Page 83 of Best Man
“Ya tebya lyublyu?” he asked.
“Yes!”
With a bashful grin, he hopped off the bus. “Well … it’s kind of crazy …” he said quietly.
Her heart throbbed with anticipation. Crazy was exactly what shewantedto hear. Crazy was exactly what she needed to get through these next six weeks.
“Tell me,” she insisted. “I don’t care if it’s crazy.”
He took a deep breath. “Yeah?” He brushed a lock of hair from her face and stared into her eyes. “Okay.Ya tebya lyublyu, Paulina,” he said again. “It means, ‘I love you, Paulina.’ ”
Her heart turned to mush and churned with gooey good vibes.
“Iknewit,” she said, throwing her arms around him. “Iknewthat’s what it meant!”
“Maybe you have a knack for Russian?”
She tried her hand at speaking his language. “Ya lablue… um …tibia?”
He winced. “Yeesh. Okay. We will have to work on that.”
She giggled and slapped her hand against his sturdy side. “What I’m trying to say is, I love you, too, Sasha.”
He took her into his arms. This time, she didn’t dare try to stop him when he leaned in. She didn’t care who might see them kissing—they were inlove,damn it! And the world had to find out eventually!
His gentle lips met hers, a tender kiss that entwined two souls. And while she’d never be trulyreadyfor six weeks apart, that kiss gave her the confidence that they were indeed madly in love. She knew then and there they’d make it through this trial.
He pulled away. He left her wanting more, but that was inevitable. “Bye, Paulina,” he said.
“Bye, Sasha,” she said, her heart heavy.
27
Niko
Four weeks later.
The Dallas Devils locker room was crammed with more bodies than usual. The first day of training camp was always an emotionally tumultuous time, and a mix of excitement and anxiety hung in the air. For the core roster players, the first day of camp simply marked the beginning of another season and with it, a renewed quest to bring home hockey’s holy grail, the Stanley Cup. For the new faces in the room—the free agent signings, trade acquisitions, baby faced rookies, professional tryouts and other journeymen—it was their shot, maybe theironlyshot, to prove that they belonged on the big club roster.
Niko, sitting at his stall, bounced his leg and chewed his nails. He looked as nervous as the new guys. His spot on the team was guaranteed—no onewas a purer goal scorer in the league, let alone in this room—but he had a different reason entirely to be dreadfully nervous.
“SUP, BOYS!” Dane’s voice boomed as he strutted into the locker room. The captain bumped fists and introduced himself to the new guys as he made his way through the locker room. When he reached Niko’s stall, though, he froze in his tracks. “The fuck you looking so nervous for, Niko?”
“Haven’t been on the ice in a week,” Niko said. He’d spent all of last week in Montana, when six weeks apart proved to be too much. “Going to be rusty as hell.” Which wastrue—he’d be rusty for his own standards—but that wasn’t what was really bothering him, of course.
“Aweek?” Dane rolled his eyes. Niko might as well have been Mozart, fretting to some commoner that he hadn’t played piano in a week. “Shut the fuck up, man!”
Another player came through the door: Jax. All smiles, the Big Rig looked totally refreshed. And for good reason, too—he’d just returned from his honeymoon in Hawaii just a few days ago, and he had the golden brown tan to prove it.
The boys erupted with a cheer, congratulating the big man on his marriage one more time.
Parisi shouted,“LOOKS LIKE THE BIG RIG GOT A PAINT JOB, BOYS!”and everyone burst into laughter. “So what’s the name of that paint? Burnt to a crisp? Lobster red? Heh, hey, maybe instead of the Big Rig, we should start calling you the Fire Engine—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jax said, waving him off. “At least Icantan, Frenchy. Spend a month in Hawaii, and your body will still look like a bag of milk.”
The room wentbahahaha—considering the amount of ball busting Parisi did, everyone loved it when someone got him back good.
Jax took his stall next to Niko’s. “Hey, bud! Good to see ya.”
