Page 35 of Breaking the Ice (Denver Stampede #6)

DANI

“ M iss Dani, you’re looking very glowy. That new moisturizer I recommended or is it just love?” Mason asked, a bright grin on his face as he sat down next to me at the center Saturday afternoon.

“Ooh, it’s love. But with a guy. Yeah, no thanks,” Mira said, lifting her head from the puzzle she was working on across from me.

“It’s probably the moisturizer. Do I look dewy and well rested?”

“She’s evading, even if she looks fab doing it,” Mason teased. “We know you’re dating that hot hockey player.”

“I want to learn how to play hockey but that’ll never happen,” said Chloe, one of the older tweens. She had just turned twelve, while Mira was sixteen and Mason was almost seventeen.

I almost asked why not, but I already knew.

Hockey was expensive and most of the kids that came to the Center didn’t get too much in the way of love and support from their family members for basic stuff, let alone encouragement for extracurriculars.

I avoided telling the kids that I was trying to get some of the players to help out here just in case it didn’t happen.

I trusted Gabe, and had had a great meeting with Meredith, but I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.

Mason shuddered. “No thanks. I like all my teeth exactly where they are. In my mouth.”

Mira rolled her eyes. “You can just get fake ones. Does your man have fake ones?”

“Uh, I’m not sure,” I said.

“Maybe he leaves them in while they’re hooking up,” Mason chimed in.

“Uh, how about we talk about something else?” I said. “How’d that chem test go this week, Mira?”

“Geez, we just wanted to hear about your studly celebrity boyfriend. You don’t have to be so mean and bring up school when it’s the weekend,” Mason said.

Mira grinned. “I aced it.”

“Awesome. I knew you would.”

“Nerd,” Mason said.

“Maybe one day I’ll be working in a lab making that makeup you sell. Not that I want to do anything like that,” she said. “I’m going to do something more.”

“You can do anything you set your mind to,” I said.

“Makeup is a very worthy cause. And if you do, I’ll sell the shit out of it. Just let me help you name the products. That would be epic.”

They started bickering about possible names for lipstick and I turned to see Chloe looking over my shoulder, her eyes wide. “Miss Dani. Is that him? I saw him on TV when my dad was passed out the other night in his chair. He’s super tall. Ooh, and he has a dog.”

“What?” I asked, spinning around to see Gabe and Pucks walking toward us.

What the hell was he doing here? He’d just gotten back maybe three hours ago.

Not that I was stalking him, he’d just mentioned his flight’s arrival time when we’d texted last night.

Regardless, he should have been home resting up on his day off, not here.

“Hey, Dani. I hope it’s okay that we’re here to hang out. Your director even cleared Pucks to visit as long as he promises to be on his best behavior.” His eyes left mine for a second to glance down at Pucks. “Right, buddy? Best behavior or they’re going to think I have no control over you.”

Pucks barked and then jumped up on Gabe.

“Already a bad showing.” Gabe smirked and ruffled Pucks’ soft ears.

“A dog.” “Oh my god, he looks so soft.” “Can I touch him?” “Does he bite?”

Questions were coming at us from all sides as more of the kids approached, and Gabe easily answered every single one of them.

I couldn’t help my laughter. “Okay, you guys, give them a minute to breathe.”

“She just wants a hello kiss,” Gabe said, giving me a wink.

“Yeah, from Pucks,” I teased, dropping down to greet him.

He nudged his head into my hand for a scratch and when I was close enough, he licked my cheek.

“Eeww, your breath is terrible,” I said.

“Mine is much better,” Gabe muttered and I glanced up at him, spotting a touch of heat in his humorous expression. Dammit, I’d missed him way more than I should’ve.

I stood up and gave him the same cheek Pucks had licked. He cupped my chin and planted a quick kiss on my lips before pulling away. “I missed you.”

“Me too,” I murmured back. “But seriously, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“What? No, I dropped my stuff at home, collected Pucks from Josie, and we decided to visit you here. A week is a long fu-freaking time.”

Heat spiraled through my body—and also something more that I wasn’t ready to think about right now.

He shows up here to hang out with me and the kids, something Roger and my father and so many other people wouldn’t do, and was that really all it took? It was honestly sad when I spelled it out.

I shoved those thoughts aside and focused on not looking too deeply into why Gabe was here and how it made me feel. The bottom line was that he came to have fun with the kids.

“Did you really get Pucks cleared, too?”

He grinned. “Of course. And Sally assured me that no one had any dog allergies. I also sent her a few videos from Pucks’s Insta to show what a sweet and gentle dog he can be.”

