“Look at those guys hugging,” Easton said in a bemused tone. “I’d like in on that action.”
“I thought you said you’d run if one of them came after you.”
“Heh. Maybe not.”
They watched the face-off at center ice, trying to follow the play as the puck zipped neatly from one player’s stick blade to another. The Aces seemed to be in control, and then suddenly they weren’t and the other team had one player racing to the Aces net.
“Ack!” Amber stared at the screen, muscles tense as the Toronto player charged at the net and shot the puck. In an amazing move, the Aces goalie—who was that, anyway?—stretched a leg out and made an incredible save. An Aces player swooped in and scooped up the puck, flying around the back of the net and heading up the other way. “Whew! That was close!”
Brent Stoyko. He was the goaltender who’d just made that awesome save. Now she knew Jared and Duncan, and Brent. She’d probably meet him sometime at the Sin Bin since the team apparently hung out there a lot.
Like Duncan had said, maybe she’d see him there too.
“Oh, there’s Marc,” she said. “Does that ‘C’ on his uniform mean he’s the captain?”
“That’d be my guess.” Easton glanced at her. “How do you know him?”
“I met him last night at the fundraiser. His girlfriend is Duncan’s sister.”
“How many halftimes are there in this game?” Easton asked a while later.
“Pretty sure it’s not halftime. I think there are three periods. I don’t know what they call the breaks.” As the first period came to an end, she rose off the couch and retrieved her laptop from her bedroom. “I’m doing some research before the next period starts. We need to be informed.”
“Boo, baby,” Easton drawled. “What’s got into you?”
She paused. “Hell. I don’t know. I was curious. But it’s kind of fun, don’t you think?”
“It’s more fun watching you watch that Armstrong dude.”
She frowned.
“Kidding, boo. You are cute, but yeah, the game’s kind of fun.”
She did a search and found some sites that explained the basics of hockey, but then she was distracted when Duncan appeared on the screen, being interviewed by one of the TV guys.
“You have the only goal of the game so far,” the TV guy said. “Tell us about that power play.”
“Yeah, we’ve been working hard on the power play,” Duncan said, clearly short of breath. “Just basics like puck possession and hitting the net. We know we gotta get the puck in the net. But Hallsy was the one who hung on to that and then put the puck right on my tape.”
“So modest,” Easton murmured.
Duncan looked sweaty and hot, with a red mark on his forehead from his helmet and a swollen lip. He shouldn’t have looked so attractive.
Shit. What was wrong with her?
She closed her eyes and fell back into the couch again. “Goddammit.”
“Hey, what?”
“What am I doing? I’m insane!” She grabbed the remote and handed it to Easton. “Here. You can watch something else if you want. I’m going to bed.”
“It’s nine o’clock!”
“I’m tired. And I don’t want to watch hockey anymore.”
Disgusted with herself, she snapped her laptop shut and carried it into her bedroom, ignoring Easton’s openmouthed look after her.
Chapter 7
Maybe she should quit her job at the Sin Bin.
Amber lay in bed the next morning after a night of tossing and turning.
She hadn’t really known much about the place when she’d applied for the job. When she’d found out it was owned by a professional hockey player, it hadn’t seemed that big a deal. Elliott was the one who’d hired her, the one she reported to. She hadn’t really expected Jared Rupp to be there much.
Now it turned out he was there often and so were his friends and teammates. How was she going to deal with her contempt for professional athletes every time she waited on them? And how was she going to face Duncan again?
But damn, even though one of her first shifts had included a fight breaking out—over her, no less—she liked working there. She’d felt supported by management. That wasn’t something to take for granted.
Also, the tips were damn good. Between this job and her part-time modeling, she’d been able to send her mom a decent check this month.