Gauging the Player: A One-Night-Stand Sports Romance (The Playmakers Series Hockey Romance Book 3), стр. 30
Hot!
Hands full of popcorn and beer, eyes glued on Assistant Captain Hotness, Lily goosed herself when she accidentally landed on the armrest. She recovered quickly and plopped into her seat, never taking her eyes from Gage. Beside her, Ivy began pointing out different players she found in her program, reciting their stats. Lily couldn’t have cared less … until Ivy started enthusing about “Star Center Gage Nelson.”
“Oh yeah,” the fan seated in front of them said as he turned in his seat, a difficult maneuver with his portly body, “Nelson is awwwwesome!Fast as lightning and slippery as an eel. Thank God he’s ours. Other teams really have a hard time handling him.”
Ivy gouged Lily’s ribs with a sharp elbow. “Maybe you could handle him, Lil. He’s a very fine specimen of hot hockey hunkiness! Hubba-hubba!”
“Ivy, hush!” Lily hissed.
“Why? Just because I’m married doesn’t mean I can’t feast my eyes on a mouthwatering piece of man-candy. Woo hoo! You go, Number Six!” She waved a foam finger above her head.
The fan’s shoulders shuddered with laughter in front of them while Lily fought the urge to bury her face in her hands.
Meanwhile, the players lined up for drills. On the opposite side of the rink, Gage was casually bouncing a puck on his stick blade.
Whoa! How does he do that? Gotta be superior hand-to-eye coordination, and, uh, athletic prowess.
It should’ve been cold in the arena, but Lily suddenly felt warm. She fanned herself with Ivy’s program.Gage dropped the puck, passed it to a teammate, and looked right at her, a huge grin plastered on his face. Okay. He knew we were here the whole time. Showoff. She returned the smile—couldn’t stop herself—her blood effervescing like soda inside a shaken-up bottle.
The players finished their pregame warm-ups and began drifting off the ice until only two Blizzard players remained. One was Number Six. On one last loop, he skated by their section, slowing, balancing on a single skate with his other leg drawn up as he got closer. He thumped his heart with his fist and pointed at her before gunning for the exit chute. People in the stands turned toward her. Her blazing face must have given her away because one enthusiastic fan hollered, “Nelson? Nice!”
“I just do his PR,” she squawked to no one in particular.
From somewhere behind her came, “Sure that’s all you dofor him, Blondie?” followed by, “I’d be doing a lot more than his PR if I were you, honey. That man’s a hottie!”
When Lily swiveled her head toward her sister, Ivy’s eyes and mouth were round O’s, her chin practically scraping her chest. “Is that … Is he …?”
Lily shushed her, but it didn’t prevent Ivy leaning to her ear and whisper-shouting over the booming music, “He’s your July guy, isn’t he? Oh my fucking God, Lil! Way to go, Baby Sis!” She punched Lily’s arm and gave her two thumbs-up before throwing her arms around her and squeezing tight. Lily doubted a red brighter than the color staining her face existed in the universe.
Gage was on fire tonight, playing stupid-out-of-mind. Everything he touched, everything he did worked! He was golden. Passing, skating, stealing the puck, protecting it. The damn thing seemed to find him and bend to his will. He flew up and down the ice, setting up plays, dekeing, putting on skating clinics. No one could touch him.
Late in the third period, with the score tied, he roofed the puck with a wicked wrist shot, popping the goalie’s water bottle. He’d found the back of the net for his second goal of the game. That one’ll show up on the highlight reels!
“Beauty goal, Admiral!” T.J shouted from across the ice.
Gage glided on one skate, pumping his arms, puffing his chest like a damn rooster before he threw himself at the glass and roared. On the other side, fans pounded their palms against the glass, making it bow and flex as they screamed their heads off. And he was right there with them.
God, what a rush! Nothing like it! Better than sex!
As his teammates skated over to mob him for the celly, his eyes lifted to Lily. Gorgeous smile on her gorgeous face, she clapped and jumped in place. For him. Her beautiful curls bounced on her slight shoulders. Other parts of her bounced too.
Okay. Not better than sex, but damn close.
He was engulfed by his teammates, hugging, slapping, telling him what a fucking awesome goal it was. He slapped them back. “Okay, boys. We got this. Let’s finish these fuckers off. We’re gonna win this one!”
And they did.
The locker room exploded when they came off the ice, guys celebrating, smacking each other with towels, clothes, gear. With playoffs right around the corner, every game counted, and they’d just gained two points on conference-leader Arizona in the standings. Soon he might be able to say, “Eat that, Beckett Miller!”
Gage snatched his phone from his locker and texted Lily before the press found him and held him up. Natalie’s on her way to find you. Go with her and wait for me?
Stripping off his gear, he turned and faced the reporters and questions coming at him. He never believed the gushing crap they wrote about him—he knew only too well how imperfect he was—but tonight he might just buy in for a little while and enjoy himself.
“What happened on the ice tonight, Gage? You were unstoppable!”
He grinned. Blond hair and blue eyes happened. He couldn’t wait to get out of there—he just hoped Lily would wait.
Another thirty minutes passed before he disentangled himself from the boisterous locker room crowd, showered, and made his way into the corridor alongside his captain, Dave “The Grim Reaper” Grimson. Grims heaped more praise on him as they walked.
“You were un-fucking-believable tonight, Admiral Nelson.