Off The Ice

Two years ago, I had the hottest night of my life with a woman who didn’t want to tell me her name—and in a tequila-fueled fever dream, I agreed. She was funny, sexy, and after I got past her brittle shell, secretly very sweet. In the morning, she was gone. I’ve looked for her in every city I’ve played in since. That night ruined me for anyone else, but the woman I only know as “Jersey Girl” never showed up at another game. Not until I skate onto brand new ice as part of the NHL’s latest team. And there she is, in the stands at our season opening game. Very carefully not looking at me.

Hook up with the irritating hockey player living downstairs? I would never do that. Fall in love with his sexy online alter-ego, on the other hand… well, that was just by accident. The first time I meet Ty Connor, he comes off as a privileged jerk. The second time, he’s breaking into my best friend’s apartment…apparently, with her permission. And his arrival in my life coincides with the start of a brutal dry spell in my dating life. Do I blame him for that? Maybe a little. So we’re not going to be friends. But it’s impossible to fully ignore a guy I share a stairwell with.