She laughed. “Noted.”
“So is the fact your dad’s an author what made you want to be a writer too?”
“It certainly contributed. He’s an English professor, so I grew up around a lot of books. Mostly classics and genre fiction from him, and contemporary romance from Kennedy, my stepmom. My mom’s more of a casual reader compared to the two of them. My dad didn’t start writing until his late twenties, but he’s published two books and has another one on the way.”
“Wow, that’s impressive.”
She shrugged and gave me a sly smile. “Maybe, but I’ll be publishing my first book years earlier than he did.” She took a sip of her seltzer.
“Is that a little competitive spirit I hear, Hawaii?”
“A little bit,” she said, blushing slightly.
“I like it.”
I couldn’t stop staring into her blue eyes; they were like getting lost in an ocean. “At the risk of you questioning my motivations again, you have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen, Sophia.”
Her cheeks flushed deeper, and she gave me a small smile as she averted her eyes. Her brows pulled inward just enough to make me wonder if she didn’t believe that about herself. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I said with a smile. I shifted my knee away from her, instantly regretting the decision, but I wasn’t going to corner her on this couch all night. “Listen, I’m not going to commandeer your entire evening, and I have practice in the morning so I should head out.”
I stood up and she looked at me with curiosity. “Will there be an article in the paper about me too?”
“Nope.” I smiled smugly. “This was all for me. I hope I see you around, Hawaii.”
I turned and left before I could change my mind. I’d promised her I wouldn’t try to sleep with her, and I was pretty sure if I sat there much longer my desire to do just that was only going to grow. The fear that I’d never see her again gnawed at me, but I’d have to be okay with taking my chances. I walked across campus and made my way back to my dorm.
Most of the guys on the hockey team had townhouses with four to six guys living in a house. But I was one of the few who lived in a single suite in one of the upperclassman dorms. It wasn’t as fancy as a townhouse, but it was my own space that contained a bedroom, bathroom, and a small, combined kitchenette and living area. After having a roommate freshman year, I’d managed to snag one of these every year since. Living alone meant I could be rested for hockey, and it gave me a quiet place to do schoolwork to ensure I kept my grades up too.
This is the actual perk Sophia should be investigating: Hockey star gets preferential treatment in campus housing lottery.
I got ready for bed and crashed until my alarm went off the next morning. I grabbed my phone to silence the alarm and immediately opened the online version of the school paper. I wanted to see what Sophia had written.
As I read her words, I smirked and shook my head.
This girl is going to cause me all sorts of problems.
Not only did I like her—which was an entirely new experience for me—but she’d also written an article that was likely to have some annoying ramifications.
Star Forward Leo Harrison Discusses Upcoming Hockey Season
Sitting in the restaurantwhere Leo Harrison’s parents met twenty-five years ago, he spoke to me about his plans for the upcoming season and how his passion for hockey was born.
Harrison wasn’t a prodigy who learned to skate as soon as he could walk, but hockey was in his life from the beginning. “My dad and my aunt are huge Bruins fans, so I was watching hockey with them as soon as I was old enough for my eyes to focus on the TV,” Harrison says. An interesting start for the future Bruin, himself. When asked about his childhood, Harrison details memories of watching games at home with his family and regularly visiting TD Garden to watch his favorite team play live. “One of my favorite memories of watching the Bruins was in Chicago. That’s my aunt’s hometown, so we got tickets to see them play the Blackhawks when we were visiting her family. I still remember being what felt like the only ones in black and yellow in a sea full of red—at least where we were sitting. But the Bruins won that night. It wasa great game.”
For someone whose father loves hockey as much as Leo Harrison describes, you would have expected his parents to lace up his skates at an early age. But Harrison says he was five when he got his first pair, and not from his father at all but rather from his aunt. She bought them for Christmas, thinking it would be something he’d enjoy, but never did she expect it to be the gift that would lead to his future career. “I think she was shocked when she realized how good I was,” says Harrison. “That same year she also got me private lessons and by the end of the last session, I was truly in love.”
Speaking of love, the hockey star, who is known for his rather casual reputation on campus (but let’s be fair, which of the players on our team isn’t?), might just be willing to settle down if the right girl came along. “I’m very open to the idea of a relationship. I just haven’t found my person yet,” he says. What a beautiful sentiment that is.
But calm down ladies, Leo Harrison has more important things on his mind this year than finding love, like securing a spot in the Frozen Four for BU and finally making his Bruins contract official when he signs on the dotted line at the end of the season. “Right now, my number-one focus is on the upcoming season,” says Harrison. “We’ve got a great new group of guys joining us this year and I think we’re ready for this. We can secure a championship for BU. I’m sure of it.”
Check out Leo Harrison in action at the first game of the season on Friday. Rumor has it, he looks even better on skates than he does at the afterparties you’ll all be attending.
Chapter Five
Sophia
I finished reading myfirst published article and smirked into my coffee, feeling proud, while I sat at the small round dining table in our suite. It wasn’t exactly a luxury apartment, but it was enough space for the three of us—even if I could hear every moan, groan, and orgasm coming from Jia’s room right now. She’d left last night’s party with one of the hockey players. Again. She really liked those hockey guys. Whoever was in there now had come home with her after I was already in bed, and I wasn’t convinced they’d gotten any sleep since I’d heard their moans every time I woke up and rolled over.
