Skate the Line: A Single Dad Hockey Romance (Blue Devils Hockey Book 2)

I gave Sunny the day off.

I texted her early this morning and told her that I’d be taking Ellie with me to the rink and that she was welcome to do whatever with her day.

Giving her the day off was more for me than it was her, though.

I tossed and turned all night. I rehashed everything she told me and memorized the faraway look in her eyes until it was all I could picture whenever I closed mine. In the worst way, I wanted to reach out to SGT Mel and have him run a more in-depth background check on her, maybe pull some police records if they existed…something.

But in the end, I didn’t.

It felt like an invasion of her privacy.

I have never restrained from digging into the lives of every other person in close proximity to Ellie, but with Sunny, it feels wrong.

I haven’t known her for long, but she’s the most genuine person I’ve ever met.

“Ready, Printsessa?” I shake myself out of my thoughts and stare at my daughter.

She looks so small in her hockey gear, but she is as mighty as any boy U6 hockey player. Her determination is palpable. When she falls on the ice, she pops up quickly, curses in Russian—no idea where she got that from—and keeps on skating.

“So…” Kane rushes over to me, flinging ice in his wake. “I heard you had a slumber party last night.”

“What are you doing here?” I snap.

Kane’s tone challenges mine. “Practicing.”

He sends a puck over to Ellie, and she misses it. She curses again.

“In case you didn’t know, we play the Flames tomorrow.”

“In case I didn’t know?” I repeat. “Considering you were at the strip club until two in the morning, I should be the one saying that to you.”

Confusion whisks over his face. He has no idea there is an entire team group message titled SOS, where if there is a problem child…Kane…we put it in there, and someone volunteers to fix the problem.

He’s the problem nine out of ten times.

“And what are you talking about? What slumber party?” My annoyance is obvious, but I know he won’t care.

Kane smiles deviously. “I heard you invited Malaki to hang out with your nanny and that he stayed the night.”

For fuck’s sake.

“Did he tell you that?” I ask.

“No, she did after I left her bed.”

Something hot slashes at my back with his joke.

He tries to escape before I can do anything, but too bad for him, I’m one of the fastest skaters in the league. With a flick of my wrist, my stick flings forward, and I trip him.

He falls to the ground with a thud and stares at me with anger.

Ellie’s short strides catch our attention. She stops beside Kane and traps her puck against the icy floor. “Daddy, two minutes in the box for tripping!”

Kane snickers, and I roll my eyes.

Ellie’s eyebrows disappear beneath her fallen hair and helmet. “You heard me!” she shouts.

I hide a grin and turn. I slump down into the sin bin and watch her play hockey with Kane. He makes her giggle, but it hardly takes away my irritation. A few seconds later, Emory climbs onto the ice and gets in the net.

He and Kane must be running some drills.

Or maybe Emory is making Kane work off his hangover, which is good because I was ready to make him work off his comment about Sunny.

It doesn’t sit right after learning why she’s in Chicago to begin with.

“Come on, Ellie.” I stand from the penalty box after a full two minutes. “Let’s let Kane practice. He needs it.”

“No, I don’t,” he argues before winding backward and sending a puck directly into Emory’s glove.

“Yes, you do,” Emory adds from behind his mask.

I nod goodbye to Emory and take off with Ellie.

It takes us no time to get changed and back into the car with a bag full of Blue Devils merch.

“Sunny is going to love these!” Ellie beams with excitement with her hand clutched around the bag.

I grin and turn up the Tangled soundtrack. She bobs her head with the music and sings her little heart out. I’d love nothing more than to stick a fork in my ears, but as long as she’s happy, I can’t really complain.

Since Sunny started as her nanny, I’ve noticed a change in Ellie. I’m not sure if it’s the consistency of having the same nanny for once, or if it’s because of Sunny herself.

Her sunshine rubs off on Ellie.

It rubs off on me too. Though, I won’t admit it.

I grip the steering wheel tighter with the memory of last night. Sunny’s radiant smile was replaced with vulnerability and shame as she sat on her bed with her hands in her lap, explaining her reaction to the hospital.

I think back to the other night when she wore my jersey.

She fucking flinched.

My stomach tightens with disgust. I quietly curse in Russian and hope Ellie doesn’t hear.

