Chapter 17 Cole
Cole
“Trust me, I know a place,” I told Cassie back at the AHL arena. “Somewhere we can skate in peace.”
The frozen pond is where I used to come occasionally to skate alone, back when I was in the minor leagues at the start of my career.
It reminded me of home. As kids, my friends and I would find a frozen pond in winter and spend hours skating, practicing hockey, or just messing about. Jess would tag along with her friends too.
Skating out here always reminded me why I love hockey.
Cassie, Noah, and I pause at the edge of the pond.
Cassie steps forward, eyes transfixed as she looks around the view.
It really is beautiful: powdery blue and surrounded at the edge by frosted trees.
A pink sunset tinges the horizon. There’s an old wooden board around part of the pond where people sometimes play hockey for fun.
“You knew a place,” she says, a smile warming her lips.
I ignore the warm feeling creeping under my ribs at the sight of Cassie being here with me. Like my past and present are meeting.
“I did my time in the minors,” I reply. “I spent a year hanging around this neck of the woods before moving up to Boston.”
Noah and I set down the bags from the car. Before leaving the arena, I’d grabbed a load of equipment: skates for the three of us, sticks, and a couple of pucks.
“This is awesome. How did I never know this was here?” Noah crouches and runs a hand along the ice. “Frozen solid. What you got in mind, Taylor?”
I grin. “Skates on.”
“What are we doing here exactly?” Cassie asks after we’re standing on the ice.
I loop around on my skates so I’m standing in front of them like I’m a coach.
“Professional hockey is a motherfucker.” Noah snickers, and Cassie’s eyebrows raise.
“It’s also the best thing in the world. If you’re born to do it, nothing else lives up to it.
But it can get in your head. After over a decade in the NHL, this is my best advice.
Make it fun. Remember why you loved it in the first place. ”
I can’t help but notice a smile tugging at Cassie’s lips.
“So, we’re going to do just that,” I announce. “Keep away.”
Noah laughs, running a hand through his curly hair. “Oh man, I haven’t played that in forever. That used to be my shit back in seventh grade.”
“Keep away?” Cassie asks. “Like… the drill little kids do at hockey lessons?”
I shoot her a crooked smile. “Yep. I’ll start with the puck. You two try to steal it from me.”
I shove a stick into Cassie’s hands. Her eyebrows shift upward. “In case you forgot, I’m a hockey agent. Not a hockey player. I’m a decent skater, but not good enough to compete with you two.”
I smirk. “I’ll go easy on you. Promise.”
She flips the stick over in her hands, as if she’s assessing its weight, before she smiles up at me. “All right, then. Game on, goalie. Do your worst.”
I somehow knew she’d be game because that’s something I’ve realized I like about Cassie. Something I really, really fucking like. She takes things in stride and finds the joy in them. She finds something to smile about in every situation she finds herself in.
“Let’s go!” Noah yells, skating off.
The next thirty minutes are…
They’re the most fun I’ve had in a long time.
It gets ridiculous fast.
I take the puck around the rink, and Noah tries to steal it, flicking out his stick. Cassie mostly skates around and watches us, laughing hard at the sight of us battling it out. After a few attempts, Noah body checks me against the barrier and yells at Cassie.
“He’s compromised! Get in there, agent!”
Cassie grimaces, skating over—she’s more confident on the skates than she gives herself credit for, cutting a graceful path toward me. She whacks the puck from arm’s length down the other end of the rink, and Noah lets out a whoop.
“You unionized,” I laugh, breathing hard as I straighten back up. “That’s not in the rules.”
Cassie scoffs. “Pfft, rules are for suckers.”
She and Noah high five, before Noah darts off to take the puck. I push off, skating after him, and easily steal it back with a quick flick.
“You’ve been playing hockey forever,“ he yells after me. “Unfair advantage!”
I grin back at him as I skate away. “Unfair advantage? You’re twenty-one. Call me when you’re in your thirties and sleeping the wrong way at night gives you a week of neck pain.”
A minute later, Cassie’s rounding the edge of the ice when she begins to wobble. She trips over her skates, flying toward the ice. In a flash, I reach out, easily catching the weight of her body before she hits the surface.
She stares up at my face. I still have her cradled under my right arm, pressed against the muscle of my forearm and my biceps. There’s a rose-pink flush creeping into her cheeks, matching the full bow of her lips. My eyes drop to her mouth, and I feel a deep, hot rush in my cock.
Feels like fucking heaven, and I barely touched her. But I’m not supposed to be crossing that line.
Quickly, as if I’ve been burned, I lift her back to her feet.
Noah’s voice interrupts the moment.
“Oh, man.” Noah blushes slightly, glancing at his phone. “I’m supposed to FaceTime my mom in half an hour. I better go call a ride back to my apartment.”
