my lips. “Any time she wants another lesson, just let me know.”
“I will.”
I hope she does, too, because I love watching you two skate together.
On our way out of the practice arena, I caught a glimpse of a poster of him—one of the big floor-to-ceiling ones between similar images of Sasha Kuznetsov and Zane Maddox. He was in his home jersey, his hair and face drenched in sweat, expression tight with fierce concentration, and the camera had caught him in the middle of firing the puck and a spray of ice chips at an unseen goal.
I’d seen the image before, but it was so weird to see it now after I’d just watched him in the arena with Dallas, and after we’d shared that tender little moment together.
When I’d thrown that hat out onto the ice a lifetime ago, I’d been hoping to somehow connect with Dallas’s sports idol so she could meet him and get an autograph.
I had never in a million years, not even in my wildest fantasies, imagined I’d be walking out of a practice arena with Jase and Dallas so we could grab lunch before he headed to the stadium for tonight’s game. That the man who would, in a few hours, be tearing up the ice the way we’d watched him do so many times, was the same man who had started teaching my daughter to skate while I’d watched from the bench, as lovestruck as I was starstruck.
All I’d hoped for was an autograph and a photo for my kid.
Now I was pretty damn sure I was falling fast and hard for Jase Kelly.
Chapter 25
Jase
The day after Devin’s lesson, I had a few hours to kill before I had to be at the airport for an evening flight. Naturally, there was one person I wanted to spend it with.
Over homemade pizza in my condo—we had, after all, worked up an appetite—we hung out and just talked like we always did.
As Devin pulled another slice off the pan, he said, “So Richard finally emailed me this morning.”
I straightened. “Did he?”
Devin nodded, eyes full of excitement. “He said he’s got several sponsors onboard, and your coach and general manager think it’s a good idea. As long as we’re not fucking up the team right before actual games, they’re onboard.”
“That’s great!” I sipped my drink. “Does he have any idea when the first event will be?”
“He’s not sure yet. We’re shooting some ideas back and forth, and he has a bunch more potential sponsors he wants to talk to. Plus he wants me to get in touch with some of the support groups that Dallas’s mom goes to and find out what kind of needs they have for an event like this. So it’s going to take some time to put it together, but he’s really covering all the bases.”
“Awesome. I’m really glad to hear he’s running with this. Sounds like you’ll have your hands full.”
“I could think of worse things, believe me.”
“Well, let me know if there’s any way I can help.”
“I will. Definitely.” He took a bite of pizza. “Oh, and by the way? Dallas hasn’t stopped raving about her lesson.”
“Yeah?”
Devin’s smile made my heart go wild. “She spent half the day yesterday watching skating tutorials on YouTube so she’ll be ready for her next one.”
I laughed. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. She is dead serious about learning this.”
“Great.” I wiped some grease off my fingertips. “Whenever she’s ready, let me know. I’m more than happy to teach her.”
“She’ll definitely be ready whenever you are.” He chuckled. “She didn’t even care that she was sore the next day, and she was showing off her bumps and bruises to her mom and stepdad.”
“They, uh, weren’t upset about that?”
“Oh God, no. They knew she’d been ice skating, and I told them she’d taken a few falls. She’s a tough kid. You should’ve seen her when she got back from horseback riding camp.”
“Really?”
He groaned. “Nick was ready to call CPS and report the camp, but we were like, slow your roll, dude. As soon as Dallas started bragging about how this bruise came from when her horse threw her, but she got back on anyway, and how that welt came from a horse trying to yank a lead rope out of her hand, but she held on… Yeah, no, we weren’t worried.”
“That’s good. I just hope they don’t think I was letting her get hurt for the hell of it.”
“No, no, not at all.” He shook his head. “I explained the