Page 39 of Breaking the Ice

Gavin sighed. “We gotta get Finn some space. He’s got real instincts. A knack for the net. I’ve been watching a lot of tape of him. Let’s get him up there.” He gestured towards the TV.

“Done,” Zach said. He didn’t mind starting with defense.

They were almost through the third game when there was a knock on the door.

Zach looked up and Ramsey Andresen was standing there, grinning and leaning against the doorjamb like he belongedthere.

Which, from everything he’d heard about Ramsey, that was probably true.

“Hey, you must be Coach,” Ramsey said, extending a hand, and Gavin stood, shaking it. “I’m Ramsey.”

They’d only briefly talked about Ramsey—long enough to talk about his defensive skills and then to agree that he should at least be on the short list for captain.

Mal was the other choice, but Zach was pretty sure he’d be a bad choice—well, not abadchoice, exactly, because he was definitely leadership material—but the wrong choice. He’d be too inflexible, and the thing this team needed more than anything was flexibility and understanding. What was the point of working so hard to get Gavin to coach the team if they just let a hardcore guy take the C?

“Good to meet you,” Gavin said. He glanced over at Zach. “You know Zach?”

Ramsey nodded, but shook his hand too. Maybe he had a reputation for being a loose cannon, but he seemed fairly respectful right now.

Then he opened his mouth again.

“Marcus texted me you guys were here,” Ramsey said, “and I thought I’d stop by. Say hey.”

A crease appeared between Gavin’s dark brows. “Marcus?”

“Marcus is the equipment manager. The guy who helped us out today?” Zach couldn’t explain why he felt the need to intercede and explain instead of Ramsey, but he did, anyway.

“Yep,” Ramsey agreed. “He’s great.”

“You bribe him too with a signed Hayes Montgomery jersey?” Gavin asked, chuckling.

“Nope. With a blowjob,” Ramsey said without a trace of shame on his face.

Gavin’s jaw dropped. Zach had a feeling he looked similarly shocked.

“A damn good one, too,” Ramsey added, smiling. He nudged Zach, who was still shocked into silence. “Not all of us have famous NHL player friends, so we gotta make do.”

“I . . .uh . . .well, you gotta do what you gotta do,” Zach said weakly.

“Damn straight. You get it,” Ramsey said.

Gavin still looked like he had no idea what to say. Zach hoped he managed to getsomethingout of his mouth soon, or else Ramsey was going to think his problem was with the gay part of the “gave their equipment manager a blowjob as a bribe” and not the “gave their equipment manager a blowjob as a bribe” part of it.

“So I should expect anything I ask him to do, he’s gonna text you first?” Gavin raised an eyebrow.

Ramsey, still without a trace of embarrassment, just nodded and looked smug. “Yep.”

“That’s strategic,” Gavin said.

Ramsey’s smile grew. “Yeah, it was, wasn’t it?” Like he was just discovering that, but the truth was, Zach had a feeling he’d known that before he’d ever gone to his knees, and he’d known what he was doing too, when he offhandedly brought it up less than five minutes after meeting his brand-new coach.

Ramsey was definitely living up to the reputation Zach had heard about him.

“I’m glad you stopped by, though,” Gavin said, digging in now. “Zach and I wanted to talk to you about this year’s team leadership.”

“Yeah?” Ramsey asked casually, leaning against the corner of Gavin’s desk like it was nothing.

“You’re not the only senior on this team, but I think you might be exactly the kind of leadership we need,” Gavin said. They had only talked about it briefly, but clearly whatever had just happened inthatexchange had convinced Gavin that Ramsey would be better than Malcolm.