Sophia smoothed down her dress and stared at the door.
“Are you willing it to open?” Claire asked, stopping next to her.
Sophia spun on her heel, glaring at her friend. “No. Finn’s going to be here any minute and it’s our first official date.” She tried to tell the butterflies in her belly to calm the fuck down, but they refused to listen. She smoothed her hands down her dress again.
“First date? And you’re nervous? Way to do it backwards, Soph. Inappropriate office behavior, sex, met your mother, exchanged I love yous, and now you’re getting ready for your first date?”
“Not helping,” she grumbled, patting her wavy hair but trying not to frazzle it, like her nerves.
“Where is Thor taking you?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know. He just said to dress up and he’d pick me up at seven. I haven’t seen him since he went to talk to his parents. He texted this morning after he landed to say that we were going out on a date.” She’d missed him. It’d been five days since she’d gotten fired and they’d said I love you, and then he’d gone to Calgary. She still wished she’d gone with him, but then she’d have to explain to her family why she wasn’t working, and she still hadn’t told them that she’d gotten fired.
Yes, she had to come clean at some point in the very near future, but she hadn’t done it yet. It was easier to work at the restaurant and listen to her father grumble about how overworked she was. Not to mention that if she told them the truth, her father would tell her that she should just stay at the restaurant full-time.
She didn’t want that. Fuck, she didn’t want to work there anymore. She loved her family, but after working the last few nights and not having her PT job during the days, she realized that she truly didn’t want to work at the restaurant at all.
And then she felt guilty. She was so tired of secrets and feeling guilty.
But before she could spiral down the guilt tunnel, there was a knock on the door. She swung it open to find a grinning Finn on the other side.
“Hello beautiful,” he said, the edges of his eyes crinkled as he smiled at her, and she threw herself in his arms, her hands twining around his neck.
“I guess you missed me,” he said, burying his face in her hair as he squeezed her close.
She laughed. “Maybe.” She pulled back to kiss him, and swallowed his soft groan when their lips met. She resisted the urge to wrap her legs around his waist when he deepened the kiss—barely.
“Get a room,” Claire said behind them, and Finn chuckled in her mouth, pressing one hard kiss to her lips before he broke free.
“I’m all about getting a room,” he said, and winked at Sophia. Then he looked over her shoulder. “Nice to see you, Claire.”
Sophia turned in Finn’s arms and grinned at Claire.
“As adorable as this is, you two should get going. Don’t you have reservations or something?”
“I’m still liking this room idea,” Finn said, and Sophia swatted him on the shoulder.
“Dinner first, and then we’ll discuss the room option.” Sophia stepped out of Finn’s hold to grab her purse.
“Just go, and make sure you have her back here by tomorrow,” Claire teased, shoving them out the door.
“Where are we going?” she asked once they were in the car and he was pulling out of the parking lot behind her building.
“It’s a surprise. You like Italian, right?”
“Very funny. Don’t you dare take me to Lanzi’s.”
He flashed her sad eyes. “You don’t want me to meet your family?”
“Stop. I just don’t want to go in there on my night off, but I was thinking this weekend you could come on Sunday for our early dinner.”
“Did you tell your parents about your job yet?”
She sighed. “No. And I’m dreading it.”
“And I’ll be there when you tell them,” he said, squeezing her hand.
“Thanks.” She stared out the window as he drove, their hands still linked together.
A short while later, he led her into a fancy steakhouse.
“Oh, I’ve never been here before, but I heard the food’s amazing,” she said.
The hostess led them to a secluded booth in the back of the restaurant. The lights were dim, and as he slid in next to her, she wished they were alone at his place.
The waiter quickly came over, reciting the specials of the night and taking their wine order. Soon after, they were left alone, food order placed and wine glasses filled.
“To the most amazing woman I’ve ever met,” he said, clinking his glass against hers.
“Are you trying to seduce me?” she asked, leaning in closer. “Because I’m a sure bet.”
His laugh rolled over her, sparking desire in her belly.
“I could’ve ordered pizza and just had you come over to my place?”
“Anytime.” She pressed a quick kiss to his jaw and pulled back. “But this is nice. It feels official.”
“You are officially mine and don’t you forget it,” he said, kissing her softly, his hand sneaking under the table and resting heavily on her thigh. He ran his thumb along her hemline, and her heart sped up.
