by Lauren Marie
Love on Ice
Canon City Series
Book 2
Lauren Marie
Excerpt from Love on Ice
“So, Kate, if your family wasn’t military, why did you move round so much?” he asked.
Kate felt frozen for a second, unsure how to answer him. “It was jobs mostly.” She looked into her coffee cup. “I mean, it wasn’t my family that moved. It was me and I moved to find jobs.”
“Why?”
She looked at him and didn’t know what to say that didn’t make her sound like an idiot. “I know you don’t like lying and I don’t want to lie to you, but...I’d rather not talk about it.” She watched him sit back in his chair and take a sip of his beer. The litany about her being nuts for accepting his lunch invite started in her head again. Jay seemed really nice and, of course, he wanted her information, but there was so much she wouldn’t ever talk about. It became difficult to tell him anything.
Love on Ice
The Canon City Series
Book 2
A Books to Go Now Publication
Copyright © Lauren Marie 2015
Books to Go Now
Also published on Smashwords
For information on the cover illustration and design, contact [email protected]
First eBook Edition –April 2015
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously.
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DEDICATION
For all the ladies at Evergreen RWA, I love all your support and helpful hints.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks go to Jennifer Conner and the folks at Books to Go, Now, for the opportunity and to my BTGN editor. It’s so great to be working with you.
I must always thank Mary Allen at American Gramaphone for all the crazy email questions and answers. I appreciate all the help. Mannheim Steamroller still rocks.
For copies of Going to Another Place see www.mannheimsteamroller.com.
Thank you to my friends and family for their love and support, too.
Thanks, as always, to my readers, Elizabeth Ainsley, and Tiffany Hinnenkamp. Your help is always appreciated.
For news and updates, check out laurenmariebooks.com and the page on Facebook
Also, by Lauren Marie
Love’s Embers - Canon City Series book 1
Love’s Touch - Then and Now short story: One Touch at Cob’s Bar and Grill-
Going to Another Place The Montana Ranch Series book 3
Let me hold your hand and be your friend.
Let me hold you in my arms and be your lover.
Let me look into your eyes so I know we have forever.
Chapter One
“Tommy, if you don’t stop hitting your brother with that stick, I’ll have to put you in the penalty box.”
“But, Mr. Hager, Sam cross-checked me in the back.” The seven-year-old looked up at him.
“That may be, but I didn’t see it. I saw you trip him and then hit him with your stick. Play a clean game, Tommy. I don’t want to have to suspend you before the season even starts.” Jay Hager stood up straight on his skates and blew his whistle. His mite level hockey team of seven, eight and nine-year-olds all turned to him. “Guys, we’ve only got two more weeks to practice before the season starts. Remember, we’re a team and if you hit someone and they get injured, we won’t have them for the opener. We’re going to be gentlemen out there and teach those other loser players what the word team means. Do you hear me?”
The kids all cheered and tapped their sticks on the ice.
“Good, let’s do a couple more skate rounds and then we’ll call it a day.” Jay blew his whistle and watched the kids move around the rink. “Sam, come here a second,” he said to Tommy’s brother. The kid skated over and stood in front of him. Jay put a hand on his shoulder. “Listen to me. You’re nine years old and you’ll probably be moving to the squirts next year, but I need your help. The younger kids need an older skater to look up to and if you and Tommy keep acting out the stuff that goes on at home, I won’t be able to make you captain this year. Do you get what I’m saying, Sam?”
“Yeah, I won’t cross check Tommy anymore.” Sam shifted from skate to skate.
“Good, I’m counting on you. Go finish the practice for me, okay?” Jay looked across the ice at one of his parent assistants who tried to break up a skirmish. Sam skated over to help out and Jay wanted to laugh. Sam would be helpful for about five minutes, but when he started to play again, he’d forget everything Jay said.
After ten minutes, Jay blew his whistle. “Okay, guys. That was a great practice. You look killer out there. Be sure to get lots of rest this week and eat good, not all that junky stuff. I’ll see you next week.”
He skated off the ice with his team. After he put on his blade guards, he walked to the bleachers where his tennis shoes waited. He saw a strawberry blonde woman, sitting by herself a few rows up and smiled at her. Jay saw her off and on over the last couple of weeks and thought she looked cute. He tried to think of an unusual way to approach her so he wouldn’t sound fake or cliché. He hadn’t dated or asked anyone out in so long he’d forgotten how to do it, and he couldn’t believe how nervous he felt.
He sat down and started to unlace his skates. Sam and Tommy’s mom walked up and sat down next to him.
