Page 65 of Netting the Goalie

“Just an observation.Don’t take my head off.”

“Don’t be fucking with his head before the game.”CJ smacked his glove across Lad’s shins.“He doesn’t need to be thinking about anything but the game.”

Actually, I’d been thinking about Bliss a lot lately and it hadn’t affected my game at all.As a matter of fact, thinking about Bliss got me out of my head when I started getting too wrapped up in the game.

I didn’t get to tell the guys that though, because the coach came in to give his last remarks before the game started.

Then I heard the crowd begin to roar and knew we only had a few seconds before I needed to lead the guys onto the ice.

Standing, I walked to the door, hearing the guys line up behind me.Nobody spoke but I heard Lad praying under his breath in Russian directly behind me.I had no idea what Lad was saying but I crossed myself when he muttered “Amen.”

And started down the hall.

Bliss

“Holy crap,I didn’t think this place could get any louder but damn.”Faith had to raise her voice to be heard.“I think my ears are going to bleed.”

I nodded and leaned in to speak closer to Faith’s ear.“I know.It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

The sold-out crowd had been cheering since the start of the video showing highlights of the previous season and ending with solo shots of the team.My heart stuttered every time Shane’s picture appeared on the Jumbotron above the ice.

“I’m so glad you forced me to come to these games with you.”

Faith’s smile made me put my arm around my friend’s shoulders.“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

I had had to exchange the tickets Shane had sent me for handicapped access seats but the ticket office rep had been more than happy to make that happen.

“Yeah, well, the guys aren’t hard on the eyes,” Faith continued, “and the gamemoves.I love that.”

Yes, Faith would.Before her accident, she’d been a soccer player and a runner.And if I thought about that much longer, my good mood would evaporate.

Instead, I shoved the thought out of my mind and watched Shane step onto the ice.In his gear with his mask on, he should’ve been indistinguishable from the other goalie.But I would’ve been able to pick him out of a lineup of men in the exact uniform.Something about the way he held himself captured my complete attention.

I didn’t take my eyes off of him as he went through his pre-face-off routine, roughing the ice in front of his net, taking a drink, then tapping the posts with his stick in a certain rhythm.Every goalie had their own routine.But I only ever had eyes for Shane.

Dangerous.He was so dangerous.

And yet, when the first tickets had arrived, I knew immediately I was going to use them.

He’d sent me tickets to every home game with a bouquet of flowers.The first bouquet had had fifteen daisies.

The second had had fourteen.They’d continued to get smaller.It had taken me until the start of the second series to realize that the flowers signified how many games they needed to win to capture the championship.

I couldn’t help but feel like it was also a countdown and that made my heart ache.

He would still be leaving at the end of the season, going home to Minnesota or elsewhere to train until training camp started late this summer.And then he’d be in Philadelphia.

Which isn’t that far away.

I shook the thought out of my head.I couldn’t go down that path.Not if I wanted to keep my distance.

And do you?

Snapped out of my thoughts by everyone around me standing, I shot to my feet as a group of school kids sang the anthem but I couldn’t take my eyes off Shane.He wasn’t wearing his mask, of course, and I had the almost overwhelming urge to run my fingers along his jaw, covered by a thick beard.Not even his playoff beard could disguise the handsome lines of his face.

I wanted to feel his beard against my skin, preferably between my thighs—

Shit.

---