9. Stella
STELLA
Scott.
Scott Chance.
I grinned at his last name. What were the chances of that? I wondered and fought the need to literally shake the thought away. I had no idea how he had talked me into going to the arena with him, but there we were. The arena was lit up and empty as I sat down on the bench waiting for him to return.
After our walk, he had talked me into letting him take me to a coffee shop, one that had a bookstore next to it, where we got lost in the aisles.
Between browsing and stealing kisses, we’d not only picked out a book for ourselves but for the other.
I wasn’t sure if he would actually take a chance on the stalker football player I’d chosen, but Scott had definitely been a good sport.
The two of us had received almost simultaneous texts from my brother checking in on us, asking how brunch had gone. What had once been my older brother’s stupid idea had turned into the best first date I’d ever been on. Not that our perfect brunch had been a date.
Oddly enough, even with the fact he was Sam’s friend, I wasn’t stressed out.
Everything inside me and the universe was shouting at me to give Scott a chance, so I was going to do just that, taking what came one day at a time.
Scott might have made a huge declaration, saying he had no doubt I was his, and maybe everything inside of me wanted to agree, but I knew better than that. Life had too many variables. Things you couldn’t control.
As an example, Scott had wanted to take me on the ice to skate around together, but I had seen one too many romcoms with my sisters to turn him down.
My phone rang in that moment, and I answered because it was Rainy.
“Hey!” She smiled on the screen. “How was brunch— Wait, where are you?” I chewed on my bottom lip.
“So, remember how we talked this morning?”
“Yeah, that’s why I was calling. I really think you should go to his house and give him your number.”
“Well, it turned out I didn’t have to do that.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I mean my hot one-night stand? He’s Sam’s friend, Scott.”
“Wait… what?” Rainy’s eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of her skull.
“Yup.”
“Scott Chance was Mr. Tall, Dark, and Mysterious?!”
“Yeah.” I smiled.
“And?”
“And he… he likes me.”
“Of course, he likes you! You’re the most likable person in the world.”
“No, Rainy, I mean… he likes likes me and—“ My brows furrowed as I looked around to make sure he hadn’t returned yet. “He believed me when I told him I’m psychic.” Her face froze on the screen, and before I could ask if she was there, she burst out laughing.
“Babe!”
“He believes in fate, Rainy,” I quietly shared.
“Honey, sweetheart, baby sister, hate to break it to you, but that could be a line.” It very well could be, but it wasn’t. I knew it down to the marrow in my bones.
“He’s perfect.” I sighed.
“No one is perfect.” She frowned, and I giggled.
“I know that! I just mean… for me. He’s perfect for me.”
“And you had no idea the guy you hooked up with was a hockey player?”
“No! I don’t watch it. I’ve gone to games when I lived in LA, but that’s just for the food and vibes.”
“And he didn’t bring it up? Last night, I mean?”
“Not once.”
“Huh.” I could see the respect that earned him. “But he’s Sam’s friend?”
“That’s the only bad thing.”
That and his schedule.
Though, is his schedule that bad? On the way to the arena, I’d asked what that was like, and he’d been very honest in telling me all about being on the road and the traveling he did.
And to me, it didn’t sound half bad. My mom always liked to say I had ants in my pants with the way I couldn’t stay in one spot too long.
It was one of the many reasons she hadn’t blinked when I’d told her I was moving to Houston.
“So… what are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Liar,” my sister whispered with a hint of a smile on her face.
“Fine,” I groaned. “Does it make me a horrible sister if I keep seeing him?”
“No,” my sister calmly answered. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. Sam and Scott see one another, what? Maybe once a year? If you think this could be something—“
“I do,” I admitted honestly, and that familiar warmth when I knew I was doing the right thing for me washed over me.
“Well, there ya go.” A knock sounded at my sister’s door. “That’s my pizza.”
“Pizza?”
“Don’t be judgy when you’re playing hide the salami with our brother’s buddy.” She winked, and I snorted. “Talk to you later, and whatever you do tonight?”
“Yeah?”
“Have an amazing time and tell me all about it tomorrow,” she said before blowing me a kiss and hanging up. I set my phone down by my side and looked out just in time to see Scott walking towards me with two pairs of ice skates.
One pair was clearly smaller than the other.
