AllFreeNovel
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“I should be asking you that question. I fell on a human; you fell on ice.”
He makes a sigh that sounds like relief that I’m okay and then finally allows his head to lay gently against the ice rink under him, staring up at the stadium ceiling.
“I’m fine. I’m used to falling. Actually, it’s the least painful thing that can happen to me during a game.”
We both let our racing hearts slow down a little from the workout.
“You didn’t need to take that hit for me. You’re still a professional athlete in contract with the Hawkeyes and you getting hurt could cost us the Stanley Cup.”
Not to mention that if my father finds out that I let Slade try that move during the playoffs, he’d probably send me to Canada next to work for the farm team.
“I’ll never let you hit the ground. Not as long as I can help it.”
He pushes a strand of hair that came loose during our practice and tucks it behind my ear. The resolve in Slade’s eye, staring back in mine, tells me that I can trust him to take care of me.
I’ve fallen plenty when Toby and I practiced tough stunts. It’s part of the process, though Toby didn’t drop me often. He was a great partner and was incredibly protective.
He wouldn’t let us try a move until we had perfected it in the gym first. Then, he felt safe to try it on the ice.
I shouldn’t have let Slade attempt that just now. I can’t let the Hawkeyes down by injuring their starting center just for me to have someone to skate with.
“Let’s table the lifts until tomorrow. Maybe we can use the padded gym space to practice those before we try them on the ice,” I tell him as my hands push off his chest until I’m on my knee on the ice.
He sits up and pushes to his feet quicker than me. He outstretched his hand to help me stand.
“Are you calling off practice?” he asks, a little defeated.
“We’ll try again tomorrow. I need to think through the steps of how Toby and I would start working through a routine instead of just tossing you into one with zero experience. That was reckless on my part. I’m just a little out of practice on how we used to prepare for this. It’s been a long time.”
“Ok. However, you want to do this,” he nods, though I can see he’s not happy about cutting things short.
“How about a bagel breakfast sandwich at Serendipity’s? I’m starving.” I offer.
“I can always eat."
And now that smile of his is back and I have to remind myself that I'm supposed to be waiting for Win. I can't fall for Slade even though everything he's doing is making it so hard not to.
“I bet it takes a lot to feed that body,” I say, giving his long torso a once-over.
And then I realize what I just did.
I commented on his body like a pervert and then totally checked him out.
Oh my God.
He chuckles. “It takes a lot of expended energy to play hockey, that’s true. Unfortunately, my body would revolt against me if I tried to live off a breakfast of dirty chai’s and sticky buns, but you make it look damn good.”
I bite down on my lip to keep from blushing.
Slade in flirt mode is hard to resist but I have to keep this as professional as possible, or we’ll end up in the passenger side of my car again.
And though nothing is technically happening with us, I feel like maybe I should tell him that there is someone else.
“Slade… I—” I start, picking at my fingernail.
Why do I not want to tell him about Win.
That’s wrong, isn’t it?
