"No. Number fifty-five … " She checked her game-day program. "Ryan Kirby. I haven't met him."
"Tanner's getting a penalty."
"Of course he is." She rolled her eyes. "And he just told me he doesn't fight anymore."
"I remember a few fights in college."
"Oh yeah. But in college, you get kicked out of the game if you fight, so he stopped that pretty quickly." She swallowed. "He was standing up for the guy who got hit." She watched Tanner in the penalty box, scowling, shaking his hand. "God, I hope he's okay."
"Tanner? Or Ryan Kirby?"
"Well, um, both." But she'd been talking about Tanner.
"Tanner's fine. He looks pissed."
"Um, yeah." She paused. "Is it bad that I find it kind of hot that he's in the sin bin?"
Rachel laughed. "He's definitely got that bad-boy vibe going on."
Katelyn bit her lip.
-
Late in the third period, Tanner fed the puck to Army for a sweet goal, which gave the Aces a two-nothing win over the Stars. The mood in the dressing room was slightly subdued elation, with the word that Kirby did in fact have a concussion and was going to be out for a while. Concussions were something everyone worried about these days.
On the up side, Stoykers had a shutout, and Tanner had a Gordie Howe hat trick … a goal, an assist, and a fight. He accepted the fist-bumps from his teammates with a wry smile.
He drank his usual protein shake and headed to the bike to cool down for a bit. They'd checked his hand and nothing was broken, thank fuck, but he had an ice pack on it to keep the swelling down. He'd have to keep icing it for the next day or so, but he could handle that.
His thoughts turned to Katelyn and what they would do tomorrow. He had no idea what her schedule was like. He had a feeling her job wasn't a nine-to-five kind of gig, which was okay because neither was his. He'd like to take her out on a date. Maybe a nice dinner. Then take her back to his place and fuck her into the middle of next week.
Ugh. He was such a pig. This was Katelyn.
Although it seemed Katelyn was still pretty much DTF.
Nope, had to stop thinking about fucking Katelyn. Not here. Not now. He just needed to get home and he could jerk off thinking about her and how goddamn hot she'd been Friday night and how sweet her pussy was.
Maybe the anger and frustration he felt at what had happened to them eight years ago had added a little extra adrenaline to the fury he'd felt when Landry had knocked out Kirby. It made him pissed as hell that Katelyn had gone through all that alone and he'd never even had a fucking clue. He didn't know a lot about Alzheimer's, but it sounded like she'd been through hell. He hated that. And the fact that her dad had passed away and there'd been no reason they couldn't be together, but she'd thought he was still fucking married … that made him want to punch someone.
They'd wasted all these years … he'd been fucking around since Presley, not even sure what he was looking for. And now he remembered Katelyn had been engaged three times … Jesus. Apparently she'd been looking for something too.
Neither of them had ever found it.
He'd been convinced that love wasn't for him. Every time he started to care about someone, they left. And even though he'd been the one who left Katelyn, he'd still felt like he'd been abandoned because she wouldn't come with him and he hadn't understood why … other than the fact that he wasn't good enough to follow to New York. Now that he knew the truth … did it make any difference?
Chapter 14
"You got in a fight."
"Yep."
Katelyn eyed the bruise coloring Tanner's cheekbone and the hand he was rubbing. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Few bruises, that's all."
She picked up his hand to examine it, and then couldn't resist lifting it to her mouth to kiss it. "How about your teammate? Ryan Kirby."
Tanner's face tightened. "He has a concussion. He'll be out for a while."
"Oh no."
"Yeah. I can't stand the guy, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone." His eyes shifted and he looked uncomfortable.
"You can't stand him?" Her mouth dropped open. "But you fought for him?"
"Yeah." He shrugged.
She continued to stare at him. She shouldn't be surprised by this, she supposed. She'd always known Tanner was intensely loyal to his team. But it made her heart do a little flip in her chest that he'd gone after the big asshole who'd hurt his teammate, a guy he didn't even like.