Harper didn’t slink out of bed the next morning. She allowed herself the privilege of remaining in his arms. She had never gotten a more restful sleep since she broke up with Bryan years ago. Somehow, Zach had this ability to make her feel safe. Protected. Like nothing bad could happen to her.

When he woke her up the next morning to make love to her again, she was more than willing to open her body up the way she opened up her soul to him last night. She had no idea how it was possible, but somehow, once she was vulnerable and completely honest with Zach – and herself – about everything, sex was enhanced. Better than before, which was saying something.

“I have practice this morning,” he murmured into her hair as he pulled her against him so he could kiss her shoulder blade. “Maybe I should call in sick and blame you.”

“Stop it,” Harper said with a soft smile on her face. Her eyes were closed and she breathed in a deep, clear breath. She felt at peace, content, like all was right in the world. “You need to go to practice, especially after that last game where you had a wide open net and somehow still decided to pass it.”

He laughed and she found that she loved the sound of it. She wanted to make him laugh even more.

“You’re starting to sound like Cherney,” he told her. “Good thing I have a thing for bald women with thick mustaches.”

Now, it was Harper who laughed. She wiggled around in his arms so she could look him in the eye. “I’m being serious,” she told him. “I don’t want to be that girl who holds you back. I know the team comes first” –

“You come first,” he corrected, “in more ways than one.” He kissed the point of her nose. “But I appreciate it. I know what you mean.”

“You know I’m serious, though, right?” Harper asked. Zach furrowed his brow and opened his eyes but kept his mouth closed, waiting for her to go on. “I know girls say things and do things differently. I get that. I just want you to know that when it comes to this, I completely understand. I want you to put the team first. I respect how hard you’ve been working and I wouldn’t let you throw it away for anything else. I think the only exception to that is if I were having your baby, and” – she stopped. “Okay, too soon. I promise I haven’t been thinking about that.” She closed her eyes, feeling herself turn red. “Shit.”

Zach chuckled, gripping her to him even tighter. “You’re so cute when you babble, sweetie,” he told her.

“Sweetie?” She quirked a brow and popped open an eye, looking at him with doubt.

“I happen to like pet names, thank you very much,” he told her. “It’s what I do when I’m serious about someone.”

This caused Harper to grin. “You’re serious about me?” she asked.

“As serious as a heart attack,” he informed her. He gave her a lopsided smile and she couldn’t help but smile in return. A genuine, warm smile.

“Stop it,” she said, playfully slapping him on his bare chest. “Don’t you have to get to practice?”

“I can call in,” he told her. “I think I’m coming down with something. I think you got me sick.”

She laughed again. “Go!” she said, thrusting her finger at the door. “I have to be there to write about it and there’s no way I’m going to be nice if you don’t show up.”

He gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “That’s fine with me,” he said. “I like it when you’re bad.”

* * *

Harper and Zach arrived at the Ice Palace in two separate cars within fifteen minutes of each other. Even though Zach did say he was serious about her, implying he wanted them to actually have a relationship rather than just some fun, Harper wasn’t quite ready to publicize their new thing. She didn’t think it would be professional in any capacity, and after a few weeks of feeling this out and making sure this was what she wanted, she planned to tell Seraphina everything first.

Harper tried to ignore the flutter of her heart as she stepped through the Palace doors and headed to take the elevator up to the club level of the rink. She hugged her notebook to her chest, her pen already between her fingers, and she tried to calm her anticipation down at seeing Zach again. Which was just silly, since she had seen him twenty minutes ago and they planned to meet up again for lunch.

Once the elevator reached the club level, the doors sprung open and she stepped out into a long hallway. There were a couple of boxes open during practice for the media to sit and watch. Some players had their family members there, while others preferred complete solitude. The players hadn’t yet gotten to the recently swept ice, and as Harper slid into the first row of the box seats, she took in the gleaming ice.

The Ice Palace had a luxurious club level, with rare photographs of the team since its inaugural season in 1993 framed and placed along the off-white hallways. There was a goosebump-inducing black and white photograph of Dimitri Petrov looking at his wife after losing Game 5 in the Stanley Cup Finals. His wife was off-camera but everyone knew he was staring at her, face ashen, eyes wide and sad. To be honest, Harper wasn’t sure how Dimitri felt being immortalized on the wall in this way, considering it was a loss and he was currently going through a divorce, but the photo was nothing short of haunting.

