Page 75 of Safe Harbor
Lucy's head snapped up, her hand hovering over her boob, her eyes locking on Ryan. He was on the ice, standing in line to take his turn at the team's shooting drill, his eyes looking at her. He could somehow see the cheese on her chest from the ice and he was staring.
"Ryan!"
The women in the front row yelled at him, banging their hands against the glass, which snapped him out of whatever trance he was in. Probably for the best since he was holding up the shooting drill line. But damn, there was something about Ryan watching her that made Lucy regret walking out of his apartment that night.
Although it wasn't just about him staring at her boobs. There was something different about him. Even when he was looking at her, it felt different than before. Like he was still Ryan but also a better version of Ryan. He still appreciated her body but in a more adult way. He just didn't seem like the carefree twenty-something hockey player he was before. His eyes were different, the way he carried himself on the ice was different. The staring at her seemed more out of place than run-of-the-mill Ryan.
But there was no way Lucy was going to explain any of that to Sydney, especially not with prying ears all around them at a hockey game filled with fans who knew exactly who Ryan McCloud was.
So instead, she quickly swiped at what was left of the cheese and tossed the nachos tray under her seat. She would deal with the rest of that later.
As they watched the last period of the game, Lucy felt more in tune with exactly when Ryan was on the ice. And with five minutes left in the game, she watched as he scored a goal to put the team over the top. With the final horn going off, Lucy and Sydney were on their feet cheering on the Pirates. It was another good game for the team, who seemed to be dominating since the season began.
As the team left the ice and the cheering finally began to die down, the pair started grabbing their things from the seats. For some reason, Lucy always felt the need to throw her stuff out instead of leaving it for some poor guy to clean up at two in the morning.
"Hey, you want to walk down with me to the friends and family room?"
Lucy nodded and they headed out down a staircase at the arena that was reserved for special guests of the team. Andy had given Sydney a pass for the friends and family room a few months after they started dating. It was a sign that their relationship was getting serious, like giving a guy the key to your apartment.
But as they started to walk down the hall, Lucy began to get nervous. What if she ran into Ryan? Would he ask why she came or want to talk to her? Because Lucy kind of wanted to talk to him but definitely not here in front of all these people.
And there were quite a few people around. Some of the players were milling around and there were a handful of guys in suits that Lucy assumed were from the team's front office or something. She recognized Jack Foster, who had owned the team for a few years now. And off to one side was a television camera with a bright light and a local sportscaster interviewing Logan Moore. She would never admit it, but when it came to some of the players who weren't Ryan, she still got a little starstruck sometimes and stared.
Which is what she was doing right now as she subconsciously stopped for a moment to listen to Logan's interview.
"I don't know what's happened to Booksy lately, but he's been really focused so far this season and it obviously paid off for us tonight."
"You like the new version of him this season?" the reporter asked.
Logan gave him a huge smile as sweat dripped off his face. "Oh, definitely. He's always been good, but he's taking it to another level so far."
The reporter said goodbye, and Lucy watched as Logan tottered off on his hockey skates into the locker room.
Lucy was a fan of the Pirates and like any fan, she recognized the nicknames the team gave to certain players. "Low" was Logan Moore. "Birdie" was Alex Orlov because "orlov" meant "bird" in Russian. Ryan had been called "Rookie" since he started three seasons ago. But there was one she didn't recognize.
"Hey, who's Booksy?" she asked Sydney.
"What?"
"Booksy. Logan just called someone Booksy and I can't remember which player has that nickname."
Sydney's teasing smile began to get bigger.
"What?" Lucy asked seriously.
"That's Ryan, or rather Booksy McBooks," she replied. "They just call him Booksy for short."
Lucy stared at her friend. "Booksy McBooks?"
"Yeah, totally stupid, which is the point. But all the reading he's been doing has apparently been noticed."
Lucy turned to look down the hallway towards the locker room even though she couldn't see any of the players much less Booksy McBooks.
"Hey, you headed home with Andy?" she said.
She turned to see Sydney staring at her with a pensive look. "Yeah, why?"
"I was just going to head out," Lucy said simply. "Unless you need me to drive you home."
"No, I'm good. Thanks for walking me down."
Lucy gave her friend a smile and a hug along with their friendly goodbyes.
"And text me about drinks on Thursday at Green Dot," Sydney told Lucy as she walked away.
"Yep, will do!"
Lucy was trying to sound peppy and happy, but something was brewing in her that she couldn't explain and she needed to get out of there before it got out of control. The last few minutes kept playing in her head. Ryan had a new nickname and a new outlook on the team. Was that because of her? Or more importantly, was it because of him? Maybe he had changed since she met up with him at the lake.
Or maybe he had changed after she had walked away from him. She wasn't sure exactly how she felt about that. Hell, she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about any of it. She just knew she wasn't going to figure all of it out in this arena. She needed to get home and straighten her head out.
