Delay of Game (San Francisco Strikers Book 3)

by Stephanie Kay

  “You sure about that?” Beady eyed him.

  “Throbs a little, but not bad,” Finn said.

  “Good. Keep going,” Beady ordered, and Finn picked up the pace.

  Beady and Seibs ran him through a brutal workout, but his turns were tighter and his balance was improving. He was dripping with sweat when they were done with him, and he couldn’t wait to get home and really shower. The workout was just what he needed, and all he wanted to do was hunt down Sophia and celebrate. Monday’s appointment couldn’t come soon enough.

  ***

  Two hours later, after a quick meeting with Bugsy and Dr. Jonas, and a shower both at the rink and at home, Finn finally sat down on his couch with Bash and flipped on the Cooking Channel. The clean living show he enjoyed was just starting, and he was always looking for new recipes to try. He had his date with Molly tomorrow night and had no idea what to make.

  His phone buzzed across the coffee table, and he grabbed it, swiping it on when Grace’s name flashed on the screen.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “Because you’re calling me in the middle of the day, and I wasn’t expecting to talk to you until my dinner date with Molly tomorrow,” he said.

  “Can’t a sister call her big brother to chat?”

  “I’m sure that happens in some families.”

  “Very funny,” she muttered.

  “What’s going on? Everyone okay? Mom? Molly?” He hadn’t spoken to his mother in at least a week—no, more than that. Shit. This happened the last time his father showed up. He should call her. No. What he really needed to do was head up to Calgary and have a face-to-face conversation with his parents.

  “Yeah. Molly’s fine.”

  “And Mom?” He noticed her pause.

  “She and our father got in a fight in front of Molly. He accused her of not loving and trusting him because he didn’t come home one night.”

  “For fuck’s sake,” Finn barked out. “Why won’t she kick him out? And in front of Molly.”

  “I know.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “Last week. And don’t yell at me. I’m telling you now, in case Molly tells you tomorrow night.”

  “Grace, that shouldn’t be the only reason you’re telling me this.” Dammit, he was frustrated with the entire situation. And he was irritated that his father still hadn’t reached out to him with his demands. What the hell was the man waiting for? It kept Finn on edge, and he hated it.

  “I know that, but what are you going to do? You’re still rehabbing, and you are not coming up here until that is done. How is your ankle, anyway?”

  “Don’t change the subject. And my PT is almost done. I was back on the ice today.”

  “Oh Eric, that’s so great. You’ll be back in time for the season, right?”

  “That’s the plan. But…”

  “No. You are going to stay put, and I’m just going to limit Molly’s time with Mom until he leaves. He has to leave. I mean, I’m sure he’s going to leave at some point.” She sounded nervous and concerned, and he hated that he was over a thousand miles away.

  “I’m coming up there.”

  “No, you aren’t. Maybe Molly and I will visit you.”

  “I’m not going to let that asshole drive you and Mom apart,” he gritted out. “But you are always welcome here. I’d like to have dinner in person with my favorite girl. How was she after seeing them?”

  “She doesn’t understand what’s going on, and he’s her only grandfather, so she wants to spend time with him.”

  “Training camp is just under a month away, and I’m almost down to one PT session a week, so I’m coming up there in two weeks. I’d like to come now.”

  “No. But if you have the time, without canceling any of your appointments, then we would love to see you.”

  “Don’t tell Mom I’m coming.” He didn’t want his father to have any warning of his visit. They were going to have a conversation that was long overdue.

  Chapter 13

  “How do you convince me to jog with you? We could be vegging out and binge-watching that show with the superhero who does that salmon ladder thing. I keep watching the clip online to try and figure out how he does it. You know, so I can try it at the gym and not injure myself,” Claire said as she jogged alongside Sophia Saturday afternoon.

  Sophia chuckled. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s why you watch it.”

  “Right. Like you haven’t watched it on loop. I mean, holy hell, how is it even possible? I bet some of your hockey players could do it. Like maybe, Finn?” Claire said with a grin.

