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He looked up from the ice, as if he had felt the intensity of my concern.
Our eyes met across all that distance.
Then the medic was crossing the ice toward him, and Carter was distracted, shaking his head, saying he was fine.
But he wasn’t fine. Watching the way he moved, I was sure of it.
But it felt as if the spell between us had been broken, at least enough for me to remember I was late coming back from my break. I hustled back to work.
* * *
After the game, I heard hubbub outside the bar. Another waitress, Jacqueline, smiled at me. “Fan club in action.”
“Whose fan club?” I racked my brain for the names of other players on the team. Three of them seemed to take up all my attention. “Weiss? Logan?”
“No, most of those guys went out the back from the locker room,” she said. “But there are three of them who can’t resist meeting their adoring fans.”
Three.
Why did I assume that had to bemythree?
I was not sure what the expression was like on my face, but she smiled at me. “Go, see for yourself. We’re slowing down now.”
“Thank you,” I told her gratefully.
I ducked out into the lobby.
Jack was the first one I saw. He towered above the crowd, his blond hair wild from his helmet, but it was a sexy look on him. He smiled at everyone as he greeted them as if they were his long lost best friend, his eyes crinkling at the corners as if he were genuinely pleased to meet people. I didn’t think most celebrities could manage to seem so real when they greeted people.
It was a good thing I’d spied him when I did, because he abruptly vanished from view. He had knelt down, surrounded by a bunch of little kids, who were all wearing jerseys: some hockey team for the under-tens. He talked to them seriously, giving them a little pep talk about playing as a team, then talked to each of them individually. He was one of those people who seemed to give all his attention.
I looked for Carter, hoping I would see him to know he was alright. But I couldn’t see him anywhere.
I slipped around the edge of the crowd, wondering where Sebastian was. I already had the feeling the three of them always moved as a pack.
A man collided with me. “Oh, sorry, sweetheart,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder to steady us both.
“It’s alright,” I told him, veering away from him and into the open space of the hallway that surrounded the arena.
Only to see Carter stalking toward us, his big body barreling forward, his face set and furious.
Then he stopped abruptly as our eyes met.
The man moved off, patting my shoulder. Carter’s eyes flickered after him, then returned to mine.
The two of us gazed at each other as if time had stopped. There was a scar through his eyebrow that gave him a sexy rakish look. His face was all hard angles and lines, a big jaw, sharp cheekbones. But his lips were puffy, like he was made for kissing.
He turned to go.
“Are you alright?” My voice came out too eager, and I was cursing myself as he swung back around.
“I’m fine.” He said the words slowly, as if I were a little bit thick.
As if I didn’t have a reason to ask. As if we all hadn’t seen him go down on that ice.
But even though he sounded like a jerk, I didn’t want him to leave yet.
“It looked like maybe you had an old injury,” I said, touching my own right thigh. I’d noticed that he favored it, though I hadn’t been sure of it until I saw him go down. “Your knee?”
