The Sport of Romance: A Multi-Author Box Set

by Cari Quinn

  “You could wait until you get back.”

  “I’d rather get it out of the way and not have it hanging over my head the entire time we’re gone. I’ll think of something.”

  Glancing at the clock, she saw she was running late yet again, and after saying a quick good-bye, she flew out of the house, bound for the arena.

  She arrived just in time to take in Carolina’s morning skate. Their goaltender, JP Lafeberve, didn’t appear at all sharp. Concentrating on only him, she tried to figure out why. Finding things on goaltenders was one surefire way to help the team, since the goalie was so important in hockey.

  While she watched the skate, Sarah forced herself to call Dan. She could duck out of the press box if need be. As much as she hated doing this to him she couldn’t wait until she came back from the road trip. The situation had to be resolved now.

  Unfortunately, the call kicked over to voicemail. He must be with a patient. Sarah left a generic message and hung up, her heart in her throat. Dan so didn’t deserve to be treated like this.

  She watched the rest of the skate, still trying to assess the problem with Lafeberve but coming up with nothing. Sighing, she decided to go back to her office and watch some video. Maybe it would provide her with the insight she was lacking.

  Doug stuck his head into her office after a while. “Dan called. He said after he didn’t get a hold of you, he figured he would try me. I told him you were busy and would call him soon. Is everything okay?”

  Sarah knew Dan had called. Her office phone had rung several times, showing his name on the caller ID. Since she was concentrating on Lafeberve, she’d decided to wait a little while to call him back. Truth be told, she was also beginning to lose her nerve.

  “I called him earlier, so he’s just calling me back. I’m breaking up with him, and I think he knows something’s wrong.”

  Doug was a huge gossip. Sebastian would find out about the breakup through him and she wouldn’t have to address it directly. Cowardly to be sure, but she did not want to have that conversation with him.

  Doug sat and regarded her. “Can I ask why you’re ending it?”

  “You can ask, but I’d rather not talk about it.”

  “Ah, playing it close to the vest.” His expression sober, he asked, “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just not working out.” Changing the subject from her pathetic love life, she said, “Hey, I noticed Lafeberve was pretty shaky during the morning skate. Did you see anything?”

  “No, but I wasn’t watching him so much as the forwards. What did you notice that makes you think something’s wrong?”

  Sarah shrugged. “I have a hunch. It appears to center on his glove side. He let an awful lot of pucks through and grew more and more frustrated as the skate went on, even shattering a goal stick over the crossbar near the end. I wonder if he’s injured.”

  Doug nodded. “Ah yes, I did see him break the stick, but I just figured he was yet another crazy goaltender.”

  “I’ve been going through game tape, but another set of eyes would be great. Do you want to take a peek at some tape of his recent games to see if we can spot something a little more specific than just glove side? If not, I still think we should tell the guys about it. Don’t you agree?”

  “Yeah. Every little bit helps, especially with goaltenders. Let’s go to the video room since squeezing both of us behind your desk is pretty cozy.” He waggled his eyebrows and she chuckled.

  Sarah was grateful she had people like Doug around. Right about now she could use a little levity.

  She and Doug sat together poring over tapes for two hours, splicing things here and there until they had some good footage of Lafeberve letting in goals on his glove side over the past ten games. Sarah’s brow furrowed as she did quick mathematical calculations of how many goals he let in each area versus the number of shots he faced in the specific areas they’d identified.

  It was this more complex analysis other teams weren’t doing, and the Storm were definitely gaining an advantage. The team was out in front of the rest of the conference by five points and leading their division by eight. Obviously her contributions weren’t the only reason they were doing so well, but Sarah was proud of the part she played in the team’s success.

  By the time the guys trickled back into the arena for that night’s game, Sarah and Doug had already spoken to Jon, who’d agreed the guys should watch the video. Everyone gathered in the video room, and Sarah, avoiding eye contact with Sebastian, said, “Both Doug and I watched Carolina’s morning skate this morning. We noticed—”

  “She noticed.” Doug pointed at Sarah.

