Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
The rest of the game is crazy with the shots on the net being sixty shots on me and twenty-seven on the other goalie, but we end up winning two to nothing, with me having my second shutout of the month.
I am named first star and do the turn on the ice, tossing the puck, and I’m almost dreading the room now knowing the reporters will be all up in my face. “Good game, Mark,” Matthew says to me when I finally get off the ice. “Heads up, the reporters are already in there.”
“Don’t we have a grace period?” I ask, annoyed that I won’t even have a chance to take off some of my equipment.
“When you steal the show by blocking sixty shots on the net, you don’t get a break,” he says, slapping my shoulder, and I wonder if this is going to go longer than I thought. When I walk into the room, I make my way to my seat, grabbing the Gatorade waiting for me with my post-workout mix. I put my mask on the top shelf and hand the glove and blocker to the equipment guy waiting for me, and I sit to take off the pads. The minute the pads are off, the press come over.
“Mark, you were on point tonight,” one of them says. “How did you feel about all the turnovers in the neutral zone?”
It’s a shitty question, and if I was a rookie, I would throw my team under the bus with my answer because they sucked tonight, and the turnovers were sloppy. “I mean, in the end, I did the job they pay me to do. Kept the pucks out of the net.”
“There were half the shots on net to the other team. Is it safe to say you were the best one on the ice tonight?”
“I didn’t put the two goals in the net, so I guess it’s a group effort, wouldn’t you think?” I tell him and take a gulp of my drink.
The questions last ten minutes more until I nod at them and walk away to go to the shower. I rest my head under the hot water for a minute and then rush to get to the restaurant.
I pull open the door, and the bell over the door makes noise. I look around, and I spot her sitting in the middle of the restaurant at the lone table with no one else there. Her eyes fly up from her phone when she hears the bell, and she smiles. “Well, there he is, the first star of the game,” she says, and I smile at her and walk over to her. She stands up to greet me, and this time, I kiss her just near her lips, closer than ever before.
“Sorry I’m late; the press was all over me,” I tell her and shrug off my jacket and also my suit jacket. I roll up the cuffs of my shirt to my elbows and take the beanie off, brushing my hands through my hair.
“Your hair is still wet,” she says, and I nod. “You should have taken your time so you don’t catch a cold.”
I smirk at her. “If you start that, I’m going to think you like me.” I wink at her, and right before she says something, the waiter comes over.
I watch Vivienne watching the waiter as he tells us the specials of the night, and I think of the chef who is staying late for us. “It all sounds so good,” Vivienne says when the waiter walks off to give us time. “Are you hungry?” she asks me.
“Famished,” I tell her, and I don’t smile. I just look at her. “I feel like I haven’t eaten in months.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Vivienne
“Famished,” he says, and I just look at him while he stares at me. “I feel like I haven’t eaten in months.” My body shivers internally, and my body goes tense. “What about you? Are you hungry?”
Oh, if only he knew how fucking hungry I was. “No,” I say, shaking my head. “I ate during the game,” I tell him, and he just nods. My whole body is on edge. I’ve been jumpy since I saw him in the garage, and he took me upstairs. I swear to God I thought he was going to push me against the wall and finally kiss me. At least that is what I was hoping; this dancing around is almost like a mating dance, and I, for one, am ready to get in the ring and oil wrestle with him. Naked. After the game, I quickly kissed everyone and said I was heading home to bed with a headache, but Karrie knew exactly where I was going. How could I not tell her after the garage part? When I walked into the lodge after that, I downed two glasses of wine, one after another, not even giving myself time to think about it.