Tripping (Iced #2) - Kristine Allen Page 0,49
I with her? I knew I was head over heels, but was I ready to get married? That was a huge step. Yet, I knew in my soul of souls that she was the one. My feelings for her far exceeded the puppy love I’d had with Cassidy all those years ago.
She was the first woman since Cassidy that I’d had a serious and meaningful relationship with. That in itself said a lot.
Honestly, I didn’t care if the entire world knew how I felt about her, but I didn’t want to scare her away by moving too fast. The thought of her wearing my ring had my heart pounding as excitement coursed through my veins. Unable to get enough of her, I stared.
“What are you looking at?” she asked with a grin, catching me staring at her intently. “Are you okay? Do I have something on my face?” She wiped blindly at her cheeks.
“Yeah, you do,” I murmured and leaned closer.
She stretched herself up to examine her face in the rearview mirror. “Where?”
“Right here,” I said as my fingers wandered along her cute little freckles, trailing down to the one in the bow of her lips. Then I guided her face closer and pressed a kiss to her full lips.
That kiss was different from any of our past experiences. Though it was soft and sensual, it rocked my world more than the most passionate one we’d shared. It settled deep into my bones and took root in my heart.
Because in that kiss, I knew I was irrevocably in love with Bleu Reynolds.
As we skated out on the ice, I chanced a quick glance up at their seats and saw the flame-red hair that let me know my girl had made it. A sense of peace settled in my heart knowing she was there.
Shit went downhill from there.
The first period was a clusterfuck. Carolina was playing dirty.
I’d already been in the penalty box for tripping. Coach wasn’t happy, but it was honestly an accident. Refs don’t care about that shit, though.
Stick loose in my hand, I moved the puck across the ice. With twenty-three seconds left on our power play, we needed to play with a fucking purpose. A pass to Jericho when he was in range, and we were back in the game.
It was like magic. The universe aligned perfectly. Whatever it was, it was awesome. Jericho managed to send a slap shot hurtling toward the net. It moved so fast, I couldn’t even follow the puck.
Obviously, neither could Carolina’s goalie, because the light was flashing and the crowd was screaming before he knew the puck had passed him. If I had to guess, that thing was moving at near a hundred miles an hour.
“Austin scores on the power play!” The rest of the announcer’s words were lost in the shouting of our teammates as we celebrated the goal. Carolina’s goalie was pissed. I could see it in his face behind his cage. In all fairness, that was a miracle shot, and I wasn’t so sure if Beck would’ve been able to stop a shot like that.
“Fuck yeah!” Kris said as he damn near choked Jericho in a huge bear hug. It didn’t last long, because the game went on. Sweat dripping in my eyes, we quickly switched lines a couple at a time.
As I sat on the bench next to Alex, Mikhail, Andreas, Mikko, Xavier, and Nate busted their balls on the ice. When the second period ended, we were up by one.
We were understandably boisterous when we entered the locker room at the end of the period.
“Nice turnaround, boys! But we still have work to do out there, so make sure you keep your heads in the game. We’re only up by one. Don’t get cocky.” Coach continued to go over plays and what we needed to watch for. We set the game strategy for the final period, and before we knew it, it was time to head back out to the ice.
Coach gave us one last pep talk. “Listen up! Play with heart, kick ass, and take names. Oh, and if we could keep the penalties to a minimum, that would be great.” He pointedly started at me. Unconcerned, I shrugged, and he rolled his eyes. I’d pay for that in drills tomorrow.
“Yeah, Trip,” Kris teased, and I flipped him off.
For the last period, neither of our teams scored, but that was okay because it meant we won. Excited to see Bleu and high on the win,