Page 58 of Snowflakes and Ice Skates

Now I was. Sure. But only since she left the team’s organization and started working for Dani. I thought her initial disinterest had been due to potential conflicts with her job and me being a player. But that wasn’t a problem anymore. There weren’t any excuses to hide behind.

“Because I know she’s going to say yes. Eventually.” I smiled confidently, though I didn’t feel it at the moment. A man could only handle so much rejection, but I wasn’t willing to give up easily.

I wouldn’t pursue her if I wasn’t sure she was interested. I knew she was. She’d flirted with me before, then like a switch, treated me with cool indifference. Last spring, there was even this moment when we were alone, walking back to our cars after an event. She was laughing and joking with me. She wrapped her hands around my arm and leaned into me as we strolled down the sidewalk. She even kissed my cheek when we said goodnight. That had all been real. I knew she was attracted to me, then the next time I saw her, she acted like it never happened.

Neither of us ever brought it up, but I knew she remembered. Since then, there had been small snapshot moments similar to that night. Times when she seemed to forget she was supposed to be professional or pretend not to like me. I caught her watching me from afar only to run when I approached. That’s what kept me going.

The waiter approached and took our order before quickly disappearing. I took a sip of my water and let the rest of them take over the conversation and allowed myself to think more about Jessica. This thing between us wasn’t just in my head. Some of the guys, none of the ones sitting at this table, caught on too. Mikey, Brayden, and even Olli had pointed it out.

So I wasn’t just chasing after someone blindly hoping she eventually agreed. There was something there. A tiny spark. I couldn’t let it go. She was someone special. Different from the women that threw themselves at me and my teammates or the women I invited to attend events with me or meet up for last-minute dinners.

I might be interested in Jessica, but I wasn’t just sitting at home alone waiting for her to come to the realization that she wanted me too. I dated, though never seriously, and went to bars and clubs when I could. I was young and wanted to experience life. Could anyone blame me for that?

“She’s going to be around more because of the holiday party, so give her space,” Dani warned.

“I will.” I sat up, not knowing if she had said anything else to be before I noticed. I would give her space, but that didn’t mean Jess wouldn’t come to me. We seemed to gravitate toward each other. Even when I went out of my way to not engage, she found me and pretended to be annoyed. I wasn’t stupid. I knew this was just a part of our game. Of our relationship. She might tease me about being a player like the rest of the team did, but I took every opportunity to remind her I was one of the good guys. She had to believe that by now.

Despite the reputation I had on the team and with the fans, I wasn’t the party boy. I didn’t go through women like socks, and I most definitely wouldn’t treat her that way.

“Did you guys make any big decisions today?” Erik asked his sister. She joined us at the last minute when her husband demanded she stop working for the day.

“Yeah, I’m really excited about it.” She smiled at Dani, then glanced at me. “It was actually Jessica’s idea that we ended up going with.”

Pride swelled in my chest, despite the fact that I had absolutely nothing to do with it. It wasn’t like I knew much about Jessica’s professional experience, other than seeing how hard she worked at events. But praise from Chloe was not something to ignore.

“Yeah, she came up with the theme ‘A Few of Our Favorite Things’,” Dani started. “We’re going to feature something to represent each of you guys. We’ll probably have an auction or something to help raise money as well.”

“I wanted to talk to you about that. We can have autographed items from each of them,” Chloe said, then the two of them dove into more planning while I zone them out.

“What are you going to say?” Reese asked Jake.

“For my favorite thing?” He asked, and Reese nodded. “I don’t know. Do they want our favorite Christmas or holiday thing or just in general?”

Erik leaned across his wife and interrupted the women, “Are we talking general or holiday-themed items?”

Madi pushed him back. “They’ll give you guys details later.”

“Anything,” Dani answered.

“Well, there’s going to be a ton of hockey stuff,” Jake said with a chuckle.

“Hey, we have other interests,” Reese argued with a smirk.

“Like what?” Jake asked.

Reese looked up at the ceiling. “Erik likes cars.”

“I’m not giving away an autographed Lambo,” Erik chided.

“Okay, there’s … food?” Reese suggested before cracking up.

“We can have gift cards to our favorite restaurants. Someone’s bound to do a video game,” I said. “And maybe gym equipment or clothing.”

Jake nodded, “Those are actually good ideas.”

I didn’t appreciate how shocked he sounded. “Gee thanks.”

“It’s going to be surprising if we can all come up with something different,” Reese mentioned.