Page 47 of Netting the Goalie

“Sounds like a great opportunity, especially if you like to travel.”

“And you don’t?”

Her smile turned bittersweet.“Sure.Some day.But right now, I’ve got a job and an apartment and bills to pay.”

Ties I wasn’t sure she’d ever want to break.

Maybe that’s a sign you’re getting in over your head.

And maybe it was time I started facing my own problems instead of making new ones with a girl who was never meant to be nothing more than a distraction.

I was getting my game back on track.The team was close to clinching a playoff spot.The parent club’s goalie coach had been down to work with Nate and I a couple times in the past month and had seemed happy with what he saw.

Now was not the time to get hung up on a hometown girl.

And what if you’re already hung up?

“Shane?”

I snapped back to attention.Damn it.I’d fucked this up.Like, seriously screwed our no-strings affair to the point that I didn’t have a clue how to fix it.

But I knew one thing.

Reaching out, I curled my hand around her neck, brought her close and kissed her until neither of us were thinking straight.

When I pulled away, finally needing to breathe, I made sure she was looking at me before I said, “I hope you got enough sleep last night, babe.Because I don’t think you’re going to get any tonight.”

She didn’t say anything but she got that look in her eyes, the one that said she’d just accepted my challenge.

Putting her hand over my hard on, she made sure I maintained eye contact as she went to her knees in front of me.

And proceeded to show me exactly why she had me tied around her little finger.

Twelve

Shane

“Conrad.Coach wants you.”

My head snapped up as assistant coach Novak’s voice punched through the noise in the locker room.

The guys were stoked.Jake had scored the only goal of tonight’s game and I had had my first AHL shut-out.My face hurt from grinning but I wasn’t about to stop.

The Redtails were going to clinch a playoff spot.I could practically taste it.

The guys planned to go to Third and Spruce to celebrate and I would be there.

And I didn’t want to go alone.I wanted Bliss with me.

The problem was I didn’t know if I should ask her.I hadn’t seen her since the last game, when we’d gone out to eat with her brother.

And where she’d blown my fucking mind when she’d gone down on me.

But we hadn’t seen each other since then.

The team had been on a five-game road trip, so we’d been gone most of two weeks.

We texted and talked a couple of times but things had felt different.

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