Chapter 3
Leo had less than an hour before he had to be on the ice for the pregame warm-up, but his nerves were killing him. Tonight was the first professional league game of his career. He’d been tossed off of vicious bulls, trampled, squeezed, had muscles ripped and shredded, but the idea of entering the rink with eleven other men who were at the highest level of this sport and had way more experience than he did? That was more nerve-racking than any rodeo he’d ever been in.
He’d already paced through every restricted area of the arena, trying to wear off his jitters, his headphones delivering a soothing sound bath Coach Louis had sent him. Music had helped him in bull riding, but today it wasn’t coming close to lessening his nerves. He needed a distraction that would keep him preoccupied until just before he had to suit up. Once he was skating, he knew he’d be too focused to fret about all the ways he could mess up and get himself benched for the rest of the season. Assuming he even made it onto the ice during tonight’s game.
The team’s coach, Louis Bellmore, in an attempt to be reassuring, had said that nobody expected much from such a late bloomer, especially being on the league’s worst-ranked team. Then he had grinned and slapped Leo on the back, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he’d basically flushed his right winger’s hopes and dreams down the toilet.
Leo’s wireless headphones beeped, then cut out as he reached the chilly, long hallway to the locker rooms. He tugged them off his ears and gave them a shake. He’d charged the set last night. They should be good for another eight hours, and he only needed a few more minutes.
“I can’t believe they had us go dutch!”
Leo looked up, then instinctively turned to move in the opposite direction of the furious voice floating down the hallway. He needed a distraction, not drama about one of the players as relayed by a girlfriend.
“And split down the middle? I don’t think so!”
What were women doing down here, anyway? This area was restricted to athletes, and this corridor specifically the Dragons.
The familiar voice grew closer and louder, the woman’s indignation drawing his curiosity. He slowed his steps to listen. Maybe drama could be a decent distraction.
“Has the man never heard of math? Or was that crappy double date just a way to financially support his beer habit?”
Another woman laughed in reply, and Leo stopped.
“And a kiss? I should have socked him one. I hate dating!”
“I think your expression was sufficient,” the second woman said with a laugh. “He’ll never slide in for a kiss like that again.”
“I doubt that very much.”
Leo looked over his shoulder to see Daisy-Mae and Violet striding toward him, the latter’s entire body vibrating with outrage. Daisy-Mae spotted the headphones swinging in his grip, stopped short and smacked her forehead with a palm. “I forgot to get our earpiece thingies from the charger upstairs.” She gave Leo a quick wave and turned to head back the way they’d come. “Meet you in the locker room, Vi.”
“Okay.”
Leo leaned against the green cinderblock wall and pretended to be adjusting his headphones as he waited for Violet to reach him. She looked good. Red dress, her straight black hair clipped into some sort of twisted bun, with curled strands framing her wide cheekbones. Her bangs were swept to the side and her eyeshadow was what his younger sister called smoky. Sara-Lynn had spent hours practicing the look, vowing she was moving off the smelly ranch and becoming a makeup artist for the stars as soon as she graduated from high school. She’d gone to cosmetology school, but had married a cowboy. She seemed happy on her husband’s family ranch, though, doing makeup for brides on the weekends.
“Hey,” Leo said, as Violet moved past him. She gave a jagged sigh, and he focused on her puckered brow and frown. She looked like she was trying to hold it together. He fell into step beside her before he even realized what he was doing. “You okay?”
“Disaster blind date,” she said, voice cracking, eyes blinking furiously. She bit her bottom lip so hard he was afraid she was going to bruise it or make it bleed.
“Dragon Babes failure?”
“I’m not cut out for this.” Her voice was weak and it sounded like she might be holding back tears. She stopped walking and faced him, indignant. “I don’t want to be serious and responsible for the rest of my life. I want to have some fun.” A tear drew a line through the dark charcoal under her right eye.
“Don’t cry,” Leo said, wincing.
His sisters used to spin on him, pummel him with their fists when he said that. Apparently, crying was their release.
His, apparently, was fighting to stay dominant over a livid animal weighing as much as a pickup truck.
Or had been. He wasn’t so sure what it was now, but he knew it wasn’t tear-related, and that he still wanted to rescue anyone with tears in their eyes.
Violet gave Leo an incredulous look. Don’t cry? Don’t cry?
Was she supposed to bottle it up like a dude and explode later?