  Sophia did not want to think of Finn on a salmon ladder. She had no doubt that he’d accomplish it, and probably with ease. His biceps were the definition of arm porn, especially with the ink she knew was under his shirt. Not that she’d been Googling him again. That gorgeousness was committed to memory.

  “Looking a little flushed over there,” Claire teased.

  “That’s because it’s August and we’re jogging.”

  “Please. There’s a breeze. It’s the only way I agreed to go jogging today. You think he’s here? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how often you decide to jog in the park.”

  “And I haven’t run into him, except on that one day, so if I was trying to run into him, I totally suck at it,” she said, focusing on her breathing and each step in front of her, and not on Finn, and his arms, and being tangled up in them.

  “Shall we get closer to the dog park?” Sophia heard the grin in Claire’s voice.

  “No. I like this path just fine, thank you very much.”

  “Sure, sure. We’re still going out tonight, right? To C&B?”

  “Why do you do that? You know I’m working at the restaurant tonight.”

  “It was worth a shot. You could call out, or I don’t know, tell your family you quit?”

  “Let’s not do this now.” Sophia muttered.

  “I know, I’m awful for bringing it up, but you deserve to have a life outside of working… and it’s Saturday night. I want to booze it up with my bestie,” Claire said.

  “Maybe next weekend? I think I have Saturday off.”

  “I’m holding you to it. Oh, look who it is!” Claire said, pointing toward the gate to the dog park that they’d managed to slowly jog toward.

  Shit. Sophia hadn’t even noticed they’d gone off the path. She blamed Claire for that. And for thoughts of Finn distracting her.

  “Hey Finn,” Claire called out, and Sophia resisted the urge to elbow her friend. Sophia couldn’t help but watch as his head shot up at Claire yelling his name.

  “I’m going to kill you,” she grumbled.

  “No, you aren’t,” Claire said, heading toward the fence. “And stop resisting him. He’s a nice guy, right?”

  “Yes, but he’s still—”

  “Your patient. Yes, I get it, but not for much longer.”

  “It’s a real reason to resist,” Sophia said, but it even sounded hollow to her, and it didn’t stop her from moving toward him.

  “Hey Sophia, Claire,” he said, his smile bright. And adorable. His freaking dimples would be the death of her.

  “Hi Finn. Fancy meeting you here,” Claire said, and Sophia didn’t hold back a quick elbow to her friend’s side. “So violent,” Claire muttered.

  “Yes, imagine that. You know, there was one time that I could’ve sworn I saw Sophia jogging by. I think it was last month,” he said, and her cheeks heated.

  “I like jogging in the park. I guess it’s possible. Where’s Bash?” she asked.

  “He was playing with his best pal, Buckley, a minute ago,” Finn said, just as Bash bounded up to the fence and barked.

  She crouched down to pet his nose through the fence, laughing as he tried to lick her. “Hi Bash, nice to see you, too,” she said to the puppy. She swore she heard Finn mutter something about being jealous of a dog, and heat filled her cheeks again, but she kep
t her eyes on Bash.

  “Are you behaving today? Not tangling your leash around people or darting off?” she asked. His tongue lolled out and he smiled at her with his cute puppy grin.

  “Yes, he hasn’t caused any injury. My ankle is grateful for that,” Finn said. Sophia gave Bash one last pat before standing up.

  “How is your ankle? You skated for the first time yesterday. I’m sure it’s sore,” Sophia said. As long as she was here, she might as well go into full PTA mode.

  His eyes lit up. Dammit. He was way too attractive for her nerves.

  Stop fluttering, she ordered her belly. Not that it listened, of course.

  “It went great. So happy to be back on the ice. I swear I missed the smell of sweaty hockey players.”

  “That’s kind of gross,” Sophia teased, beyond happy that he was skating again.

  “Nah, you get used to it.”

  “How’s the ankle? No swelling?”

