Hot Puck, A Rough Riders Hockey Novel

Three months later.

If Eden slid forward another inch, her butt would fall off the seat. She had one hand curled into a fist, the other arm curved around Lily’s waist where the girl sat on her lap.

“Come on, come on, come on…” she murmured, watching Beckett toggle the puck between the front and back side of his stick blade as he sped down the ice.

He hit some resistance in the form of the Indians center and passed to Rafe. A left wing stole the puck from Rafe, but Beckett was already swinging behind the net and slammed him into the glass, freeing up the puck for Rafe again.

All the players closed in, the tension ratcheted up, and people in the forward rows stood.

“Eden,” Lily whined, leaning right and left. “I can’t see.”

Eden stood, lifted Lily into her arms, then hoisted her onto her shoulders. No doubt she wouldn’t be a favorite of the people behind them, but with everyone standing, a girl had to do what a girl had to do to see her man. And let his daughter see her dad in action.

“Eden,” Tina said beside her. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“I’m okay,” she told Tina without taking her eyes off the action. “She’s nothing compared to the patients I lift at work. Can you see your daddy now, Lily?”

“Yeah, I see him. I see him,” she cried with excitement. “He’s got the puck.”

“Two minutes,” Sarah said on Eden’s other side, voice tight.

“He’s got this,” Jake said from the other side of Tina.

With thirty seconds left, an Indians defenseman took Beckett down hard. Eden sucked a breath and grimaced. But as he went down, Beckett reached with his stick, shoving the puck toward Tate, who scooped it up, skipped it toward the net. And scored.

The whole stadium surged to their feet. Bells and sirens and lights and smoke filled the space. On the ice, the guys skated into a circle. Around Eden, Lily, Rachel, and Amy covered their ears.

With the second period over, fans started toward the stairs and refreshments and restrooms. The teams skated off the ice. And Eden sat back down, surrounded by Beckett’s family with his daughter still on her lap.

Eden wrapped Lily in a bear hug and rocked her side to side. “Your daddy’s killin’ it on the ice tonight, baby.”

She giggled and looked over her shoulder. “You know what that means.”

Eden leaned back and grinned, and she and Lily responded together. “Ice cream.”

Then high-fived each other.

But Eden also knew that meant something extra special for her tonight too. After games—win or lose—Beckett always brought more energy to the bedroom. And Eden’s whole body tingled in anticipation.

“If you’re headed out to the refreshment stands,” the announcer’s voice came over the stadium speakers, “you may want to wait, because we have something very special planned for tonight’s second-period break.”

“Oooh,” Eden said, pulling Lily close. “What do you think it is?”

“Excuse me, Ms. Kennedy?” Eden turned toward the aisle where one of the Rough Rider cheerleaders stood, a big smile on her perfect young face. “Can you and Lily come with me?”

“Um…” She looked at Sarah, then at Tina and Jake, searching for guidance. When she got none, she turned back to the girl. “No, I don’t think so. Thanks.”

“Eden.” Sarah laughed, surprised by her refusal. “Go.”

“Mmm, nope.” She shook her head. “I didn’t even want to go out on the ice to throw your brother’s injured butt on a gurney. I sure don’t want to go now.”

The cheerleader continued to cajole Eden.

The announcer’s voice boomed over the sound system. “It looks like our participant needs a little encouragement, folks.”

On the Jumbotron, Eden’s name flashed in sparkling lights, and the crowd chanted along with the appearance of her name.

“E-den. E-den. E-den…”

Eden’s mouth dropped open, and she looked at Beckett’s parents again.

Tina’s eyes sparkled with her grin. “Go, Eden. Don’t keep the fans waiting.”

“Oh, jeez.” She covered her eyes. “I’m going to kill Beckett.”

“Come on, Eden.” Lily slipped off her lap and pulled on Eden’s other hand.

With a groan, she relented, passing Sarah with “Your brother is so dead.”

As soon as Eden appeared rinkside, the fans applauded, and she wondered if they knew what was going to happen even when Eden didn’t. Though she couldn’t imagine how.

She and Lily stood at a door leading into the rink from the center of the longest side while more cheerleaders rolled out a thin red carpet, ending at center ice.

“Just walk to the end of the carpet, Ms. Kennedy,” one of the cheerleaders said, all bounce and smiles.

Eden set her eyes on that spot in the carpet, told herself Beckett was going to become her sexual slave for a month to pay her back for this stunt, and took a deep breath. Lily’s hand tightened in Eden’s and her other arm circled Eden’s thigh. “Eden?”

When she looked down, Eden saw Lily’s nerves had risen too. “Come here, baby.”

Eden picked her up and carefully remained on the red carpet as she walked out onto the ice.

When she reached the end, Lily said, “I can get down now.”

Eden set Lily on her feet but held tight to her hand as the announcer welcomed Eden and Lily as Beckett’s girlfriend and daughter. The fans cheered—for what, Eden had no idea.

