanted to show her something that I love more than anything on this earth. The game and the ice have always given me great joy and it’s also given me a career that I love. It means a great deal to me. Which is why when I was suspended, it felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest.

The only thing that gave me even a smidgen of the happiness that I get on the ice is the first time I talked to her.

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