by Jennie Marts
“All right, ladies. We have a lot of work to do here in a short amount of time, so we need to get to work,” Vivi instructed, then showed the women around the snack bar.
She assigned each woman to a station—Chloe to drinks, herself to the food, and Tess and Quinn to the registers. “It’s not too complicated. We only serve hot dogs, chips, and soda or bottled water to drink. We have popcorn and candy bars for snacks, and the board tells them what varieties we offer for drinks and candy.”
Vivi pointed to the menu board on the wall behind her. “These are the choices we have, and if they don’t like it, tell them they git what they git and to not throw a fit.”
Chloe let out a chuckle. “Oh, that’s good. Can I steal that for my classroom?”
“You’re welcome to it. And it’s nothing Max isn’t used to hearing.” Vivi looked at Quinn. “You’re welcome to use that with my son as well. It’s a phrase that comes in handy in lots of scenarios. Not what he expected for dinner? Too bad. Not the flavor cereal he normally buys? Not content with a quickie squeezed in between the third load of laundry and trying to get supper on the table? Tough shit. You git what you git, and you don’t throw a fit.”
Quinn’s eyes went wide, then they all exploded into laughter.
* * *
Tess was having the best time. The snack bar was a hoot to run with the other women, and the game was a blast to watch.
Mason looked as much at home on the ice as he did on the ranch.
She was surprised at the ease with which he handled the puck, skillfully taking it down the ice and passing to the other players. He moved as if he’d spent his whole life on skates, easily maneuvering backward and forward.
His shoulders looked even broader with the help of the pads under his jersey, and he seemed impossibly tall as he skated off the ice and dropped onto the bench.
Tess caught her breath as he pulled off his helmet. His black hair was soaked with sweat and sticking up in spiky bunches, and his face was flushed with exertion. A happy smile covered his face as he joked with his teammates. He looked hot as hell, and she couldn’t believe she’d been in that guy’s bed the night before.
He glanced up in the bleachers and caught her eye, raising his chin and offering her a grin, and she melted into her chair. Feeling a sizzle of electricity surge up her spine and her face heat with warmth, all she could do was grin back and lift her hand in a little wave. She couldn’t stop smiling, couldn’t hold back that grin if she tried.
Then she couldn’t help wondering how many people had just seen that little exchange and how many women had just died a little inside from jealousy.
It was the third period, and she sat in the bleachers with Quinn. Vivi had told them they’d earned a snack, so they’d each grabbed a soda and a bag of popcorn before they’d shut down the snack bar for the period.
Vivi and Chloe sat a few rows up with Max and Ham. Between the three James boys and Quinn’s brother, Logan, they had a family member on the ice to cheer for during most of the game.
The clock had sixteen minutes left, and the younger team had just tied the score, giving the teams two points each.
“Let’s go, boys!” Quinn cupped her hand around her mouth and yelled down to the ice. “Come on, Rock.” He must have heard her, because he turned his head and flashed a cocky grin, then spun around and skated backward a few feet.
“Show-off,” Quinn said, but her smile lacked any malice as she tossed a piece of popcorn toward the glass.
“You guys seem really happy,” Tess said, trying to tear her eyes away from Mason, who had put his helmet on and was skating back onto the ice.
“We are.”
“I heard somebody say you were high school sweethearts, but then someone else said you’d only been together a few weeks.” She hadn’t actually heard anyone say that. That was just part of the information Gordon had given her.
“They were both right, in a way,” Quinn told her. “We were actually junior high sweethearts and went together all through high school. Then Rock went off to college and started playing hockey with the big leagues. His head and his ego convinced him he was bigger than this small town—and apparently his small-town girlfriend—and he broke things off with me, breaking my heart in the process.”
“Oh gosh.” Tess knew making small, noncommittal remarks was the best way to keep someone talking.
“Don’t worry. I got him back. I got drunk at a party and slept with a local guy I knew Rock would hate. But my plan backfired, because Rock didn’t care, or I didn’t think he cared at the time, and I ended up pregnant. I’m not complaining. Max is the best thing that ever happened to me, but I was pissed as hell at Rock for years.”
“What changed?”
“He did, I guess. Or maybe we both did. He came home at the beginning of the summer to recuperate after getting hurt in a game, and we found our way back to each other. Neither of us are those dumb kids we were in high school. We’ve both changed. We’ve grown up, and we’ve apologized and forgiven each other.”
“That’s great you found each other again,” Tess said around a mouthful of popcorn, trying not to seem too eager to hear the details but loving everything Quinn was telling her.
“It was great. It was kind of funny how it happened. The day he came home, he pulled up beside me on the road to the ranch, all hot and handsome, and I was wearing a pirate costume and riding a kid’s bicycle.”
Chapter 15
“You’re kidding!” Tess couldn’t believe it. This story just kept getting better and better.
Where was her notepad? The stuff Quinn was giving her was pure gold.
For the rest of the period, the other woman told her the story of how she and Rock had found each other again, how they’d overcome their differences, and how they’d never stopped loving each other.