“Now, please welcome back to the ice,” the announcer said with drama and flair, “our own Beckett Croft.”

Beckett skated onto the ice from the opposite side of the rink—sans gloves, stick, and helmet—and the crowd went wild. He made a graceful loop around the arena, waving to fans, his grin wide and carefree. He easily jumped the carpet and completed the loop as the announcer quoted Beckett’s stats and claimed this as the best year of Beckett’s career with league record-breaking possibilities well within reach.

“This is Croft’s seventh year with the Rough Riders,” the announcer said, “and seven is definitely his lucky number. Just days ago, he received news he was chosen for the men’s US Olympic team.”

The audience cheered, and this time, Eden released Lily’s hand to applaud as well. She still felt so blessed to have been with him the day he’d gotten that thrilling news.

“And tonight,” the announcer continued, “Croft has chosen to complete his trifecta of awesomeness with those he loves most, Eden and Lily.”

The lights dimmed, and spotlights focused on Eden, Lily, and Beckett.

Eden’s nerves rose to the surface of her skin and jittered. Her stomach knotted. From twenty feet away, Beckett took another smooth curve and headed back toward them. At ten feet away, he dropped to one knee and slid the remaining distance, coming to a stop at their feet.

Lily covered her mouth, giggling. “Hi, Daddy.”

Her voice came over the speakers, and light laughter rippled through the audience.

“Hi, princess. Ready to do this?”

She nodded.

He opened his arms, and she climbed into his lap.

Now Eden had nothing to do with her hands. She was burning up, which had to be impossible when she was standing on a huge slab of ice. And her stomach was jumping like she’d swallowed a gaggle of frogs. But knowing anything she said would be heard over the speakers, she didn’t utter a word.

Beckett reached out and took her hands in his, then Lily added hers on top, and the sight of her small hands with theirs pulled hard at Eden’s heart. She’d come to love Lily madly within weeks of committing to Beckett.

He smiled up at her, his eyes soft and brimming with emotion. The quiet spreading through the stadium felt deafening.

“Eden,” Beckett finally said, “you make me happier than I’ve ever been.”

Lily nodded. “Me too.”

Another ring of laughter came from the seats, and tears swelled in Eden’s eyes. She bit her lower lip to hold herself together.

“I love you with all my heart,” Beckett said.

“Me too,” Lily added.

Eden couldn’t hold back a laugh, which pushed the tears over her lashes.

“Oh no, Daddy,” Lily whispered, her eyes round and worried. “She’s crying.”

More laughter from around the stadium.

Beckett chuckled and pulled a small box from somewhere beneath his uniform. “I think those are happy tears, baby.”

Eden’s gaze held on the tiny square black box, and her stomach triple-flipped like a damned gymnast. Then she looked at Beckett. And he was grinning. Grinning in that affectionate way that told Eden he did indeed love her with everything he had. Everything he was.

Holy shit.

Holy. Shit.

Lily took hold of the box, and Beckett helped her open it. The gorgeous diamond band sparkled up from a bed of black velvet, taking Eden’s breath. She lifted her hands and tented them over her mouth, shaking with emotion. “Oh my God.”

Her whisper shivered through the stadium.

Beckett held Eden’s eyes when he asked, “Will you stay with us forever, Eden? Will you marry us?”

Lily looked up at her with the same loving, longing expression as her father and said, “Will you marry us?”

Emotion overwhelmed her, and when she tried to answer, she got caught in a mini hyperventilation episode. It took her several excruciating seconds filled with fluttering hands and tearing eyes before Eden could control her voice well enough to rasp out, “Yes.” She took another breath and repeated, “Yes, yes.”

She crouched and wrapped her arms around them. “I love you both, so much.”

But her words were drowned in the crazy applause raising the roof, so Eden turned her head and kissed Beckett. As much as she wanted to devour him in front of everyone, she was well aware of the families in the audience, not to mention his own daughter right there.

Their daughter now.

When she pulled back, Beckett took the box from her hand, pulled out the ring, and slipped it on her finger, then kissed her again. “I love you, Eden.”

The three of them pushed to their feet together. Beckett held Lily in one arm and used the other to lift Eden’s arm overhead to a raging crowd. She grinned at Lily, whose smile was so bright and so pure, it swelled Eden’s heart.

“These women,” he yelled to the fans, “make me better in every way. They make me stronger, tougher, and faster. Who’s ready for round three, Rough Riders fans?”

The rumble that erupted through the building shook the floor like an earthquake and made Lily cover her ears.

With a grin and a kiss, Beckett handed Lily over to Eden and skated backward toward the tunnel leading to the locker room. Eden stepped back behind the wall with Lily in her arms and was greeted by Beckett’s parents, sister, and nieces with more hugs and more love.

Across the ice, Beckett punched a fist in the air, yelling, “Unleash—”

And the entire stadium joined him with “The fury!”