Page 48 of Playmaker

Faith rolled her eyes. “See what I mean? Everyone on the planet can see it, but neither of you are going to catch on until one holds up a sign that says ‘Hey, stupid, I’m into you.’”

I laughed, but it came out kind of high. I was still a little off-guard by her suggestion that Sabrina was into me. Yeah, yeah, I was always slow on the uptake when it came to figuring out if a woman wanted me, but…Sabrina?No way.

“Okay, so no one on the team will care if we’re together,” I said. “But… the last time I dated a teammate, it was a disaster. And it was distracting on the ice.”

“Do you think it’ll be any more distracting than all this sexual tension you idiots keep ignoring?”

“Maybe? With Leann, it wasbad. I’m lucky I didn’t get thrown off the team.”

Faith rolled her eyes. “You were sixteen. Everything is ten times more dramatic and distracting when you’re sixteen.”

Ugh. Fine. Once again, she was right. Attraction and breakups were still enough to short circuit my brain now, but not like they had been when I was a teenager. I was an adult now. As much as I was and always would be a hothead on the ice, I was a professional, and I’d played through all kinds of things that would’ve had teenage Lila crying in the showers.

“But what about the whole thing where we didn’t get along at first?” I groaned. “God, I was such a jerk to her.”

“I’m glad you recognize that,” Faith said. “What changed?”

“Besides me not being a jerk to her anymore?”

“Well, I’m assuming there was a reason for that. Aside from, you know, you realizing it was uncalled for.”

Trust her to be blunt and to the point.

“Okay, okay.” I waved a hand. “I realized it was uncalled for.” There was a lot more to it—a lot of things I hadn’t known and still felt like an asshole for assuming—but that wasn’t my storyto tell someone else. “The way things are now… I mean, what should I do? I’ve never been good at approaching women.”

“And? She’s into you. Flirt back a little. Ask her to get drinks or dinner. And, you know, maybe tell her it’s a date because if she’s anything like me, it’ll be your twelfth date before she realizes what’s going on.”

I laughed, because yeah, I’d done the same thing. “Okay, okay. I’ll try. Maybe. But like, if I flub this, I’ll still have to see her every day.”

“So what if you do?” Faith shrugged. “Haven’t we all made asses of ourselves with a woman, and then laughed about it with her in bed later?”

I didn’t know why that made me blush, but it did. “It’s not just me?”

She barked a laugh and shook her head. “Oh Lord, no. I was so ridiculously awkward with Elena when we met, and look at us now.”

“Eh, good point.”

“Hey. You’re not supposed to agree with me.”

I shrugged unrepentantly, earning me an eyeroll.

“Anyway. Speaking of my lovely wife…” Faith pushed herself to her feet. “I need to go FaceTime her and the kids.”

I nodded. “Tell them all I said hi.”

“Will do. And you’ll figure this thing out with Sabrina.” She squeezed my shoulder as she walked behind the couch. “Talk to her. Ask her out. If you’ll check her into the boards during practice just because you don’t like her, you have to be able to ask her to get drinks because youdo.”

“You know it’s not really that easy,” I called after her.

She just cackled, and I laughed as I rolled my eyes. She made a good point. A lot of them, actually. I still didn’t quite buy that Sabrina was into me, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. And honestly, I didn’t see how asking her out couldmake things any more excruciatingly awkward than they’d been during training camp. I cringed just thinking about that.

I’d talk to her, then. Maybe. Eventually. I could work up the nerve, couldn’t I? I’d done it before.

Not with someone as hot as Sabrina.

Not with someone I’d already screwed up this badly with.

Yikes. This won’t be easy.