Game On Box Set: Time Out\Her Man Advantage\Face-Off\Body Check Read online

  “Sorry,” she called as he jogged closer. “I like to practice parking-lot safety and I couldn’t see who was under the hat.”

  He pulled up the brim and twisted the cap around until he resettled it backward on his head. The hat’s team logo was one she didn’t recognize—green-and-red with a flaming hockey stick. Maybe it had been a school or college team.

  “Is that better?” he asked, his white T-shirt and blue nylon shorts the team uniform for lifting and weight-room workouts.

  This outfit was clean, though, the cotton still crisp where it clung to broad shoulders. She remembered he was a farm boy, his muscles earned early in life lifting hay bales. That must have been in his bio when he’d joined the team.

  “Yes. Thanks.” She folded her arms, unsure of herself suddenly.

  Her interactions with the team members had become fairly routine, restricted to high fives after good games or practices, although occasionally she went out to team dinners with the players when they were on the road. Her role then was usually to ward off women, a job she was good at since her time on the street had honed her ability to broadcast a serious “don’t mess with me” vibe.

  What could Vincent want with her now?

  “I heard you’re headed to Montreal for the game.” He waved her back toward her SUV. “I have something to give you for the trip.”

  Following, she tried not to watch his awesome body in motion. Being a Phantoms fan gave her a certain amount of freedom to dream about the guys on the team, all the while knowing she was safe from any romantic interest on their part. A couple of the guys had tried to hit on her early in her tenure with the Phantoms. But she’d made it clear she was a sports groupie, not a sex groupie. And they’d been fine with it, glad to have her cheer for them and make the occasional carload of homemade chocolate-chip cookies for them after a road trip. The team thought of her as a sister these days, a fixture in the stands. The one who cheered them on when they were down.

  And given her issues with men from her past, that was the nicest role she could imagine for herself.

  Relaxing her guard, she honed her fan-girl knowledge. “Am I remembering right that you’re from a small town in Minnesota?”

  “I grew up on a farm outside of Cloquet. It’s not all that far from Duluth in the northeast corner of the state.” His long strides required she pick up her pace. At six foot two, he wasn’t even the tallest guy on the team, either. He turned to look at her. “Do you all have your passports for the trip across the border tonight?”

  “Enhanced licenses.” She’d learned that lesson the first time she’d driven all the way to the Canadian border and hadn’t been able to get in. “They’re cheaper and they’re good enough if you’re driving over.”

  Reaching her vehicle in the small lot that was quickly emptying out, Chelsea saw a small box on the hood.

  “I remembered you got lost the last time we went to Boston.” He picked up the package and handed it to her. “I thought this might help.”

  A gift? She couldn’t believe he remembered she’d taken a wrong turn on the way to that Boston game. An odd little shiver went through her knowing he’d thought about her. Peering down at the box, she couldn’t help a startled gasp.

  “A GPS?” She read the brand name and saw the long list of fancy features. She’d salivated over these gadgets long enough in the store to recognize a high-end brand. “Wow. I have a navigation app on my phone, but I’ve been wanting—” Stopping herself, she recalled that she had no business taking gifts from a man. “But I can’t accept this.”

  “Don’t think twice about it. I got it for my sister last year and her husband bought her one, too. Then I forgot to take it back to the store for so long I’m stuck with it anyhow.” He took the box from her hands and opened it. “If you pop the locks I’ll have it hooked up for you by the time Misty gets here.”

  He nodded toward the back door where her closest friend emerged with the cameraman who would be accompanying their group to Montreal. Chelsea could hardly pretend Vincent posed any kind of threat in her car when her friend and the camera dude were both within shouting distance. Besides, she’d known Vinny since he’d joined the team. His number was even inked in a special place close to her heart since he’d been the first guy on the team to speak to her directly, the first team member to really draw her into the Phantoms’ inner circle and make her feel safe.

  The Phantoms were the closest thing she had to a family ever since the summer she was seventeen, when she’d walked out of her mother’s makeshift tent by the river. She found herself opening the driver’s side door for Vincent.

  “Well…thank you.” The words were scratchy in her throat and they felt weighty as she said them. Not that she wasn’t a grateful person. But as a rule, she did not accept gifts. No handouts. No favors.

  That way no one could expect anything of her in return. No one could demand something she “owed them,” a situation her mother had found herself in far too often. And the way she’d paid back generous men had turned Chelsea’s stomach.

  “Actually, Vinny—” she started, about to tell him she’d changed her mind. The memories in her head were too visceral. Too disturbing.

  “All done.” He slid out of the truck, box in hand and the GPS mounted to her windshield. “I’m so glad someone is going to get some use out of it. Drive safe, Chelsea.”

  He strolled across the parking lot, whistling, leaving her to wonder what had just happened. She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he walked away, even when Misty arrived with the camera guy in tow.

  “Seriously, Chelsea?” Misty clutched her chest as if she was about to have a heart attack, her gaze following Chelsea’s while the cameraman made a second trip back to the building for more video equipment. “Are you making time with one of the players behind my back?” she teased. “Were you talking to Vinny Girard alone out here just now?”

  They were the same age and they’d met in a women’s shelter downtown one winter after Misty’s father had kicked her out of the house at sixteen—his new wife hadn’t wanted her around. But she’d rebounded quickly, finding work at a makeup counter thanks to her natural gregariousness and good looks. With her dark blue-black hair and green eyes, she had a doll-like fragile beauty that belied the powerhouse personality beneath.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Chelsea chided, only able to tear her eyes away now that Vincent disappeared inside the building. “He just wanted to be sure we made it to Montreal safely.”

  It was incredibly thoughtful, really. Even if she was still a little uneasy at the idea of accepting his generous gift.

  “What do you mean?” The question barely left her lips when Misty peered inside the open door of the SUV. “Oh, my God. Did he give you that?”

  Her friend was already crawling into the driver’s seat for a closer look, her curls spiraling out of control in the spring warmth.

  “He had an extra one—”

  “And it has maps for Canada! Coolness.” Misty tapped in an address on the digital keyboard. “I told you he has the hots for you.”

  “Excuse me?” Chelsea felt something shift inside her. Her stomach dropped the same way it did when she took a high-speed elevator.

  Misty pressed another button on the GPS and remounted the screen to the windshield.

  “He likes you, Chels. I tried to tell you that earlier this season when he invited you to dinner with the team.”

  “He didn’t invite me.” She vividly recalled the first time Vincent had suggested they join the Phantoms for one of the team meals. “He invited all of us.”

  “Only because he knows you would have never said yes otherwise.” Misty waved to their other friends, Rosa and Keiko, as they stepped into the parking lot along with Bryce, who seemed to be on his second trip carrying equipment.

  Chelsea was so stunned by what Misty was suggesting she couldn’t seem to move past it, however.

  “Vincent Girard plays in the NHL. He’s handsome. He’s thoughtful. He