  “We’re a team.”

  “Cut to the chase,” Lou growled.

  “Anyway,” she threw a vicious glare in Lou’s direction, “we noticed Lafeberve was missing a lot on his glove side low. This afternoon we went through video of his last ten games and isolated his glove hand. We figured it might help you guys to see some of what we picked out. Oh, and I’ve got a new shooting analysis.”

  As the guys started to grumble good-naturedly, Sarah motioned for them to calm down. Doug passed out the pieces of paper with Sarah’s calculations and the guys studied them.

  After a few minutes, Sarah called them to attention once more. “We’re going to show you a couple of minutes of video, but overall, here’s what to remember.”

  Sarah strode to the white board. She was far more comfortable giving instructions now than she had when she first arrived. Explaining as she went along, Sarah drew three circles in the offensive zone where Lafeberve was letting in goals from. Then she broke everything down by percentage before snapping the cap on the dry erase marker and turning to face the room. “Any questions?”

  “What about top shelf on the glove side?” Nikolai asked. It was his most successful shooting angle.

  “We didn’t see any weakness high or side to side. He just appeared a little wonky on the glove side low. He got so mad when one went in during the morning skate he slammed his goal stick on the crossbar and shattered it. Maybe there’s an injury he’s trying to hide.”

  “Or maybe he’s getting lazy,” Lou countered, “and it has nothing to do with all this numbers stuff.”

  Jon shook his head, glancing at Lou. “I think she’s got something here. What do you guys think?” The players nodded, smiling. “Well, let’s try to make him break a few more sticks, boys!”

  The guys whooped it up and Sarah nearly fainted from shock. Jon had thrown his support behind her and not Lou. The warm fuzzies flowed through her and no matter how much she tried to school her expression, a silly grin popped up on her face.

  Jon started giving his own notes. As Sarah sat down next to Doug, her cell phone vibrated. Heart in her throat, she left the room.

  Dan was on the line. With trepidation she answered.

  “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all day. I was worried you were avoiding my calls.” There was a note of hesitation clear in his voice.

  “I wasn’t. We’ve got a game tonight.” She sounded defensive, no doubt due to the guilt from avoiding his calls, so she took a deep breath and downshifted. “I’m sorry. I’m just tired.”

  “It’s okay. I know you guys work long hours, especially on game days.”

  Why does he have to be so damn nice? I am a total bitch for leading him on.

  “We need to talk.”

  “Uh oh, I think I know where this is going.”

  “You do?” Sarah regarded her fingernail in annoyance. She’d been biting it again. She forced her hand to her side.

  “Yes, I think so, but why don’t you say whatever you were going to say?”

  “I need some time alone.”

  He sighed, and the weight of her horrible treatment of him bore down on her even more. “I was afraid of that.”

  “I just need to figure out what I want.” She felt terrible for doing this to a good man like Dan, and not even doing it in person to boot.

&nbs
p; “And who you want, I suspect,” Dan replied. “I saw that player follow you outside at the bar. When you came back in, you were pale as a ghost. I put two and two together.”

  Wincing, Sarah kept quiet, allowing him to have his say. She owed him that much.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not mad. I’m disappointed. I’m jealous. But I’m not mad. We can’t help what our heart wants.”

  “You’re a great guy, Dan. Someone will realize that. I’m sorry it’s not me.”

  “Me too. Good luck, and I hope you get what your heart wants.”

  Sarah hung up and sank to the floor, her head in her hands. The meeting let out and the players started back toward the locker room. She scrambled to her feet with a muttered curse, not wanting to look weak in front of the players.

  Apparently she did, though, as Rob approached her and asked, “Everything okay? You look a little flushed. Are you feeling all right? Did you get some bad news?” He came closer, putting his hand on her shoulder and squeezing.

  “Fine. Just, um…” Sarah tried in vain to clear her head. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” She smiled, and even though Rob’s expression was doubtful, he shrugged.

