Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 83927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
We head off the ice and down into the locker room with Coach Harris following behind. “Good work, boys,” he states as he walks into the center of the room to be seen by everyone. “You kicked their asses tonight. It was close for a moment, but you brought it home. You worked as a team and showed them whose house this is,” he says, getting a loud cheer from all around the room.
“Get yourselves cleaned up, celebrate tonight, and be back here again tomorrow for training. We’re off to The Frozen Four in six days, and you all need to be ready.” He gives us a nod before turning and making his way for the door, then doubles back to glance at me and Tank. “You two,” he says. “You’ve got press wanting to meet with you. Don’t fuck it up, and most importantly, don’t embarrass me.”
We each nod and wait for him to exit, then turn to each other with wolfish grins. We fucking made it.
I quickly shower, get dressed, and walk out with my boys. The crowd is still strong as they wait for us to exit, and I search through the crowd and spot a mop of golden hair facing away with my number and name across her back. As if sensing me, Dani turns around and gives me a beaming, brilliant smile.
“Congratulations,” she says, jumping into my arms and planting a huge kiss on my lips. “You were amazing.”
“Thanks, babe,” I say, winding my arms down her body to give her ass a firm squeeze. “You up for the celebratory party tonight?”
“Is it okay if I skip tonight?” she cringes. “It’s been a huge week. I was kind of hoping for an early night.”
Damn. I should have known. As if she would want to party after the week she’s had. “Do you want me to come back with you?” I ask.
“No, don’t be stupid,” she laughs. “Go and celebrate with the boys. You can wake me up when you get home,” she smirks with a wink.
“Fuck, baby, I plan to,” I murmur in her ear.
She giggles and gives me another kiss as she tightens her arms around me in a warm hug. She pulls back and looks at me with nothing but awe and pride, making me want to put that look on her face every damn day. “Here,” I say, digging into my pocket and pulling out my keys. “Let me put my shit in the SUV and you can drive it home.”
“Thanks,” she smiles, taking them from me.
I walk her out to the parking lot and throw my hockey bag in the back of the SUV. I tell her about the press interview on the way, which has her asking a million questions. I help her up into the SUV and watch as she drives away before heading back into the stadium to find Tank.
I find him leaning against the wall of the merchandise shop as Sophie helps the girls finish up. “Hey, man,” I say, getting the guy’s attention. “You ready?”
He nods at me with a wide grin. “Yeah.”
We squeeze our way through the lingering crowd and make our way back down the hallway that leads to the locker room. Instead of heading right, we go left toward the conference room. We find the door and push our way through to discover a few people sitting in front of a long table with two chairs behind it.
Once inside the room, I take a moment to quickly look around. There are two women holding notepads and a man with a camera. Coach Harris stands in the back looking as though he’s about to start shitting bricks. We take our seats and they jump straight into it.
We stay for at least twenty minutes, with both the women asking numerous questions about our season, our team, what we hope for the future, and most of all, our relationship as the Dream Team. I even get asked who I think would be a good captain for next season. I let them know that I believe Jaxon should be put up for the role, looking at Coach as I say it. He raises a questioning brow at me but gives me a slight nod, and I realize that Coach has seen the same hard work and improvement coming from Jaxon that I have.
We finish off our interview and meet with Coach right outside the door. “Fuck, that was awesome,” I say to Tank, who grins back at me.
“Yes, you both handled yourselves well. Keep it up because there will be a lot more of that in Chicago,” Coach tells us, and I momentarily wonder if it will be televised. I know my family would get a kick out of seeing me on live television. You know, apart from the actual hockey games, which they have seen millions of times.