Tending Tara (Alaska Blizzard #7) - Kat Mizera Page 0,19

immersed in what they were doing. They kissed for a long time, exploring and tasting, as if they would never stop. The world seemed to be passing by, but they were oblivious to everything but this first, somewhat magical, kiss.

Finally, almost reluctantly, Donovan slowly broke the connection, his eyes burning into hers.

“This isn’t where you turn into a pumpkin and run away, is it?” he asked softly.

She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere. As long as you promise to kiss me some more.”

“I plan to.” He brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “You’re incredibly sweet, Tara. I could kiss you all night.”

“Same.”

“We need to stand here for a few minutes, though,” he said, looking down. “Or everyone is going to get a view of my hard-on.”

She looked down at it too. “What a pity to waste it.”

He quirked up one side of his mouth. “Be careful what you wish for, baby.”

“Tara! There you are!” Sara was waving to her. “Cassie’s here and you’d said you wanted to talk to her.”

“Oh. Yes.” She cleared her throat and glanced at Donovan. “About the coaching job. Cassie plays for the team…” Her voice trailed off.

“Go,” he said with a smile. “I’m going to cool off for a few minutes, and then use the restroom and drink some water. I’ll find you.”

“All right.” She smiled back and then hurried after Sara. She did want to talk to Cassie, and this was the perfect opportunity, though the timing could have been better. She’d left poor Donovan by himself nursing a raging erection that she’d been tempted to do something about.

“Hi, Tara.” Cassie smiled. She was dressed as a naughty nurse of some kind, with sexy, thigh-high fishnet stockings and really high heels. If Sara hadn’t told her Cassie was here, she wouldn’t have recognized her. She’d never seen her with makeup before, much less high heels, and she looked totally different.

“Hi! It’s good to see you. You look pretty!”

“Thank you. You look like a princess.”

“I’m Cinderella tonight.”

“You make a beautiful Cinderella.”

They grinned at each other.

“So, Sara said you had some questions for me about hockey?”

Tara nodded. “I saw that your team is looking for an assistant coach and I was thinking about applying, but I don’t know much about the school or the job.”

“Yeah, Coach Michaelson found a job as a head coach back east, so he left. Coach Azure took the head coaching job, but now we need a new assistant coach. It would be great if you came on board. We’ve been without an assistant for three weeks, and Coach A said no one’s even applied. It’s hard to get people with experience here in Alaska. I mean, there’s lots of hockey players, but I don’t think they pay much so people aren’t rushing to interview for it.”

“What’s Coach Azure like?”

“Like most hockey coaches. Pretty intense, really loud, but also fair and a really good coach. He cares about not just winning, but developing us as players. Not so much me since I’m older and don’t have any hockey plans in my future, but the younger girls, right out of high school… he’s good with them.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Have you ever coached before?”

“Ten-year-olds,” Tara admitted, smiling. “I did it for a season right after university because I hadn’t found a job yet and it paid well, but then I was trying to do other things and didn’t stick with it. I enjoyed it, though, which is why I think I’d like to know more about this job.”

“Why don’t you come to practice Monday? I’ll make sure it’s okay with Coach first, and I’ll text you one way or the other. I think he’ll say yes, and if he does, you can talk to him afterward. We usually practice from three to five, once most of us are done with classes for the day.”

“I’d like that. Thank you.”

They exchanged phone numbers, and then Cassie ambled off to get another drink while Tara looked around for Donovan.

She found him filling up his cup from the cauldron of moonshine, and she walked up behind him.

“Hey. Did you miss me?”

He turned with a smile. “I did. Did you have a good talk with Cassie?”

“Yes. She’s going to ask her coach if I can watch practice Monday, perhaps even meet him.”

“Excellent.” He peered into her cup. “You ready for more?”

“Are you trying to get me drunk?”

“Only if you want to be. This is probably my last hurrah for a while, since I have to be sharp while