  “If you say so. I’m always around, you know that.”

  Sarah nodded, grateful he didn’t continue to quiz her.

  Waiting a short distance up the corridor, Sebastian studied her face. Needing to regroup, she fled, the questions piling up inside her head.

  What did her heart want? Was her head correct in insisting she and Sebastian not be together?

  * * *

  On his twenty-fourth birthday, Sebastian heard a commotion and glanced up. Rick and Rob were carrying a cake into the locker room with candles blazing. Wax dripped all over the place. Sebastian smiled. No doubt they’d used the butane torch, normally reserved to work on their sticks with, to light the candles. Sebastian blew them out and then noticed Sarah ducking out of the room.

  She can run, but she can’t hide. He knew she’d recently broken up with Dan. Might be time to step things up.

  After eating a piece of cake, Sebastian went to her office. He ambled in, kicked the door shut, lifted her out of her chair, and pulled her flush with his body. She sputtered in protest, while also leaning into his touch, and he ached for more contact.

  Sarah’s breath came faster as his tongue pressed the seam of her lips, coaxing her to open for him. He was trapped in a sensual haze of lust and drowning in it. The kiss consumed him until in some remote part of his brain he heard a group of guys passing by her door.

  The noise broke the trance and she shoved him, but this time he wasn’t letting her go. It had been a mistake to at the bar, and he wasn’t about to make the same one again.

  “I came in for my birthday kiss.”

  “Leave,” Sarah pleaded. When he didn’t move, she said, “Please, Sebastian. I can’t do this. What if someone comes in?”

  Between their bodies, she was actually wringing her hands, and much as it disappointed him to let her go again, he didn’t like seeing Sarah so upset and knowing he was the cause of her pain. “Fine, but I’m going to keep kissing you until you surrender. We both know you will.”

  He released her then strode to the door and opened it, peeking out to see if there was anyone in the hall. Seeing the coast was clear for the moment, Sebastian turned back. “I’m pretty determined when I want something. That’s why I’m in the NHL instead of partying my way through university like my friends. I won’t stop until I get what I want. What I want is you.” He gave her one last, thorough perusal then ducked out the door.

  * * *

  The team was rolling as December hit, but injuries were piling up, with more players going on injured reserve. Keith called the entire off-ice staff into a conference room. His gaze took in the entire room. “Will we be screwed if we lose more players in addition to the injuries we already have? Do we need to consider making a trade?”

  Jon was the first to speak up. “When is everyone expected back? We should try to figure that out first and work from there.”

  “That’s the problem,” Colby said. “There’s no way to say for sure, but we probably won’t have everybody back until at least six weeks from now. January, I would think, at the very earliest. Longer for Casey,” Colby finished, referring to one of the team’s top forwards.

  “So what do we do?” Keith asked. “Change our style of play to focus less on skill? How are we going to win games without all these guys?”

  Jon rubbed the bridge of his nose as he paced the room. “Someone else will have to step up. We’ve got a team of young guys and many of them could be the guy. I don’t think we should make any significant changes to our playing style in the middle of the season.

  “Besides, Rochester plays the same system, so taking more kids from there shouldn’t affect us too much. I think it’s more practical to work with what we have under the expectation the guys currently on the roster can get the job done. I don’t like the idea of making a trade just to bring in a body. I think it sends a bad message to the team that we don’t trust them to win.”

  Keith nodded. “Agreed. Anyone feel different?”

  Lou spoke up. “A trade always shakes things up.”

  Sarah barely repressed the groan of frustration. He was forever arguing, and it was getting tiresome. From the looks on the faces of her fellow staff members, she wasn’t the only one sick to death of it.

  “Do you feel the team needs a shake-up? We’re leading our division and in the top five in the conference,” Keith said.

  “But there’s always dead weight. Like Rick, what the hell does he really bring to the team?”

  “Toughness,” Jon answered.

  Lou rolled his eyes. “Only if we play him.”

