“Me too, Chloe. I can feel it too.”

  “Can I have a sleepover at Olive’s tonight?” That’s when I noticed her friend trailing behind, her eyes staring me down as if she could will me to say yes.

  “What time is skating practice tomorrow?” I asked.

  “Not until eleven,” Chloe smiled. “And I left some extra clothes at Olive’s house, and her mom has a toothbrush I can use.” She grinned at me. She was at the awkward stage where she had lost most of her baby teeth and her big teeth had only grown in halfway.

  Pacey brushed by me. “I’ll see you in the office.” He clapped me on the back and I nodded in return.

  I returned my attention to my daughter. “Is it okay with Olive’s mom and dad?”

  Olive nodded so hard I briefly saw her future as a headbanging heavy metal fan.

  “Please, dad.” Chloe’s eyes were wide as she begged.

  “How can I say no?” I smiled. “But, don’t stay up too late.”

  Chloe grinned. “We won’t. Bye, Dad.” She surprised me with another hug and before I knew it, she had disappeared with Olive.

  “There goes your excuse for not having a drink with the team.” Pacey stuck his head out of the office.

  Dammit. He was right. I was going to give him my credit card and tell the guys not to have too much fun.

  By the time the team filed out of the dressing room, most of the fans had left the building. Typically, I would duck out one of the side doors to avoid the crowd, but tonight, I hoped that a certain fan had lingered a little too long in the lobby.

  I could always tell which of the guys was in a relationship based on how fast he showered and was out of the dressing room. Tonight, it was about half of the team, but with an unusual attendee – the Lion. Leo had been on my team for years but had never been tied down by a girl. Pacey followed the lineup of players and as he passed me, he pointed at Leo with one hand, his other upturned. I shrugged, but curiosity got the better of me and I followed the line of players to the lobby.

  I looked past the crowd of girlfriends and wannabe girlfriends, hoping that I could catch a glimpse of Amber. But practically everyone in the lobby was wearing an Otters hat, myself included. What was Amber doing at the game? Had she come by herself? Thoughts raced through my mind as I scoped the room one more time. My thumping heart slowed when I realized that she had probably left as soon as the game was over.

  I turned to see what was going on with Leo and saw that he was standing beside a pretty blonde, who looked familiar. My breath caught in my throat when I saw the woman standing next to her. I definitely recognized her. It was Amber. The blonde girl and Leo were speaking to each other using their whole bodies, hands waving in every direction, and I wondered if she was Italian too. Next to them, Amber looked uncomfortable. She hadn’t seen me yet, I could slip out of the arena and continue avoiding her like I had all week. I glanced to the arena doors, it would be easy, but the gentleman inside me smacked the back of my head.

  Weaving through the crowd was easier now and as I approached, Amber raised her hand in a light wave.

  “Hi,” she smiled. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m the coach.” The words came out of my mouth as I realized that she was making a joke.

  She nodded her lips in an entertained smile. “Um, yeah. I was…”

  “Making a joke.” We said at the same time. Instead of being cute, it felt damn awkward.

  I continued. “The better question might be, what are you doing here?” I couldn’t help but look at her odd couple companions.

  “I work with Faith.” She gestured to the blonde whose conversation with Leo seemed to be getting heated, the gestures had turned to flails. “She’s friends with him.” She jutted her chin at the duo. “I think.”

  “Did you like the game?”

  She looked at me, her eyes wide. “It was so exciting. I had no idea hockey was so much fun.” That’s when I noticed that she was holding an Otters’ jersey in her hands. She followed my gaze and held it out, “And I won this in the frisbee toss!”

  The woman was fucking stunning. Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and something was drawing me to her, something that made me want to stand a little closer. Close enough that I could reach behind and protect her if something, or someone, came at her. Close enough that I could smell her hair. Close enough that I could feel the energy coming off of her body.

  She held up the jersey. “It’s a little small though. Do you think that Chloe would like it?”

