Chapter 13: Chapter 13

KATE

I love hockey, it’s one of my favorite things in the world. It can get a little messy, and there are times when I’m disappointed in a loss, but I’m always proud of my guys.

The Blades were a phenomenal team, skating, passing, and scoring in sync. We were all family, not just players sharing a locker room or a bench.

These boys respected every aspect of my being, never being rude or disrespectful to the young woman who owned their team.

That is why my heart stopped anytime one of my players got in a fight. They were definitely ridiculously entertaining to watch, except now, I had a relationship with all of the players.

I cared for them and loved them, probably why most people don’t want women in the hockey world.

Some thought I cared too much, but I rather chose to be fully invested in my players’ well-being than not know them at all.

The hit to Mathieu was beyond dirty. I watched him fall to the ice, his helmet hitting the ground. I hoped he didn’t have a concussion.

Once all the players skated together in a massive huddle of chaos, Mathieu jumped up and started throwing his fists around.

And then there was Tyler. Of course, Tyler was the first one to skate over, ready to fight. It didn’t surprise me, at first I even smiled.

That smile vanished abruptly when a big guy came up behind him, hit him right in the head, and dropped him to the ground. That guy was surely going to get fined, but I didn’t care. I just needed to know Tyler was alright.

I gasped, standing up and gripping the shoulders of my uncles sitting on either side of me. Blood pooled around Tyler’s face, a tear slipping down mine.

My heartbeat picked up, and a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. I felt like I was going to throw up if I didn’t find out if he was okay within the next thirty seconds.

The medics took him away, and just as they were leaving the ice, Tyler lifted a hand in the air and pumped his fist.

~Thank God.~ I wasn’t originally planning on seeing him in private while in California with the team, but now I wanted to. I wanted to touch him, breathe him in, and make sure he was okay.

I wouldn’t let it go beyond that though. I couldn’t.

Uncle Fred went to check on Tyler. The medics asked us to wait until he was cleaned up but assured us nothing major had happened.

There was a possible concussion and a gash across his face, requiring stitches. Apparently, he had asked them if he could finish the game. Obviously, they had said no.

The game ended, and after his teammates were done talking to him and joking around, I stepped in. He was looking down at his phone, his hair a sweaty mess, a sexy mess.

He still had his leg pads and skates on and was only wearing a t-shirt on top. His biceps flexed as he carefully moved his arms around, the colorful tattoo sleeves coming to life with each and every movement.

I hesitated. He was texting on his phone, presumably reassuring his family that he was okay; I knew I should have waited, but I couldn’t. He ran a callused hand through his hair, and it weakened me.

He was so gorgeous, especially when sweaty and tired. “Tyler,” I whispered.

He turned toward me quickly, standing up the moment he laid eyes on me. “You’re here.”

“Are you okay?”

I walked up to him with purpose and touched his cheek under the stitched gash. I kept it there only for a few seconds. We were in a locker room; I couldn’t keep touching him.

“I’m fine,” he said. “It’s just a little cut.”

I took in his dark hair, dark eyes, and tanned glistening skin. I knew I had to stop staring, but it’s not easy to stay away from someone, even if you should, when they look like him.

Tyler’s eyes moved up and down my body. The California weather allowed me to dress for summer, unlike New York, which demanded a winter wardrobe.

I was wearing white shorts, strappy-heeled sandals, and an olive-green button-down shirt. I’m not sure how the outfit managed to look semi-professional, but it worked by some miracle.

“You look stunning,” he said, meeting my eyes.

“So do you.”

He laughed, looking down at himself. “Yeah, I bet I look like a real treat right now.”

I smiled at him, glancing around to make sure no one was close by. “Really,” I began, “the sweaty, beat-up look works for you.”

My heart pounded harder as he stepped really close to me. He was towering above me with his skates on. He had to be almost seven feet, and my four-inch heels weren’t bringing me any closer to his face.

He snaked his hand around my neck, running his thumb along my tensing jawbone.