Did he not understand how bad her blind double date had been? The men had lacked basic manners and had belched and picked their teeth at the table. They’d undressed Daisy-Mae with their eyes the whole time and then had split the bill four ways—after inviting them to the most expensive place in the city and ordering a ton of beer! Which neither she nor Daisy-Mae had consumed.
Violet figured she could darn well shed tears of frustration and anger if she wanted to.
She put her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders. “Does crying make you uncomfortable?”
“I mean,” he amended quickly, his eyes darting to the side, “you can cry if you want to…”
“That’s right. I can cry!” Her voice was higher than normal, her indignation blatant. She knew she should hush, but it felt good to let her rage and disappointment out for once. “Nobody can see me when I’m in my costume, so I can cry the entire game while waving at everyone and blowing kisses. Nobody’ll ever know.”
Leo caught her arm, stopping her when she started to march off. She kept her eyes on his chest, afraid to look into those kind eyes of his. She’d already noted they had slashes of green through the dark blue irises. He tentatively wiped a tear from her cheek, and her body stiffened with a held-in sob.
The date, which had been before everyone had to work the game tonight, had been such a disaster, and he was being so incredibly nice to her. This was how crushes deepened. And she really couldn’t afford that for a never-gonna-happen man like Leo right now.
“But I’ll know you’re crying,” he whispered. “And it’ll throw me off my game.”
Was he trying to break her heart?
She brushed his hand away. “Don’t be like that.”
“Like what? A nice guy?” The hurt in his voice surprised her.
“Yeah,” she said, crossing her arms. “You don’t have to act like a decent human being.”
“Why not?” Eyes narrowed, he echoed her posture, squaring off with her.
“It makes me feel stupid.” Her voice was wavering again and she willed herself not to cry.
“How on earth does me being a nice guy make you feel that way?”
“Because I should know better!” Violet sniffed. “And when you’re nice after I’ve acted stupidly, it makes me realize how idiotic this whole Dragon Babes thing is. Yet if it doesn’t work, I’ll be cursed forever and stuck in this new version of me, which I’m not crazy about because then I’ll surely be alone forever. And when you’re nice, even though I’m acting like a basket case, it gives me hope that…” She caught her breath, realizing she was veering off the rails in the middle of the hallway.
So much for hopes of friendship.
“It gives you hope that nice guys still exist? And you just have to wait it out until one finds you?”
She looked away.
“Well then, I can see how annoying I’m being right now. Sorry for that.”
She blinked, unsure whether he was about to turn cutting and mean. She felt like she was part vulnerability, where her heart still hadn’t repaired itself from its last break, and part scary warrior, protecting it from further hurt. And she wasn’t certain how much damage someone like Leo could do when she felt like this.
Leo tipped his chin upward as though egging her to fight, as though he wanted to test her mettle. “How about you quit rolling around in the pigpen of your crappy date, dust yourself off and move on?”
She gave a snort at his tough tone and planted her hands on her hips. “So I’m not allowed to be angry?”
“You can be angry. But quit finding ways to amplify your suffering and roll around in the pain like it’s worth something.”
“Amplify my suffering? Have you never been single and on a horrible blind date?” She glared at him. “You know what? You’re a jerk!”
“Most messengers are.”
She huffed, but was so peeved by his honest delivery that she no longer felt like crying. She should walk away. Never speak to him again.
But somehow his straight-up, awful truths felt like a much-needed reality check. Life was way too short to wallow in something she should be laughing about.
Violet sighed, unsure how to stop taking herself so seriously.
“Coach Louis said this to me once.” Leo placed his palms together and paused for a second. “Mistakes happen. Pain is inevitable—well, my mom said that bit about pain. But Louis said suffering is optional. You tried, Violet. You failed. Now you know that guy isn’t the one, so move on.” He watched her cautiously, as if he didn’t know if he should duck and cover or chalk his words up as a win.
“I know I should.”
His shoulders relaxed and he nodded to a passing official, stepping against the wall to let the man pass. “Good.”
Violet’s indignation flared again. “But he tried to kiss me at the end of the date!”
“Of course he did. You’re cute.”
She felt a jolt of pleased surprise from his compliment, but pushed past it. “The date was an obvious disaster, though. I gave absolutely no signs that a kiss was going to happen. Ever.” She studied Leo’s face, waiting for him to explain what her date had been thinking.