  Keith put up his hand and Jon and Lou stopped speaking. “Anyone agree with Lou that a shake-up is necessary?”

  Everyone shook their heads and Lou glowered.

  “This is going to affect both the power play and the penalty kill,” Jon said. His gaze fell on Eric, one of the assistant coaches. “Can you work with Sarah and Doug to figure out who we should put on each? We might have to change a few things to compensate for having different guys getting power play and penalty kill time.

  “We need everyone to work together on this. Got it?” Jon threw a hard look Lou’s way, and the other man nodded, his lip curled in distaste.

  Would the man ever accept her? If not, that was his problem. Everyone else seemed to be coming around. Based on the things he was asking her to do or be part of, Jon trusted her judgment more each day.

  Doug chimed in then. “It’s never too early to figure out contingencies, you want to start now?”

  The staff members agreed and converged on the video room, where the biggest white board was located.

  Doug held the roster in front of him. “I’ll ignore anyone we’re already using and anyone who obviously won’t work. Sarah, can you write up our latest stats on goals per sixty minutes of play?”

  “Sure.” She picked up the marker and jotted down players’ names, along with their most recent stat. Seeing her idea in action at the NHL level was a special thrill, especially since the coaches and management bought it.

  “Michal…”

  Lou piped up. “Michal is good at fishing the puck out of the corners. Let’s put him on the list.”

  “Sebastian… he should be on the list. The kid’s a natural goal scorer. Aaron…”

  Sarah wasn’t surprised Doug recommended Sebastian for the list, but her heart still skipped a beat or two. Being on the power play could be a huge chance for him.

  “I just don’t know what to think about Aaron,” Eric replied. “He’s got so much skill, but he just doesn’t seem to use it.”

  “Me neither,” Sarah said. “Okay, so it appears we have two forwards to add to the power play, Michal and Sebastian. What do you guys think? With the guys we have already is that enough?”

  “What about defensemen? I know we don’t
need as many on the power play, but we should consider them too,” Eric said.

  “Didn’t Sebastian play defense a few times in juniors?” Sarah asked. She went on, eager to share her epiphany. “He might be a good choice to play on the blue line during the power play because he wouldn’t be a liability back there. I know we’ve always used a traditional formation, but I don’t think we need two defensemen on the power play. Four forwards and one D-man should be enough.”

  “I agree.” Eric glanced at Sarah with a mischievous grin. “We should’ve known you’d remember something like that. You’ve got a mind like a steel trap. Nothing gets by you, does it?”

  She was thrilled Eric liked her suggestion. His support would go a long way toward getting Jon to make the change.

  They went through the penalty-killing squads and repeated their analysis, and then at practice the next day, Jon announced the new lineups. There was a noticeable buzz around the arena. Getting a shot to prove something to their coaches always energized the team, and Sarah was no different.

  * * *

  Since the last jaunt into Sarah’s office had resulted in one of the hottest kisses he’d ever had, Sebastian decided to try the same tactic again. Maybe if he kept kissing her, he could wear down the walls she’d built around herself.

  Besides, he had a good excuse this time. During practice Jon had told him he’d been chosen to be on one of the power play units and that Sarah had been the one to champion his cause. His coach didn’t know it, but he’d just given Sebastian the perfect opening.

  As soon as he showered after practice, Sebastian went to Sarah’s office, knocked quickly then walked in, shutting the door behind him. He appraised her sweaty, flushed appearance, his gaze traveling up her body at a leisurely pace that did nothing to calm his rioting heart.

  What had she been doing? She was positively delectable.

  Her breasts were outlined beneath the thin material of her top, and her nipples peaked as he continued his languid perusal. Her hands twitched, moving in front of her and then back to her sides as she obviously fought the urge to cross her arms over her chest. In a tone he was sure was meant to be casual but came out as anything but, Sarah asked, “What’s up?” She put distance between them by sitting behind her desk and then grabbing her warm-up jacket and tossing it on.