Page 104 of Gloves Off

I blow out a heavy breath, thinking. I don’t know what to do.

“I’ll do it,” he says.

I stare at Alexei for ten long seconds. “Do what?”

He leans against the counter, arms still folded across his chest. “Coach soccer.”

A slow blink. “You’re going to coach soccer for me?”

“Sure.” He says it like he’s giving me a ride somewhere and not offering to take care of the thing that’s most important to me. He pulls out his phone and taps out a text.

“You don’t have training or something?”

He slips his phone back into his pocket. “I just cancelled it.”

I blink at him. “Are you okay?”

He’s not smiling, but his features soften into something amused. “I can take one night off.”

“Do you even know how to play soccer?”

“Kind of.”

“Kind of?What was your second sport?”

He gives me a confused look.

“Ninety-eight percent of professional hockey players competed in a second sport when they were teenagers.”

“Oh. Baseball.”

I’m really not sure about this. “So not soccer.”

“Hockey is winter and baseball is spring. I couldn’t play two winter sports. Besides, soccer’s boring.”

“Soccer isn’tboring.” My jaw drops at the blatant insult to my sport, and he looks away, mouth twitching like he’s trying not to smile.

“No contact. No fighting.”

A laugh slips out of me. “I’m not letting you tell my girls their sport is boring.”

“I won’t. We’ll work on technical skills. I’ll run different drills with them than they’re used to. Cross-training is good for player development.”

He actually looks sincere, and if I know one thing about Alexei, it’s that when he does something, he gives it everything. All these hockey players do.

“Or I’ll just do whatever you want,” he adds.

“You’ll be mean to them,” I toss out.

“I won’t.”

“Promise?” I bite my bottom lip and his eyes drop to it before he pulls his gaze away, fast.

“I promise.” He gives me a flat look. “What other option do you have?”

He’s got a point. Is Alexei going in my place better than canceling? Two months ago, I would have said, hell no.

Now I’m not so sure.

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