He shrugged thoughtfully, as though trying to find a way to encapsulate his gender in a few brief words. “Men reach for opportunities.”
“Ones that aren’t even there?” She felt ready to rip something apart. Something big.
“Men fail up.”
“They what?”
“When men fail…” He selected his words carefully. “Have you ever noticed that they rarely get punished or fired? They’ll receive promotions or new jobs with a fancy title. It’s like everyone’s too embarrassed to do anything about the situation.”
“That’s not true.” She hesitated, considering his claim. “Is it?”
“Well, not on a ranch. You screw up, you’re toast. Sayonara, pal. But in corporate, high-up positions it can be. And so some guys keep reaching and ignore the facts, because it’s not really a true failure. Something comes out of it.”
“This guy’s not corporate.” She sighed, feeling defeated all over again. “But he made a mess of our date and was still there with his hand out for the promotion.”
“Which was…the kiss?”
She nodded, remaining silent for a long moment as she thought it over, her anger fading. “I need to do that more. Reach for it. Fail upward.”
“Or pick a better date. Ask me which guys on the team are nice, then go out with them.”
Violet studied Leo, judging his sincerity. They didn’t know each other well, but it was a sweet offer. Especially as her doubts had grown about her ability to live life wild and free as a flirtatious puck bunny. It just wasn’t who she was.
The idea had been to overcome her shyness so she could then find Mr. Right. It was going to take so long to get to the place she wanted to be that she wasn’t even sure she’d make it.
“Okay, but one bad blind date and you’re toast.”
Violet, sweaty and exhausted after dancing around the arena in her dragon outfit throughout the game, took a shower in her locker room, then went to meet Daisy-Mae in the parking lot. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking when she’d suggested they go out and enjoy the city’s night life after work. She just hoped that Daisy-Mae was as disillusioned as she was by their earlier date and would want to go straight home instead.
It had been fun being in the stands, getting the crowd excited, hugging the little Dragons fans and working with Daisy-Mae. But Violet was tired now. More than she’d expected. Maybe her inner introvert needed some downtime after pretending to be an extrovert for several hours.
She slowed as she passed the players’ locker room, where lots of people came and went, clogging the hallway. A nearby group broke apart, clearing a path for her. With her bag slung over her shoulder and her employee pass clearly visible, she kept to the wall, smiling shyly at anyone who passed.
A man with the fresh scent of shampoo and soap fell into step beside her.
Leo.
Her heart gave a little thump even though she knew he wasn’t likely to consider her as the solution to any loneliness problems. At least not as more than a new friend in a new town.
A friend who’d had a meltdown in front of him mere hours ago.
But how could her heart not thump? He was gorgeous wearing all black, from his cowboy hat to his suit and boots.
She gave him a smile, proud that she wasn’t dying of shyness. Progress! Sure, she wanted to comment on how he’d managed to get on the ice for the season’s first game—not a common feat for a rookie, from what she’d heard. But her brain refused to cooperate and create any sentences for her.
When she finally summoned the words, she noticed Leo was peering at her from under his cowboy hat. Her shyness reared up again, shooting a flare of heat through her and making her tongue too big for her mouth.
“You don’t look like you were crying in your costume during the game.”
“Um, no. Someone wise told me that wallowing’s not really worth it,” she said, gazing down at the floor, watching his black cowboy boots land in time with her canvas sneakers. If she looked up at his dark blue eyes, she knew she’d go mute.
“Good call.”
“Dating still sucks,” she stated.
“No, blind dates suck.”
“You’re an expert?” She didn’t know where her teasing tone came from, but the way Leo’s face lit up made her wish she could summon that confidence all the time.
“Not really.”
“Love ’em and leave ’em?” she asked, curious about the dating life of a hunk like Leo. It was probably golden and amazing. No pain, all gain.
He held the door for her at the end of the hallway, and she gave him a flirtatious look that surprised her. Wow. There was something about this guy that made her shyness fade fast. Maybe because she knew he’d never choose her, and he was associated with her mascot-as-a-way-of-being-more-extroverted plan?
“I went on a blind date once,” Leo admitted. “It sucked.”
Violet bet a hockey hottie’s awful date meant his partner wasn’t a perfect ten, or that her good-night kisses were a bit too wet.
“Yours sucked, as well.”
“Did it ever,” she agreed.
“If you look at the math, we’re two for two.”
