Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
“Yup!” I say as I pull up two chairs—one on either side of me for my little family.
Fiona sits on my left, but Lucas just hops onto my lap like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Thanks for staying,” I whisper to Fiona. She smiles and taps my forearm with her hand. It sends endorphins rushing through my body.
Lucas is a blast to have around. He takes the jersey from the first guy in line—a middle-aged guy in a Centaurs’ hat—and hands it to me.
“Do you want him to sign it Harris or Dad?” Lucas asks.
We all can’t help but laugh.
“Harris Sutton would be good,” the guy says with a chuckle.
We get through the line and then hang out as more stragglers come.
“Can you come to our house for dinner?” Lucas asks when the place starts closing down.
I’d love nothing more than that. I have a game tonight, but I’m already trying to think of how I can get out of it. Maybe I can say my elbow is hurting too much or I have the flu.
“Harris has a game tonight,” Fiona says sadly. “That’s why he’s in town.”
“Can I stay up to watch the game on TV?” Lucas asks. “Please, Mommy.”
“Why don’t you guys come tonight?” I say with my heart racing. “I’ll get you tickets. Front row!”
Lucas’ adorable face lights up as he turns to his mom. “Can we? Please?”
“Okay,” Fiona says with a smile. “That sounds like fun.”
My future wife and my incredible son are going to watch me play for the first time.
There’s no way I’m playing like shit tonight.
I’m going to have the best damn game of my career.
Tonight, The Flamethrower will return. Tonight, he’s going to burn the fucking house down.
CHAPTER SIX
Fiona
“Whoa!” Lucas shouts when Tucker McKinstry slams some poor soul into the boards so hard I jump on my son thinking they’re both going to come crashing through. We’re in the front row and it feels like we’re in the game.
“That was awesome,” Lucas shouts as the two of them explode away to get back into the action.
He has a huge smile on his face as he looks up at me.
“Look!” I say as I spot Harris hopping over the boards onto the ice. “He’s back on!”
“Yes!” Lucas says with a fist pump. “Go, Dad!”
We can’t take our eyes off him. He’s electric.
It’s the third period and he’s already scored two goals. I don’t think I’ve ever cheered so loudly in all my life. They’re the away team, so I think we were the only ones in the arena cheering, but we were loud enough to make up for it.
I grip Lucas’ hand and squeeze it too hard as Harris goes on a tear. He steals the puck mid-pass and takes off skating in the other direction.
The crowd groans now that he has the puck again.
Two players on the other team converge on him. Harris passes it to another player—Kemp. I don’t know how he squeezed that puck between the two guys, but he did. He is really good.
Kemp takes it the rest of the way and shoots at the net. The puck bounces off the goalie’s helmet and lands out of his reach. Harris’ stick swoops out and he hooks the puck, bringing it back in. With a flick of his wrist, it flies into the top left corner of the net.
“Yes!” me and Lucas scream, jumping up and down as the boys celebrate on the ice.
The arena gets quiet as the score becomes three to one for us.
Harris quickly breaks away from the guys and comes skating over to us. My heart races as he approaches with that sexy grin on his face.
He gives me a wink, which makes my cheeks blush, and then he turns to Lucas and makes a heart with his thumbs and fingers on the glass. Lucas does the same, matching his father’s hockey gloves with a heart.
I’ve never seen such a big smile on his little face. He’s still beaming when Harris is forced to skate back to his bench.
My racing heart turns to a warm fluttering as I watch him cross the ice. I can’t take my eyes off him. He’s so handsome with those stunning brown eyes and that muscular build.
I was surprised at how my body responded to him at the signing. I’ve changed and matured a lot over the past five years—motherhood will do that to a gal—but I was right back to being that starstruck young woman I was when we met the first time.
I’ve been so focused on worrying about how Lucas was going to react to Harris, that I didn’t think about my own reaction to the man.
“He’s so good, right Mommy?” Lucas says as he looks up at me with a huge smile.
“He’s good,” I say as we sit down. My body is tingling as I watch him sit on the bench, grab his water bottle, and take a drink. His eyes dart right to mine.