“He never said a word,” I murmur.
“He wouldn’t,” Michelle says gently. “That’s Eli.”
Her phone buzzes. She glances down and laughs. “Speaking of… Eli’s texting. He knew I’d be up here during the second intermission with Aspen and he wants me to tell you something.”
I brace myself.
“‘Tell her to wear the damn jersey,’” she says, and turns her phone around so I can read his words for myself. I laugh nervously as she puts her phone away. “Tyler’s hockey friends can be such assholes, but Eli is the best of them. Believe me. I’ve hung around them a lot over the past few years. I work for the team’s marketing and PR department and you won’t find a better hockey player. He never gets in trouble, like never. Not like Mason Hunter—” she rolls her eyes as if there’s a whole story there between them. “But I digress. It was nice to meet you. I need to move Aspen along to another group. I hope to see you again soon with Eli.”
She and Aspen say their goodbyes and move on.
After they leave and Aiden flops back into his seat, flushed and happy and waiting for the third period puck to drop, I think about what Michelle said, and pull the jersey out of my bag.
Maybe I let Jerrod and everything he did to me hold me back from opening up my heart. Does Eli deserve to be compared to my ex? Hasn’t Eli shown up for me—and Aiden—in so many ways in such a short time? We’re different people now, grown up, and able to handle things we couldn’t back then. What would it hurt to wear the jersey?
Except it sparkles under the lights. Someone had applied green and yellow rhinestones all over it. It’s ridiculous and bold and should be easy for him to pick me out of a crowd. My hands tremble as I slide it on.
I swim in it, but when I wrap the arms around me, it’s warm in a way that has nothing to do with fabric. I feel him around me, as if he were hugging me. When I settle back into my seat, Aiden notices.
“You’re pretty in that,” he says, and snuggles against my arm. Aiden’s happy being at the game, being in Eli’s orbit. Maybe I need to take a cue from him.
I send Eli a text as the third period starts. He’ll get it after the game.
Stella: Wearing it. And yes to the date.
Suddenly the arena goes wild. Eli scored again.
“He got another,” Aiden screams and we stand and cheer and clap.
This time, when Eli looks up, I’m wearing his jersey. From what I could tell, his grin is unrestrained, pointing at us and fist pumping the air. Then he brings the same fist to his nose, as if smelling me allover his glove. I press my hand to my chest, heart racing in an entirely new way.
I still don’t know where we’re heading. But tonight, in his jersey, with my son laughing beside me and the ice gleaming below—I know one thing. We all deserve another chance.
CHAPTER 12
NEVER A MISTAKE
ELI
I pacethe Four Seasons Hotel lobby, checking my phone for the tenth time while I wait for Stella to arrive. My practice ran too late to drive to Boulder to pick her up. She said yes to our date—and she said she’d make our costumes.
Once Aiden heard about Stella attending the party with me, he insisted he wanted to help make them. Since his grandmother sewed him a half dinosaur half robot costume for Halloween, it should have scared me. But it doesn’t matter what we wear, as long as I have Stella out on a date for a night in the city.
That thought alone keeps me going as I wait.
The past week had been brutal, and so had the three-day trip to play the L.A. Vipers on their home ice. We lost to them, keeping them solidly in first place in the league right now. In our division, we’re in second place.
From Stella, I hardly heard a word out of her once she agreed to this night out, given that it was midterms and studying had swallowed her whole. I’d sent her a college care package complete with a dozen types of cookies. “Snacks to study by,” I’d told her. The few texts we managed felt like crumbs when I desired the whole meal.
I’m desperate at this point—to hold her again, to be inside of her, to hear her moan my name. I replay the feel of her in my arms more times than I care to admit. The way she’d kissed me in the closet like she was remembering something she hadn’t meant to lose. The sounds she’d made riding the leather glove, the way she’d let go—things I can’t stop thinking about.
Our date night has finally arrived. Whatever costumes she creates, she’s coming to Denver. Alone. And we have the entire night ahead of us. Blood rushes to my cock just thinking about it, but I have to keep it under control. Not that I have any hope we’ll end up fucking around considering I’m to drive her back to Boulder after the party is over.
My phone pings with a weather alert. Crazy. A storm is brewing and could hit later tonight with white-out conditions.
Well, that changes things completely… if we’re caught in the hotel and can’t drive home. Good thing I have that penthouse suite for the night.
The doors of the hotel slide open. And there she is, her hair tucked into a loose knot, cheeks pink from the cold, eyes bright when she spots me, and dressed in a trench coat. A bellman follows her with a suitcase and a garment bag.