Totally engrossed in the story, Tess felt her eyes fill with tears as she heard about the events that had played out over the last several weeks. She forgot she was digging for information and just enjoyed the details of Rock and Quinn’s love story.
Quinn wound up her narrative, and Tess realized the game had less than a minute left. They stopped talking and turned their attention toward the players.
Rock was on the bench, but Mason and Colt were on the ice. Colt had just won the face-off and was skating forward.
He slipped between two defensemen, breaking away and charging the goalie. The rest of the team was skating forward, putting all their effort into getting to the net.
Colt skated up to the crease, pulled back his stick, and fired the puck, but didn’t aim for the goalie. Instead he passed neatly to Mason, who had just skated to the net.
The puck hit Mason’s stick with a smack, and he shot it forward, sending it sailing over the right shoulder of the goalie and into the net.
The crowd went wild, jumping to their feet and cheering. No one really seemed to care which team won. They had cheered just as crazily when the younger guys had scored earlier. They seemed to love seeing them all play, and everyone appeared to be having a great time.
The teams lined up again in the middle, the clock allowing one more minute of play. Colt was playing center and facing off against a skinny kid who couldn’t have been more than sixteen.
The crowd cheered as the ref dropped the puck and the kid snagged it, skating past Colt and breaking away down the ice.
Quinn had told Tess that the older team’s goalie was a college kid, home for the summer. He’d played in this game every year, but this year was his first time playing on the men’s team.
He crouched low, hitting the ice with his stick as if egging the younger guy on. His college team was the Tigers, and his goalie mask was painted to resemble a tiger’s head, with yellow and black stripes slashing across the sides.
One of the older guys tried to catch the kid with the puck, but he weaved a
round him with the ease of a pro and sped toward the goalie, keeping the puck tight against his stick. The crowd was still on their feet, yelling and cheering as the kid skated toward the left side of the goalie.
At the last second, he dinked to the right side, pulling back his stick and firing a shot at the net.
The goalie’s glove shot out and the puck sailed neatly into its center, landing with a thud as the goalie snatched the puck from the air just as the buzzer sounded, ending the game.
“They won!” Quinn shouted, her popcorn flying as she jumped up and down.
Tess jumped up and down too. Quinn’s excitement and the crowd’s enthusiasm were contagious. She hadn’t been to a lot of hockey games, and never one where she’d cared much about who won. But tonight, cheering for Mason, and being with his family, made her feel as if she’d actually had some skin in the game, and she was thrilled they had won. And that Mason had made the winning goal.
He was going to get the glory for the win tonight, not Rock. She somehow knew Mason would never admit that he cared about that, but the simple fact of it made her heart sing for him.
Whether he talked about it or not, he would know. And the town would know.
She and Quinn raced up the bleachers to hug Vivi and cheer with her and Hamilton. Max was beside himself, shouting and flinging popcorn into the air. Tess couldn’t be happier.
For a minute, she let herself believe this was all real. That she was actually part of this family, that Quinn and Chloe were her friends, that Mason was really her boyfriend, and that she wasn’t about to pull the rug out from under all of them with an exposé on Rock.
Guilt settled in her stomach like sand at the bottom of a pool. Like when the water looked clean and refreshing, but when someone jumped in, a hard layer of dirt and grit scraped at the bottom of their feet. She knew that feeling. Knew the gritty, sandpaper-against-your-soul feeling of having someone treat you as if they really cared about you, but in reality, they were just using you to get what they wanted.
But this was different from the way she’d been treated. Wasn’t it?
It had to be.
It was. It was different. Because she really did care about Mason.
But I’m still using him.
She pushed the thought aside. Just enjoy the moment. Enjoy the feeling of belonging to something—to a family. A whole family.
Vivi clapped her hands together. “All right, girls. Let’s head back to the snack bar and get everything cleaned up while the guys shower and dress. Then we can go celebrate.”
Ham nodded. “We’ll help. I know the fellas are going to be hungry, and I could go for a burger myself.”
Really? She’d just seen him and Max scarf down several hot dogs, a bag of popcorn, and some M&M’s. Not that it mattered. Hamilton James didn’t have an ounce of fat on his wiry frame.
She’d never spent so much time surrounded by gorgeous men whose bodies were muscled and tanned and ridiculously hot. Even Ham, who was old enough to be her dad, still had a rugged handsomeness to him. It was as if they were all versions of the Brawny man, but in western shirts and cowboy boots.
Ham and Max followed the women back to the snack bar to help clean and pack up the extra supplies. With all of them working, it didn’t take long. Chloe and Vivi filled the coolers with the extra food while Tess wiped down the counters. Quinn cleaned out the register, compiling the receipts and putting the cash into a plastic money bag.
They’d had a tip jar sitting between their two registers, and Quinn dumped the contents of it into a paper sack and handed it to Tess. “This is yours.”
She held her hands up, not taking the bag. “What? No. We should split this between all of us.”
Quinn shook her head. “We’re good. We want you to take it. Besides, it was your smile that got the majority of these tips.”
Yeah right. Quinn was a cowgirl bombshell. With her blond hair and tall, curvy figure, she could have been a model.
“Oh, come on. You got just as many of these, especially because you knew almost every person that we helped.”
