Chapter 1
Chapter One
Enjoy your gift, because I’m now broke.
— Merriam’s secret thoughts
MERRIAM
I always thought meet-cutes happened in rom-coms. Not real life.
There I was, dressed from head to toe in pads, with roller skates on my feet when he walked in.
At first, I didn’t see him.
I was so nervous about participating in this roller derby practice that I wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of me.
I was skating along, my best friend Gisela right next to me, when we came to a crossroads.
I went left with my friend, or at least, my mind did.
My body had a different idea, though.
One second I’m upright, and the next I’m falling backward.
I landed hard straight on my back and stared up at the ceiling as I tried, and failed, to draw in a deep breath.
“ Oh my god,” Gisela whispered as she dropped down to her knees. “ Don’t look away from my eyes.”
Seeing as it was kind of hard to focus on anything else but her face since it was directly hovering over mine, I didn’t put up much of a fight.
“ Why ?” I wheezed.
She started to fix my hair, despite my head lying on the floor.
At least the floor was clean.
We were at a professional hockey rink.
If the floors hadn’t been immaculate, I’d have been disappointed.
When Gisela asked me to come to this horrible idea of a new adventure, I’d reluctantly agreed.
Tonight was about ‘learning the ropes’ according to my best friend, who also happened to be a one-time Olympian speed skater.
She may not have a mean bone in her body, but she could fucking skate. It didn’t matter if they were in-line skates or the four wheeled monstrosity we were currently wearing.
“ Are you even listening to me?” she asked frantically, her hands now on my face.
“ Ma’am ,” I heard a polite, yet amused, male voice say. “ Could we possibly lend a hand?”
Gisela turned and came face to face with a pair of the thickest thighs I’d ever seen.
My own eyes trailed along the man’s body, starting at those thighs, and ending at the most beautiful face I’d ever seen on a man.
He had flowing black hair, an olive complexion, strong, square jaw. Blazing green eyes. And those lips.
My god, those lips were fantastic.
I inhaled sharply, then said, as quietly as I could, “ Please tell me that I didn’t just fall in front of the most gorgeous man on the planet.”
Luckily , the man was so high up in the air he didn’t hear my words.
My best friend, however, did. She looked down at me, her eyes wide as saucers, and nodded her head. “ You did.”
She scrambled to her feet, and I started to sit up.
When I got to my butt, though, and tried to get to my feet, I might or might not have forgotten about the stupid skates still on my feet.
I stood only to start going right back down, this time with my face aimed at a wall.
A different wall, this one made of muscle, swooped in and saved me from face planting, though.
“ Whoa ,” he crooned. “ I don’t think that skates are for you.”
I couldn’t agree more.
“ I know, I know.” I steadied my feet so I wasn’t scissoring them back and forth between the poor man’s now-spread feet. “ I swear, I used to be a baller when it came to skating. But apparently, it’s not like riding a bike.”
The man’s bright eyes were lit with mirth when he said, “ Then why are you wearing them? And also, why are you dressed head to toe in pads? Also , it’s a good thing you already had your helmet on or you’d have cracked that pretty head of yours on the floor.”
I mean, he wasn’t lying.
I was lucky I had my helmet on.
But I didn’t tend to agree with him about the “pretty head” thing.
I wasn’t all that pretty.
If Brave and Pocahontas had a love child, you’d get me.
I was half Native American and half Scottish with a little bit of Italian mixed in for good measure.
I had the wild, curly hair of my Scottish grandfather, but only the texture. I had my grandmother’s black hair and brown eyes.
And the random ass pale skin definitely came from my grandfather, too.
I was a wild mix of the two, and usually owned every bit of my heritage.
Even my mediocrity.
Let’s just say, I was not in this man’s league.
No sir-ree-bob.
“ Yeah , lucky.” I nodded my head and pushed away from the man. “ Thank you for saving my life.”
He grinned, showing off a missing front tooth, right in between a great set of pearly white teeth.
“ Um ,” I said. “ You’re missing a tooth.”
He chuckled. “ Hockey players tend to have those go missing. I’ll have a new one put in soon.”
I shook my head. “ It’s normal to be missing teeth?”
“ In hockey, yes,” he confirmed, still holding on lightly to my waist. “ What’s your plan for when I let you go?”
“ Hope I don’t fall,” I admitted.
He let me go, and I would never admit it, but I hated every second of him doing it.
Geez , was the man gorgeous.
As in, drop dead, I could see this man causing thousands of women to drop at his feet if he only asked, gorgeous.
I luckily stayed on my feet and offered him a huge smile. “ Thanks for the lift.”
He winked. “ Anytime , darlin’.”
He said it in such a charming, Oklahoma accent, that it made my heart squeeze.
“ Later , gator.”
Gisela caught my hand and tugged me gently, but firmly away.
“ After a while, crocodile!” he called out.
I looked at him over my shoulder and promptly tripped.
Luckily , my best friend was made of stouter stuff.
“ Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” she gasped.
“ What ?” I asked.
“ Do you have any idea who that was?” she breathed, looking over her shoulder with me.
I waved, then we disappeared down a hall and into a arena with a wood roller rink floor in it.
There were also some very intimidating, mean-looking women dressed in mini-skirts, crop tops, and skates.
They looked like they ate people like me for dinner.
“ Are you sure about this?” I muttered.
She ignored me and said, “ That was Jeremiah Jones Dixon .”
I blinked at her. “ Should I know who that is?”
She shook her head at me. “ Only the most eligible bachelor in the lower 48. A millionaire. Oh , and the hottest hockey player in the world.”
Well , there was one thing I could agree with.
The hottest hockey player in the world definitely fit him.
“ All right, ladies,” a woman wearing a pink mini-skirt, black crop top, carrying around a bat, called out. “ Are y’all ready?”
I was suddenly not ready for a single thing.
“ Um , sure,” I whispered.
My best friend squeezed my hand. “ It’ll be okay.”
“ I sure the fuck hope so,” I said. “ Because if I’m not able to work the candy counter tomorrow, my father is going to kill me.”
“ I’ll make sure that you arrive in one piece,” she promised.
For some reason, I didn’t quite believe her.
And I was right not to.
By the end of the night, I had two skinned up knees, four skate wheel marks on my left thigh, a black and blue elbow, and a promise that Gisela would never take me there again.