Hockey Holidays Read online

  “Hey, thanks for letting me tag along. I’ve been meaning to try this for a while but never made the time.”

  “No problem, man. Happy for the company.”

  And the possible buffer.

  Kyle had spent most of yesterday afternoon at the gym working out with Nate and some of the guys. He’d been planning to catch a yoga class, but Derek’s last words had stuck in his head. He’d wanted to shrug them off, but they kept playing on a repeating loop and wouldn’t fucking stop. So he’d decided to skip yoga and get to know his new-old team.

  He’d met Nate years ago at a US hockey developmental camp and they’d had a common interest, so they’d hit it off immediately. The other guys—Robbie, Nick, and Ian—were all under the age of twenty-one, all from different countries, all great players from what he’d seen on the ice. And they all seemed to be decent guys. No attitudes, no egos, no bullshit. Basically, the complete opposite of him at their age.

  He’d been a cocky asshole, coming off a collegiate career at Princeton other guys would’ve killed for and a high, second-round draft pick by the Colonials. He’d thought he’d spend a year or so in the AHL then get moved up.

  He’d believed his own hype.

  Asshole.

  Yep, he’d been a total asshole.

  Didn’t mean he wasn’t good. But so were the hundred-plus other goalies in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL, not to mention the kids coming up in college and the juniors and the overseas leagues.

  Nate hadn’t gotten a lot of ice time in his previous seasons with the Redtails because Shane Conrad had been phenomenal in net, which was why the Colonials had called him up. And while Nate had been playing a good game, the team couldn’t get to the playoffs on the back of only one goalie.

  Now, Kyle had to live up to his hype.

  “Sooooo…D said the instructor’s hot.”

  Kyle whipped his head around, ready to tell Nate not to even think about looking at her.

  Except Nate was grinning at him.

  Kyle rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Derek’s gonna get his ass kicked next time I see him.”

  “He also said not to look at her sideways or you’d kick my ass. You two dating?”

  Stopping in front of the door to the studio, Kyle shook his head. “We used to. Before I got traded to Phoenix. We split up when I left.”

  Which wasn’t exactly true, but Nate didn’t need to know the gory details.

  “But you wanna get back together?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Nate’s wide grin sparked an answering light in his dark eyes as he shoved a hand through a mass of unruly black curls. Nate’s mom was Greek, and he got his coloring from her. He got his skill on the ice from his Canadian father, who’d set records in the Western Hockey League for his goals-against average before he’d quit playing to coach.

  “So you need a wingman?”

  His immediate response was hell no. He didn’t need a damn wingman. Wingmen were for guys who couldn’t get a girl’s number without help. He didn’t need help.

  But that was the old Kyle. The asshole.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Then let’s go do some yoga!”

  Kyle shook his head and smiled as he walked through the door and that grin just got wider.

  Because the first person he saw was Leah.

  She stood behind the desk to the right of the door, a slight scowl on her face as she stared at the monitor in front of her. Leah hated computers. At least, she had before he’d left. She said they interfered with natural human interaction, with our ability to communicate.

  To her, they were a necessary evil.

  He’d thought it was just an affectation, like her refusal to wear anything that wasn’t a hundred percent cotton or to eat processed food. Like she was following some hippie guidebook.

  What he’d realized after they’d dated a few weeks was that Leah didn’t have a fake bone in her body. She really was that sweet, that nice, and that real. She cared about the environment and animal rights and children’s health care and sustainable energy.

  He’d cared about his next start and his goals-against average. Okay, maybe he hadn’t been that completely shallow but, next to her, he’d been a self-involved prick.

  What she’d seen in him, he still didn’t know. Maybe it was because he’d realized how completely special she was. Or maybe because his granddad had set a really great example of how to treat a woman and Kyle had managed to pick up a few of those good traits. Which he hadn’t gotten from his own father.

  Or maybe…

  Hell, who knew. What he did know was that this time would be different.

  He just needed to rein in his asshole tendencies.

  She looked up at that moment and caught him staring at her.

  For a brief second, he could’ve sworn he saw a glimmer of a smile light in her eyes. Then she shut it down and instead turned to smile at Nate.

  Who took his life in his hands when he smiled back and headed straight for her.

  “Hi, I’m Nate. I’ve been told you’re the woman I need in my life.”

  Her smile widened as she began to laugh. “Well, I don’t know about that, but I will do my best to help out. What are you looking to accomplish, Nate?”

  “My buddy, Kyle,” Nate smacked Kyle on the back so hard, it almost hurt, “has been singing your praises since he got back. Says you’re a miracle worker.”

  She blinked, as if Nate had taken her off guard, and her gaze slid back to Kyle.

  “Really?” Her eyebrows arched, and she looked like every word was a lie. “High praise. I guess I should be flattered.”

  “It’s the truth,” Kyle answered before Nate could possibly dig Kyle’s hole any deeper. “You’re the best.”

  She blinked, and he wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a slight softening around her mouth.

  If he did, it was gone a second later when she looked back at the computer screen with a sigh.

  “Kyle knows the studio. He’ll show you where the lockers are. I’ve got to figure out what I did wrong before class.”

  “Want me to give you a hand?”

  Her eyes widened again, and she looked like she was about to turn him down. Then she looked at the screen again and grimaced.

  “I guess—”

  “Locker room is straight down the hall.” Kyle nodded in the general direction for Nate’s benefit. “I’ll meet you in the studio in a few.”

  “No problem, dude.” Nate saved his shit-eating grin until he was out of Leah’s sight line. Then he gave Kyle a thumbs-up before disappearing down the hall.

  Kyle would have to thank the guy later. Not giving Leah time to object, he walked around the desk then leaned on the back of her chair. It put him directly above her, closer than he’d been to her in more than a year.

  He had to make a conscious effort to unclench his hands but, damn it, he wanted to put his arms around her and pull her close. Every memory he had of this woman was a good memory. But it wasn’t the same for her.

  And that’s totally my fault.

  She stiffened as he got even closer, and even though he didn’t want to, he backed off a few inches. Not far, just far enough to give her some breathing room.

  He waited for her to say something, for her to tell him to move away. If she did, did it mean she was still affected by him? Or did she truly not want him anywhere near her?

  Sucking in a breath, he got a direct hit of her scent, a blend of sweet and sultry that had never failed to make him hard.

  Damn it, he needed to rein that in. How much of a douche was he that he got a boner just standing next to her, especially when she’d made it clear she wasn’t thrilled to see him.

  “So what are you trying to do?”

  Watching her out of the corner of his eye, he saw her suck in a quick breath before she squared her shoulders and sat up a little straighter. Several long seconds passed before she answered.

  “I accidentally pressed something and