“Hey, Sara. Do Sam and Tommy fight as much at home as they do on the ice?” He leaned over and took off a skate.
“Yeah, a bit. We’re thinking about giving Sam his own room. They constantly bicker.”
“Sam will be in the squirts next year. Maybe that will help, too. Since they’ll be on different teams, hopefully they’ll start to develop some loyalty to each other.” He finished tying his shoes and picked up his skates.
“Lord, I hope so. Dan has grounded them so many times they’ll probably live with us until they’re thirty. I’ll have him talk to the boys. I’m sorry you have to put up with them.”
Jay stood up and patted her on the back. “There’s no need to be sorry, Sara. We’ll get it worked out. See you next week.” He walked through the rink to a set of stairs and went up to his office. He set the skates under his desk and sat down. He heard the music switch on for the figure skating class and sighed.
He’d bought the rink five years before and worked hard to get it turned around. The place was originally a dump, but he’d done a lot of the remodel work himself, hired a couple of employees and did pretty well. The books were in the black which was a relief. They still operated with some open ice hours and Jay hoped eventually there would be more lessons. He’d started the Little Guys hockey league for the kids and really enjoyed coaching.
After he looked at the time sheets for the week and sent them through to his accountant, he got up a
nd poured a cup of coffee from the never-ending pot, which he kept filled all day. He walked out to the balcony area and set his cup on the flat rail. He looked out over the rink and saw the classes going strong. The pre-teen girls were out with their teachers and worked on spins. He looked around the bleachers and saw the strawberry blonde woman still sat with her hands wrapped around a cup. She’d watch the classes and hockey team practices. For some crazy reason, Jay thought he knew her, but couldn’t figure out from where. He knew she worked across the road at Harry’s Diner, but thought she looked familiar from somewhere else as well.
He picked up his coffee cup and went back down the stairs. He’d tried to catch her last Wednesday, but by the time he’d gotten down to the bleachers she already left the rink.
When he reached the area where she sat, Jay stepped up his pace and casually walked over to the bench where she sat.
She glanced up at him and he saw the most beautiful eyes look into his. They were sky blue, but seemed a bit tinged with purple. He thought she probably wore contacts.
“Hi, I’m Jay Hager. I know this is crazy, but did we go to college together? I went to U.C.B.” He sat down next to her.
“Probably not,” she said and continued to watch the skaters.
“Are you sure? You really look familiar.”
“I didn’t go to college, so it’s unlikely. I’ve also never been to Boulder.” She sipped from her cup. She didn’t look at him and he saw her back straighten as though she’d tensed up. It bugged him a little.
“Do you skate?” He looked at her and saw her eyebrows jump and then crease for just a second.
“Yes.”
Jay nodded and thought, this one doesn’t talk much. “Don’t you work over at Harry’s?”
“Yes.”
“When I saw you in there, I thought I knew you, but I can’t figure it out. It isn’t from here at the rink. It’s one of those things that can drive you nuts at two in the morning.”
“Great.” She stood up. “It was nice to meet you,” she said and started down the bleachers.
Jay sat up straight when he realized she was leaving. She threw her cup in the garbage
can and headed to the front. “What’s your name?” he called out, but she didn’t turn back or answer.
****
Kate Beck crossed the street and walked away from the rink. She followed the street past the diner and looked over her shoulder multiple times to make sure that guy didn’t follow. She’d seen him at the rink and in the diner, but had never waited on him. She turned down a driveway and went to the door of the basement apartment she rented. Once inside with the door locked, she exhaled and felt safe. She knew there was no reason to be paranoid, her mother probably gave up the search for her long ago, but she just couldn’t be sure. She’d crowned her mother one of the top ten worst sports mothers in the history of the world. She would swear to it on a stack of Bibles.
She’d been on the run for eight years and got very good at covering her tracks. She’d changed her name so many times and found it hard to remember her real name was Stacy Douglas. Her mother hadn’t caught up with her for the last three years and in the last year she’d actually let her natural hair color grow out. She still used her alias, Kate Beck. Kathryn was her real middle name and she’d liked Becks music when she used to skate. She’d come up with several aliases since she’d left her mother behind and hoped she could stick with Kate Beck for a while.
She stretched out on the couch that came with the apartment, pulled a blanket over her and then closed her eyes and tried to take a nap. She didn’t have to be at work until later and hadn’t slept well all the past week.
