Heat it Up: Off the Ice - Book One (4 page)

Ha! I’ve got news for them—it’s so not going to happen. I just have to figure a way to prove to them that my heart isn’t open for business.

I enter the sports center, my duffel strap slung over a shoulder. The pretty blond receptionist, who’s flirted with me several times, smiles at me. I nod and hand her the membership card. She waves it under the laser beam, confirming I am indeed a member. As if she didn’t know.

After I finish working out, I head for the showers. If Sofia keeps to the same schedule as Friday, I still have a little time. I came here yesterday, hoping to see her again. I even asked someone working in the fitness center if he had seen her, but he didn’t know who I was talking about. From what I could tell, the cleaning staff doesn’t socialize with the fitness staff.

As I approach the sauna, showered and fully clothed, I see the sign Nik and I missed. A sign that I’m guessing says ‘Sauna Closed for Cleaning.’ But unlike last time, it guards the door, which has been left open a crack.

“I hear American girls love sex. Lots of sex,” a male voice says. Laughter from more than one guy sets me on edge.

I reach for the door as a familiar female voice says, “Come near me and I’ll spray you in the balls.”

I open the door wider.

Three guys are standing in front of her, caging her in. They’re large and look like they’re friendly with weights—large but not as bulked up as Nik. And they’re all dressed in jeans and t-shirts, despite the intense heat of the room, which means they didn’t enter the sauna thinking it was open to the public.

“I’d listen to her if I were you,” I warn.

The guys whip around at my voice, their surprise at seeing me evident on their faces. It vanishes when they realize they outnumber me.

“This has nothing to do with you,” the guy in the center, who looks to be their ringleader, says. He’s shorter than his goons by a few inches, but he’s also the most muscular.

I clench my hands, muscles on high alert. I’d rather not fight these losers, but if it comes down to it, I will.

“Are you okay?” I ask Sofia.

She nods and a stray piece of hair flops from her ponytail. I push away the sudden need to tuck it behind her ear.

“I’m fine.”

She shifts the hose away from the ringleader, so it faces the corner, then turns the water on. It bursts out the nozzle in a high-pressure stream, much like when she accidentally hit me the other day.

The guys wisely back away. The ringleader glares at me before the three of them leave. As soon as their backs are turned, Sofia slouches and the hand holding the hose starts shaking, the adrenalin aftershock kicking in.

“Thank you,” she whispers. “Those are the jerks I was telling you about.”

I place my hand on her upper arm, needing to do whatever I can to make her feel grounded, make her feel safe. “Are you almost finished for the day?” I want to talk to her but not here. Not when the sauna is so goddamn hot. Sweat trickles down my back and I’ve only been in here a few minutes.

“I just have to finish up in here then hit the shower,” she says.

“Do you want to go get a coffee after you’re done?”

She doesn’t answer right away, and I’m beginning to think she’s going to say no. “Okay. I should be ready in about twenty-five minutes. Is that all right?”

• • •

I wait for Sofia outside the main entrance. The door opens for the hundredth time and the blond receptionist steps out. She spots me waiting on the bottom step and her face lights up.

“Hi,” she says. “I did not realize you were waiting for me. I would have been quicker if I had known.”

My lips twitch into an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’m waiting for someone else.”

The main door opens and Sofia exits wearing a yellow sundress. I turn back to the other girl, but she’s already gone.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Sofia says once she reaches the second to last step. “There’s a coffee shop around the corner that’s pretty good.”

“So, how come you’re in Finland?” I ask as we stroll along the sidewalk. People bustle past us, rushing to catch their bus home or rushing to the train station. My leg stiffens, a combination of pushing myself hard at the gym and trying to keep up with the boys while skating. None of them know about my injury, and I want to keep it that way. It will only make me look weak in their eyes.

“My university offers an overseas work-exchange program,” she explains. “So I signed up for it.”

“But why Finland?”

“My mother’s from here. So I’m staying with my grandmother in Vantaa, which is a town outside of Helsinki. What about you?”