  “It’s a little sore. Our conditioning coach worked me hard, but I’ll get there. I was able to keep up with all the drills he ran me through, and training camp starts in just over a month, so I’ll be ready for that.”

  He was adorably animated, and excited like a kid on Christmas morning, which for him, this must be the same. Her heart swelled knowing that she’d helped him get there. That’s what she wanted for all her patients. But she was lying to herself if her churning emotions were only because he was going to fully recover, as her patient. It was more, and it scared her a little. She hadn’t felt a pull to a man in longer than she wanted to admit. Since Tony.

  Which had gone so well. She held back her scoff. Finn wasn’t Tony. She knew that. But Finn could hurt her. Not physically, from what she could gather, but it kept her from agreeing to have dinner with him. If only she could break their kissing habit.

  She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her snort at bay. Best wishes on that.

  “Sophia?” His voice cut through her daydreams of kissing him again.

  Shit.

  “Yes. That’s so great about your practice yesterday,” she said, brushing off his question at her clear distraction. He grinned like he knew exactly what she’d been thinking about. “Was the soreness worse than how it usually is afterwards?”

  “A little worse, but that’s to be expected since it’s been so long. Beady wasn’t going to go totally easy on me, even though it was my first day back. No pain, no gain, right?” he asked with a shrug.

  “Well, he should’ve gone a little easy on you. We don’t want to have you reinjure yourself and miss the start of the season.”

  He chuckled. “They know what they’re doing, and hockey players are tough. If I wasn’t a little sore, it wouldn’t be worth it.”

  “Just make sure you listen to your ankle.”

  “It’s not going to talk to him, Soph,” Claire said, with a laugh.

  Hell, Sophia had forgotten that her friend was there.

  “I know that. Umm, well, we should probably go, but we can talk about it more at your appointment on Monday. I’m so happy you were able to get back on the ice, finally,” she said.

  “Me too. Are you finishing up your run? We were just about to head out and grab lunch,” he said.

  “Oh, that’s perfect because I have to head back already. Work just messaged me,” Claire said, waving her phone so Sophia couldn’t actually read it.

  Sophia narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Work? Now?”

  “Yep. It’s this project,” Claire said, swiping through her phone. “Sorry to bail on you, but go have lunch with Finn. We already jogged at least three miles, so we were going to finish up soon anyway.”

  “I don’t think it’s been that long, but if you have to work, I’ll just head back with you.”

  “No. You should have lunch with Finn. At least have some fun before you go to work tonight.”

  Sophia caught Finn’s smirk out of the corner of her eye. Dammit, Claire was as subtle as a brick.

  “Have lunch with me and Bash. I know a great place nearby. We can talk about my ice time, if you want,” he said, leaning down to hook Bash’s leash to his collar, but keeping his eyes on Sophia. Those blue, gorgeous eyes that were lighter toward the center.

  “Great. I’ll see you back at the apartment,” Claire said. With a quick wave, she was off before Sophia could object again.

  “Shall we?” Finn asked. Bash nudged his fluffy head under her hand, and gazed up at her with pleading eyes that matched Finn’s.

  Honestly, what choice did she have?

  “Lead the way,” she said, unable to hold back a soft smile as Finn’s grin widened.

  She could already taste his lips against hers.

  She was going to kill him when she realized where they were going, but he couldn’t resist. Hopefully she wouldn’t turn around and bolt on him, but he was willing to take that chance.

  “What would you like to eat?” he asked, wanting to switch Bash’s leash to his other hand so he could link his fingers through hers, but he held back. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, the ends sweeping across her upper back as she walked, and he wanted to lean in and taste her sun-kissed skin.

  “I’m good with sandwiches, or something easy,” she said, catching him watching her. “What?”

  “Nothing. Just resisting the urge to kiss you,” he stated blandly, like he’d just asked her what kind of bread she preferred for her sandwich.

  Her cheeks brightened, and she looked down at Bash. “Your owner’s a troublemaker. Did you know that?”