When he’d asked if I ice skated while we’d been perusing the romance section of the bookstore, I’d thought he’d been making small talk.
I’d shared how much I’d loved it as a kid but had stopped when my mom had to pick up a second job and didn’t want to be too much of a nuisance asking for things that cost too much both money and time wise.
After we shared a smoothie, he’d asked me to come with him to the arena. I’d thought he needed to do something job related, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“Would you believe I found a pair of skates in your size?”
“And yours?” I asked with a smile on my face.
“And mine. Crazy, right?”
“Very.” I grinned. Damn, he was adorable. He kneeled in front of me and rested his hands on my knees.
“Wanna skate with me?”
“Won’t we get in trouble?”
“Babe?”
“I’m serious. What if… we mess up the ice or something?”
“Mess up the ice? That’s not possible.”
“You know what I mean,” I said softly, and his eyes turned gentle.
“I do. And we won’t mess up the ice. The Zamboni will clear it out tomorrow before the game.”
“Game, huh?”
“Season opener,” he shared, his head tilted slightly. “Have you been to a hockey game?” I swallowed and nodded.
“I have. To a couple. The last one… Last year…” I chewed on my bottom lip. “I was living in LA and went to see the Kings play against the Lonestars.”
“You did?” He blinked, his face suddenly expressionless.
“Yeah, but…” I chewed on my bottom lip some more. His hand rose and pulled my lip free. “But the same feeling I got before I walked into the bar last night washed over me, and I couldn’t get myself to go in, like something too big was about to happen and…”
“What?”
“I was too much of a chicken to face it. It felt like everything was about to change. It was weird. So,” I shrugged and sighed, “I called my work friends and told them I wasn’t feeling good and went back home.”
I couldn’t read him, and that worried me.
I probably sounded like a crazy person to him. Maybe he had said he believed in all that to try and get in my pants again like Rainy had suggested.
“You wanna know something?” His voice dropped an octave. That feeling washed over me again.
That something big, almost life-changing was about to happen. My heartrate picked up and butterflies took flight. Not with anxiety or fear but with excitement. I nodded, not exactly trusting my voice.
“It’s a secret. You can’t tell anyone. It’s something no one knows. Not my family or any of my friends. Not my team or agent.”
“You trust me like that when we just met last night?”
“I trust you with everything,” he said, but I knew deep down this wasn’t just a line. I pulled back and offered my pinky.
“I pinky promise.” He looked at it, and his eyes got warmer than I’d seen them. His hand rose and his pinky hooked around mine.
“Pinky promise,” he rasped. I licked my lips before lifting our hands and kissed my thumb, and without taking his dark brown gaze off mine, he kissed his. Warmth rushed through me and my nipples puckered up tightly. And it had nothing to do with the icy chill in the air.
“I remember that game clearly. It was when I decided I was done with hockey.”
“Done?” I repeated, trying to process what that could mean.
“I’m retiring, troublemaker. This is my last season.” It took me a moment to process what he was saying.
“You are?” My eyes widened, and he nodded.
Raising our hands, he pressed his lips to my knuckles, letting his lips linger for a moment. We’d done so much the last night, yet that kiss felt three times as erotic and intimate as any moment we had shared.
“You’re the first person I’ve told.”
“Me?”
“Yup.” His lips tipped upward. Before I could ask him anything else, he spoke again. “Skate with me?” I nodded.
Scott helped me lace up my skates before he did his own and led us onto the ice, where, almost like magic, the moment our skates touched the ice, slow music started to play. I giggled. Bruno Mars crooned on about risking it all, and I had to agree.
Scott just winked at me, taking my hand, and true enough, even though I hadn’t skated in years, it was like riding a bike.
Muscle memory kicked in, and we started to skate side by side.
I knew I was slower than he was. I mean, he was a professional hockey player after all, but Scott never made me feel like I was somehow slowing him down, not even a little bit.
He skated with me like he had all the time in the world.
Having had twin older sisters who’d loved old romcoms and made me watch The Cutting Edge one too many times, the whole night felt like a dream.
The best first date I’d ever had in my life, hands down.
And when he wrapped his arms around my waist, skating backwards as I stared up at his eyes as he led us around the rink, I knew if I hadn’t already decided to take a chance, to risk my heart, I would have done it right then and there. I handed my trust and affection as easily as he had.
I just hoped it didn’t blow up in my face.