But somehow word has gotten out.
“Josh.”
“Mmm?”
“Do you care if people know we’re together?”
“Do I care?” He rolls and sits up. “I don’t care. We’re together. It is what it is.”
“Some people don’t like that.”
“Fuck ’em.”
“This website posted a picture of me…” I shake my head. “It’s, like, me on my worst day. No makeup, sweaty hair, just leaving Ignite. I look awful. They’re saying I’m not good enough for you.”
He’s on his feet and beside me in a flash. He closes the lid of my laptop. “Don’t read that horseshit.”
I pout. “I know I shouldn’t. If it was just me, I wouldn’t care. But I don’t want them thinking that you’re stuck with some loser.”
“Jesus Christ.” He crouches beside my chair and takes my hands. “Come on. We’ve talked about this. We’re both going to have stuff like this happen. We can’t let it bother us. The idea that you’re not good enough for me…that’s bullshit.”
My smile is tremulous. “Thank you.”
“You know that, Sara.” He squeezes my hands. “You know you’re sending a message by being yourself. So you leave a spin class looking sweaty—that’s real. Remember the podcast?”
I gaze back at him with a tiny shake of my head. “I mean, yeah…but…”
“We talked about the pressure from our fans. And I told you the most important thing is to do what’s best for you and not worry about pleasing everyone else. Because you can’t. And to stay consistent with your own values and beliefs.”
I nod slowly. “Right. Work hard. Stay humble.”
“Yeah. And I’ve learned from you…be honest. Be real.” He gazes into my eyes and warmth flows through me. I want to absorb his strength, his goodness, his humility. “You make me better.”
My eyes sting. “No, you make me better.”
His smile is alchemy. It’s love and affection, admiration and respect and devotion. It’s everything I feel for him reflected back at me, and I am so very, very lucky.
“Remember who you are and what you’re doing. The message you’re sending to your fans. You can go out without makeup, not looking perfect. You can say what you want and not apologize for it. What did just you tell Harper?”
Harper and I just had a frank discussion about my image and the future.
“I told her…I refuse to be consumed by the influencer aesthetic, where everything has to be filtered and perfect all the time. I don’t even know if I’ll still be doing this when I’m thirty, but if I am, I’ll be just as honest and real as I am now.” I take a breath. “I’m not perfect and I don’t want to come across that way, because nobody is.”
“Exactly.” He smooches my mouth in a soft, tender kiss. “Except you are perfect…for me.”
This book is dedicated to my friend PG Forte, because I forgot to thank you in Must Love Dogs…and Hockey for the help you gave me with Otis’s story. I’m a dumbass. You’re awesome. Thank you.
Acknowledgments
While I wrote this book, I drank a lot of rosé wine and considered redecorating my entire home in pink and gray. I still might do that. I don’t even like pink—but Sara influenced me, because that’s what she does! So thanks, Sara!
Thank you to my friends Tess Thompson and Kat Mizera. In a video chat one day, I was whining about needing something for my characters to do on a date other than eat and drink. Kat suggested a poetry reading. I freakin’ loved the idea of a hockey player at a poetry reading! Then Tess said, “and the poetry could be really bad”! And thus was created “Nature’s Semen” and “Borborygmus.” (Bad poetry is the only kind of poetry I can write!)
As always thanks to the fantastic team I work with—Heather, Stacey, Emily, Gina, and everyone at Loveswept. And thanks to my readers, especially my Sweet Heat Reader Group, for buying and reading my books, reviewing them, sharing them, and for making me smile and laugh.
On a more serious note, many of you have probably realized the inspiration for Josh and Easton’s back story comes from a real-life tragedy. The entire hockey world was touched by the crash involving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team bus in 2018. I can only imagine the pain and grief everyone involved experienced. Reading about the players who survived and the paths their lives have taken since then was heartbreaking, humbling, and inspirational. The stories I have written are entirely fiction. #HumboldtStrong
BY KELLY JAMIESON
Aces Hockey
Major Misconduct
Off Limits
Icing
Top Shelf
Back Check
Slap Shot
Playing Hurt
Big Stick
Game On
Bayard Hockey
Shut Out
Cross Check
Last Shot
Body Shot
Hot Shot
Long Shot
Wynn Hockey
Play to Win
In It to Win It
Win Big
For the Win
Other Books
Dancing in the Rain
Must Love Dogs…and Hockey
You Had Me at Hockey
PHOTO: LANCE THOMSON PHOTOGRAPHIC
USA Today bestselling author KELLY JAMIESON is the author of more than fifty contemporary romance novels. She writes the kind of books she loves to read—sexy romance with heat, humor, and emotion. She likes coffee (black), wine (mostly white), and shoes (high!). She also loves watching hockey.
kellyjamieson.com
Twitter: @KellyJamieson
Love stories you’ll never forget
By authors you’ll always remember
eOriginal Romance from Random House
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You Had Me at Hockey (Bears Hockey) Page 24
