Page 105 of Scarred

“Because once I got in front of the net, I never left. It felt like…home. That, and I realized real quick that I had a gift with hand-eye coordination and was really good at reading people,” I grin, popping a fry in my mouth.

“What about you?” I ask. “Why dance?”

“Similar situation, I guess. My mom loved to put on music to clean the house, and as soon as I started walking, I would dance around every chance I got. She got me into lessons, and I never left,” she smiles. “Being a dancer was all I ever wanted to do.”

“What made you want to start teaching?”

“After high school, I got in with a production company up in New York, that’s where I met Connor,” she adds. “It was grueling, long hours, and I would spend months away from home. My love of dance became something I had to do, not something I wanted to do.”

She tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear and stares out at the rink, lost in thought.

“I finally left after a couple of years and came back home. I took a job here in Bayside teaching, and I found my love of dancing again,” she smiles, turning back to me.

“After that, I knew I wanted to own my own studio. It was also a lot of grueling, long hours to get to where I am today, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Dance has given me so much, and to be able to give that love of dance to someone else,” she shakes her head, and I see the love of what she does shining back at me, “it’s been the biggest gift.”

Her smile radiates with joy.

I let it soak into me as I become entranced.

“Well, I, for one, am glad you decided to teach. For Scarlett…and for me,” I add quietly.

“Me too,” she smiles softly.

Reaching out, I brush back a strand of her hair and feel the familiar pull of her that always manages to suck me in.

“But what I really want to know,” I smile, bending closer to her ear and placing a soft kiss on the red evidence of my lips on her skin from earlier, “is if you can skate.”

THIRTY-TWO

LUNA

“Skate?” I pull back and look at him in confusion, wondering where he’s going with this. “Well, before you, I may not have followed hockey, but figure skating was a different story. It’s dancing on ice,” I grin. “I’m not doing crazy jumps or anything, but I can hold my own on a pair of ice skates.”

“Let’s see what you got then.” He pulls me up and tosses our empty food containers in the bag.

“Now? I don’t have skates.”

“There are always some extra pairs lying around from wives or lessons they give out. I’ll give you the tour while we look.”

He takes my hand again and threads his fingers with mine, leading me down the hall.

“This place is huge,” I say in awe as I peek into the rooms as we pass by.

“We spend most of our time here in this building, so they designed it to be a state-of-the-art training facility,” he says, matter-of-factly. “In here, we’ve got all we need to work out and strength train,” he says, showing me the massive gym that holds every kind of machine possible before leading me to another room.

“This is where we do all of our recovery. Saunas, massages, hot/cold plunges…you name it, it’s probably in there,” he chuckles, opening another door. “And this is the locker room.”

“It’s even luxurious in here,” I laugh, seeing the deep, padded seating and huge screen TVs placed throughout.

“We spend a lot of time reviewing games and plays,” he says, leaning against the door frame and watching me. “This is like my second home. They even have a huge room set up for players’ families. Scar loves coming here, and it’s a way I can spend time with her on weeks when my schedule gets hectic.”

“I love that,” I smile. “Does she skate too?”

“We’re working on that,” he chuckles, “but she seems to love it. Like you said, it’s dancing on ice,” he smirks.

“Exactly,” I beam.

“Let’s get you those skates,” he chuckles, pushing off the doorway and heading to an equipment room.