“You’ve been high-maintenance ever since we called you up, Axe.”

“I know.” I hung my head in shame. As a rookie fighting to keep a roster spot, the last thing a guy needed was negative attention.

“I was a bit of a troublemaker my rookie year.” He snorted and almost smiled.

“I’ve heard rumors.”

“I doubt they were rumors. Back then, our veteran center, Mark Ledux, took me under his wing. He was an asshole, but I’ll forever be grateful for the time he took with me when he didn’t have to.”

I nodded and bit my lower lip just to keep myself from saying something stupid and sounding like a fangirl. Ugh.

“All five of you need to be here at eight a.m. Wednesday and Thursday. And you’ll need to ask our backup goalie if he’s available.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding and resisted the urge to hug him. He wouldn’t appreciate such gestures.

“We could ask Jock,” I said helpfully, but my suggestion was met with a deep frown.

“No, he’s got enough on his plate. We need him fresh for the game.”

“He’s not working on shots with the first line?”

“That was only for a few weeks. He’s in the zone right now, and I never mess with a goalie in the zone. You, on the other hand, are still figuring out the pro game, as are your buddies.”

“Thank you. Thank you for doing this.” I stood and went to the door, eager to get away from his overpowering presence.

“You won’t be thanking me tomorrow morning.” His grin was evil, and his wink was a promise of more torture to come.

One problem down. One more that was still up in the air. And another that required some attention. I wasn’t giving up on my campaign to win over Geneva. Before my nap, I headed for the mall to stock up on gifts.

Chapter 18—Chipping Away

~~Geneva~~

Axel’s crappy play wasn’t dampening his enthusiasm toward a date with me. Even though my momentary lack of faith had disappointed him, he got over it and ramped up his pursuit.

Over the next few days, I found expensive imported chocolates sitting on one of the washers with a note, Will you go out with me? The following day there were chocolate-covered strawberries sitting on that very dryer. This time the note said, Strawberries are red, chocolate is brown, why don’t you let me take you out on the town?

I laughed my ass off at that one. He’d better not quit his day job to be a poet. His notes were sweet and corny and showed a side of him I’d only glimpsed before.

I couldn’t lie. I was beginning to look forward to what he’d do next. We were heading to Colorado for a one-game road trip as the season wound down.

On the plane, I got up from my seat to use the restroom. When I came back, there was a large envelope in my seat. I glanced around, but no one was paying attention to me. Axel was playing poker in the far back of the plane. I opened the envelope and peered inside at an object wrapped in tissue. Gingerly, I pulled it out and unwrapped it.