“The uncle of one of my friends has a summer camp here for boys. Nik, the blond guy with me the other day, asked if I could help out after one of the coaches had to drop out.”

“What kind of camp?”

“Hockey.” I watch for recognition on her face that she knows who I am. I’m hoping she doesn’t. I’m hoping that she’s not another puck bunny who’s only interested in me because I played in the NHL.

A light blush hits her cheeks. “Sorry, I don’t really watch hockey. It’s kind of sad, really. I’m an athletic training major but I don’t watch much sports, except for maybe when the Olympics are on. Do you play or just coach?”

“I used to play. I don’t anymore.” I try to ignore the pain wrapping around my heart at the words and at how much I miss playing, but it’s as strong as the pain in my leg.

“Because of what happened to your leg?”

So she does know about the accident. Which means she also knows who I am, or at least who I was. It shouldn’t bother me but it does. As strange as it sounds, I wanted her to be oblivious to my past.

I nod.

“How old were you when you injured it?”

For a moment I have no idea what she’s talking about. And then I remember. I told her my leg has a tendency to stiffen because of a childhood accident.

It wasn’t a complete lie. When I was ten, I fell out of a tree and broke my leg. But it didn’t end my hockey career.

“Ten,” I say, “but it’s something I don’t like discussing.”

She smiles and I become mesmerized by the way her pink-glossed lips curve up. “Okay. We’ll talk about something else. Where are you from?” She gestures at the coffee shop at the corner.

“Minneapolis.”

“Really? Me too.”

I pull open the door to let her in and we’re instantly greeted by the strong smell of coffee. If there’s one thing I’ve learned since moving here, Finns live for their coffee and they live for it strong.

We order our drinks and find a quiet spot to sit next to the window. No one pays attention to us, unlike back home. It used to be hard going anywhere without being mobbed after I signed with the Bears. People would recognize me and want my autograph or a photo with me or they had tons of questions about the team. As flattering as the attention was, I don’t miss it.

“What were you doing in Minneapolis before you came here?” she asks.

“I was working in the marketing department for the Minnesota Bears. It was only an internship at the time, but they offered me a full-time position.”

“And they let you take the summer off to come here? Wow, they must be a great organization to let you do that.”

I take a sip of my coffee, stalling. Why should it matter what Sofia thinks about the truth? She’s not my parents.

“I turned the position down. As much as I love hockey, I didn’t love working in marketing. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this
before
I majored in it in college.”

She visibly cringes. “What made you decide to study marketing?”

“My father felt I would have more career opportunities if I studied law, accounting, or marketing.” He thought it would be a good idea in case my NHL career didn’t work out. How right he was on that.

She tilts her head to the side. She’s flirting but I don’t think she realizes it, which makes her nothing like the girls I’m used to. “What did you want to study?”

“I love physics. I was the president of my physics club in high school.” I chuckle. “I was a bit of a geek.” Which made things challenging at first. The jocks didn’t know what to make of me, and neither did the science geeks.

“How come you didn’t study physics? Or biomechanics? I took a biomechanics course in college last semester. You would’ve liked it. You could’ve combined your love of physics with your love of hockey.”

I sip my coffee. “I thought about it, but I would’ve needed to go on to grad school if I wanted to end up in something related to either of those. But if I had known that working in marketing would bore me, I’d have majored in something else.” I wasn’t against the idea of going to grad school, and I would have if hockey hadn’t been my life. I would have majored in physics, despite what my father had said, but the course load would’ve been too much since I was also playing on the collegiate team. And I needed to play on the team if I had wanted to be drafted by a NHL team.

“So what do you want to do with your life?”

“I’m not sure yet. Maybe coach.” Unfortunately, it’s not the most stable position, especially at the high levels where I’d prefer to work. If your team doesn’t do well, the head coach is often the first to go.

Sofia studies her mug, deep in thought.

“Once you’re an athletic trainer, is there a particular sport you want to work with?” I ask.

She pulls her gaze from her mug, blinks the thought away. And damn if I don’t want to get into her head and discover what she was thinking.

