The Playmaker (Players on Ice Book 1)

by Cathryn Fox

  What is going on with him?

  My heart thumps in my ears as I point to the little girls’ room. “I was going to the bathroom.”

  His breath gusts out of him, his body less tense.

  “What are you doing, Cole? You’re going to get kicked out of the game, and hockey is the most important thing in the world to you.”

  He stands there a second longer, shifting from one foot to the other, like he’s not sure what to say.

  “Cole?”

  “Just promise me you won’t leave.” His mouth dips into a frown. “I won’t blame you if you do, I’m an expert asshole, and I don’t deserve for you to stay.”

  “I’ll stay.” I point behind him, my nerves firing, worried sick about him blowing this game. “Now go. No matter what’s going on between us, I’d never want to do anything to come between you and your game.”

  “I know, and that’s why I lo—”

  “Cannon, for fuck’s sake, get back here!” Luke yells, and Cole’s head jerks around.

  “I have to go, but don’t go anywhere.” He dashes back to the ice.

  I stand there, a complete mess as he disappears. What was he going to say to me?

  Every nerve in my body leaping, I hurry to the bathroom and afterward make my way back to my seat. The game is underway as I slide in beside Jess, my mind racing a million miles an hour. Jess grabs my hand and I turn to her.

  “What the hell did he say?”

  The two girls are whispering about me over my shoulder but I ignore them. “He thought I was leaving. He told me not to go.” She nods, and I don’t miss the little smile on her face. “What?” I ask.

  “Nothing,” she says, and looks back at the ice. “Let’s watch.”

  I can’t focus on the game, not after my run in with Cole in the hall. I numbly watch the plays, the clock tick down, Cole make the winning shot. The crowd goes crazy but when he seeks me out, my heart crashes.

  I love him so much.

  The opposing team leaves the ice while the Shooters skate around, sticks in the air, celebrating their victory. When the cheers finally die down, Cole skates up to one of the local news stations filming the game, and takes the cordless mic as Luke skates toward me. Luke stays on the ice, a grin on his face, as Cole holds his hands up to quiet everyone.

  “What the hell?” I whisper.

  The place grows so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

  He puts the mic to his mouth. “Nina,” he says, then exhales slowly, like he’s letting out a long-held breath, one that’s held years of pain, secrets and demons. Jess grips my hand and holds me tight. “As you know, I’m an expert asshole, also known as The Playmaker.”

  The crowd goes crazy, and he grins at them, but then something happens. His expression changes, from that of The Playmaker to that of Cole just being Cole—the man I love. My heart crashes harder against my chest as his shield falls away.

  “You’re the girl I never thought I could have, thought I never deserved. The girl I’ve wanted since I was a teenager. I’m sorry I was such a dick. You deserve better than that from me.”

  “Oh my God,” Jess says, and starts jumping up and down beside me. “He’s doing it!”

  “I love you, Nina. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember,” he says, his arms wide open, everything about him honest and vulnerable. “I always believed hockey was the most important thing in the world to me, but man, I was wrong.”

  “Cole,” I whisper under my breath as my brother leans against the boards and grins up at me. OMG, he knew Cole was going to do this. He was in on it. Tears prick my eyes and I try to hold them back.

  “If you give me a chance,” he begins, his voice breaking, “I promise to be the man you need. I know you said no guy was as good as the ones you write about, but I want to try. Will you give me a chance, my Pretty BallerNina?”

  “Cole,” I say again, my heart beating too fast as Jess gives me a little nudge to set me in motion. I make a move toward the ice, and my brother skates over and helps me on. Another play comes onto the ice, and hands something to Cole before skates up to me. “You’re better than any man I could ever write about, Cole,” I say.

  He touches my chin, his warm gaze moving over my face as I lift my eyes to him. “You don’t hate me?”

  I take a long, steadying breath. “You hurt me, Cole.”

  The sadness on his face guts me. “I know, and I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

  “Luckily, I can…and you should know, I never stopped believing in you.” I poke him in the chest. “You, Cole. Not The Playmaker.”