That was true. Between Quinn, Chloe, and Vivi, they really did know almost everyone who had approached the counter.
“Tess, it’s okay. I’m not worried about it. Really. I’m getting married to an NHL hockey player in two days.” Quinn nodded her assurance again as she pressed the bag into Tess’s hands. “Take it. You worked hard today. You earned this money.”
Tess blinked at the prick of tears behind her eyes. Quinn got it. She understood. “Fine. I’ll take it.”
“Good.” Quinn turned to finish packing a box with the extra supplies, cutting off any further discussion about the matter.
Tess stuffed the bag into her purse. She had earned this money. She’d worked hard today. And at this point anything would help.
She’d seen several people drop singles into the cup and imagined there were enough to at least put some gas in her tank to get her home and back. She could use a trip home to get fresh clothes and use her own shower. Although no shower would ever be as good as the one in Mason’s master bathroom.
Images of her and Mason in the shower filled her mind. Quick flashes of wet hair, slick skin, and being pressed naked against the tiled wall while the steam rose around them had her skin heating, and she hoped no one noticed the blush she was sure was coloring her neck and cheeks.
“Any hot dogs left for the winning team?” Rock’s voice boomed as he, Mason, and Colt stepped into the room.
The air filled with the scent of freshly showered men—a heady combination of shampoo, masculine-scented soap, and expensive, musky aftershave.
Quinn let out a cheer, then squealed as Rock crossed the room and lifted her off her feet with a giant bear hug. He grabbed Max with one hand, lifting him into the mix of the family hug as the boy laughed and joined in the happiness.
Tess swallowed at the sudden emotion clogging her throat. She wasn’t sure if the feeling was coming from remembering her parents and what it was like to have the bond of a family unit, or if it was from the guilt that filled her, knowing she was an intruder here, an imposter who had wormed her way in.
She didn’t have time to think too deeply about it because her concentration and her breath were taken by the hot cowboy who sauntered her way, a roguish grin covering his face.
“Any chance you’ve got a hug like that for me?” He opened his arms, and she stepped into them, wrapping herself around his body and pressing her face into his delicious-smelling neck.
“You want a kiss to go with it?” she whispered against his ear.
A low rumble sounded in his throat before he whispered back, “It’s all I’ve been thinking about for the last few hours.”
She chuckled. “You were supposed to be thinking about the game.”
His lips curved into a grin as they brushed hers. “I’m a good multitasker. I can do two things at once.”
“You are good with your hands. And your lips,” she whispered before he captured her mouth in a kiss. A kiss that robbed her of any other thoughts. A kiss that consumed her.
And that was over too soon.
He pulled back as Colt jabbed him in the side. “Dude, you do realize there are other people in this room.”
She’d forgotten. For just a second. For just a wonderful, heady, passion-filled second.
Mason grinned down at her, and it was as if the sun had come out on a cloudy day. He really had forgiven her from earlier.
Tess smiled back at him, knowing the kiss was over, but her world had still been rocked. She held on to him, a fold of his shirt clutched in her hand as she tried to regain her bearings. She only hoped Mason was too busy punching his brother in the arm to notice the way her hand shook against his back.
“Great game, guys.” Ham congratulated them with a hearty cheer. “And nice work, Mace, with the winning
goal. You’re the hero of the game.”
Mason shook his head. “Thank you, sir. But it was a team effort. And really, Colt was the one who got the puck down the ice, then deked the goalie to make the pass to me. I just fired it in.”
“Don’t be modest, Brother,” Colt said, shoving him in the shoulder. “You owned that goal.”
Tess loved watching the slow, almost shy grin of pride spread across Mason’s face. It only lasted a second before he shrugged it off, but she’d seen it.
“Whatever,” he said. “Where are we going to eat? I’m starving.”
“I thought we’d head over to The Creed. That way, you guys can get burgers for a late lunch, and those of us who’ve been gorging on hot dogs and popcorn can get an appetizer or dessert,” Vivi said.
“What’s The Creed?” Tess asked Mason.
“It’s really The Creedence Tavern. We’ve just always called it The Creed. It’s like a restaurant and pub. It’s got pool tables and darts and has the best burgers in town.”
“Sounds good,” she answered, thankful for the tip money she’d stowed in her purse. She could now actually afford a hamburger.
Mason nudged her and gave a slight raise of his chin toward his brother, who was awkwardly approaching the third-grade teacher who had been quietly blending into the wall at the back of the snack bar.
“Hey, Chloe,” Colt said, ducking his head at the petite woman. “I don’t know if you remember me. We met earlier this summer at the drive-in. I was with my brother.”
Her cheeks went crimson, evidence that she did indeed remember. “Of course. I mean, yes, I do remember you. Hi.”
The exchange was almost painful to watch, but also sweet. The bubbly wit Chloe had shown earlier with the women was gone, replaced by a shy demeanor that had the woman’s eyes downcast and her body practically shrinking into itself.
“It sounds like we’re all going over to The Creed. You’re coming along, right?” Colt asked, his voice soft and easy, almost as if he were approaching a skittish horse.