Page 4 of Slapped Into Love

“Exactly,” I agreed. “Mouthing off earned you the race against me. You can consider it a warm-up since I’m not going to reward you for your bad behavior by letting you skip out on the teamskate.”

His teammate laughed and skated towards the blue line. Ryan shook his head, but he turned to follow after his friend without any further complaint. When he stopped to toss his helmet, gloves, and stick onto the bench, I decided to cut him a little bit of slack. “But I have another reason for wanting you to skate with the rest of your team. It’ll allow me to focus on their stride while also being able to judge how fast they are, based on how they measure uptoyou.”

He flashed me a smug grin over his shoulder. “A few of the forwards might be faster than me on the ice, but I can assure you that none of them measure up to me off it—something you’re damn well aware ofalready.”

“Alrighty then,” I grumbled to myself as my cheeks heated. Shaking it off, I skated to the other side of the ice and positioned myself behind the net. “Ready?” After getting a bunch of nods, I pulled a whistle out of my pocket and hung it around my neck. Lifting it to my lips, I blew and the guys sprung forward in a race to where I stood. I repeated the process several times, until I felt like I had a decent handle on who the fastest skaters on the team were. And damn if Ryan wasn’t right—four of the forwards beat him consistently, but he was the fastest of the defensive players for all but one of theraces.

“Good job, guys,” I offered as I moved from behind the net to stand in front of them. I raised my voice to make sure it carried to everyone, and took the time to scan the line and make eye contact with each and every player. “You’re pro hockey players, and you wouldn’t have made it here if you couldn’t skate. You know it.” I paused to glance at Ryan, and he offered me an apologetic smile. “Your coach knows it, and I know it. Nobody is saying that you’re bad skaters, but I can make youfaster.”

“How can you do that?” one of the centersasked.

“That’s a great question. I’m glad you asked,” I complimented him. “As a speed skater, I know things that can help you to be more efficient on the ice because that’s what I’ve been trained to do since I first stepped on the ice when I was two years old. The more efficient you are, the easier it is to go faster and the less tiredyou’llbe.”

Ryan stunned me by chiming in with a supportive comment. “We’re also less likely to get hurt if we aren’t tired, and that’s more important than ever since we can’t afford to lose anyone right before theplayoffs.”

It sounded like I’d convinced the cocky defenseman that a girl had something to teach pro hockey players, but it remained to be seen if he could prove to me that he wasn’t the ass he seemed to be with his earlier comments. For some reason—one that I refused to admit had anything to do with how sexy he was and the way he’d made by body feel during our one night together months ago—I found myself hoping he’d manage todoit.

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