“You two are super adorbs,” Mason said, drawing my attention away from probably looking too smitten for my own good as I stared at Gabe.

Gabe took that lead-in to loop his arm over my shoulder and tug me against his warm, gorgeous body.

“I know, right? Dani’s the absolute best.” Then he kissed me on the cheek, his tongue darting out for a quick taste, and I had to suck in a breath.

Dammit. There were children present.

“She’s totally the best,” Chloe chimed in. “Can I pet him?”

Gabe dropped down so he was closer to Chloe’s level. “Of course. Pucks is a big fan of anyone who wants to scratch his ears.”

“He’s so soft,” Chloe said after settling her hand on the dog’s head.

Gabe held Pucks’s leash, keeping a firm hold on him. It wasn’t like I expected Pucks to jump on someone he didn’t know. He truly was a well-behaved dog, for the most part, and he was too adorable the other times for me to care.

The kids took turns greeting Pucks. Gabe let out some of the slack on the leash but still kept the end firmly in his grip.

“He’s super-hot,” Mason said, sidling up to me. “And seems really nice. I approve, Miss Dani.”

I chuckled. “Why, thank you, Mason.”

“So, what are we doing today?” Gabe asked the kids.

“Anything but homework,” Mira replied.

Gabe gasped. “It’s Saturday. No one should be doing homework on a Saturday. You do that on Sunday night if your teacher is mean enough to assign work over the weekend.”

“I knew I liked this guy,” Mira said, smiling. Well, as much as a sarcastic teenager smiled.

“That’s not really a grown-up thing to say,” Mason said.

Gabe leaned in conspiratorially. “I may look old, but I’m basically just a kid. The other night I got zoomies on the ice.”

“Like a dog? My dog Frisky always gets the zoomies. It drives my dad crazy because he’s always jumping from one couch to the next,” Bentley said.

He was fourteen and had just started coming to the Center last year with his younger brother Brady.

Their mom had passed away shortly before they’d started coming, and their dad was still struggling with Bentley coming out two years ago.

They’d come to see me for family therapy last year and I’d recommended the youth center.

“No, you did not,” Mason said at the same time.

“He totally did,” I interjected. “He went to jump into the group hug after the game and totally whiffed.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the memory.

“She’s not wrong. I got overexcited.”

“And you just jumped? Hold on.” Mira pulled out her phone, no doubt to find the video.

“Damn, total whiff,” she said when she found it.

“Oof, that must’ve hurt. You break anything? Loose a tooth?” Mason asked.

“Mason,” I scolded, but he just waved his hand at me.

“Nope. Nothing loose or broken. Now, I’ve only lost a few teeth anyway, but find me a hockey player who hasn’t,” Gabe said with a chuckle.

“Just looking out for you, Miss Dani,” Mason whispered.

I shook my head at him.

“I’d offer to show you guys how to play street hockey, but I only have goalie sticks in my car. I’ll remember for next time.”

My chest squeezed. He said it so easily, like this wasn’t a one-and-done situation.

He was genuinely just a nice guy.

And then he glanced over at me and gave me a wink that lit my body right up.

Dammit. It’d been a long week away from him.

TUCKS

“You sure this is okay to post?” I asked Dani later that afternoon. The kids were awesome and wanted to make some videos with Pucks after I told them how he had way more followers than I did. He was definitely the celebrity between the two of us, and way cuter according to all of the kids.

Not that I could fault them. Pucks was adorable. Hopefully Dani preferred me. I chuckled at the ridiculous thought. Of course she thought Pucks was cuter.

“Yeah, Sally already cleared it with the parents to share pictures with the foundation when you guys officially stop by, so I don’t think it’s a problem. They’re just being goofy with your dog.”

“Just making sure.”

“If I haven’t already said this, thank you for showing up today. It was a very welcome surprise.”

“Good, because I know how much you hate surprises. I was nervous.”

She laughed, and I loved hearing that sound coming out of her. I mean, I ached to hear other, more intimate sounds coming out of her, but that had to wait until tonight.

“Well, it was nice. And the kids are having a blast. Nothing makes me happier than seeing them smile and just act like kids. It can sometimes get kind of heavy here, so thanks for adding in some lightness.”

“I can bring the light any time you want it.” I showed her my phone. “Good caption?”

“Did you post yet?” Mason called out.

“Gotta get caption approval from Dani first.”

Mason walked over to us and held out his hand. “Let me see what you’re writing. Okay. Simple. Decent.” He took the phone and typed something.

“Mason, what are you adding?” Dani asked.

“Just tagging myself. Now it’s perfect.”

Dani leaned around my shoulder to read it.