“If you can’t behave, you are going to have to sit on the other side of the table,” she said, but there was no sternness to her husky tone. She bit back a moan when his palm slipped under her dress and he cupped her thigh. She wanted him to inch that hand up just a little higher, but that would only make her lose all control, and she refused to do that in public.
“I missed you,” he said against her neck, and a shiver rolled down her spine.
“I missed you, too, but we are not making out at the table. Now go,” she said, shifting away from him and pointing to the other side of the table.
He turned his pathetic eyes on her. Dammit. It wasn’t fair that he looked at her like that.
“Come on. I’m just teasing you,” he said, and she still couldn’t believe how ridiculously sweet he was. The grump was long gone, but she wouldn’t cave.
“We should just eat dinner fast,” she said, holding her ground.
“Fine. Or we could get it to go.” He kissed her one last time before he moved to the other side of the booth.
“Eat fast,” she said, her voice low, as the waiter popped up at the edge of the table with their food. Thank goodness for dim lighting. She could only imagine how bright her cheeks were.
“Spoilsport,” he muttered, flashing her a grin.
“How did it go with your mom?” she asked.
“Wow. You really want to kill the mood, don’t you?” He took in a deep breath. “It sucked, as you know, and I hated telling her, but she’s working on the divorce papers and hopefully Jack will be out of our lives for good this time.”
He shook his head. “I never should’ve paid him off the first time.”
“You were a young kid with a lot of money and you wanted to make your family happy. There were worse things you could’ve done with that money,” she said, tracing her thumb along his knuckles and wishing he was on her side of the table.
“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
“And now it’s out there and that has to feel better, right?” She should take some of her own damn advice, but it was so much easier to dish it out.
“Yes. And the rest of the trip was great. I can’t wait to bring you home with me. Definitely during our first game in Calgary, but I was also thinking maybe over the holidays. We get a three-day break for Christmas.”
“My family might kill me, but they might also not be talking to me by that point, so I would love to.”
“Don’t worry, everything is going to work out, I promise. But you do have to talk to them. About a few things. Has Tony been around? I wish you would let me talk to him—or at least punch him in the face.” His voice was tight when he mentioned her ex.
“That would accomplish nothing, and you getting arrested right before the season starts is probably a bad idea. I don’t want to talk about him tonight.”
“Fine,” he muttered.
“Now tell me more about your trip. How are Grace and Molly? Did you get to see your friend? Brandon, right?”
While he filled her in on the rest of his time in Calgary, she pushed aside all thoughts of her family and her ex. Tony hadn’t appreciated her eliminating his threat, but after one angry text when she’d informed him that she’d quit her job, he’d been radio silent, and that freaked her out more than anything else.
“You okay?” Finn asked, his hands reaching for hers when they finished their meals.
“Of course. Want to get out of here?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” He slid into her side of the booth and pulled her close while they waited for the bill.
“Looks who’s back,” Sully said, knocking Finn in the shoulder when he sat down to lace up his skates for the first day of training camp.
“Yeah, and full contact jersey for me,” Finn boasted. Bugsy and Dr. Jonas had given him the all clear for contact to start training camp, and he was ecstatic. He’d hit his goal with rehab, his appointments with Dr. Anders were done, and he was ready to start the season. Those last few appointments with Dr. Anders had been awkward as hell, so he was glad they were over. Not that he hadn’t made it worse by talking about how professional Sophia was and how Dr. Anders should hire her back, every opportunity he got. He hadn’t told Sophia about that—and he wasn’t going to.
He fully took the blame for her getting fired, and it frustrated him that he couldn’t fix it, couldn’t get her the job back that she’d loved, even if she’d had it for mere months. But now she was talking about going to school and the only bridge programs were out of state. Getting her a job locally was completely selfish on his part. He wanted her close.
“Man, you’re giddy. It’s weird. Stop it,” Fishy teased, pulling back like Finn had something that was catching.
“Don’t be an ass. You know I wanted to be ready for the start of training camp.”
“And we need you on the blue line. Glad to see you back. I promise I’ll be gentle today. No hard shots to the ankle.”
“How about you not mention that the first day I’m back with the team,” he said, resisting the urge to shudder. Sully had a hard shot. Not as hard as his, but hard enough. He was ready to get out there and be an asset to his team. His flexibility was back and he could turn on a dime. Maybe he wasn’t as fast as Dom, the team’s young star, but Finn was fast enough. Not to mention that he’d passed all his fitness tests two days ago and had almost bested Baz on the pull-up challenge. The man was freakishly strong, but with Finn’s leg out of commission for so long, and his extended time in the gym, he’d hoped to beat Baz this year. He’d been off by two.
