Page 13 of Lucky Shot (Moonshot Hockey #1)

“Is that a dumb question?” I give him a sheepish smile.

“No. It isn’t that. I was trying to remember the last time someone asked me that.”

I study him as he finishes off his burger with a contemplative look on his face.

Freckles stretch across the bridge of his nose.

There’s a small scar just below his bottom lip.

His face is covered in darker stubble than this morning.

He’s the kind of handsome I typically avoid.

Too good-looking, too muscular, too everything.

Maybe it’s so high school to admit but he’s the jock and I’m the nerd who looked forward to book reports.

There is no other situation in which I can imagine sitting across from someone like Nick and sharing a meal.

The closest to dating a jock I’ve ever come was a blind date with a guy who played intramural soccer.

When he suggested I join for our second date, I knew I had to bow out.

When he speaks again, his tone is softer.

“It’s a job. For nine months out of the year, I see more of my teammates than I do my family.

We play eighty-two games, half of them out of state.

But the thing is, even saying all that, I still do.

I think you have to love it. There’s no other way anyone would be willing to sacrifice as much as we do. ”

His words hit me like a shovel to the head – or maybe the heart. I can tell he loves it by the look in his eye, the reverent tone. There was a time I loved writing that much.

My eyes go watery, and my throat tightens. I glance down, unable to hold his gaze. How humiliating. I just cried over hockey, or at least that’s probably what it seems like to him.

Annie steps up to the table while I’m composing myself. “Hey, Champ, sorry to interrupt. Could you bring a keg out from the back for our bartender?”

“Yeah, of course.” Nick slides out of the booth and gets to his feet.

Annie and Nick head toward the bar, then he disappears behind it with the bartender. I use the time to clear my thoughts. I can’t believe I almost cried in front of him. The last few days have been an emotional rollercoaster.

Annie comes back to the table and clears some of the plates.

“Thanks,” I say.

“You want anything else?” she asks me. She’s not as warm with me as she is with Nick, but she’s not ignoring me anymore.

“No. I’m good. Thanks.”

She nods.

“Why do you call him Champ?”

She stares at me stone-faced. Okay, maybe she hasn’t come around to me as much as I thought.

“He won the championship with the Wildcats before coming to Moonshot,” she says.

“Right…” I wait for her to explain further.

“He was a big get for us. I still can’t believe the Wildcats let him go.

They had to juggle around a lot of players to fill his shoes.

And between me and you, they still aren’t as good as they were when Nick was with them.

He brought them a championship and he’s going to bring us one too. I can feel it.”

I don’t totally understand the logistics of composing teams, and trade details are definitely out of my wheelhouse, but what she says makes sense. Why then did they trade him?

She leaves before I can think of anything else to ask her, and then Nick returns.

“Sorry about that,” he says as he takes his seat.

“It’s no problem.”

“Do you have any other questions for me?” he asks after a beat of silence.

“There are probably a million more things I should ask, but I’ve reached the limit of sporty knowledge that my brain can hold.”

He wears a guilty expression as he smiles awkwardly.

“Thank you for this. I appreciate it. Especially after the misunderstanding yesterday.”

“You’re welcome.”

Nick won’t let me pay even after I tell him I can write it off as a business expense, then we walk out to the parking lot.

“Well…in case I don’t see you before I head out in the morning, it was nice meeting you.”

“Yeah, you too. How long is the flight back?” His brows furrow. “I don’t think I asked you where you’re from.”

“Lake City, but I’m not heading there.”

“Why not?”

“Eh…it’s a long, boring story.” And depressing.

“The lease on my apartment was about to end before I left so I’m sort of homeless right now.

I mean, not that I don’t have anywhere to go.

Any of my family members would be happy to let me crash, but I need to finish this book in six weeks, and I can’t do that with my mom hovering over me, asking me if I’ve showered or eaten today, you know? ”

One side of his mouth pulls up, but he still looks embarrassed for me.

“Anyway, I’m waiting for my agent to find someone else I can interview so until then, I found a hotel not far from here. Hotel Thirteen, I think. They’re holding a room for me through the weekend until I figure out what’s next.”

“Hotel Fourteen?”

“Yeah. That’s it.” My smile brightens. “I wonder why it’s called that?”

“Urban legend says it’s the number of times someone has been murdered there.”

I laugh but he doesn’t join in.

“You’re serious?” A bit of anxiety creeps in, but I bat it away. This entire town is gorgeous. Even if it’s the worst hotel here, it can’t be that bad. Right?

His mouth pulls into a thin line as he nods. “You can’t stay there.”

“I will be fine. Besides, it’s the only thing for miles that has vacancy.”

“It’s tourist season. Everything books out months in advance.” The way he says it like I should have prepared better rankles me. His jaw does that flex thing that makes me worry for his teeth.

“Well, I thought I had a place to stay,” I fire back then take a deep breath. Arguing is pointless. I’m never going to see him again. He can go back to being grumpy in his beautiful lake house, and I’ll go…anywhere else. I flash him a smile. “Goodbye, Nick.”