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I shake my head, giving him the automatic refusal I give customers who ask me out at the diner.
“I’m flattered, but I don’t date.”
“Why not?”
My laugh is cynical. “So many reasons. I don’t have time, I don’t trust men, I don’t have the money to get all dressed up.”
“You’ve looked beautiful every time I’ve seen you. Let me take you to dinner.”
I hesitate, considering it. I really do like talking to him. But I promised myself—and my sister—that I wouldn’t fall into a man’s trap ever again.
“I can’t.”
Dom is about to say something else when Zane gingerly walks onto the ice. He’s never ice-skated.
“Will you help him?” I ask Dom. I’ll just hang out by the wall where I’m safe.
Disappointment flickers in his eyes. “Yeah, of course.”
He skates away and even though I know saying no was the right thing to do, I feel disappointed, too.
Chapter Seven
Dom
* * *
A string of drool trails from the side of my blue Great Dane’s mouth as he races toward me in my backyard.
“Boni! That’s my boy!”
I named him Zamboni when I adopted him from a Great Dane rescue organization almost three years ago, but I call him Boni. Other than my teammates, I spend more time with him than anyone.
Colby, the local college student who lives in the guest cottage behind my house rent-free in exchange for taking care of Boni when I’m on the road, tosses me a tennis ball, which is soaking wet from my dog’s mouth.
I throw the ball and Boni races to retrieve it. Cade keeps walking toward me, a paper cup of coffee in hand.
“I’m taking him to the dog park right before you leave tomorrow,” he says.
“Good idea.”
Boni has an uncanny way of knowing when I’m just leaving for practice and when I’m going on a road trip for a few days. He cries and tries to follow me to my car when I’m going on a road trip, which kills me every time. It’s not easy to change the mind of a one-hundred-and-sixty-pound dog who’s determined to follow you.
“Aren’t you usually at practice now?” Cade asks.
“Yeah, but we’re starting late today because the college is having the locker rooms painted.”
“How much longer until the new arena will be done?”
I sigh heavily. “Too long. Another eleven months.”
Two and a half years ago, the Coyotes arena was destroyed by two explosions, one set off by the other one. Faulty wiring was at fault, and we lost teammates, front office staff and fans that day. It’s been a long road for our owner, Mila, to get a new arena built, but it’s finally underway. None of us can wait to get back into a locker room of our own instead of one we’re sharing with a college team.
Boni returns with the ball in his mouth, dropping it in my hand. I throw it again and he races away.
“Has he ever gotten tired of playing ball?” Cade asks.
“Never. He slows down eventually, but if you throw the ball, he’s going after it.”
