Page 9 of Breaking the Ice (Denver Stampede #6)

DANI

“ G rabbing lunch from J’s. Want something?” I asked Belinda and Gretchen, one of our community organizers, who was in the office for the day.

They both jotted down their orders and handed it to me.

“Be right back.” I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and walked out the front door and through the lobby.

I’d had appointments all morning and I was starving.

I’d also spent what little downtime I had between clients looking at that damn picture on Gabe’s social media account.

He’d been smiling at me and yeah, it was all for show, but it was nice.

He was nice.

Nope, not going there. This was a means to an end, and I was ready to be single again for real.

I’d also checked out his dog’s Insta page, Tucks and Pucks. Of course he had a golden retriever. It totally tracked, and the videos were annoyingly cute. I might’ve liked one or two of them.

But then my father had texted his surprise about me falling for another hockey player, especially a goalie, when I’d told him I never enjoyed the sport, and that hadn’t helped matters. He was coming into town in a week and wanted to do the whole family dinner thing.

No fucking thank you.

It hadn’t escaped my notice that he hadn’t messaged me in the group chat that included Mal when he asked about dinner. And Dad knew damn well Mal would be back when he was still here.

Fucking dick.

“Perfect timing.”

My head jerked up to see Roger standing just outside the front door to my office building.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.” He moved closer toward me, and I stepped around him.

“There’s nothing to talk about, Roger. We are done. I’ve explained that more than once, and I want you to leave me alone.”

“Come on, Dani, you don’t really mean that. We had a great thing going and you know it.”

“I’m dating Gabe.” He kept stride with me as I walked down the sidewalk. How this asshole refused to understand that we were done and I wanted him gone was infuriating.

He reached for me, but I caught the movement out of the corner of my eye and shifted away before he could make contact.

“Look, we both know you aren’t really dating him and that kiss was totally staged. It’s all too convenient. Are you doing this just to piss me off? And with our rival, even.” He paused and barked out a laugh. “Except they’re not really our rival since we kick their asses every time.”

“Not that it’s any of your business since we are done, but yes, I am dating him and he makes me happy. And this”—I waved my hands between us—”is over. Stop trying to control me.”

“I’m not controlling. I’m in love with you and you love me, too, even if you never said it.” He muttered the last part.

He was right. After four months of dating, I still hadn’t said it. It wasn’t a phrase I just threw around meaninglessly like some people do. Hell, this man had only said it to me when I told him we were over.

I sucked down my urge to strangle him and pulled out my phone, sending a quick text to Gabe.

Within seconds, he called me.

“Hi, babe.” I plastered a smile on my face and tried to ignore Roger grinding his teeth next to me.

“Hey, beautiful.” Gabe’s voice was loud and clear, and I knew Roger could hear him since he was standing so fucking close to me. Too fucking close.

“Do you mind?” I glared and took a step further away.

“Fucking bullshit. Tucks, go steal someone else’s girlfriend,” Roger yelled at the phone.

“I’m not your girlfriend anymore. Now, please go away.”

“Are you okay?” Gabe asked quietly.

“Yes, I’d love to have dinner tonight. Can I bring anything or are we going out?”

“Do you need me right now?” he asked, his voice tight. My chest squeezed at how he immediately wanted to help, but he also wasn’t demanding to show up and pound his chest or some shit.

“No, I’m fine with going out. Maybe dessert at your place?” I glance over to see Roger fuming.

Asshole.

I dropped the phone slightly to say, “Go away, Roger. It’s over and you harassing me is not a good look.”

“Dani,” Gabe started, but I was beyond annoyed that I kept having to deal with this jackass.

Roger crossed his arms. “And you jumping from one hockey player to another in a week isn’t a great look for you, either.”

“When you know, you just know.” I smiled sweetly. “And we’ve been done for almost two months.”

“You can be such a bitch,” Roger said, still glaring.

“What the fuck? Give him the phone, Dani,” Gabe shouted.

“Nope, I’ve got this.” I took the phone fully away from my ear and glared right back at Roger.

Roger scoffed. “Please, what’s that second-rate goalie going to say to me? I could take him all day, any day.”

“You are pathetic and this is over. Leave me alone from now on.” The last few words were almost a shout, and a few people looked over at us.

“Is that Roger Jensen?” I heard someone say.

“Dude, it is,” someone else responded. “Hey, Jenzy.”

“Are you okay?” another person asked me.