Similar photos littered the hallway, including one of Seraphina and Katella with their grandfather. Seraphina was no more than four, which made Katella six. Both girls looked strikingly similar to the way they look now – Seraphina with her blonde hair and big forest green eyes, Katella with her gold hair and sea-green eyes. Their personalities shone through – Katella’s easy confidence and intelligence in how to hold her body; Seraphina’s perceptive gaze and mischievousness.

Ken stood behind them, each hand on one shoulder of each granddaughter. He wasn’t smiling, save for the fact that his lips were turned up, and he was staring at the camera with a protective glint in his periwinkle blue eyes. He wore a white golf shirt with the Gulls’ anchor on the right breast pocket and tan slacks.

Harper didn’t know much about the personal life of the founder and his family, but she did know Ken raised his granddaughters like they were his own after their parents died in a car crash. And for Seraphina to have found her grandfather murdered in his office… Harper couldn’t even imagine what the sisters had gone through, what they were still going through as they carried on his legacy.

“What do you think so far?” Harry Burns asked, coming to sit by Harper in the box seat, cocking his head to the side. “Ryan’s not a bad fit with Underwood.”

Harper nodded. “You know what, Burns?” she said. “Surprisingly enough, I agree with you. The exhibition games have really showed how talented the guy is, if a little cocky.”

Burns nodded. “I think it’s just a good thing he finally got away from the scandal back in Toronto,” he said. “I don’t know if the guys will trust him alone with their wives anytime soon, but God, the guy is one hell of a player.”

Harper bit her tongue to keep from making a smart retort. Burns didn’t know the story and Zach wasn’t planning on sharing it anytime soon. She could respect that, and she definitely wouldn’t reveal that to the world. It didn’t stop her blood from heating at the judgment, didn’t stop her teeth from clamping down together to keep a smart retort from jumping out of her mouth.

“He is,” she forced out.

She turned back to her notebook and opened it, tilting her head down so a curtain of hair prevented him from seeing her face. Harper didn’t want to talk to him anymore; in fact, she wanted to focus on practice, on what she was going to write for the blog. She needed to make sure she didn’t gush about Zach, especially now that they were together, but she didn’t want to leave him out either, when he was an integral part of the new team.

It wasn’t long before the buzzer blew overhead and the players started skating out in their practice jerseys. Each line had a specific color. Because Zach was on the first line, he, Underwood, and Alec Schumacher wore red. The second line wore orange, the third line wore green, and the fourth line wore blue.

Zach didn’t even look at the media, didn’t even acknowledge Harper with a casual look or a secret smile. He spoke to Underwood and Schumacher, and judging by the way they were laughing, it seemed like the three were already close friends. Harper felt herself smile. That was great. If they could develop a chemistry between them that extended in their personal life, the line would be unstoppable.

Currently, the players were all lined up at the blue line. One of Cherney’s assistant coaches, Soto, was explaining a passing drill. Brandon Thorpe, all decked out in his goalie gear, was currently in net. His backup, Jimmy Stafford was just off to the side.

“What the hell are the police doing here?” Burns muttered from beside Harper.

Harper immediately turned to look. Sure enough, two uniformed police officers headed to rink with Seraphina in between them, a disgruntled look on her pretty face. She looked like she was trying to explain something to them, but by the stoic looks on their faces, they were either ignoring her and didn’t care what she had to say.

Something sunk in Harper’s gut as they made their way to the rink. Seraphina pushed on the metal level and opened the side door to the ice before leaning inside and trying to get Cherney’s attention. Cherney immediately skated over to Seraphina and tilted his head down so he could talk to her. When Seraphina finished, Cherney turned to look at his players.

Harper’s heart stopped. She knew what was going to happen before it did. Sure enough, Cherney skated over to Zach and whispered something to him. Zach furrowed his brow, confused. She could read his emotions clearly on his face as though she were right there on the ice with him. And she wished she was.

Zach glided over to where the police were and he started talking to them as he stepped off the ice. The media started muttering under their breaths. Some even whipped out their phones to start recording. Harper watched as Zach pressed his lips together in a grim line as he listened to one of the men speak to him. He didn’t look happy.

And then, Zach slid his eyes over to Harper. There it was. The tell. Somehow, this was tied to what happened last night with Bryan. Bryan had gotten the cops involved and now Zach was being arrested. Seraphina was running her fingers through her hair. Cherney continued on with practice. And the media was having a field day.

Harper sunk into her seat, keeping her eyes to herself. She needed to find a way to help Zach.