Page 6 of Breaking the Ice

Gavin’s face was full of anger. Regret. Frustration. Resignation.

“Come inside. Let’s . . .we’ll talk.”

Some of Zach’s disbelief must have leaked out because Gavin just rolled his eyes. “I can dismiss everyone else easy, without breaking a sweat. I don’t give a shit about them. But you . . .” Gavin just shook his head and pushed off, heading towards the other door. The door into the house.

There’d been a time when hearing those words would’ve made Zach giddy for hours. Fordays.Even if he knew that Gavin only saw him as a player. One ofhismaybe, but still a player. Maybe, in some ways, a pseudo son.

Gavin held the door open and Zach took it, taking care, like he always did, not to touch him.

It took his eyes a second to adjust to the darkness once they were inside.

It was simple, but not as simple as he’d been initially expecting. After all, Gavin had been living here foryears.

It was mostly one room, though Zach could see a doorway to another room, the corner of a bed with a dark green plaid coverlet visible. He looked away immediately, taking in the rest of the place.

There was a small kitchen on one side, with a big white ceramic sink sunk into the plain butcher block countertops. A living room on the other. A big comfortable-looking couch, opposite a surprisingly large TV setup.

Maybe it was neat, but it was clearly lived in. This was Gavin’shome. There was a half-drunk bottle of red wine on the counter, the cork shoved into the bottle crookedly. A worn book on the table next to the couch. A sweatshirt draped unceremoniously over abarstool.

“You want a beer?” Gavin asked, heading towards the refrigerator.

“I . . .uh . . .sure,” Zach said. He’d never been of-age when Gavin had been his coach and he was having to remind himself he was twenty-seven—not eighteen—the longer he spent in his presence.

Maybe because he suddenly felt just like he had back then, overwhelmed and shaky and very sure that none of it mattered at all.

Gavin pulled two bottles out of the fridge and popped the tops off easily. Slid one across the kitchen counter.

“So, uh, what did you want to talk about?” Zach asked stupidly. He picked up the beer and drank because he needed to do something with his hands.

Gavin shot him a look. “Did you really come all the way out here just tokind ofmake me an offer?”

“I’d make it official and everything. Contracts. Salary. About a dozen persuasive sub-points.” Zach shrugged. “You said you didn’t want to hear it.”

“I don’t.” Gavin drummed his fingers on the countertop. “Tell me anyway.”

Chapter 2

Zachhadgrownup.

When he’d first pulled himself out of the car, Gavin had barely recognized him.

Still the same height, but his build had changed, almost completely. He’d filled out, bulked up. His face had done the opposite—morphing and thinning out, leaving him chiseled and handsome.

Gavin felt a jolt go through him at the realization that hewas. Big and tall and handsome, with his kind blue eyes and wheat-colored hair, long but not as long as Gavin’s, clearly cut by someone who knew how to frame his face.

And thatface. Jesus.

Gavin had always known he was into both men and women but he’d fallen in love with Noelle so young he’d never had a chance to do more than look. And he’d certainly never,neverlooked at Zach that way, but the jolt ofsomething,deep in his belly, at how good Zach had grown up, was fucking him up.

In so many ways, Zach was that shy, scared nineteen-year-old he’d last coached. He was that kid Gavin had sent to the NHL.He was the pro player with so much talent and potential that he’d prepped his own team to play against.

And he was someone else, entirely.

Someone else Gavin wasn’t sure he knew anymore.

Right now, he was carefully outlining the selling points that Swift had probably sent him, referring to his phone that he’d set out on the counter.

Gavin stayed standing, on the other side of the long counter that stretched most of the length of the house. Zach had slipped onto one of the barstool seats, like sitting down made this whole conversation more official, like he wasreallyoffering Gavin this contract and Gavin actually wanted to hear about it. Like he might be truly tempted into considering it.