“Bad odds.”
“Only for blind dates.”
“And everything else so far, which means there’s only one thing I can do.”
“What’s that?” he asked with interest, taking the concrete steps up to the next level with the ease of someone with killer quad muscles.
“Give up.”
He gave a low whistle. “Already? Wow.”
“I had this whole vision of how fun this Dragon Babes thing would be.”
“Kind of like a rebound?”
She nodded vigorously.
“You just came out of something serious?”
She nodded again. She still couldn’t believe things with Owen were just…over. She hadn’t even had a chance. She’d had it all laid out in her head, but now he was starting his life with someone else.
How had she done it again? Gone and seen something that wasn’t there, like she had with Wyatt? Or was that blasted curse messing up her love life?
“Broke his heart, huh? How long were you together?”
“Kind of hard when he barely knew I existed.”
“What?”
Realizing she’d misled Leo about the seriousness of her relationship with Owen, she corrected herself. “No, not... I was in something long-term. But that was before.”
She felt that familiar stab of embarrassment whenever she referred to her wedding day. The hurt that cut deep into her soul when she thought about how she’d been dressed and beautiful at the altar, believing her whole life was about to begin.
And then seeing Wyatt’s eyes fill with panic. The way he’d been unable to say “I do.” The pleading look of forgiveness as he shook his head, turned and jogged out of the church. Okay, it had started as a jog. Ended as a sprint. Until he hit the doors. They weren’t push doors. They pulled inward.
One day she’d laugh about that.
She stopped at the top of the arena stairs and closed her eyes, bringing herself back to the present. “I mean, Owen and I were… He probably wasn’t even that interested, or didn’t realize I was, because he just got married. But we were moving closer to dating.” She opened her eyes again. “I sound crazy.”
She needed a dating coach or something. Like that guy Will Smith played in Hitch. Did they exist in real life?
“I’m a little confused.” Leo had stopped walking, too, and drew her aside so people could pass through the busy area. “You were in something longterm, but the guy didn’t know you existed?”
She hid her face in her hands, then dropped them. She’d finally managed to talk to a hunky guy, but of course couldn’t seem to make any sense. “I was crushing on Owen from afar. Except we were friends, so not really from afar. I thought he noticed me, but obviously not.”
“I find that hard to believe. You’re this lovable, angry panda bear—impossible to overlook.”
A panda bear? Really? Ugh.
“Pandas are chubby.”
“They’re cute, and you do seem to wear a lot of black and white.”
“Hmm.” She still wasn’t so sure about being called a panda bear, even though he’d called her lovable.
“Okay, so we’ve confirmed the man is blind. Then what happened?”
“He married his ex.”
Leo hissed as if in pain. Yeah, he was going to be a good friend.
“And get this,” Violet said, leaning in. “He now rakes in millions a year in major league baseball.”
Leo let out a low whistle. “No way.”
“Way.”
“So you have a thing for jocks?”
She laughed. Jocks were hunky, as well as part mystery with all that confidence, swagger and strength. But she wasn’t exactly the type jocks noticed, Owen being a case in point. “One jock. One.”
Leo’s face fell. “So you don’t have a little something going on for me?”
She laughed again, this time embarrassed. She did have a thing for him, but it was a flirtatious and fun, teasing thing. She knew nothing would happen between them and somehow that freed her to laugh, when normally she’d be dead from mortification by now. It was nice.
She needed to be careful or she’d get a verified crush on him, even though he was obviously unattainable.
“Is your laughter a yes or a no?”
She shook her head.
“Too bad. I’m kind of awesome.” His joking came easily; his smile was charming.
“I’m too shy to make any of this romance stuff work out.”
She waited for him to confirm her fault, already dreading the sense of failure it would surely bring.
“But you’re not shy around me. I mean, a bit at first. But you warm up pretty fast.”
“That’s because you’re different,” she stated, still unsure what it was about him that allowed her to be so free. “Most guys kind of overlook me or, um, see past me, like I’m not really there.”
“These jocks you adore do this? Maybe you need to find a different type. A nice guy like me.”
She giggled, knowing he wasn’t actually putting himself up for consideration.
“You are a nice guy.”
“I know.”
“And thank you for letting me rant at you earlier.”
“Yeah, I’m not your usual breed of cocky, arrogant, overconfident dude. Been tossed off enough bulls to have a healthy dose of modesty.”