  Chloe had a drawer full of Otters’ paraphernalia but rarely wore it. Sometimes, especially this year, I thought that she was embarrassed to be associated with the team, or more specifically, the coach. I don’t know what came over me, but I leaned in close to Amber and whispered, “I’d like to see you in it.” I didn’t have to add, ‘without anything else on’, the tone of my voice gave it away, or maybe it was the burning in my cheeks. Either way, crimson also ran along Amber’s jawline and I knew she got the gist. “Shit. Sorry,” I muttered when she looked to the ground. “That was inappropri--”

  “I think that could be arranged,” she interrupted and her eyes flashed as they met mine. She leaned in, close enough that I could feel her breath on my earlobe. “I might need some help getting it off though.”

  “I think that could be arranged.” I looked straight ahead as I replied. If that woman gave me one more devilish smile, I’d lose all the control I had over the hard-on that threatened to make an appearance in the front of my suit pants. The visual of Amber wearing the teeny tiny Otters shirt and nothing else… shit, I had to stop imagining it.

  The week spent avoiding Amber had done the opposite to what I’d hoped. Instead of dampening my desire for her, it only made it burn hotter. Having her within arm’s reach, hell, that was like throwing gasoline onto the fire. A younger, more immature version of me would have wanted to take her into one of the empty dressing rooms and slide my hands into the waistband of her pants. He would have wanted to taste her lip gloss, breathe in her breath as she gasped into his mouth. Who the hell was I kidding? It wasn’t a younger, hornier version of me standing there. It was present-day me, and I wanted to do all of those things and more. But the imagery of Amber’s naked ass pressed against the concrete wall was overtaken by the imagery of my arm around her shoulder, the weight of her against me as we made our way home from the game. Holding her hand, opening the door for her, laughing together. I didn’t just want to fuck Amber, I wanted her in my life. And if that was the case, I needed to get the horndog side of me under control.

  If a fire was in the air between me and Amber, ice was building up between Leo and his companion. Her arms were crossed as they approached and Leo’s usual cowboy grin had been replaced with one that looked forced.

  “Coach, we’re going to head out now. Will you meet us at the pub?” Leo asked.

  “Sure, Leo. I’ll see you there.” I gave him a wave.

  Amber stepped to the side of her colleague. “Dean, have you met Faith?”

  “I don’t believe I have,” I smiled. “But, you look familiar. Do you live in Laketown?”

  Faith looked like most of the other puck bunnies, and ever since I hit my thirties, the bunnies had all melded into one boring persona.

  “I used to. I’m home for the semester. My mom owns Mel D. Designs.”

  The pieces were falling into place. “I’ve met your mom. She’s donated some prizes to our fundraisers.”

  “Sounds like her,” Faith laughed.

  Shouts erupted and the crowd seemed to shift and surge towards us. I grabbed Amber around her shoulders as Leo and Faith were jostled into us. Two men, who appeared to be very intoxicated fell into the center of the room, their hands gripped hockey fighter-style on each other’s shirts, their bare backs exposed to the cool air in the lobby.

  Fists started flying and Leo and a couple of the other players stepped into the clearing, avoiding the punches and attempting to pry the two brawling drunks apart.

  “What’s going on?” Amber whispered.

  “Just a couple of drunks,” I shrugged.

  Amber stared at the brawl. “Does this happen often?”

  The rink had put in a policy about not overserving alcohol, but they couldn’t control how much the spectators drank before they set foot into the building, or how many mickeys of whiskey were hidden in their inside pockets. “They usually wait until they’re outside.”

  “Aren’t you worried about your players?” Amber asked.

  I shrugged. The players were elite athletes and greatly outnumbered the drunks. “They’re practically trained for this kind of thing.” I knew that I was making light of a situation that might seem odd to an outsider, but fights were part of hockey, and sometimes they made their way off the ice too.

  The drunks were swearing at each other and the crowd parted as the fluorescent yellow coats of the security guards approached.

  “About time,” Amber whispered under her breath.

