Chapter One
Dean
The first time I met Kat Baldwin, I sat in a cold rink, palms sweaty and afraid to speak to her. I’d never been intimidated by a girl before I met her. But Kat isn’t an ordinary girl. She’s the daughter of Nick Baldwin, the professional hockey player I have idolized for most of my life.
Kat skates down the ice with a few girls in tow, switching the puck to her right as the winger approaches her left side.
They collide against the boards, and Kat scrambles to maintain possession of the puck.
She elbows the girl in her jaw to create some distance between them.
Luckily for Kat, the linesman doesn’t catch the hit.
While Kat has her father’s skating and puck-handling abilities, she also has her older brothers’ scrappiness.
Duke and Austin Baldwin are two of the best defensive players in the NHL.
I see a lot of them in Kat. No matter how many games of hers I watch, I’m still in awe of her, smiling from the stands like an idiot that she’s my best friend… and the one girl I can never have.
Over three years ago, my teammates laughed and told me I was crazy for seeking out Kat.
When I’d heard Nick’s daughter made the women’s ice hockey team at Strickland University, I had to see if she lived up to the Baldwin name.
She didn’t disappoint, not even a little bit.
The following year, her younger brothers joined my team and then moved into the house I shared with my teammates, which complicated my plans for Kat.
Theo stands up, shoves two fingers in his mouth, and whistles. “C’mon, Kit-Kat.”
Travis, his identical twin, shoots up from his chair and starts clapping for his sister, yelling shit about crushing the competition. It’s not like Kat can hear them from the ice. She’s in the zone, her eyes on the puck and headed toward the net.
I laugh at these idiots. Like her two older brothers, Kat’s younger brothers love her fiercely.
They’re so overprotective that I never stood a chance with Kat.
They made it abundantly clear that I’m not allowed to touch or kiss Kat.
Or think about her in appropriate ways. At first, I wanted just friendship from Kat.
But as the years pass, I want her more each day.
“Oooh,” Travis says, nudging Theo in the arm with his elbow. “Did you see that shot? Damn, Kit-Kat.”
Theo cups his hands around his mouth and yells. “That’s my sister.”
They’re so damn loud that people around us look over at Theo and Travis.
The Baldwin twins take after their father with their height, lean, muscular build, and dark features.
A few of the girls, several rows in front of us, are staring over their shoulders at them and licking their lips.
The pretty redhead with big tits flags Theo down.
He glances at Travis, who gives him the go-ahead with the tip of his head.
“We’ll be back,” Theo says to me.
A mischievous smirk turns up the corner of Travis’ mouth as he winks.
The twins hop over the seats in front of us.
Theo slides his arm across the back of the redhead’s neck.
Travis sandwiches himself between two blondes to their right, pulling one of them onto his lap.
If Kat were here, she would lose her shit.
She’s constantly yelling at her brothers for how they act with women.
I’m supposed to “watch over them” for her.
But there’s no way I’m telling Theo and Travis not to have fun.
If I weren’t so damn in love with my best friend, I would be down there with them right now.
After the game ends, I wait by the rink entrance for Kat as the Strickland Senators smack the hands of their opponents. Kat was the sole reason for this win at home. She dominated every second she was on the ice.
I call out to Kat as she exits the ice. She cocks her head in my direction and rolls her eyes when I hold up my hand and gesture for her to come over with my index finger.
“Did you just beckon me?” She rips off her gloves and holds them against her navy-and-white jersey.
I shove my hands into my pockets and shrug, giving her one of my boyish smiles that make it impossible for her to be mad at me. “Umm… I guess so.”
“You should know by now not to treat me like a puck bunny. I’m not your beck and call girl, Dean.” A hint of a smirk crosses her lips. She loves to give me shit. Isn’t that what best friends are for? “Don’t point your finger at me and expect me to come running over.”
The corners of my mouth turn up into a wicked grin. “But you did.”
“No, don’t do that.” She shakes her head. “Dirty Dean doesn’t work on me.”
I laugh at her comment.