  Bash tilted his head and grinned, and Sophia’s delectable shoulders shook with soft laughter. “Two of a kind, clearly.”

  “You’re working at the restaurant again tonight?”

  “Yep, and tomorrow.”

  “When do you relax?”

  She shrugged. “Now, I guess.”

  “Then we’ll have to make sure this is the most relaxing lunch you’ve ever had.” Which possibly put a damper on his plans, but he’d roll with it. He knew the best way to get her to relax, if only he could convince her of the same.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked, when they turned onto his block.

  “So, about that.” He hesitated.

  “Finn,” she drew out.

  “I thought we could have lunch at my place,” he said, stopping in front of the door.

  Her eyes widened. “Are you serious right now? We were supposed to go out to lunch. You knew a great place.”

  “I do. My place,” he said, hoping his smile was endearing. Bash let out a quick yip at Finn’s feet. “We’ll go up in a minute.” He leaned down, trying to look adorable so she’d cave. “We just have to convince Sophia that she wants to have lunch with us, and we promise to be on our best behavior. Well, I promise. You, I have no control over you.”

  “You’re shameless, you know that?” She tried to sound stern, but he saw the smile. The tiny smile at the corner of her lips that he wanted to trace with his tongue. Hopefully that would come later.

  “That’s not a no.”

  “This better be a damn good sandwich. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this, but lead the way,” she said.

  He opened the front door to his building and led her into the first elevator.

  “It’ll be the best damn thing you ever put in your mouth,” he said, and her eyes widened. He barked out a laugh. “Sophia, I didn’t mean it that way.” He tutted. “Now who’s being inappropriate.”

  “I’ll turn right around and go home,” she said, just as the elevator arrived on his floor.

  He grabbed her hand, tugging her into the hall. “I’m teasing you. And I promise you’ll love your lunch. Your sandwich.”

  She swatted his shoulder. “Troublemaker.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows at her, and relief coursed through him when she laughed. They’d teased and flirted for weeks now, but that slip in the elevator took it to a new level. A level he was definitely on board with.

  “What are we having?
” she asked as the front door shut behind them.

  He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss the hell out of her, but she’d barely agreed to come upstairs, so he held back. Hopefully there would be time for that later.

  “You’ll have to wait and see. Or you could help me make it,” he said, drawing her into the kitchen. He tossed a treat to Bash and opened the fridge door. “Water okay? Or something else?”

  “Water’s fine. And how fancy is this sandwich that you need assistance with? Not that you want my help. Remember, I’m a disaster in the kitchen.”

  He chuckled, grabbing the ingredients he’d need, and watching her brow raise with each item he put on the counter.

  “Super fancy,” she said, picking up the brie and prosciutto. “Wait. Are you just making me a fancy grilled cheese?”

  “Maybe,” he said, turning the oven on to preheat.

  “I should probably stay on this side of the island,” she said, scooting around the edge and sliding onto the barstool.

  “You can’t be that awful. You haven’t set yourself on fire, have you?” he asked, pulling out a skillet and dumping in the sliced onions.

  “Nope. That was my sister.”

  He stopped to stare at her. “What?”

  “She’s fine.” She laughed. “Actually, she’s the one who is amazing in the kitchen, so I guess that incident didn’t faze her at all.”

  He shook his head and took a sip from his own water.

  “What are you doing? Just cooking them down?” she asked.

  “I’m caramelizing them.”

  “Doesn’t that take a long time?”

  “I have a secret. If you add a pinch of baking soda, and wait to add the salt until the end, they will be perfect in less than fifteen minutes,” he said, stirring in the baking soda.

  “You should be on the Cooking Channel. I love that channel. Can you imagine? Star hockey player-slash-gourmet chef. People would love that,” she said, snagging a slice of prosciutto from the package.

  He laughed. “First, I’m not a gourmet. Just taught myself with what I had, and now I can afford fancier ingredients. And second, you watch the Cooking Channel? Isn’t that depressing for you?”