“Have you missed me?” he asked quietly.

I closed my eyes. I knew we couldn’t do that. “No,” I breathed.

“You’re lying, Kate.”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m lying or not,” I said. “We both know this can’t be anything.” I pulled away from him a few inches, needing air to breathe. He stepped closer. “Tyler… Don’t.”

His hand wrapped back around my neck, pulling me into him. His other hand traveled down my back and onto my butt. There was a wild hunger in his touch. He kissed me, kissed me hard. My body melted into his fluidly.

Voices crept closer, forcing us apart. I ran a hand through my hair and licked my lips, which felt swollen. When some of the players walked up to stand beside us, Tyler grinned at me.

“Wonderful game, guys,” I said to the others. “You all gave me a heart attack at the end, but other than that, you made me proud.”

Chris and Hans smiled. Hans pulled me in for a hug and mumbled some words about how much I reminded him of my dad.

Halfway through the flight, the energy on the plane began to fade. Their adrenaline wasn’t pumping as much, and they were all tired and excited to get home.

Jaromir had been antsy, knowing his daughter could be birthed any day now. But after Annabelle confirmed there were no signs of immediate labor, he relaxed a bit.

I began the flight sitting with my uncles, but then wanted to mingle. I walked past the small table where Tyler was sitting with Chris and Mathieu.

He smiled a devilish smile at me as I moved, making it obvious when he looked my body over. He licked his lips before turning back to the others.

The table behind him had a game of cards going on between my two veteran players, Hans and Jaromir.

“Can I join?” I asked.

“You don’t have to ask,” Hans said with a laugh.

I sat, and they shuffled the cards. “Do my two favorite Czech people know how to play Texas Hold’em?”

They knew, of course. I smoked them three rounds in a row before my luck faded. We laughed, had a few drinks brought over to us, and thoroughly enjoyed our time.

“How is Annabelle’s pregnancy going?” I asked Jaromir.

His face fell, surprising me. “If she told me more about it, I’d be able to answer that for you.” He chuckled.

I looked to Hans, who only shrugged. “Is everything alright? You can always talk to me if you’d like.”

Jaromir smiled and laid his hand of cards flat on the table. “It’s as good as it’s going to be.”

I took that as a sign that he didn’t want to discuss further, so I picked up the cards and shuffled. “Go fish?” I laughed and taught the grown men how to play a child’s game.

The rest of the flight was filled with turbulence, but I kept myself distracted by moving about, speaking with everyone.

I found myself sitting with Tyler, Chris, and Mathieu, chatting happily about the upcoming teams the Blades were going to go against.

Tyler touched my fingertips with his as casually as he could, my face turning beet red each time.

I was worried someone was going to notice his touches, the way we looked at each other, or the palpable chemistry between us. Each movement he made had me feeling more nervous, which he enjoyed thoroughly.

He’d smile or laugh, while I sat there, feeling utterly uncomfortable, worried sick that at any moment, someone would find out about us.

“When you guys get a chance, you should talk to Jaromir and make sure he’s alright,” I whispered, thinking his teammates might retrieve more information from him than I could.

“Yeah,” Mathieu agreed. “He’s seemed off lately. And he let up a few goals.” We all nodded in agreement.

“Alright, let’s go,” Chris said, now on a mission. Mathieu stood to follow him, but unsurprisingly, Tyler remained seated.

As they walked away, I turned my head slowly to steal a glance at Tyler. His eyes bored into mine and a smile crept up on his face.

“I’m going to kiss you again, Kate,” he told me. “Just like I did in the locker room. I’m going to keep showing you how much I want you.”

I hesitated, trying to keep the heat from showing on my face. “You know I want you, but that doesn’t change our situation.”

“Who cares if it changes shit or not,” he bit out, and before I could respond, Chris and Mathieu returned to their seats across from us.

The remainder of the flight was quiet; and as mad as Tyler appeared to be, he rubbed his hand against my thigh under the table every chance he got.