  With the players relieved of their referee duties, I got a better look at the fighters. My heart sank when I saw the scar on the cheek of the taller one. “Oh no,” I whispered under my breath.

  “What?” Amber asked.

  Obviously, I hadn’t whispered quietly enough. “I know one of them.” I turned to Amber. “Wait here.” I raised my index finger. “I’ll be right back.”

  My players were standing around in a circle; the ones who knew Dylan Moss looked shell-shocked.

  “Get going,” I shouted to the team.

  “Coach.” Leo sidled up beside me. “They’re calling the cops.”

  I sighed and waved my hand to the door. “If you guys don’t get to the pub now, I’m taking back my offer to buy your drinks.”

  Looks and mutters were exchanged between the guys, but they all turned and headed to the main doors. Leo remained by my side. “You too, Lion.”

  “But, Coach,” he protested.

  “I’ll take care of it.” I didn’t mean to snap.

  Leo stepped back. “Alright. See you at the pub.”

  I turned to speak to the security guards. “What’s going on here?” I asked the taller one. “Have you called the police?”

  “They’re on their way,” he replied.

  My heart hurt for Dylan. His parents had been killed in a car accident and his sister had left to skate on the National Team. She was one of Chloe’s idols and had run power skating clinics for me in the past. Now, Dylan was alone and it clearly wasn’t going well. I thought about telling the security guards to call off the police, but knew he needed to sleep it off in a cell.

  I walked back to Amber. She was standing with Faith, along with a few other bystanders. “You two go ahead, I’m going to stay here until the police get here.”

  “Who is that?” Amber asked.

  Faith answered. “That’s Dylan Moss. I heard that he’d gone off the rails, but I didn’t believe it, until now.”

  Laketown had a winter population of about ten thousand people, and the small-town rumor mill ran rampant. In the summer, with the cottagers, the population swelled to at least five times that number, but the cottagers were a cliquey group, and had their own gossip mill. Otters could be one or the other, so I heard it all. The rumor that Moss had gotten in with a bad crowd had made its way around, and I’d hoped it wasn’t true.

  “He was one of my players,” I explained. “He’s a good guy.”

  Amber bit her lower lip and nodded. She seemed unconvinced about the ‘good guy’ status of the surly drunk riding the wave of consciousness in the arms of the security guard.

  Faith hooked her arm around Amber’s. “Welcome to Laketown.” She smiled. “We’ll see you at the pub, Coach.”

  Amber resisted the pull of her colleague. “Do you need me to stay?” she asked.

  “No, I’ll see you two there.” The last thing I wanted to do was stay at the rink and babysit one of my old players, but I had a soft spot for Moss.

  “Okay,” Amber nodded. “See you there.”

  With the two fighters safely tucked into separate squad cars, I headed to the Brew Pub.

  It’s not your job to take care of your players, I kept repeating to myself on the short drive to the Brew Pub. But I knew that some of the guys saw me as a father figure, and Dylan Moss was one of them.

  In the dim light of the Brew Pub, I scanned the crowd for Amber. A country band was playing an acoustic set punctuated by the sound of pool balls cracking into each other. Waitresses with pitchers of beer expertly navigated through the rowdy crowd. It was a sea of blue and white Otters hats and high fives as I made my way to the bar. My heart was hammering. I expected to turn a corner and see Amber and the excitement was making my guts churn. After several false sightings, my heart slowed with disappointment as I realized that she wasn’t there. A distinctive laugh, or roar, rang out as the band finished their set and I followed it to the bar where I saw Leo and Faith.

  “Coach,” Leo shouted and waved.

  “Faith,” I nodded as I reached the bar.

  “What do you want, Coach?” Leo waved to the bartender, Nate.

  Faith smiled at me as I glanced around the bar one last time. “Are you looking for Amber?” She gave me a knowing smile and a surprise pump of her eyebrows.

  There was no sense in playing it cool. I most certainly was looking for Amber. “Yes,” I replied.

  “She walked home,” Faith said. “She said something about having to get home, but I think that tonight’s initiation into the Laketown lifestyle might have scared her off.”