“Wow. Modesty. Yeah, I see that in you. Especially right now. Wait, unless you’re actually saying you lack confidence?”
“Ouch!” He grinned and took a few steps back in his cowboy boots. “Be nice to me, angry panda.”
“Fine. This better? You’re humble. Kind and not intimidating. I kind of feel like I understand you and vice versa. You’re not this big, scary mystery brimming with testosterone.”
“And that’s good?” His expression suggested he wasn’t sold on that conclusion being a positive one.
“You’re a friend.”
He considered the statement but didn’t argue, and that filled her heart with an unexpected warmth.
“Weird, isn’t it?”
“What is?” he asked.
“How I can pour my heart out to you with all these famous hockey players streaming past us.”
Leo glanced at the restricted area’s foot traffic. He’d spent enough time around well-known sports figures that it rarely fazed him any longer, but he could see how it might lock up the jaws and minds of a regular Joe—or a shy bear like Violet.
But he had to agree when he stopped to think about it—the way Violet opened up with him was a bit like they’d known each other a lot longer than they had.
“You hear about people just clicking. And we clicked. Like we knew each other from a past life or something.”
“That’s not a thing,” she blurted, her voice filled with skepticism.
“Soul mates?”
She frowned at him as if the idea of their clicking scared her a little.
“What do you believe in, then?”
“Curses.”
“Curses? What kind?”
“I’m joking.”
“So how do you explain our insta-friendship if you don’t believe in the mechanics behind insta-friends?” Leo asked, leaning against the closest wall. The coolness from the cinderblocks seeped through his jacket.
“Did I say we’re friends?” She tossed him a haughty look that made him grin.
“You did, in fact.”
“We have the same personality—quirks? Or whatever. So we connect.”
“Okay, fine. We’re friends who share personality… bits. And we both have experience with crushing on someone from afar.”
“I think that’s actually pretty common.”
“But I’m crushing on Christine Lagrée.”
“She sounds famil—wait. You mean the Christine Lagrée with, like, a million followers? That Christine Lagrée?”
“The donor organizer for the Special Olympics.”
“Oh.”
He gauged Violet’s surprise as recognition dawned across her face. Christine was collected, professional, frequently in the spotlight, had started a few trends on social media, and had even been in a few home-and-lifestyle-makeover reality TV shows. She might not appear at first glance to be Leo’s type, but she was like him in that she knew what she wanted and would take no prisoners in her efforts to get there. She would help him project the right image to gain the life he wanted. She was exactly what he needed.
“I think we’d work well together,” he stated.
“Well, learn from me. Don’t just sit there waiting for her to open her eyes.”
Leo considered the suggestion, having already noted that Christine didn’t seem to consider him much more than a backcountry cowboy. “Okay.”
Violet scratched her nose, eyeing him. “Shouldn’t you be out with the other players, chest bumping and flirting with blondes?”
“Not my thing.”
“So, what have you done to get her to notice you?” she asked.
“Who? Christine?”
She nodded.
“I sent her flowers.”
“What? Why?” Violet looked so shocked he laughed. “Are you stalking her? Does she even know you?”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I’m not super experienced with wooing, but give me some credit. We’ve hung out with mutual friends and I sent the flowers to congratulate her.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“I may not have had anything serious or long-term, but I’m not a creep.”
“Sorry. Wait. You’ve never…?”
“Never what?” Unfamiliar embarrassment filled him at the thought of Violet judging him and thinking he’d fallen short. He hadn’t really been in a place where he’d had time to pursue a romantic life. Surely she understood it wasn’t a failing on his part?
The few times he had dated, they’d rarely gone out a second time. Life moved too fast for the luxury of dating for fun. But now that he wasn’t on the road quite as much as he had been with rodeo, he was ready to pursue something. Something that would move him forward professionally. A strong partnership like his parents had on the ranch.
“Never had anything serious?” Violet’s voice had lowered, and she stepped closer as though afraid to spill his secret to the people trickling past them from the arena’s restricted area. “How have you gotten this far in life?”
Okay, so he was nearing thirty. But she didn’t need to use that tone, as if she thought there was something majorly wrong with him.
“There are so many good women out there eager to snap you up. You must have a fatal flaw, like I do.” Her eyes were wide, as though she’d just revealed proof that he was from outer space or something.
“Violet…” He sighed.
