Page 121 of The Pucking Wrong Rookie

Logan kept his movements slow as he pulled a puck from the duffel bag he’d brought and slowly showed it to Rome.

“Wow,” Rome whispered. “Is this a real one?”

“Yep,” said Logan, waggling his eyebrows at me because he was so proud that his “puck” plan seemed to be working. “Next season you should totally come to a game.”

Normally if someone had said something like that, I would have told them not to make promises to a little boy that they weren’t going to keep.

But I didn’t even have that thought with Logan.

I was learning…there wasn’t a promise he wouldn’t keep.

“That would be awesome,” Rome breathed, looking genuinely excited for the first time since I’d met him.

By the time we finished, Logan had earned more than just his trust. He’d earned a piece of his heart, the way he always managed to with people. And as I watched him sitting there beside Rome, gently teasing him about how his picture wasn’t nearly as good as Rome’s, I realized how lucky I was to have someone who could be this kind, this patient, with the people I cared about most.

Rome finally looked up at him, his small voice breaking the silence. “Maybe you’re not that bad.”

Logan chuckled, reaching over slowly and ruffling his hair playfully. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me all day.”

I watched for Rome to react to Logan’s touch, but he went back to coloring, seemingly unaffected by it.

“Not that bad at all, York,” I murmured, and he winked at me.

CHAPTER31

LOGAN

The streets were already packed with fans, waving banners and wearing every piece of Dallas Knights gear they could get their hands on. It was loud—reallyloud. The air buzzed with excitement, the whole city ready to party. But here I was, pacing in the hotel room I’d rented, trying to convince Sloane to come with me to the championship parade. Despite the fact that I’d told her I loved her, despite the fact that I’d been all over her at the hockey games, she still was nervous about being with me on such a public stage…

“I’m not going, Logan,” she said, arms crossed as she leaned against the door. Her eyes flickered with a mix of nerves and something else I couldn’t quite pin down. “Dinners, yes. Hanging with your friends, yes…”

“Front row at the hockey game?”

“No one was looking at me!”

I smirked, and she stuck out her tongue at me. “No one was looking at me until you decided to act crazy.”

I snorted. “I hate to tell you, Red, but everyone isalwayslooking at you.”

She side-eyed me, like that was the craziest thing I’d ever said. Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. I wasn’t used to seeing Sloane be so visibly nervous. She usually did her best to hide how she was feeling.

I took it as a good sign that she was letting her walls down right now.

“Come on,” I said, taking a step closer. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Youhaveto be there with me.”

She raised an eyebrow.

I grinned, an idea sparking in my head. “Okay, how about this—we make a bet.”

Her eyes narrowed, a hint of curiosity peeking through the nervousness. “A bet?”

“Yeah. If I make youcome, you’ll come with me.”

She raised a shocked eyebrow, obviously not expecting that. “And if you don’t?”

“If I don’t, you don’t come and I don’t go.”

Her mouth dropped. “You don’t go—of course you’re going. This is a huge moment for you. You can’t miss it.”

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