He’d come a long way in the last few months.
Fuck. It had only been a few months since he’d walked into that PT office, grumpy and on crutches, and she’d been there. Maybe breaking his ankle had been the best thing that ever happened to him. It brought him Sophia, and she’d turned his life upside down, and he’d loved every minute of it. Okay, not every minute.
Hell, he was turning soft. She’d done that, but he wouldn’t burst out into poetry in front of the guys, one because they’d rib the shit out of him, and two because he’d tried rhyming in school as a kid and it hadn’t gone well.
“You have this expression, this sappy expression on your face. Jesus, man. Get a grip. You thinking about Sophia instead of focusing on training camp is a problem,” Sully grumbled next to him.
Finn laughed. He’d forgotten the guy was sitting next to him. He needed to get his focus on track. He wasn’t going to let some young defenseman looking for a spot take his because he was distracted.
“I’m ready,” he shot back, wrapping tape around his socks before throwing the roll at Sully.
“Sure, sure,” Sully said, standing up, and shifting on his feet.
“Things are going well, then?” Sully asked, and Finn cocked an eyebrow.
“Do you want to know? Really?”
“Yeah, I know I’ve been an ass all summer.”
“You want to talk about that?”
“Nope. I want to get out there and kick ass at camp and then wipe the floor with Vancouver in a week.”
“Me too, man. Me too,” Finn said, grabbing a final drink from his water bottle before they headed out to the ice.
“And I’m happy for you. Sophia seems great,” Sully said, heading down the tunnel to the ice.
“Really?”
“Yeah. We should double date with her roommate. Claire, right? The two of us would have glorious ginger babies,” Sully said, nudging Finn and wiggling his eyebrows.
“Right. How about a no on that one. I want Claire to continue to like me.”
Sully put his glove to his chest and pretended to stagger back. “That hurts man, it really does.”
Finn rolled his eyes. “Sure it does.”
“If you two hens are done gossiping, how about you get your asses on the ice,” Beady yelled out, and a few of the guys laughed.
“Finn had a question about his laces. He’s thinking zebra print,” Sully said, getting another laugh out of the guys while Beady continued to glare.
Finn didn’t say a word as he skated out onto the ice. Pissing off Beady on the first, or last, or any day of training camp was in no one’s best interest. The man was brutal.
“Alright funny guy, get your ass on the ice, and let’s start with a few drills. We aren’t here to chit-chat,” Beady barked out.
Finn didn’t recognize a good chunk of the guys on the ice with him, most of them were rookies that made him feel old at the ripe age of twenty-six. There were a few familiar faces, guys he’d played against that were now looking for a new team, and a bunch of his current teammates. Due to the size of the training camp, they’d been split up into four groups, and two of those groups were in the weight room. It was going to be a long day.
And he was going to love every minute of it—well, almost every minute of it.
Beady called out a few drills that would test Finn’s ankle, but he held up better than fine, thanks to all the practice he’d done leading up to today. Yes, he might’ve had some time off the ice right after his surgery and the month following, but he’d been back at it faster than some of his healthy teammates who’d enjoyed long summer vacations. And by long, he meant an extra week or two at home or in some sunny locale. The offseason was never truly the offseason for most hockey players.
The ice called them back too fast, but it was never a hardship to strap on a pair of skates and glide across the smooth surface.
They continued the morning practicing two on ones with Finn trying to block shots from two rookies. One of them looked like he was ready for the big show, but the other guy needed more time in the juniors.
He gave them pointers when the next group was up, because one day these guys could be his teammates, and the faster they learned the better. He rested his arm on his propped-up stick and waited until he was up again. This time trying to snag a puck from Dom, but that fast bastard deked around him every time.
Dom could give the phenom in Edmonton a run for his money on speed.
After a few hours and a scrimmage between the two groups, in which Finn’s group won, thank you very much, they headed to the weight room to continue the torture. Training camp was like boot camp on steroids, and it wasn’t for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach, as more than one rookie threw up in the trash.
They were elite athletes for a reason, hard work and determination, and Finn was pretty damn happy that he’d kept up with the guys after his injury and rehab. It was another point to Sophia for getting him back here on time, and he wanted nothing more than to grab a quick shower and then head to her place before she had to go to the restaurant tonight.
He couldn’t wait to see her in the stands, in his jersey—he’d finally signed it for her—and screaming her head off for him.
That image was so much hotter than it should be.