“And here you are roaming the wilds of the NHL, unattached.” She seemed incredibly amused. It was endearing in an annoying kind of way. “Something must be so very wrong with you.”
He planted his hands on his hips and scowled at her. “You’re not funny.”
He was busy. She was shy. There was nothing wrong with either of them just because they weren’t romantically attached at the hip with someone.
“Well, who am I to talk?” she mused in a tone that suggested she was ready to leave the conversation behind. “I’m older than you are and still single.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat. They’d delved into their vulnerable sides, not something he often did. “We’re just waiting for the right person and the right time.”
“It’s hard to keep believing that, once you’ve passed a certain age and all your friends seem to have a million ‘right person’ options lining up for them,” Violet muttered.
“Well, I’ve been busy,” Leo said, feeling the need to defend himself.
She started laughing and, unable to resist, he joined in.
“Why are we laughing?” he finally asked.
She shrugged, renewing their laughter. When his sides began to hurt, he held up his hands in surrender. His ability to laugh at himself so openly and freely with Violet left him feeling slightly dazed.
“I know I’m a mess,” he admitted.
“No, I am. There’s something wrong with me.”
“I’m unavailable. And always have been.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and now I seem to expect marriage to fall into my lap.” He sighed. “How crazy am I?”
“Well, I’m cursed and defective.”
“No you’re not. You’re just shy.”
“You haven’t been left at the altar!” Violet blurted.
He gaped at her. “What? No!”
Violet jilted? She was so sweet and kind. Pretty, too. What sort of monster would do that to her? No wonder she was so quiet and reserved. An experience like that would decimate a person.
She was silent, her breathing coming hard. She looked as though she was waiting for the floor to swallow her. When whatever bad thing she’d been expecting didn’t happen, she said tentatively, “That’s how crappy my luck’s been. So the Dragon Babes… Trying something new and, um, hoping for different results…”
She looked defeated.
“I’m not giving up, though,” she whispered, that same determination he’d seen at the new-employee orientation peeking through.
“Something good will happen,” Leo insisted, giving her arm a supportive squeeze. He waited until she finally dared to look up at him. “You’ll find what you’re looking for. Just know what you want. Then expect it to happen.”
There was a flash of vulnerability in her eyes. It was quick, but he recognized it. That shadow before she brushed it away. The fear of being alone forever.
“I can help you,” she blurted out. “With Christine. She’s a woman. I’m a woman. I’ll help you win her.”
“And like I said earlier, I’ll help you find someone decent to date from the team. We’ll turn around those bad blind-dating stats.”
Violet was a gem. One who’d been knocked down by life but still refused to call it quits. He’d find her someone good. Really good.
“Deal.” She grinned and put out her hand for him to shake. Just as he reached for it, his phone rang. He froze for a split second. Who would be calling him? Ignoring the call, he shook Violet’s warm hand, savoring the touch.
“You gonna get that?” she asked, gesturing toward the ringing sound.
“Nah.” He was enjoying this moment with Violet. “Oh crap! Sorry.” He fished his phone from his pocket and turned away to answer it. “Hey, sorry.”
“I’m out by the doors.”
“I’ll meet you there in a few.” Leo popped his phone back into his pocket. “Sorry, gotta run.”
“Hot date?”
He shook his head, feeling sheepish. “No. Just an old friend.”
“Who you used to date?”
“A bit.”
“And now that you’re going to be hockey famous she wants a piece of you?”
He laughed. “Maybe. Although she knew me when I was a rodeo star.”
“The one who got away?”
“Our road schedules never lined up enough for us to get serious.” They’d settled in as friends almost a year and a half ago.
“Well, you’d better go.”
He nodded, reluctant to leave. He enjoyed spending time with Violet. More than he’d expected to.
The two of them moved through the doors that led to the public part of the arena, where the crowds were thicker, but not too bad this long after the game. A few people waited hopefully in case players came through, and someone asked him for an autograph. Leo signed a notebook and glanced over his shoulder to check on Violet. She’d slowed her steps, watching him over her shoulder as well.
He waved, then turned back, just before a woman in tight Wranglers threw herself into his arms, nearly knocking him over.
His ex.
She still had that same dancing, sparkling smile and that familiar way of wrapping herself around him like she belonged in his arms. It was awkward. Especially since he had a feeling Violet was still watching. And for some reason, that idea bothered him more than he figured it probably should.