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The severity in his voice dried up her mouth. The charming affable man had been replaced by the renowned Ice King. And this was the man she was going to mess with.

She adjusted her glasses, aware it was becoming something of a habit, and paused on the bottom step.

‘You, Mr Carter…’ The warmth of righteousness flowed through her veins as she tilted her head and gave him a coy smile. ‘Just get more and more fascinating.’

He blinked. Blinked again. Shocked at what he’d admitted or shocked at her response, she wasn’t sure. And then he grinned.

‘If that means you can spin it into a positive for the masses, I’m good with it.’

‘I’m sure I can do something with it.’

She stepped forward with him and – whoops! The ground disappeared beneath her heel. One minute she was upright and smiling, the next she was in his arms, one hot arm locked around her, one hot chest acting as a bumper. Oof!

So much for being all classy and elegant.

It got you in his arms though… Now, work it baby!

‘Are you okay?’

She nodded as she found her feet, stroking a karma-led hand up his shoulder.

‘I am.’ She blinked up at him, purposefully breathy and grateful. ‘Thanks to you.’

‘Glad I could be of service.’

His eyes were glazing over, his pupils flaring… Was he – was he about to kiss her? Already ?

‘ Astrid?’

‘Yes?’ she whispered, heady on success – an early leap in the Ice King takedown!

‘Could you get off my toe please?’

‘Huh!’ Her eyes flared wide as she registered the spongy surface beneath her heel. His foot, not the ground. Shit! She leapt back. ‘Sorry!’

‘Hey, it’s fine, but I need these bad boys in one piece, they pay the bills.’

His smile was full of good humour, but she was dying . Like kill her now and forget she ever existed, dying .

She pressed her fist to her lips. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

Though the devil in her figured he deserved a little impaling…

‘I dice with blades every day of the week; I can handle one lethal heel. Now come on, the rookies are due on the ice for drills, you can see them in action.’

She followed him through the double doors ahead, his soft, ‘And there she is…’ making her frown.

‘She?’

He gestured to the ice, the pride in his gaze unmistakable. Oh, right, the rink.

She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the bright white surface gleaming in the overhead lights. At its heart was the red and blue crest of the Titans, a fist punching through ice. Ha! Much like her karma mission.

‘You been to a game before?’

She dampened her smile. ‘Can’t say I have.’

He tutted. ‘You don’t know what you’re missing.’

And then he was in his element, taking her through every detail of the rink.

From the players’ benches to the penalty boxes, to the viewing galleries and the four-sided Jumbotron currently switched off…

And as he went through every detail, and she meant every detail, the rookies spilled onto the ice, their red and blue kits a blur as they swept around.

Music started to pump through the overhead sound system and Aiden smiled. ‘We don’t like to train in the quiet.’

‘Why is that?’

‘I don’t know. I guess the beat helps you to push out whatever’s going on off the ice and focus on the puck and your team and whatever Coach has to say. It also makes it less of a shock come game day when the whole place reverberates with noise…’

‘It sounds intense.’

‘It is. You’ll have to come see it for yourself. We play the New York Knights in a couple of weeks, and nothing beats a game between local rivals.’

‘I’d love that.’

‘I’m sure the boss will see you get a seat in the luxury box.’

‘I’d rather stay in the thick of it, soak up the atmosphere.’

His eyes sparked. ‘I’ll see you get tickets. You could bring a friend.’

‘Thanks.’ She was about to say an extra ticket wouldn’t be necessary; she was so used to travelling that she rarely stuck around long enough to form a friendship. But now she had Bella. Would she come?

‘Once you understand our passion for the game, you’ll understand us.’

A passion that left no room for love, he’d all but told her.

And if she was honest, she understood it, even as she hated him for misleading Sienna, making her believe he was in it for the long haul when he wasn’t.

At least Chase had never made out he wanted more…

no, he’d just been a lying, cheating scumbag with a wife.

A poor broken woman who she’d had a hand in breaking.

Not your fault, came the voices of her girlfriends.

‘I’ll let you into a secret…’ Aiden said, leaning in close. ‘It’s better than sex.’

‘You’ve obviously not been having sex with the right person,’ she murmured, refusing to dwell on how great sex could be with the wrong one too, and he chuckled.

‘Come on, you’re shivering, we should get you out of here.’

She was? She was. ‘It’s okay, I’d like to watch them for a bit.’

‘Maybe you ought to dress for the rink next time you’re here.’

He was right. Why hadn’t she thought about that when the girls had been dressing her up for seduction rather than work?

