Fair Play (Hat Trick, Book 1) Read Online Free

still didn’t like it, but he believed her. “Okay.”
    She immediately went to work wrapping his hip. Distraction
time.
    “So why hockey? Why this job?”
    She didn’t hesitate. “It started with my brothers.”
    “Are they hockey players?”
    She laughed. “Yes. All six of them.”
     
    Two hours later, early in the second period, Savannah stood with
Mark in the tunnel to the locker room, next to the bench. She kept one eye on
the players and the game, always on the alert in case they needed her. The line
change came off the ice and all sat without a glance in her direction.
    Quickly, quietly, she told Mark what had happened.
    She fought to remain detached as she laid out the details,
only stopping when Mark moved toward Bobby, clearly furious. She put a quelling
hand on his arm, discreetly pointing out the TV cameras, her smile fixed in
place.
    Telling him here, like this, wasn’t fair, but it worked to
her advantage. She deserved one after the night she’d had.
    The next line change came and went. She continued to spell
it all out for Mark.
    She told him about Garrick, and Mark turned to stare down
the bench, nodding once. She sent Garrick a weak smile over Mark’s shoulder,
sorry he would be dragged into this further.
    By the time she finished, Mark had repeatedly promised to
address it and assured her it would never happen again. She hoped that meant
Bobby’s ass would get fired, but she didn’t think she was that lucky.
    Another line change brought her attention back to the game.
Garrick rose to his feet, ready to go on the ice. He was almost seven feet tall
in his skates, a veritable wall of jersey, pads, and man as he moved in front
of her. He tossed one leg over the boards before lifting his hand to her.
    Without a thought, she bumped her bare knuckles against his
huge gloved fist, grateful for his support.
    Garrick threw himself into the game while she studiously
ignored the looks from Mark and a couple of the players on the bench. The truth
hit her hard. In all her time with the Ice Cats, she’d never done anything as
familiar as a fist bump.
    They all must think I’m an uptight bitch. And why
wouldn’t they?
    She’d been hell-bent on making the right impression as a professional,
as a qualified trainer. Somehow, she’d lost sight of the fact that she was also
supposed to be a team member .
    She searched for signs Garrick’s groin hurt, that any of the
players on the ice were having an issue, all the while wondering when she’d
sucked the joy out of the game she’d loved all her life. But she loved the job,
too. And when had she decided these two things were mutually exclusive?
    Probably about the same time Garrick had hit on her that
first day. Or when she’d turned down two more dates within the following hour.
By day four she’d turned down two more players, an assistant coach, and Sheila,
the lovely woman who ran the box office. She’d also determined that she was the
only straight, single woman under the age of sixty who worked for the team. And
that the people of Moncton really needed to get laid.
    Which was most definitely not in her job description.
    In the end, she’d erred on the side of isolation. The
operative word being erred . Three months later, she was lonely, didn’t
feel like she’d ever settle into her new home, and her teammates were surprised
when she engaged one of them in something as benign as a fist bump.
    If not for the cameras and the crowd, she might have fist
bumped her own forehead.
    The next line change was in motion and she helped Mike Erdo shove
his hand back in his glove as he stood. How many times had she done this for
teammates, her brothers, students she’d coached? Why had she never said to a
member of the Ice Cats all the things she’d shouted from the benches of
countless other ice rinks?
    Mike was already sailing over the wall when he called out
his thanks. She responded by suggesting, loudly, that he apply his foot to
their opponent’s