And then the fans were approaching us. I nodded to the one person who asked if I was okay. “I’m fine.” And I walked away, not once looking back at Roger.

“Dani! Dani, are you okay?” Gabe’s voice carried up from the phone in my hand, and I brought it back to my ear.

“Yes, sorry. He’s behind me with his fans. Shit, that was annoying.”

“Are you afraid of him?”

“What? No. I mean, yeah, he’s taking this further than I expected, but I don’t think he would physically hurt me. I guess you never know though, huh? Well, shit.”

I hated that my heart was racing and that I was grateful I’d taken self-defense classes a few years ago. I mean I knew that I couldn’t easily take down a very athletic two-hundred-plus-pound man. I shook my head; no, it wasn’t going to come to that.

And yes, I knew I wasn’t the first woman who had said that and naively believed it.

“Do you need me to come over there?”

“What? No. I’m fine, it’s fine.”

“I grew up surrounded by women. Not to be stereotypical or anything, but I know that fine is never fine.”

“Surrounded by women, huh?”

“Mom, grandmothers, three sisters, loads of aunts. And four nieces have been added to the mix. They drive me crazy sometimes, but I love all of them. They keep me on my toes.” He chuckled and my chest squeezed again.

“Holy crap. Are you the only boy?” I could feel my heart start to slow down with the subject change.

“Sometimes it feels like it.” He laughed. “But there is one male cousin. And my dad, grandfathers, and a few uncles, of course. Still, we all know not to mess with ‘fine.’”

I couldn’t help but snort.

“So, where do you want to go to dinner tonight? I can pick you up.”

“What? Oh, I just said that. We don’t have to have dinner. After all, I just saw you yesterday, and the picture seems to be working.”

“Roger showed up acting like a prick, so it’s not working enough, and we both need to eat. Unless you already had plans?”

His constant consideration was so refreshing, and it made me sad that I expected so little. “Uh, I don’t.”

“We could do takeout at my place—or your place, if you’d rather. But I think it’s a good idea to post a picture of us out on another date in public.”

I sighed. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Great. What’s your favorite place? I’ll make a reservation.”

“Umm, well, there’s this little Italian place that I love. We could go there.”

We settled on a time and he said he’d meet me there, which was good. I wasn’t ready for him to come pick me up. That just seemed too real.

“Dani, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. I’m—” I hesitated, letting out a small laugh. “I really am fine. Roger will eventually find someone else to annoy and leave me alone. I appreciate what you’re doing, Gabe.”

“Just call if you need anything else. I can swoop in if he shows up again.”

I chuckled. “I’ll make sure to let you know. See you tonight.”

“Bye, beautiful. Does that work as a pet name?”

“Yeah, it’s—”

We both said fine at the same time, and I laughed. A real laugh.

As I ended the call, I refused to acknowledge the tingle of warmth spreading through my body at both his endearment and how stupidly endearing he was as a whole.

Thankfully, I was almost at J’s, so I could focus on lunch and not my fake date tonight.

***

Six hours later, I stood in front of my bathroom mirror one last time.

I was pretty sure I’d gone through my entire wardrobe to find the perfect outfit, berating myself the entire time for acting like a woman about to go on her first date with her crush.

But we were going to take pictures and post them online, so I wanted to look my best.

At least, that’s what I kept telling myself was my reason for trying everything on once before settling on a long, green, muted floral sundress.

It was my favorite dress and I wanted to feel completely confident tonight after Roger had put me on edge.

I’d also added a simple denim jacket and black boots since Colorado weather in the fall was always changing.

“Why didn’t I just put this one on first?” I asked Maisie, my tortoiseshell cat. She stared at me, flicking her long tail up and down.

My phone buzzed and I glanced at it on the other side of my sink. Ugh . But at least it wasn’t Roger.

Dad: We need to figure out dinner plans when I’m in town next week. I’ll be at the Montreal games in Denver and Colorado Springs if you want to join. Joining the broadcast team for a few games this season.

Dad: Or you’ll probably already be there since you’re dating Tucks now. From Jenzy to Tucks, huh??

How the fuck had I managed to ask a random stranger to kiss me and he turned out to be another goalie? I still questioned that bad luck. Not that Gabe wasn’t a truly nice guy, it just would’ve been better for so many reasons if he wasn’t a hockey player.

Shit. I probably needed to tell Gabe who my father was.

TUCKS