‘Sorry, rookie error.’

And now her teeth were chattering, and she knew the past was as much to blame as her present environment.

‘Ha! Don’t let the rookies hear you say that. They’ll take it as an insult and roast you more.’

‘Duly noted.’

He shrugged out of his training jacket.

‘Wait, what are you doing?’ Alarm had her thrusting her hand out as she spied his intent. ‘No, I can’t.’

‘You can and you will.’ She stopped fighting as his warmth enveloped her, his scent too – fresh and clean, and all man. ‘Better?’ He cocked a brow over those bright blue eyes.

‘Much.’ She swallowed, hating his thoughtful gesture even as it warmed her. ‘Thank you.’

She looked away from his far-too-charming self to take in the players on the ice. Just because he was thoughtful now, didn’t mean he wasn’t an arse back then. An arse deserving of being taken down a peg or two.

She concentrated on the rookies, most of whom were huge enough before they donned their protective gear that saw them looking twice as big and twice as menacing and found herself readily captivated.

They were as graceful as they were fierce.

The way they moved over the ice, backwards, forwards, pivoted, passed the puck, they made it look easy.

The clutz in her envied them that ability.

‘Do you skate?’

She gave a choked laugh. ‘God, no.’

She felt his intense scrutiny and flicked him a look. ‘What?’

‘Just the way you’re watching, it’s almost like you wished you were out there too.’

The man was astute as well as charming… Oh Sissi, I can so see how you fell for this one.

‘Do you?’ he pressed.

‘You saw me almost faceplant in my heels; can you imagine what I’d be like on a thin blade of metal?’

‘Have you ever tried?’

‘My nickname was Twinkle Toes back in school, and I don’t mean it in a good way.’

‘Twinkle Toes?’

His eyes sparkled and she looked away, biting her cheek. This was hardly the stuff to convince him she was date material. But now she’d said it…

‘I was forever falling over my own feet.’

He gave a low chuckle. ‘You know what they say, practice makes perfect.’

‘Not if most of that practice is spent on my bum.’

Unless… She turned to look up at him. ‘Are you offering up your time to teach me, because in that case, I’d be a fool to say no.’

‘Great. Blake and I?—’

‘Blake? You’re volunteering him too?’

‘Anything to help get a glowing article in our name.’

‘Bribery?’ She tried not to let her panic set into her smile, because the idea of being in the care of his brother on the ice… that had a whole other fire lighting up within.

‘I prefer to call it a healthy exchange of skills.’

‘You know I’m getting paid to write this.’

‘See it as the icing on the cake then. Besides…’ He gave her a lopsided grin. ‘Anyone that looks at the ice like you do deserves to be at home on it.’

Fuuuck. He was being sweet again. Sweet and considerate and making her question everything!

‘You ready to move on?’ he asked.

‘Sure.’

If only she could move her thoughts on as easily… Aiden was the baddie, she was the goodie, and Blake was a distraction she needed to keep in a professional box.

* * *

‘What’s got you so riled?’

Blake grunted as he chest-pressed the barbell, racked it with a clang, and sat up.

‘Who says I’m riled?’ He fixed his glare on Larsson, their Swedish goalie and resident tattooed giant. Even Blake looked small next to him. The guy’s blond Viking man-bun as mean-looking as the rest of him – making him great in nets, not so great in an alley after dark.

Larsson gave a low rumble. Shiitt. Was that a laugh?

‘You grunt more than me today.’

Blake dragged his mouth back into a half smile. ‘Is that so?’

‘The gym was full before you came in.’ Larsson jutted his chin before executing a heavily loaded skater squat. ‘Now look at it.’

Blake rocked his head side to side, grabbed his water bottle off the floor and took a long slug. Larsson had a point. There’d been at least eight other guys hard at it when he’d arrived, five of them rookies, all of them gone. Not that he’d noticed them leave.

With the music playing full blast, he’d been locked in his own head, moving through the equipment with no thought to anyone or anything save for the ongoing battle in his head. The GM, Stella, Aiden, Astrid, the article from hell.

‘You saying we cleared the joint?’

‘I’m saying you did. No one cares what I’m doing. This is my setup, my space; they stay away and leave me to it.’

‘You saying they couldn’t do the same for me?’

‘ I’m saying you didn’t give them a choice; the bad energy coming off you is hard to ignore.’

‘You ignored it.’

Larsson cracked a grin, a move as rare as his laugh and flashing the gap in his top front teeth courtesy of a biscuit to the face last season. ‘Because I can crush you like a fly.’

‘Alright, Big Man.’