My whole body tingled each time we touched, the sting of electricity we both felt showing our bodies’ want and need to be together again.

Everyone stepped off the plane and walked away to their respective vehicles. Tyler moved slower, and I took the opportunity to whisper to him.

“That was close in the locker room. Too close,” I said, watching him frown. “You have to believe that I do want you, but we’ve both worked very hard to be where we are now. Neither of us can lose that.”

The intensity of his stare radiated around us; you could probably see it from a mile away.

Goosebumps peppered my arms, as I tapped my fingers against my thigh, waiting, just waiting for him to say something.

That never happened. Coach Julian walked right in between the two of us. He hugged me, and then we went our separate ways. I couldn’t forget the look on Tyler’s face when he climbed into his Mercedes.

It was a look of longing, desperation, want, lust, and hurt, all mixed together. Nothing between us was serious; it was never supposed to be.

Besides a business relationship, there shouldn’t have been anything between us in the first place. Period. But we fucked that up from the get-go.

I hated walking away from him. He must have been thinking I’m too unfazed and emotionless to be able to turn him down and leave, but that was so far from the truth.

Once at the back of the Suburban, I cried. I wanted him as much as he wanted me. Maybe I was just better at hurting myself than he was.

My heart ached, but I knew we were right in walking away from each other. Really, I’d known it all along, choosing to ignore the feeling since that first night in the bar with him.

Monday morning, I met Bill and Tessa in the lobby of Martin Financial. Tessa was given a~ special~ badge that she was extremely excited about.

It was almost Christmas, and that day Tessa was helping me do some shopping, in turn unknowingly distracting me from the mess in my life.

It had been two days since the California trip, and not a word had been exchanged between Tyler and me. We only stole glances, sometimes touching each other slightly when we walked past one another.

“Thanks again for doing this, Kate. I can’t believe fate led me to someone like you,” Bill said, keeping my mind away from the one man I wanted to see right then.

I told Bill I wouldn’t stand that useless babysitter watching precious Tessa, since her school had closed down for Christmas break.

I planned a girl’s day out for her and me to hang out while Bill finished up some work. He kissed Tessa goodbye, and we went shopping.

I casually asked what she wanted, so I could get her something nice for Christmas, but she didn’t give away too much. I made a note to talk to Bill about that.

After Tessa and I returned to my penthouse, she ran around like a bat out of hell, releasing all the pent-up energy from the donuts I’d let her have while we were out and about.

“Can I do your hair and makeup?” Tessa squeaked.

“Of course, you can!” I grabbed my make-up bag from my bathroom, but she informed me that she had her own in her backpack.

I laughed to myself, imagining what kind of makeup an eight-year-old kept. Her little brown eyes glowed, as her brush began touching my cheeks.

An hour later, my hair was styled into five ponytails with bright multi-colored elastic bands. Bright blue and pops of red covered my whole face, but I wasn’t gonna tell her I looked like a clown.

She thought I was beautiful. “So how are you liking your new house?” I asked her.

“We love it!” she yelled, jumping up and down and accidentally poking me in the eye with a brush. “Sorry, Kate!” She giggled and her cheeks flushed a bright red.

I reassured her that no damage was done. She then took me downstairs to her apartment, showing me all their new furniture.

“Your room is beautiful.”

“Daddy let me pick everything all by myself.”

Her room was pink, very, very pink. A decal of a castle took up an entire wall, and she told me it made her feel like a princess. She even had princess dresses to go with it, and I got a full-fledged fashion show with said dresses.

We made our way back upstairs to my penthouse, just in time for the doorman to call me. A familiar face was down in the lobby requesting to come up. A familiar face that I longed for and hadn’t talked to in two days.

Two days weren’t that long a duration, except the excitement I felt about having him in my apartment forced my heart to jump out of my chest.

We were horrible at staying away from each other. I thought we’d be done when he left me after the California trip.

I prayed we wouldn’t be, but I also knew Tyler or myself would have to smarten up and make the best decision for both of us. But now wasn’t that time.