  He puts the mic back to his mouth. “Did you hear that, everyone? My girl believes in me.” He jabs his thumb into his chest. The crowd goes crazy, and I glance around, having momentarily forgotten we were in the rink. His expression is no longer guarded as he looks at me. “You came to me asking for hockey lessons, and I had a few conditions.”

  My body warms as I recall those conditions. “I remember.”

  “One was that we were monogamous, no one else while we were together.”

  “I agreed to that.”

  “But I made a stupid rookie mistake.”

  My heart jumps. What’s going on? He told me he loved me. What mistake did he make?

  “One of those conditions should have been that I get to give you hockey lessons until we’re one hundred years old.”

  My heart stalls. “What do you mean?”

  He drops to one knee in front of me and his features soften.

  “Cole…” I say, choking on his name.

  He holds his hand out, revealing what his teammate had just handed to him. A ring box. “I want it all with you, Nina.” He opens the box, and showcases the most beautiful ring I’d ever set eyes on. “A house, a family, kids…a home. I want to grow old together.”

  I stare at the man I’m in love with, the most private person I know. He doesn’t let the world see the real him, yet here he is, exposing his true self to the world, for me.

  As my heart swells, I instantly realize two things: happily ever after does exist for me, and the plot for my hot hockey romance is going to be a very personal one.

  “Say yes,” he says.

  I drop to my knees, and he pulls me to him. “One condition,” I say.

  “Oh, now you have a condition, do you?” He flashes a grin toward the crowd and they go crazy once more.

  I lean in to him, put my hand over the mic, and whisper, “You continue to help me spice up my books. This hockey series is going to be hot, and you did mention something about tying me up. I believe you’re going to need to follow through with that.”

  “What did she say?” someone in the crowd yells.

  Cole clears his throat. “Sorry, folks, Nina’s brother is here and there are some things he should never hear.” He points to his eyes. “One black eye from my best friend is enough. Crazy Callaghan has a mean right hook.” The crowd laughs. “But Nina is worth the fight.”

  The crowd laughs harder as Luke skates over. Cole slides the ring onto my finger, then pulls me up with him. The two men hug, and Jess comes onto the ice with the bottle of champagne.

  I stare at her. “Ohmigod, you knew.”

  She gives me a grin. “Yeah, Luke called me.”

  “But you wanted to castrate Cole.”

  Cole makes a face and puts his hand over his crotch.

  “Yeah, I did. He hurt you, and if he didn’t do right by you tonight, he’d be walking out of here with one nut.” I laugh as Jess hugs me. “I needed to make sure he was the one you were willing to fight for, Nina.”

  “He is.”

  “Good.” Jess uncorks the champagne, and it sprays all over us.

  “You’re all wet,” Cole says, and brushes his thumb over my face.

  “Isn’t that the story of our life?” I whisper, and he grins, knowing exactly what I mean.

  “The story of our life is just beginning, Nina. And you know what? Real love stories never have endings.”<
br />
  I blink up at him. “Now that I’m going to have to use in a book.”

  His grin is wicked, full of sexual promises. “You know I’m always here to help you out with your stories.”

  I kiss him with all the love I have in me. “I love you, Cole.”

  “I love you too, Nina.” He glances at my brother. “Get in here, Luke.” Cole pulls him in for a hug, and my heart fills as I get sandwiched between my brother, and the man I’m going to marry…my little family…all together again.

  Epilogue

  One year later

  I shift in my chair and tears stream down my eyes as I type ‘The End.’ I sniff, push back in my plush seat, and glance around Cole’s library. Well, I guess technically it’s my library, too, since I moved in here with him after we got engaged. We spent all of last summer here at the house, redecorating and making it our own. I even framed our daisy paintings and hung them side by side in the front foyer. Cole wasn’t too thrilled at first, but I think he’s grown to love them.

  When hockey season hit, I went on the road with Cole and my brother. After watching an entire season, I have a million story ideas, and just finished the second book in my series, The Body Checker.