She’s used to women giving me more attention than I can handle. On many occasions, I’ve gotten shitfaced and done stupid shit that earned me the nickname Dirty Dean from Kat. Whenever I act like an ass, she says my alter ego has come out to play.
“C’mon, Baldwin.” Kat’s coach yells from behind her. “Let’s get a move on.”
Kat glances over her shoulder and says okay before returning her focus to me. “I have to go before Coach gives me shit. Did you want something?”
I shake my head. “Nah, I just wanted to say good game and tell you to get ready. We’re going out later.”
Her eyebrows rise. “Oh, is that so? I didn’t realize you keep my social calendar.”
“What were you planning to do tonight?”
She bites her bottom lip. “I was thinking about hanging out with my teammates. A few girls were talking about going to O’Shea’s later.”
She removes the helmet covering her long, blonde hair and pushes the sweat-matted strands from her forehead. My heart rate speeds up from this simple act. Despite my feelings for Kat, I’ve never tried kissing her. I value our friendship too much to make a move that could cost us everything.
“You should come to the party at Delta Sig tonight,” I say. “I’m going with your brothers. Theo’s meeting some girl there.”
Biting her cheek, she considers my proposal. “Okay, I guess. I should make sure Theo doesn’t get in trouble again.”
“He doesn’t need you to watch over him.”
She rolls her eyes. “This is Theo we’re talking about. Theo and Travis are worse than the Weasley twins. Someone has to make sure they don’t do something stupid.”
“You don’t have to mother them. Just come with us. We’ll have fun. We don’t have a lot of time left before we graduate.”
She sighs. “Okay, but I have to shower and eat first. I’ll meet you guys there.”
I wink. “Sounds good.”
“Where are they?” She scans the arena for her brothers. “I thought they came to the game with you?”
I point in the twins’ direction.
She follows my line of sight and sighs. “Hey, Fred and George,” she yells. “Get your butts over here.”
Kat constantly compares her brothers to the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter books because of how much trouble they get into all the time. Theo gets up first. Travis is behind him, tripping his brother to get down the center aisle to see Kat.
These two live in their own world. I have no idea how Kat lived with them for so many years without losing her mind.
I sleep one bedroom over from them in our on-campus house, and I have regretted my choice ever since.
They keep me up most nights with either loud fights over dumb shit, video games, or the girls they bring home.
“What’s up, Kit-Kat?” Theo says, beating Travis down the aisle. He clamps his big hand down on her padded shoulder.
Travis pushes him out of the way. “Yeah, what’s up, sis? We were kinda busy.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “Or trying to get busy… if you know what I mean.”
She shakes her head and sighs. “I’m coming to the party later. Don’t act like assholes, please.”
Travis slides his arm across the back of her neck, and Theo takes the other side, crushing her with a hug.
“Would you have fun for once, Kit-Kat?” Theo says. “You’re such a buzzkill.”
“That’s because Dad yells at me whenever you get in trouble. I don’t want to get reamed out by him for something I didn’t do.”
“I’m a grown-ass man,” Travis shoots back.
“So am I,” Theo says.
Kat rolls her eyes and laughs. “Any man that has to say in his defense ’I’m a grown ass man’ is usually not acting like one.”
Theo snickers. Travis yawns as if this conversation is too dull for him to tolerate.
Kat smacks each of them on their muscular biceps. “I mean it. Don’t do any stupid shit tonight.”
“We’ll be on our best behavior.” Travis holds up three fingers. “Scouts honor.”
“Yeah,” Theo chimes. “We’ll behave ourselves.”
They both look at each other and wink. Kat doesn’t notice they’re crossing their index and middle fingers.
If she were paying attention, she would know they were lying.
The twins are so immature. I guess it has something to do with how they were raised.
Austin and Duke, who are over five years older than Kat, babied her, and in turn, she did the same with the twins.
After we discuss our arrangements for later, Kat walks away, glancing over her shoulder at me one last time before she heads toward the locker room. I watch Kat leave the rink, my heart pounding in my chest. I come to her games like some fanboy—because I am her biggest fan.
Get The Player I Want to Keep