He studied me. “What no attitude about how women can take care of themselves?”
A few years ago, he might have been right. I was abrupt about my independence, feeling as though I needed to prove it to others after I’d proven it to myself. And yes, I was handling it. But sometimes… it was nice to just—not have to fight your own battles. It had certainly been a while before anyone had done that for me and Jax.
“You’re right I didn’t need it. But I’m still grateful.”
He turned his gaze to Jax and watched his glide for a moment. “Good work today,” then he turned back to me. “I saw your spin,” he gave a light shrug. “It wasn’t terrible.”
I reached out and slapped his arm with the back of my hand. “It was perfect. And you know it.”
He laughed.
“You were here the whole time?”
He pointed to the player’s lounge. “I was visiting an old friend who works here.”
I nodded. “So why did you choose now to step in?”
“Like I said, you were handling it. Until the kid was getting too close for my comfort.” His eyes drifted. “Last time that guy came near Jax, he fell.” He turned back to me. “I’m sorry about my attitude at the store the other day. I was rude and it was uncalled for.”
I nodded in agreement. “And childish.”
“Yes. And childish.But you were amazing here with Jax, seriously you should consider teaching pro. But given you have a distinct hatred for hockey, it’d imagine that’s the last thing you’dwant to do.”
I shrugged. “Hey, work is work.” I said defensively, since technically he was closer to the truth than he realized.
Before he could respond, I caught Sam waving a phone in my direction from the benches.I groaned out loud.
“Something wrong?” he followed my gaze.
I shook my head. “I’m on call and my work phone is going off.” I skated off the ice to meet Sam at the end, who was eying me with an intrigued brow. I ignored it and kept the subject on Jax. “He just started playing, I’d hate to pull him out now.”
“All good. It’s why I followed you here. I’ll stay with him until he’s done. Meet you at home later?”
“Thank you so much. Just remember to buckle him in, he’ll never get it right himself. And then just heat up leftovers for dinner.”
“I’ll take him out for ice cream and then drive around like a maniac while he’s swinging around the backseat.Got it.”
I pressed my lips together. “Sorry, I know you know all this.”
“Now go so you have a shot of getting home at a reasonable hour.” Sam winked at me and returned to the bench, scanning the rink, hopefully to keep an eye on Jax and not the college guys.
I turned to Logan, who was behind me but focused elsewhere. His eyes were glued to the team Jax was playing with. I caught Jax’s eyes and waved him a kiss, letting him know I had to leave. When he waved back and returned to his game, I slipped off my rentals and walked up to Logan, who was now against the rink wall, arms crossed.
“Hey,” I called over the music. He seemed in deep thought.
I expected absent-minded eyes to turn to me, but they were anything but. When Logan looked at me, he was with me. So present. So focused. As though I were all he could see. But that wasn’t possible. I’d heard about Logan Danes. Okay, I read about him. He was the most focused player in the league. He saw nothing but a sure picture in his mind of how he was getting that puck to the net.
But when his eyes were on me. They were nowhere but on me.
I opened my mouth to speak but fell silent at his pinning gaze. A slow, knowing grin formed his lips when he realized I’d lost my train of thought. And I didn’t even care that he suspected I was staring.
Because that smile was the result.
Feeling hot all of a sudden, I fought the urge to wipe at my forehead.
Work. I need to get to work.
But Logan and I had unfinished business.
