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“Hey, hey.” He slid his hand along my jaw and gently coaxed my face back to his. “I had this feeling there was more to it. You’re a great skater, Harper, and you love hockey. It seemed the next logical step.”
“I can’t believe you Googled me.” I gazed up at him with disbelief.
“Cleveland Suburban Hockey League rising star. Impressive.”
“You’d think,” I murmured. Because what should have been my crowning moment was tainted by yet another crushing disappointment.
It was also the day I realized nothing I did or achieved would ever be enough for my father.
CHAPTER25
MASON
She was perfect.
That’s all I could think of as I watched her skate laps around the rink with the confidence of someone who loved the ice.
Whoknewthe ice.
Of course, I already knew her secret. Had discovered it after I’d taken Mom and Scottie home and sat in my car, desperate to text her and explain.
I hadn’t invited Coach Dixon. Hadn’t even mentioned it to him. So when he’d showed up, singing my praises to Mom, it had thrown a wrench in my plans.
Harper had hightailed it out of there before I could even weigh my options. And it had pissed me off. Not her reaction. But her father’s. The way he was so downright dismissive of her. I didn’t like it.
But I couldn’t bulldoze either of them for answers. So I’d found myself digging for dirt on the internet.
There’s something I never thought I’d say.
The air crackled around us, a live wire ready to catch fire. We were doing this. Me. Her.
Truth was, we’d been doing it for a little while now. I’d just been too fucking stubborn to see it for what it was.
It didn’t matter that there had been no kissing or touching or any of that stuff. Being around Harper was an experience all by itself. She made my heart race, and my palms sweat. She made me laugh and smile and feel good.
She gave me hope.
Fuck, she made me believe that there were good people in the world. People who would accept and love Scottie for who he was.
She did that.
“Talk to me,” I urged her. Because I needed her to explain it to me. I needed to know her truth.
“I don’t even know where I would start. It’s a conflict of interest, remember?” She gave me a sad, defeated smile.
But fuck that.
This moment had nothing to do with her old man. It was about her. About us.
About the way I felt every time she walked into a room, and those baby blues found me.
I grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her closer, getting right up in her space. “It’s just you and me here, Harper. You don’t have to tell me anything you’re not ready to share. But I didn’t bring you here on a whim, okay? I brought you here because I… I like you.
“I, Mason Steele, likeyou, Harper Dixon. And I want to know you, babe. The good, the bad, and the ugly.”
“Even if it ruins your opinion of one of your childhood idols?”
“Even then.”