  The snow was battering the windows of the Brew Pub. The temperature had been sitting just below freezing all night, so the precipitation was a hard combination of snow and ice. “She walked home? In that?”

  Faith nodded. “She insisted. She’s a stubborn one.”

  I narrowed my lips. “She is.”

  The bartender approached. “What’ll it be, Coach?”

  I leaned my elbow on the bar. “Just make sure the guys are taken care of. Pacey has the credit card.”

  Nate raised his eyebrows. “Open bar?”

  All I could think about was Amber tromping through the ice storm on her own. “Two rounds Nate. And don’t be afraid to cut them off.”

  “Ah, come on, Coach,” Leo groaned.

  “Him first,” I gave Leo a light punch on the arm. “See you at practice on Sunday. That’ll give you a full day to recover.”

  Leo saluted. “I’ll make sure things don’t get too out of hand.”

  I appreciated the sentiment but didn’t count on Leo to make it happen. My footprints had filled in with snow by the time I returned to my car. The roads were going to be a skating rink. Guilt gnawed at me as I pulled out of the parking lot. Yes, the team needed to celebrate and bond, but after seeing Dylan Moss, I wondered if promoting drinking was appropriate. It’s what my coach had done for me, but times were changing. Maybe some traditions needed to die.

  The Jeep’s headlights flashed on a shadow cloaked in black at the far side of the bridge. I slowed and rolled down the window. Amber’s hood was up and she had to turn her whole body to look into the car.

  “Hi,” I said. “Need a ride?”

  Even in the dark, her smile lit up the night. “What for? It’s a beautiful night for a walk.”

  “Get in.” I pushed the door open.

  Amber brushed the pellets of snow off the shoulders of her jacket and hopped into the passenger seat. Ice had formed on her eyebrows and eyelashes, framing her gorgeous eyes in white. “I thought that you were celebrating with your team.”

  “I try to keep a healthy distance from the nonsense. They still need to see me as a leader.”

  Amber nodded. “That makes sense. The CEO of my design firm never partied with the designers. She would have one cocktail and then leave.”

  I adjusted the dial on the heater and Amber’s frosty hair swirled in the heat from the fan.

  “Wait, you said you were going to go to the pub. Why didn’t you?” She removed her hands from her gloves and rubbed them together.

  I debated making up a reason but instead went with the truth. “Faith told me that you were walking home.” I turned the windshield wipers up one speed higher. “I had the feeling you might appreciate a ride.”

  Her laugh was soft. “Your feeling was right.” She rubbed her hands on her thighs. “I didn’t think it was that cold, but then the snow got harder.”

  My hand seemed to have a mind of its own and reached over to rub the top of Amber’s. “It’s the dampness. Wait and see, when it gets really cold, we usually get at least one bitter cold snap in February, it’ll feel balmy compared to this mess.” The slush from the road smattered into the wheel wells of the car as I turned onto our street.

  I paused the rubbing and let my fingers curl over the top of her hand. She closed her fingertips around mine. “I don’t believe you,” she laughed. “But I guess I’ll find out if you’re messing with me when February rolls around.”

  To shift gears I had to let go of Amber’s hand, but as soon as I downshifted, it went back to her lap. This time she slid her hand on top of mine. I heard her breathe in deeply, followed by the feeling of her legs tensing before relaxing under my palm.

  “I have a confession.” Her tone was serious.

  “Oh?” I tried to pull my hand from her lap, but her tiny hand gripped mine with surprising strength. She gave it a tight squeeze.

  She was looking at me, but I kept my eyes trained on the road ahead of us.

  “Faith showed me how to work the snowblower.”

  It was my turn to squeeze and I gripped her thigh. “Amber.” I tried to keep my tone stern, but couldn’t do it. “Don’t you mean snowblowie?”

  Her laugh was beautiful. I was about to make an inappropriate joke about a different kind of snowblowie, and that’s when I realized that I needed to spend more time with mature adults, not immature hockey players.