Her mind turned to the man. She knew he owned the rink and enjoyed watching him coach the kid’s hockey team out on the ice. He treated the kids fair and seemed to know a lot about hockey. He wasn’t hard on the eyes, either. He was very tall with gorgeous golden-brown eyes. One of the women at the diner, Shar, went to high school with him a few years ago and said she wouldn’t have minded dating him at one time, but now felt he was better friend material. Besides, her husband wouldn’t go for a threesome. Shar said he once played for an NHL farm team, but messed up his knee really bad.
Kate rolled over onto her side and tried to relax. She wanted to forget everything, but for some reason her brain continued to roll back to Jay. She wanted to forget Stacy Douglas, but the memories always found an inconvenient time to haunt her. She tried to stay in one place for at least six months, but if she started to feel trapped, she’d pack up her bag and leave. Canon City seemed like a nice place to hunker down for the winter, but she’d thought that way in other towns.
About a year ago, the loneliness began to bug her more and more, and she couldn’t figure out a way to make it stop. She lived in a small town in Wyoming then and the winter was very hard. Other than working, she’d spent most of her time in the tiny apartment she’d rented. The loneliness became bad in the middle of the night. Wherever she worked, she never talked to the other employees much. She never shared any fun news -- not that she ever had any fun news. The people she worked with at Harry’s Diner were really nice and pleasant. They didn’t butt into her business and seemed to accept her as she appeared to them. Shar turned out to be a really good source of information. Kate got all kinds of recommendations about Canon City from the other waitress. Whether it was where to get her hair cut or the location of shops or the library, Shar seemed to know everything.
Kate read any book she could get her hands on, but even that wasn’t fun and diverting anymore. When she got to a new town she always went to the library and applied for a card or she went to the used books stores. Lately, she’d been reading romance novels and wondered if she’d ever be able to have a normal relationship with a man. She would really like to wake up in the morning with someone beside her to share the day. She thought about the man at the rink and wondered if he was nice or if he had some weird dark side that never showed up in public.
She moved onto her back and ran her hands through her hair. She needed to stop reading the romance novels. They made her want too much. She frowned and wondered if that was why she’d felt so alone these past months. Was she too stupid to realize that the stories she’d read were just stories and she’d almost certainly never have a happy ending?
Chapter Two
Five o’clock rolled around and Kate put on the stupid pale blue uniform dress she wore for work and her white sneakers. When she arrived at the diner, she dumped her jacket and purse in her locker and went to find out which section she’d work that night. The head waitress pointed and said Kate was behind the counter.
An older couple came in and sat mid-way down. She poured them a cup of coffee and took their order. After a while the dinner crowd started to come in and the counter only had a few stools left.
Kate heard the bell above the door and saw Jay Hager walk in. She looked at his dark hair and incredible eyes, and almost started to laugh. His height was impressive. He waved at Harry, the owner, in the kitchen and then he looked at her. Their eyes locked and she quickly walked to the other end of the counter to check on her customers. She refilled some coffee cups and passed out a couple of bills, then looked down at the other end. He’d sat down by the senior couple who’d just gotten up to leave. He talked to the man and then seemed to listen and laughed.
She saw Shar, the other waitress, walk past him and heard her say, “Hi, coach.”
“Hey, are you behind the counter tonight?” he asked.
“No, I’m doing tables. Kate will be with you in a second. Be patient.” She smiled at him and continued to check on her tables.
Kate felt a little jealous that Shar felt so comfortable in a room full of people. She wished she could stay here long enough to learn what that felt like.
After she poured another coffee, Kate got a couple of tickets read
y and gave them to the customers. She knew she couldn’t ignore the coach and would just have to play it cool. She walked over and took her pad out of her apron pocket. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
He smiled up at her and looked at her name tag. “Yes, Kate. Could I get coffee with some creamer?”
She nodded and went to the coffee pot. She pulled a small cream pitcher out of the half-fridge and walked back to him. She turned a cup over and poured. “Are you ready to order?” She set the pot back on a burner and waited for him to answer.
“What are the specials tonight?”
“Chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables, and a mushroom Swiss burger with fries.” She waited patiently.
“What about the soup?” He continued to smile at her and she started to get annoyed.
“Cream of broccoli and barley beef.”
“Hmm...I think the burger medium-well with French fries sounds good.”
She wrote it down. “Thank you, sir.” She put the ticket up on the wheel and spun it into the kitchen. Two orders waited and she reached for them. She walked to the end of the counter and delivered them to the customers. She went back half way to the window and looked at the other end of the counter toward the back. The people down there looked happy.
She could feel his eyes watch her as she moved. She wanted to go on a break, but started work less than an hour ago. She shook her head and did her best to ignore him, but then his burger arrived in the pass-through window. She reached for it and took it down to him.