I laugh, despite myself. He’s a good kid. He’s crushing the AHL right now, but he’s still a young guy, new to adulthood, who still has daily phone calls with his mom.
It’s like I’ve told him before: family comes first. Don’t forget the people back home while you achieve your big hockey dreams.
“All good, kid,” I say. “Get home safe.”
Noah skates over to Cassie. “It was great to meet you. You should come watch an AHL game sometime.” He throws a quick hug around her shoulders.
She smiles, returning the hug. “You too, Noah. Don’t be a stranger.”
Noah changes back into his sneakers and disappears back up the path.
I’m suddenly very aware that now it’s just Cassie and me.
Out here, alone on the pond.
She’s looking at me with that bright stare. The silvery flecks in her eyes seem to reach into some deep part of me. In the fading winter light, the sunset casts her in a golden hue.
My throat tightens. It’s hard to keep fucking ignoring how stunningly beautiful she is. How I’d risk a whole damn lot—maybe everything—just to push up that skirt, tear off her panties, and feel how soft, tight, and perfect she’d feel around my cock.
Instead, I focus on the cold. The feel of the hockey stick in my hands. The tiny flakes of snow beginning to fall from the sky. Anything fucking else.
“How’d you do that?” she asks softly.
“Do what?”
“Earlier today Noah was freaking out that he’s going to let everyone down once he makes it to the major league. But by the time he left, he was inviting me to come watch him play. That doesn’t sound like a guy who’s terrified of the pressure. You turned around how he felt.”
I shrug. “I’ve been there. Hockey is as much a mental game as a physical one. If you’re lost in your head, you’ve lost the game before it’s started. Trust me, I’ve blown enough saves over the last twelve years because I was ruminating about some other bullshit.”
She bites her lip. “What if you felt that way about life outside hockey? What if you could find the joy in it again?”
I meet her gaze. “I don’t know if I know how.”
Maybe that’s too honest a thing to tell my professional babysitter, my agent’s employee.
But I can’t make myself give a damn. I think I’m realizing that I trust Cassie Wells with the truth, and not just the easy parts.
Maybe that's why I’m not ready to leave yet. “Skate with me?”
She nods, and we lap the rink a few times. I match her pace, only going as fast as she wants.
“Turns out, keep away is surprisingly fun,” Cassie says. “Thanks for not body checking me.”
I snort at the idea of that. “Thanks for not body checking me either,” I deadpan.
She turns to me with a scoff, mock-confident. “You’re joking, but I bet I could kick your ass.”
“You’re tougher than you look, but I think I have you beat in that one department.”
She smiles, sweet and innocent. “Oh, like you beat me at pool?”
I huff a laugh, coming to a stop and spraying ice against the boards. “Fine. Be my guest. Give it your best shot. Try to check me.”
Cassie looks surprised for a second. Then her face breaks out into a wide grin. This sunshine girl is all things nice, but so many other things too: she’s also made of steel and determination and grit. She won’t back down, even from a joke competition.
“Okay, goalie. Brace yourself.”
She skates a few more feet away, spinning back around to face me.
“Watch out,” she warns.
“I’m watching.”
“I’m serious. It’s going to totally wreck you.”
“Consider me cautioned.”
“You still think I’m joking. The Nor’easters will have to put you on the injury report tomorrow. Cole Taylor out for a month due to agent-induced destruction.”
“Sunshine, you’re stalling like fucking crazy.”
“Okay. Okay. Here goes.” She inhales hard and darts forward.
Unlike when a 200lb NHL player is crashing against me into the boards, I don’t exactly need to brace myself. She’s lean—surprisingly strong—but is slim and a whole foot shorter than me. She bumps against my braced shoulder with a squeak, bouncing off. I don’t think I move an inch.
“Adorable. You okay?”
She smooths down her skirt, pouting. “I wasn’t going for adorable.”
“Sorry, I obviously meant terrifying. Hardcore as hell. Painful, actually. I think you broke a rib.”
She laughs. “Okay, if I suck at it that much… then teach me.”
I arch an eyebrow. “I don’t think this is a skill you’re going to need at the office.”
“I don’t know. Sometimes I want to body check Spencer right out the window.”
I laugh. “You want a demonstration?”
“Why not? It’s not every day you get an NHL pro teaching you a hockey technique.”
“Fine,” I concede. “But slow motion. No actual force. Let’s keep things gentle.”
Energy passes between us. It crackles as if there’s a thunderstorm and not a snowstorm brewing in the clouds high above us.
I should go. I should tell her I’ll see her tomorrow at the game.
But heat surges in my cock at the idea of touching her.
I’m the wall of steel on the ice, but I’m learning that when it comes to Cassie, my resolve folds like a bonfire going up in flames.
“Do it,” she says, and the look in her eyes is hot enough to melt this whole damn rink, “try me.”