Page 16 of Make Your Shot
One of the assistant coaches, Connor, waits before dropping the piece of frozen rubber between Trent and me. He tries to gain possession of it, but I win the face-off, passing the puck to Hayes. He skates around the two of us as Trent and I break apart.
Every outside noise, every outside problem—it all melts away as soon as I dig deep and lock in. The only thing that ever matters when I’m on the ice is winning every damn battle. And the men on the ice are my brothers—my teammates. The ones who will be there to fight for me and with me, on and off the ice.
At the end of the day, I know I can always count on them.
I just hope the same stands for Mia too . . .
Caleb
I’m going to stop by The Daily Brew. What do you like?
Mia
Iced vanilla latte with two pumps of vanilla and vanilla cold foam.
If that’s too much, I don’t need a drink, but thank you!
I stare at my phone for a second, rereading her message as my forehead creases. I don’t know why she would be concerned about it being too much. I wouldn’t have asked her what exactly she wanted if I didn’t plan on getting whatever it is.
Caleb
It’s not too much. I’ll be home in about thirty minutes.
Mia
See you soon!
I lock my screen and tuck my phone into the cupholder before I start the engine and pull out of the parking lot. The coffee shop is only a few minutes away from the practice facility, so I make my way through the drive thru, double checking Mia’s order from her text asI read it off to the woman working. It doesn’t take long for both of our drinks and a kids smoothie for Tella, then I’m pulling back onto the road.
When I pull up to the house about fifteen minutes later, Tella and Mia are sitting in the driveway, an array of colors on the blacktop around them. A smile tugs the corners of my lips, a warm, softening feeling in my chest as I park at the end of the driveway in the street.
Tella comes running over when she notices me parking, and waits for me on the sidewalk. I grab all three drinks, juggling them in my hands as I get out of the car and greet Tella. Her pink dress is covered in chalk and there’s a smudge above her eyebrow.
“Daddy! How was practice?”
“It was good,” I say and hand her the smoothie. “I got you strawberry-banana.”
“Yummy!” She licks her lips before taking a long sip of her drink. Her eyelids flutter shut and she lets out an “ah” sound as she gives me a smile of satisfaction. “Thanks, daddy,” she says, spinning on her heel as she trots back over to Mia.
My gaze follows her and I find Mia rising to her feet, dusting her hands off on the fronts of her jeans. Her eyes meet mine, a smile stretching across her lips as I approach, my arm extending to hand her the coffee.
“My savior,” she laughs softly, taking it from me. “Thank you so much.”
She looks at the cup for a second, spinning it around as she reads the drink ticket that lists everything she asked for.
She pinches the straw between her forefinger andthumb, her perfect pink plump lips wrapping around the end of it. Something stirs in the pit of my stomach, something that mimics excitement. Arousal?Where the fuck did that thought come from?She releases the straw, her tongue darting out to lick her lips. I immediately divert my gaze from her mouth, ignoring the blood rushing between my legs.
“Oh man, that’s a good one,” she murmurs, lowering her cup. “They seriously have the best drinks in Aston.”
I wasn’t sure if she’d like the drinks there or not, but it’s good to know that she does.
My eyebrows pull together as I store the information in my brain. For what reason, I don’t know. It shouldn’t be something of importance, but at least I’ll know what she likes in case I get her coffee again.As a nice gesture...nothing more.
“What are you guys working on out here?” I glance down at the chalk mural sprawling across the driveway. “I hope Tella was good for you,” I add, tipping my head as I look down at Tella. She glances up at me, her expression giving nothing away but I don’t miss that familiar glimmer of mischief in her irises.
Mia laughs softly again, and it’s smooth like molasses. “She was good,” she tells me. “I think she’s probably always good.”
A chuckle rumbles in my chest. Tella frowns and I pat the top of her head as she takes another sip of her smoothie. Tella moves away from me, dropping back down onto the ground as she picks up a piece of pastel purple chalk and starts to color in a unicorn that Miamust have drawn. There’s no way Tella did that herself.