After climbing from the truck with Ellie’s hand in mine, I spot Marco on the porch.

Does Sunny need a ride somewhere?

I could have taken her.

My steps seize.

Sure, she’s Ellie’s nanny and lives with us, but I don’t have to take her places.

Ellie zooms up the steps and stops in front of Marco. “Marco!”

“Rapunzel!” He gets on her level. “I brought the birdseed.” A bag of seed appears in front of Ellie’s face, and she claps.

I unlock the door and let them pass by to fill the bird feeder before grabbing all of Ellie’s hockey gear out of the truck and the bag of clothes for Sunny.

The house is quiet—and clean. I shake my head at the thought of her vacuuming and mopping the floors with her bandaged finger.

With a heavy sigh, I head up the stairs. I could leave the bag of merch on the kitchen counter or have Ellie give it to her tomorrow before the game, but I want to clear the air between us.

Last night left me feeling off.

Sunny shared something personal, and I don’t want there to be any weird tension between us or for her to think I’m going to look at her any differently.

She thought I was going to fire her.

I’m an asshole, but I’m not that big of an asshole.

Truthfully, I’m not even really an asshole. I’m just reserved. I grew out of my impulsive behavior a long time ago, and I know how to control the little emotions that I do have. It’s called being restrained.

Or stony.

Unapproachable.

Maybe a little aloof.

What the fuck ever.

I stand outside the guest room—Sunny’s room—and stare at the small crack in the door. Her voice slips out into the hallway, and I watch her move around on light feet.

“Um, what the hell is that?” someone says.

Is someone visiting her?

I didn’t approve of that.

My heart beats harder. Maybe I’m not as restrained as I think I am.

Sunny moves past the crack in the door, unaware that I’m standing here.

This time, I see that she’s holding her phone.

“Oh this?” She holds up her bandaged hand. “I accidentally cut my finger.”

The person on the other end of the phone shrieks, “Allison Edwards!”

“Ruby,” Sunny hisses.

“Sorry…I mean”—there’s a faint clearing of a throat—“Sunny Edwards!”

Sunny laughs, and I hate that it sounds so sweet. “That’s better. Anyway, I was cutting a cucumber and sliced my finger.”

I suddenly feel like a fucking creep again as I listen to her conversation, so I step forward and push on the door to make myself known. To my surprise, she doesn’t hear me.

At least I attempted, right?

“Are you okay? Did you have to get stitches?”

Sunny sighs. “I did.”

“You went to the hospital? Are you okay?”

Okay, so her friend—Ruby?—is aware of Sunny’s unease when it comes to hospitals.

“I’m fine. Going to the hospital was the last worry on my mind.”

There’s silence, and Sunny sighs again. She holds the phone in one hand, but in the other, she’s holding a little piece of clay, inspecting it closely. “Rhodes took me to the hospital, and I felt obligated to tell him why I was acting like a lunatic.”

She wasn’t acting like a lunatic.

“You told him?” It’s pure surprise on the other end of the phone. “No fucking way.”

Sunny chokes out a sarcastic laugh. “I had to explain. I nearly had a freaking panic attack at the hospital, and then they started to ask all these questions, and I didn’t want to be alone, so I asked him to stay and⁠—”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” Sunny’s chest expands before it falls with a slow breath easing from her mouth. She eventually places the clay on her bedside table, and it’s the perfect time to make my presence known.

Something I should have done three minutes ago.

I raise my hand to knock on the doorjamb.

“Did you tell him all of it?”

My eyebrow rises with my fist frozen in midair.

“If you’re referring⁠—”

“I am absolutely referring to how you’re not only fearful of hospitals but how you’re fearful of men in general and haven’t had sex in far too long. God, when was the last time you had an orgasm?”

I choke on the information like it’s being shoved down my throat.

That was not what I was expecting.

Sunny spins and drops the phone.

My coughing and sputtering is so loud that her friend can hear me from beneath the bed.

“Oh god,” she says.

I ball my fist and pound on my chest. Sunny falls to the floor and snatches the phone up.

“I’m going to kill you,” she hisses at her friend.

She quickly silences her friend’s amused apology and tosses her phone onto her bed.

I take one look at Sunny on her knees with her lip pulled into her mouth. I’m going to respectfully ask her to kill me too.