Page 28

“You don’t look good, Temple.” Leon inspected him, tilting his head. “Are you sure you’re over your stomach issue? Are you really fit for practice?”

He frowned. “My stomach issue?”

“Yeah. Lucy said you ate something that didn’t agree with you.”

A snort slipped from his lips. Of course she did. “I’m fine, thanks,” he said abruptly and was glad the defender was next up for the drill. To be honest, he didn’t even know if it had been a good idea to return to practice. Matt and Jack, however, hadn’t let up and had told him not to make a fuss…and he hadn’t wanted to look like a complete idiot, even if that’s how he felt at the moment.

“Everything okay?” came from over his shoulder, this time from Fox.

“Good God, what’s wrong with you people?” Dax said, annoyed. “You miss practice for two days…”

“You’re always at practice,” Fox muttered. “Always. So, dude, what’s going on?” He looked as serious as an atom bomb. “You do know you can…talk to us, right? Every single one of us?”

Dax rolled his eyes, but at the same time, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He had always thought he’d had one of the most dysfunctional families ever, but that was bullshit. He had a real family who was always there for him, whether he wanted it or not. And right now he didn’t want it.

“Everything’s great,” he lied. “It’s…”

“Hey, Dax, Lucy’s looking for you,” Moreau muttered, skating past them.

“What?” His head shot up immediately.

Their goalie pointed over his shoulder with his thumb—and Dax’s heart skipped a beat.

There she stood at the entrance to the ice, in her silly prudish blouse and her too-tight skirt, with her hair down. It fell in gentle waves across her shoulders, and his mouth immediately went dry.

“What does she want?”

Moreau raised an eyebrow. “She’s right there, Dax. Ask her yourself.”

He gritted his teeth. His lungs were doing silly things, making it entirely too difficult to breathe. The walk from one end of the rink to the other never seemed so long.

The only thing that calmed him was that Lucy was fidgeting. She kept running her hands over imaginary wrinkles in her skirt, pushing her hair behind her ears, lowering her gaze, and looking up at him again. But he couldn’t say whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He stopped less than an arm’s length from her. She stood at the edge of the ice at his level, still seeming tiny even though she was wearing high heels, as always. High heels that he now knew all too intimately.

“Hey,” he said slowly, taking off his gloves and rubbing his hands together just so he had something to do.

“Hi,” she replied, lifting one corner of her mouth uncertainly.

“What’s up?”

“Oh, um…just paperwork,” she mumbled, and his heart sank. “Can you take a minute and sign here? It’s important.” She held out a sheet of paper and a pen.

“You’re here to talk to me about paperwork?” he echoed hollowly.

She nodded. “Yes. Like I said, I need a signature.”

His jaw cracked and he moved closer to her to look at the paper. “Great,” he said tonelessly. “What am I signing?”

“An important certificate.”

Frowning, he leaned forward and read the heading aloud. “Workplace Relationship Disclosure Form.” He blinked. “What?”

She took a deep breath, swallowed, and then smiled. “Well, it’s the Hawks’ policy that you disclose a romantic relationship to management—so that both parties are protected from any possible influence due to the relationship. So that…it’s clear where a conflict of interest exists. And…” She took another deep breath. “Well, I can only sign for myself. Not for you.”

His stomach fluttered and his heart leaped into his throat. He wanted to say something. Maybe sigh. Maybe just scream what the hell took you so long? His mouth opened but he was unable to speak. There was…too much in his heart to express.

“I’m sorry, Dax,” she whispered, her eyes shining, the words clipped as if she were rushing them out. “I didn’t handle it so well the other day. I panicked. I’ve never been in love and couldn’t place the feeling, but…I’ve officially come to my senses now.”

His neck started to tingle as his blood pumped faster through his body. His throat finally had enough room for words again. “Have you?”

She nodded. “Yes. I’m serious. See?” She waved the paper around. “This morning I told Leslie about us. She wasn’t happy, but hopefully you’ll pull yourself together and it’ll be okay. We just have to sign this piece of paper for her. So that my career…isn’t affected by it. Yours too, naturally.”

“Wow. Who…” He cleared his throat and blinked. “Who would have guessed that bureaucracy was so romantic?” It was ridiculous how calm his words sounded even though a small hurricane had been unleashed inside him. It was only fair to let her squirm a little longer, thought, wasn’t it?

Lucy frowned and wrung her hands. “I’m not good at romance. Or relationships. I’ve never had one. But you know…it might be cool to try it with you.”

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Cool, right?”

She nodded. “ Very cool .”

“Well then,” he murmured, taking the pen from her and signing the paper. “Now what?”

“Now we’re a couple,” she whispered.

“Ah.” He nodded slowly and let his free hand sink into her hair. “You know, where I come from, they seal this kind of paperwork with a kiss.”

“Yeah, where I come from too,” she confirmed immediately. “But there are a lot of people here, hockey players, and…”

“Stop talking, Lucy,” he whispered and lowered his lips to hers. He pulled her onto his skates and kissed the air out of her lungs. He wrapped his arms tightly around her middle to make sure she couldn’t run away again and kissed her like he would kiss her every damn day to make sure she didn’t forget that this was a fantastic idea. To further illustrate his point, he thought he should probably press her against the nearest boards and use his tongue…

“No!” an angry shout rang out. “Shit, no, you can’t be serious!”

Confused, he pulled away from Lucy and looked around. The shout had come from Leon, who was skating across the ice toward them with a pissed-off expression.

“Dude, Temple! What are you doing? And you!” He pointed at Lucy. “You said you don’t date players!”

She lifted one shoulder apologetically. “Sorry. It just happened.”

Leon groaned. “That’s so mean!”

“Stop whining, Alvarez,” Jack chimed in, grinning broadly. “You’re way too young for Lucy, anyway.”

“She’s only three years older!” the defender replied angrily.

“Way too old,” Dax confirmed, pulling Lucy closer to him. “So find your own PR consultant.”

“Please don’t,” Lucy said hastily. “Or Leslie will go crazy.”

He chuckled softly. “Well, we don’t want that.”

“No,” she confirmed, sliding a hand behind his neck. “By the way, I’m no longer your image consultant. Conflict of interest.”

“Well, that’s stupid. How am I supposed to live without one?” he murmured, and kissed her again.

He kissed her simply because he could. And because he would never tire of it…