Eric’s scent of crisp soap and cedar teased me in my sleep as I woke in his bed. The Seattle sun shone through the window—we’d arrived home from Nashville late last night—and the warmth from his body radiated behind me as something tugged on my consciousness, beckoning me to wake in a hurry.

Like an alarm.

I pinched my brow, prying my lids apart.

I didn’t order a wake-up call.

I reached over, lazily grabbing my vibrating cell and shifted slightly as to not wake Eric.

A pleasant soreness pulsed between my thighs, and a thrill rushed through me at the thought of Eric in the morning. Maybe I would wake him up.

Sliding my thumb across the screen of my cell...my heart froze.

Or maybe not.

Dad had texted fourteen times, and it wasn’t even nine a.m. yet.

I clicked on the first message.

A picture.

One of me straddling Eric in the movie theater, the blanket covering the intimacy that had happened underneath, him smiling up at me with a light in his eyes that mirrored in mine.

The theater.

For a moment, the picture warmed my frozen heart. The way he looked up at me like I was his world.

Moving to the next message helped send me crashing back to reality.

Dad: Get. In. Here. Now.

Dad: Now Pepper.

Dad: Office.

Even his texts read angry.

My stomach turned and I rolled out of bed with as much ease as I could. Eric, naked save for the sheet draped over his hips, slept soundly. His red hair tossed to one side as he laid on his stomach, his strong back muscles relaxed, the black whorls of ink on his skin making him look like some kind of ancient warrior.

Losing it.

Right. I snapped out of my love-struck daze and hurried out of his apartment.

The entire car ride over my stomach churned and my heart broke.

He couldn’t fire Eric.

He couldn’t.

I wouldn’t let him.

An image of the farm, of Marie and Edward and Faith, their family’s land, flashing crystal clear in my mind. Without Eric’s support, they’d lose everything.

How ironic that he’d wanted to use this morning to tell my father, but we’d already been outed.

I pushed the gas harder, and by the time I made it to the arena, I was sprinting.

Breath left my lungs in huge gusts as I flung open Dad’s office door.

And I skidded to a halt at the sight of Ivy, standing next to Dad at his desk, her arms hugging herself like she might fall apart. Pictures—actual prints, not a tabloid—were flung in front of him on the desk.

“I had to,” Ivy blurted, tears coating her eyes. “I’m—”

I raised my hand, stopping her. Cold betrayal filled my chest, and I tore my gaze from her and pinned it on Dad.

“You can’t fire him,” I said, my voice strong, sure.

Dad shifted in his seat, his face red, his jaw clenched. “I have to,” he said. “You think I want to lose my best blocker? You think I want to cut loose a good kid like Gentry?”

“Then don’t!”

He slammed his hand on the pictures and bolted upright. “Damn it, Pepper, I have to. I gave them all a rule, and now two of them have broken it.”

“The rule was bullshit,” I snapped.

He arched a brow at me, but I didn’t cower. I respected the hell out my dad and it was time he paid me the same.

“You’re the coach,” I said more calmly. “You make this choice. No one else. You decided to set that ridiculous rule. You can undecide it.”

“I set that rule to protect you two,” he said, motioning to Ivy then me. “And look what good it did!”

“You can’t protect us from life, Dad.” I couldn’t breathe despite no longer running. My world was spiraling and I couldn’t catch a grip.

“I wanted to protect you two from this life. The life of a player. The life of drills and roads and paparazzi and broken hearts. I wanted you two to live separate, happy.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe this.” He sank into his chair.

“Don’t fire him.”

“I have no other choice.”

Tears coated the back of my eyes, my blood raging. “Bentley and Chloe did the same thing, and it’s fine! You helped him—”

“She’s not my daughter!” He cut me off, the pleading look he flashed stung. “There are different rules for family. And not three weeks ago you sat here while we discussed the last picture and didn’t bother to tell me you were in a relationship with one of my starting players.”

My shoulders sank. “You’re right,” I said. “I should’ve told you then. Should’ve told you the second it became real between us, but can you blame me for hiding it, Dad? Look at this reaction. Look at what you’ve put at stake!”

“You’ve given me no other choice,” he said. “Any relationship that ends badly will not only affect me because I’m a coach and their game will suffer or they’ll hold it against me, but because you’re my daughter I’ll hate them on principle for breaking your heart.” His eyes flashed to Ivy before returning to me.

“Pepper,” Ivy said, taking a step forward, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, but I did everything to bury these pictures. Pulled every string I had to make sure these wouldn’t end up on the front page. I had to bring them to Dad. You have more than your heart at stake. This is your career. It’s more important than a player bound to drop you the second it’s not advantageous—”

“Eric isn’t Crosby!” I snapped. “And he sure as hell isn’t Mason. If you want to talk about someone trying to use me for my position, say his name!”

“Girls,” Dad chided, his palms raised. “Please.” He sighed. “We are finally together. Finally, in the same place after years apart. I just got you two back…” he cleared his throat, which had cracked. “Please don’t hate me over this.”

I didn’t.

I didn’t hate either of them.

I was furious.

At myself.

At Eric.

At how much I loved him and how much I’d cost him.

But…

“You called me first,” I said, the realization that I was alone in his office shot light into my heart. “Not Eric.”

With Crosby, he’d struck first, thought later.

“I wanted to give you a chance,” he said. “To explain. To do the right thing.”

I tilted my head. “But Bentley and Chloe—”

“Are married!” Dad cut off my pleas of reason. “And that isn’t on the table, here.” He flung his hands in the air. “Pepper, you have to decide between this fling or his career.”

My lips parted open, only a wisp of air escaping. “What?”

