Just then, Tyler yelled at Mark. “Penalty’s up! Stopflirting and get your ass—” His mouth swung open as he locked eyes on her.“Natalie?” He pushed off and headed straight for her, and her heart took offlike a thoroughbred vying for a Kentucky Derby victory.
She spun, taking long strides powered by a frenzy ofemotions playing tug-of-war inside her. Excitement. Shock. Elation.Embarrassment. Contrition.
Grace Guilt was dueling Hailey Hormones.
Natalie came to a stop by a corridor. She leaned against thewall, eyes closed, hand on her stomach, trying to catch her runaway breath. Sheopened her eyes to a soft whirring noise.
“Hi,” came a voice beside her. “You here to watch the NoExcuses!?”
Looking down, she peered into silver-gray eyes belonging toa blond man in a motorized wheelchair.
“I’m with Paige … Miller,” she said lamely.
“Nice. I’m Troy, the team manager.” His eyes and mouthmoved, but little else.
She recovered herself. “I’m Natalie.”
A knowing smile. “T.J.’s friend.”
Her head bobbed. God, how many people has he told aboutme?
Troy’s eyes twinkled. “No doubt you already know what agreat guy he is, but I still gotta sing his praises.We’re really grateful to him.”
Dumbfounded, she continued nodding.
Troy seemed to appraise her. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”
Now she shook her head, feeling like a confused bobblehead.
He laughed. “No, of course not. He’s not the type to toothis own horn. Well, I’ll toot it for him. We were struggling to find court timefor our basketball team. He hadn’t known us long, but he took it on himself tohelp us out. We never asked; he just saw a need and jumped in. He’ll tell youhe doesn’t know a thing about setting stuff like this up and that it’s allMiller, but the truth is T.J.’s the one who brought Miller along. And T.J.’sthe one who got the Blizzard organization to back him. Not only did he fix itso we have a regular court slot, but he arranged ice time. On top of that, hegot Miller and a few other hockey pros to coach the guys.
“And the best part? It doesn’t cost us a dime. I don’t knowif he’s paying for it himself, and he won’t say. He just tells me, ‘Don’t worryabout it.’”
Troy blinked rapidly. Was he tearing up? Speechless, Natalieshifted uneasily. With a sniff, Troy continued, “What a difference maker. The guysare loving it.”
The tattoo sprang into her brain. “Your team’s called the NoExcuses!?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know your team name is tattooed on his chest?”
“I didn’t, but it kinda sums itup, doesn’t it?” Troy’s gaze traveled over her. “You must hear this all thetime, but he’s one of the genuine good guys. Like most enforcers, he takes alot of heat for his role on the ice and doesn’t get the credit he deserves.What most people fail to see is how much heart he’s got. They only see theon-ice persona.”
“But an enforcer is so … I mean, they play dirty.”
Troy cocked an eyebrow. “They play tough. Personally,the guy in that position’s my favorite on the squad. He’s the ultimate teamplayer. Think about it. Night in, night out, he lays it on the line. It might notbe a role he wants to fill, but he does it because his team’s depending on him.He’s about loyalty and heart.”
“Natalie?” Paige’s voice preceded her. “There you are. Ohhey, Troy.”
“Hi, Paige.” Troy beamed. “I was telling Natalie how much weappreciate everything T.J.’s done.”
Paige darted Natalie a sheepish look. “Beck and I think theworld of him. I’m sorry if I put you on the spot.”
“No, you’re not,” Natalie chuffed, masking a chuckle in herthroat. “You planned this. Just like you withheld his real identity, which I’veforgiven you and Katie for, by the way.”
Paige raised her hand. “Guilty. But it was just me this time, and T.J. didn’t know. He was prettydisappointed when you took off, by the way.”
It occurred to Natalie she was a little disappointed too—hehadn’t come after her.
.
~ * * * ~.
“Shanny,you suck!” Bent over, wheezing the words out loud to himself,T.J. was literally sucking air into his burning lungs. The team had lost thenight before, and Coach LeBrun was putting them allthrough a punishing practice.
“Again! Again!” Coach barked like he was the ghost ofHerb Fucking Brooks.
The mantra I suck, I suck, I suck was one T.J. hadrepeated to himself since Natalie had shut him out of her life. Texts,calls, emails went unanswered. Seeing her a few days ago—no, watching her runaway—had rammed the message home. She wanted nothing to do with him.
A stick tapped the backs of his knees, and he straightenedto look into Dave Grimson’s toothless, grinning face.The guy reminded T.J. of a pasty jack-o’-lantern.
“Hey, lover boy. Save some of that energy for Kendratonight.” Grims waggled his eyebrows. “You’re gonna need it.”
Right. The charity dinner T.J. didn’t want to go to, withthe date he didn’t want to take. Grims hadbeen harassing him all week about Kendra, how she couldn’t stop chatteringabout hooking up with T.J. He’d ribbed him with comments like, “About time yourright hand got a night off, Shanny,” or, “Someone’sfinally gettin’ lucky.” Once upon a time, the remarksmight’ve been funny, but now they only pissed T.J. off.
Yeah, he hadn’t even met the girl, but the money was on himgetting laid if he wanted to. And he should want to—it had been months.
Hours later, after cleaning up, wrestling on his tux, anddropping Ford at Katie’s, he parked outside Grims’shouse in his new Audi A8. Before he could get out, a stunning blond with tannedlegs opened the passenger door and slid in. An overpowering, spicy scentdrifted off her.
“You must be T.J. I’m Kendra.” She gave him a lingeringonce-over followed by a predatory smile. As his eyes traveled over her, he tookin a tight silver dress and the smoking hot body filling it. She leaned over,offering him an excellent view, and kissed the corner of his mouth.
“Nice to meet you, Kendra,” he near-croaked. Yep, he wasgetting laid tonight.
CHAPTER 26
I Brought You Something
Cozied up on her couch, Nataliewatched Destination Wedding—or tried to. She was having difficultyfocusing, even on Keanu. The same