  A movement at the door gains my attention and my heart flutters when I see my husband.

  Husband.

  I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. Cole wanted to get married right away, and I agreed. We didn’t have a big wedding. Well, it wasn’t supposed to be a big one, with a ton of guests, since neither of us wanted that. But that didn’t stop almost every member of his hockey team from showing up. I didn’t mind, because the most important thing was having our family with us—and to Cole, he considers his team his family.

  The ceremony was held on the lawn of our home, with a celebration out back at the pool. Tabby and Jack flew in, Jess was here, and even my parents came for it. It was perfect.

  Cole lost his dad before the ceremony. It was a sad time for him and Tabby, despite everything they’d gone through. But they’ve both come a long way, healed so much.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Cole asks quietly as he crosses the room and sits on the edge of the desk.

  “I just wrote the end.”

  He wipes my tears away. “Sounds like it’s going to be a great one. I can’t wait to read it.”

  I close my laptop and lift my mouth to his for a kiss just as the doorbell rings. Excited, I jump from my chair, and Cole captures my hand as we make our way to the door. It’s the long weekend of May, and Cole and I are having our family over for a barbeque. Having all my family under one roof gives me so much joy, and I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks.

  Cole pulls the door open and the warm afternoon sun shines in.

  “Tabby!” I say and throw my arms around her, pulling her inside. I hug my sister-in-law, but not too tightly, seeing as she has a baby bump.

  “Why didn’t you use your key?” Cole asks.

  She looks at him like he’s dense. “Uh, you’re married now. I’m not going to just barge in and catch you doing…things.”

  “Things?” Cole asks, laughing.

  “Yeah, I read Nina’s books, you know. There are some things a sister never needs to know.”

  We both chuckle, and Cole pulls me to him. He slides his arm around my back, and I bask in his heat as Tabby looks around the house. “Where’s the food?” she asks.

  “Some things never change,” Cole says, and runs his knuckles over her head.

  “It was a long flight and you promised food. Now feed me.”

  Cole and Jack hug as he carries in the bags, and I loop my arm through Tabby’s. “Cole cooked for us.”

  “Oh, God.” She rubs her belly. “Sorry, little one.”

  I wink at my husband. “You’d be surprised at how good he is in the kitchen.”

  “All thanks to you,” he says.

  “And my first hockey book was a best seller, all thanks to you,” I respond, as he leans in and places a soft kiss on my mouth.

  “Jesus, get a room already,” Tabby says as the doorbell goes off again.

  I open it to find Jess and Luke standing there, both looking a bit awkward, if not uncomfortable, as they shift restlessly on the stoop. I hug my friend and look out into the street to see only one car. I crinkle my nose as my gaze goes from Jess to Luke. “Did you two come together?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Jess says, and pushes past me, like she can’t meet my gaze.

  WTH?

  Why would those two be traveling together? Back in the day, Jess and my brother got along about as well as two cats in a duffle bag. They were always sparring, much like Cole and I.

  Wait a minute…!

  Afterword

  Thank You!

  Thank you so much for reading The Playmaker, book one in my Players on Ice series. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I loved writing it. Please read on for an excerpt of The Stick Handler. Stay turned for the third book, The Body Checker, coming Jan 2019.

  Interested in leaving a review? Please do! Reviews help readers connect with books that work for them. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.

  Happy Reading,

  Cathryn

  The Stick Handler

  Luke

  “It’s over, Arianna.”

  “Over?” she spits out, her eyes venomous as they hold my stare. “Oh, we’re far from over, Luke.” As I square off against Arianna in her waterfront suite, the moonlight shimmering on Seattle’s Elliot Bay below, she points a finger at me, then wags it back and forth between the two of us. “In fact, you and me, we’re just beginning.” With that, she gives a defiant lift of her chin and flicks her long blonde hair over her shoulder, a dismissive gesture that I’ve grown accustomed to over the last six months. “Now go home, get a good night’s sleep and I’ll see you at the altar tomorrow afternoon.” She offers me her back and picks up her champagne glass, shutting me out, and this conversation down.