Dad stood, coming around the desk to lean against it in front of me. “I love you, girls. More than anything. More than this team. But I have to play both sides. And I can’t run a team with broken hearts bleeding all over my ice. Yours. His. Anyone’s.” He glanced at Ivy then back to me. “Gentry is on the brink. You know that. You track his stats. His contract coming up is going to be massive. And he’s earned every bit of it.” He shook his head. “But he broke my one rule. I have to hold him to the same standard I held Crosby, or my authority will come into question. And then my position will be in question, too.”

“What are you saying?” I whispered, unable to find my full voice.

“I’m saying, no one knows about this yet beside us. Do the right thing, Pepper. Break it off. Now. Before it gets any deeper. Before he loses everything.”

A sharp sting sliced through the center of my chest.

“I can’t do that to him,” I said. “We’re in lo—”

“It’s been six months,” he cut me off. “Honey,” he said more gently. “Be honest with yourself. Is the thing between you worth his future? Yours? Because if you don’t break it off...it will cost him the contract.”

I wetted my lips.

Nodding over and over again like he’d broken me.

Eric was worth everything.

Absolutely everything.

Even the pain that would destroy me.

“I’ll do it,” I said, tears rolling down my cheeks. “Please, just don’t fire him. He deserves better.”

“I’m sorry, Pepper,” he said, reaching out to gently clutch my shoulder. “I’m so damn sorry. But this will pass and…we’ll find common ground again. Right?” His eyes darted between mine and Ivy’s, hope blistering the gaze.

“Sure,” I said.

“Pepper,” Ivy’s voice broke on my name as she lunged for me. “Don’t hate me,” she whispered into my ear as she hugged me.

I let out a deep breath and hugged her back.

“Never,” I said, and it was the truth.

I knew she was reeling from Crosby, from all of it. Knew she was trying to protect me before I got in so deep I couldn’t find the surface again, but damn it…she was too late.

They both were.

I let her go and spun on my heels, shutting Dad’s office door behind me. I’d just cleared the locker room when I ran into something hard and tall and smelling so damn good I wanted to burst into tears right then.

The image I’d seen earlier—of Eric’s family, their land, their farm—it pushed ice into my veins.

Because that’s what I had to be now.

Ice-cold.

“There you are,” Eric said, his hands on my shoulders. “You didn’t wake me,” he said, glancing over my shoulder toward the locker room door. “I told you we needed to do this together.”

I shook my head. “There is nothing to tell.”

“You did it alone? Pepper,” he chided me, moving like he was going to go explain to Dad, but I put my hand on his chest to stop him. “No,” I said, drawing his gaze, my chest aching. “You don’t get it,” I said.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, grazing his knuckles along my cheek.

I licked my lips, tasting the salt from my tears, and clamped my mouth shut. My jaw ached before I could speak again.

“Whatever it is we can get through it,” he said, his eyes wide, panicked.

“No,” I said, hating how clear my voice was. Hating that my heart was breaking right in front of him. “I had a revelation on the way over here,” I continued, knowing if I didn’t do this now, I never would, and then he’d lose everything. “I know we thought we were ready to tell him…but I realized…” I swallowed the tight knot clogging my throat.

“Realized what?” He whispered.

“That this…” I motioned between us. “It’s too much.”

“What?” he tilted his head.

“Too intense. Too fast,” I said, lying through my teeth. “It’s only been six months,” I continued, using Dad’s words against him. “And it isn’t…” I gulped back the tears. “Worth it.”

He fell a step back like I’d hit him with a sledgehammer.

It felt like one had knocked a hole through my chest.

Silence, thick and heavy and painful, settled between us.

“You,” he said. “You don’t want this?”

I bit my lip, hard enough to draw blood, and shook my head. “No. I don’t. Not anymore.”

“I don’t believe you—”

“It was fun, Eric,” I said, and he flinched. “But we’re kidding ourselves if we think this is for the long haul.”

He narrowed his gaze. Anger replacing confusion.

“You’re about to be one of the biggest Shark stars,” I continued. “And I’ll be in the box, watching you succeed, watching you get showered with awards and bonuses and…bunnies.”

“You know that isn’t me,” he snapped. “You know better.”

God, Eric. Don’t see through me. Believe me. For your sake.

Acid seared my heart, my vision clouding.

“You’re right,” I said. “I do know better. I’ve lived it.”

His massive body shook with adrenaline. “Don’t you dare compare me to Mason,” he snapped, and I recoiled. He’d never used that tone with me before.

But I deserved it.

It and so much more.

But for him, for his family, I would take this hit. Would take this pain. Because Eric Gentry was one of the good ones.

And he was worth everything.

“At least I wouldn’t have to hide him from my father,” I snapped right back, my heart splitting down the center with my cold words. With the look of betrayal that cracked in Eric’s eyes. “And how can I not compare you two?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest. Retreating from his intoxicating presence. “You’re in the same position. About to explode onto the world. And that’s great, Eric. It really is.”

“So, you’re punishing me for being good?”

“No,” I said. “I’m letting you off the hook. Letting us both off the hook. My job is at stake, too.” I shrugged like I wasn’t destroying myself. Wasn’t shredding my soul. “It was fun,” I said again. “But now it’s time to grow up and be serious.”

Something broke behind his eyes, and I knew in that moment he believed me. Believed I didn’t care as deeply for him as he did me.

“Be serious,” he repeated, his voice so cold.

He glared at me, shook his head, and turned his back on me.

I stood there, shaking, holding back a sob, as I watched him walk farther and farther away. The whole while my heart begged me to stop him.

To tell him the truth.

Tell him I would’ve done anything to protect him.

Even ruin us.

I swear I could feel my heart shatter into a thousand pieces.

And before I could even think about grabbing the tiny slivers to try and put together again one day…they set ablaze and turned to ash.