Rushing the Goal
Page 13

“She seems like it.”
Lucy’s eyes cut to Benji’s, her eyes narrowing as her lips went into a straight line. It was easy to tell that she didn’t like him. For no reason at all, of course, except that Jayden set him up to be hated from the jump. But he didn’t mind. He liked her, and her sassy mouth and resting bitch face wouldn’t stop him. No, he’d change her mind. He’d get her to like him.
Wow. What?
As his foot hit the ice, he almost busted his ass and he braced himself with his stick as Angie laughed.
“It’s ice, it’s slippery,” she teased and he grinned.
Smartass.
But instead of saying that, he found himself looking up to where Lucy sat.
Grinning.
A little kitten grin.
That shot hot desire straight into his soul.
Ooh-wee, she’s trouble.
The kind of trouble he was starting to think he needed in his life.
“All right, ladies… Ladies,” Shea hollered out.
But the girls didn’t stop giggling or laughing as most of them fell, while the others did circles around them. It was like the Bad News Bears, well, except Angie. She stood beside Benji, her eyes on Shea and her stick hanging in her hand. She was determined, and he didn’t know why, but a grin sat on his face. He liked that she was ready and focused. It really didn’t matter, but in a way, it made him proud.
Shea hollered out some more, but it was easy to tell that he was taking it easy on the group of girls. Like Angie, though, his girls, Shelli and Posey, stood tall in front of their father, waiting for instruction. Shelli was built like Shea, big and tall, while Posey was on the chubbier side, a little shorter, but just as determined as her older sister.
“This is a fucking clusterfuck.” Glancing over at Vaughn, Benji scoffed.
“Eh, it’s the first day. Adler’s feeling out the crowd.”
It was easy to see the frustration on Shea’s face and Benji almost laughed. The guy was used to leading a bunch of grown men who all had the same mind-set as him. To win. Now he was dealing with a bunch of girls who did not have that mind-set. At. All.
“He’s right. This is insane,” Angie said up to him and Vaughn nodded.
“Exactly, cutie patootie. What’s your name?”
“Not cutie patootie,” she said with a bit of sass in her voice, reminding Benji of Lucy. “Angie Hart.”
Holding his glove out for a fist bump, Angie did as he wanted and he said, “Nice to meet ya, Hart. I’m Johansson.”
She only nodded before looking back up to where Shea was telling people to quiet down. Vaughn leaned in. “Sinclair’s niece?”
“Yup.”
“She’s scary for being so little.”
Benji laughed. “You should meet her mom.”
As Benji cocked his head to where Lucy was sitting, Vaughn’s mouth dropped. “Holy crap, it’s Sinclair in a skirt with tits.”
Benji rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
“No, really, that’s Sinclair. Wow, those genes are strong. She’s hot, though. Single?”
Benji cut him a look, nodding his head toward Angie, but Vaughn just shrugged. “I’m whispering,”
“And I can still hear you,” Angie said then, looking up at him. “She’s single, but believe me, you aren’t her type.”
Vaughn was taken aback, but Benji just laughed.
Finally, almost like he had just remembered he had a whistle, Shea blew into it and silence fell over the ice. “Ladies. Wow. First things first—”
“He’s the realest,” Benji and Angie said at the same time under their breath before meeting each other’s gaze. When she grinned up at him, Benji paused, his heart hurting a bit.
He liked her.
A lot.
What a great kid.
“I’m your coach, Shea Adler. You can call me Coach Adler,” Shea said, his voice booming through the rink. “I’m excited to be coaching you girls. Just a little bit about me, in case you don’t know who I am—”
“Everyone knows who he is,” Angie said then, and Benji nodded as Shea went on.
“I played in the NHL for a lotta years. I have four Stanley Cup rings, and I was very successful—”
“Why’d you leave, though? My daddy says you had a least ten more years in ya,” Number Ten said, and a lot of the girls nodded, agreeing that their daddies had said the same.
Shea smiled, glancing over at his daughters. “I wanted to coach my kids, and I have this nagging pain in my shoulder, so it was time.”
“You quit to coach a bunch of kids?” Number Thirty asked.
Shea nodded, his smile not faltering. “I always said I wanted to coach my kids when they wanted to play. Shelli and Posey said they were ready to play, so I retired.”
Wow, that was some love right there. Benji had always been awestruck by Shea Adler. Since day one, the guy leaked awesomeness. He was a leader, and a damn honest man, but the love in his eyes for his daughters was breathtaking. He loved those girls—and his boys. He was just an all-around good man, and Benji respected his choice. Yeah, he wished like hell they hadn’t lost him on the team so early, but Shea loved his kids and his wife, way more than the sport.
Which was a beautiful thing and Benji craved that kind of love.
Man, to be loved and to love someone more than he loved his stick and puck, he almost couldn’t fathom it now. It seemed so foreign to him. Yeah, he’d had that love, for a little bit. But back then, he was so drunk he couldn’t remember what it felt like—to be consumed by such a love. He wanted that again.