Page 18 of Cold As Ice

“Let me guess, you love Christmas.”

“I don’t hate it.” A faint smile traced her lips. “But it’s different now.”

“Different, how?”

“Oh, you know. We’re older. Fewer gifts.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, a shadow there that wasn’t before, and I wondered what secrets Madison kept.

After all, we all had them.

Some were darker than others.

“Will you stay in Lakeshore or go home?” she added.

“I’m staying.”

Something passed over her expression, but I didn’t look too closely. No matter how at ease with her I felt, how much the chemistry fizzed and crackled between us, burning away some of the ice around my heart, it wasn’t headed anywhere. I didn’t have the capacity to let someone into my life like that.

Sometimes, I wondered if something inside me was broken, damaged beyond repair, all thanks to a mother more concerned with her modeling career than her children and a father who just didn’t care enough to stick around.

I loved my sister. I loved my teammates and the team, but it wasn’t the kind of love that consumed you. The kind of love I’d witnessed my friends all fall prey to over the last few months.

I didn’t believe inthatkind of love.

It’s why I’d walked away from Fallon before things got too messy. She started to talk about the future, and I knew my future didn’t include her. It was only fair to cut her loose.

Maybe that made me a bastard, but it’s better to be honest than a liar.

But Madison was different. She was a nice distraction. One who didn’t only want a bit of fun with me because I was a Laker.

It was a refreshing change.

One I’d enjoyed far more than I anticipated.

“Then I guess that’s lucky for me. To us.” Lifting her beer, she waited. I matched her movement, and our bottles clinked together.

“To us.”

* * *

“Oops.” Madison tripped as we stumbled out of the bar sometime later, but I caught her right before she went down.

We drank and talked and drank some more. It was the most fun I’d had with a girl in a long time: no expectations or ulterior motives. Just two people enjoying a beer and a good conversation.

We’d even watched some of the NHL highlights, and I’d tried—and failed—to teach her the rules of hockey.

But all good things came to an end, and now the air had shifted between us.

“My hero.” She grinned, gazing up at me through slightly hooded eyes.

“You good there, pretty girl?”

“I’m fine.” She hiccoughed. “Okay, maybe I’m a tad drunk. But I had fun tonight.”

“That was the deal, wasn’t it?”

“So it was.”

Madison laced her arm through mine as we walked toward her friend’s building. “I think Fawn’s home tonight,” she said.

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