  I glance at my watch, take in the late hour. Yeah, okay, putting the brakes on our relationship the night before our wedding is a dick move on my part, but isn’t it better to make a clean break now, before we find ourselves old and miserable and totally hating each other? Come to think of it, do we even like each other now?

  “Ari—”

  She spins to face me. “Do you need a Midol, or something?”

  For fuck’s sake. “No, I don’t need a goddamn Midol.”

  “Then stop acting like you’re PMS’ing!” she shouts back.

  I shake my head. She might be a girl used to getting what she wants, but after overhearing her tell her friend she doesn’t love me, and revealing a few other facts that surprised the shit out of me, she can’t expect me to show up for the ceremony tomorrow. You’d think I’d be furious to find out her true feelings, right? But the funny thing is, I’m not really angry or upset at all, which says lot about the state of our relationship. I guess I’m grateful that I walked into the room during her private conversation. It snapped me the fuck out of the damn trance I’d been in for the last few months.

  “You and I both know this is a mistake,” I say.

  “A mistake?” she seethes. “How can you say that?” She finishes the champagne in her glass and struts to her kitchen to refill it. I pace her living room, glance out the floor-to-ceiling window. My gaze goes to the spectacular view of the waterfront ferris wheel at Pier 57, with the Washington state ferry in the background. Too bad I can’t quite seem to enjoy the Seattle Great Wheel, beautifully lit up this time of night. The tapping of Ari’s shoes reaches my ears as she comes back into the room.

  “Why are you still here?” she asks.

  “Because this conversation isn’t over.” I spin and point to the cellphone that never leaves her hand. “You just told your best friend that love isn’t important in a marriage.”

  She glares at me for a long moment, the anger leaving her baby blues as dark lashes fall slowly, only to flicker back open over come-hi
ther eyes. “Luke, honey, you know I love you. What I said, it’s just that Kari is just jealous of our relationship and I was being flippant. You know, to ease her pain, because she’ll never have what we have, baby.”

  “What exactly do we have?” It’s a question I’d been asking myself all day, long before I ever learned Ari valued money over love.

  She sets her glass down and sidles up to me, rubbing her lithe body against mine, another little ploy she uses when things aren’t going her way. “Together we can have it all. Remember that first weekend we spent in Boston?”

  Boston? Oh yeah, I remember Boston. Remember opening the door to my hotel room after our game, and finding a naked Ari on my bed. I thought I was concussing. That maybe I’d taken one too many hits to the head earlier that night. Either that, or she’d stumbled into the wrong room. I was a rookie, and a girl like Ari, well, she could have any guy on the team—one with much more power and play than me. But no, she assured me it was the Stick Handler she was looking for—my on-ice nickname.

  I wasn’t sure why she’d set her sights on me, and before I knew it, a few months had passed and she was planning an elaborate Valentine’s Day wedding. I’m not even sure I ever asked her to marry me. But the next thing I knew we were picking out a ring, and tasting pound cake with buttery icing.

  I scrub the back of my neck, work out the knots. “Ari—”

  Her hands go to my face, and she presses her lips to mine. “Our wedding is tomorrow Luke. Now is not the time to be getting cold feet.”

  “It’s not cold feet. I just heard you tell your friend I would make a suitable husband because I could keep you in the lifestyle you’re accustomed to.” Hell, maybe she picked me because, as the daughter of the man who owns the Seattle Shooters, she had insider information, knew I was about to land a significant contract and become one of the highest paid guys in the NHL. She sure as hell didn’t pick me out of love.

  I shake my head, hating that I let things get so out of hand, that I let her lead me like a lamb to the slaughter. I’m a grown fucking man who can make his own decisions, so why the hell did I just go along with her, cave to everything she wanted? Oh, maybe because it was easier to be with Ari, and go with the flow—keep my mind off the one girl I’ve always loved, the girl who’d grown up next door to me, and who keeps me in the friend zone.