“Once you’re a trainer, is there a particular sport you want to work with?” I repeat.

“I’m not sure yet. I have a clinical practicum this fall with a high school, and I’ll be working with their different athletic teams. Maybe I’ll know after that.” She worries her lip again. “Can I ask you something? Well, it’s more like I need help with something.”

“Help with what?”

Her teeth go back to chewing on her lower lip. Lucky teeth. More than anything, I want to suck that lip in my mouth and taste her. But something tells me that’s not part of what she’s going to ask me.

“Well, you see.” The words stumble from her mouth. “My grandmother’s trying to set me up with her friend’s grandson. I’m not interested. I mean, he seems like a nice guy, but I don’t need the complication of a relationship.”

I know what she means, but it doesn’t stop me from asking the next question. “Is there something wrong with being in a relationship? Does it even have to be one? Why don’t you just date him and have fun?”

“Because then I might develop feelings for him.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

Her gaze returns to her mug. “The worst.”

“How so?”

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just leave it at I’ve done the boyfriend thing. It didn’t work out well, and I’m not interested in going through that again.”

“So you want me to fake being your boyfriend, so she’ll quit trying to set you up with this guy?” This could be interesting.

She vehemently shakes her head. “No. No, nothing like that. I just need you to kiss me once. For my grandmother’s benefit. After that, I can pretend I’m talking to you on the phone. She won’t know the difference.”

“Why don’t you just tell her you’re not interested in this dude?”

“She doesn’t understand English, and my Finnish sucks, which makes it hard to tell her anything.”

“Then how’s she gonna know you’re talking to me? Well, fake talking to me.”

Sofia removes her phone from her backpack and holds it to her ear. “Hi Kyle.” Her tone is all breathy and sweet. My junk tightens at the thought of her talking like that to me on the phone. She sounds like a girl talking to her boyfriend. “Can you believe that the Easter Bunny is Santa dressed in a disguise?”

I laugh, and the coffee goes the wrong way. I start coughing. “Do you always fake things this well?”

A blush sweeps across her cheeks and damn does she look hot. But it doesn’t stop me from laughing again.

My grandfather used to tell me things happen for a reason. We might not always agree with them. We might fight them every step of the way. But in the end, it is what it is and a wise man will embrace them, learn from them, maybe even get knocked on the head by them.

Somehow, I don’t think what Sofia is asking me to do is what my grandfather had in mind.

“Will you do it?” Sofia asks, once I stop laughing at the way she blushed at my comment. “Will you kiss me in front of my grandmother so she thinks you’re my boyfriend?”

“If you do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve been in the city for two weeks now and haven’t seen much of it. I’ll kiss you, but you have to explore Helsinki with me. Show me your favorite places.” And keep me too busy to hang out with Nik. My father’s right. When I’m with Nik, I do tend to get drunk. Sofia’s the perfect excuse I need to keep me out of trouble.

She looks clearly dubious of my intentions.

I can’t tell if that means sex with me is a no go, or a possibility if I play my cards right. “Just as friends. Promise.”

It takes a few seconds but she nods. “Okay, but can we do this now before my grandmother gets any more crazy ideas?”

Sofia and I finish our coffee, then I drive her back to Vantaa.

“We don’t have much time once we enter the apartment before my grandmother pokes her head from the kitchen,” Sofia explains as we travel down a main street. Apartment buildings and pine trees border both sides of the road. “I want her to catch us in the act.”

“So what you’re saying is don’t waste time with niceties once we’re inside?”

“That pretty much sums it up. Yep.” She points at a building. “Over there.”

We drive past a hut on the sidewalk. Small metallic windmills spin in the breeze from a bucket next to the open window. On the other side is a display of magazines.

I point to it. “What’s that?”

“It’s a kiosk. You can buy all kinds of things from them, like stamps, bus passes, drinks, and ice cream. I used to love going to it as a kid, whenever my family visited my grandparents.”

I turn into the parking lot. “I take it you used to come to Finland often?”

“Every year until I was fifteen. This is my first time back since then.”