Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
The proximity to nature was what I liked most about making the move to Burlington.
Well, that and the proximity to hot and slightly mysterious men named Gabriel Sanderson.
I couldn’t get him out of my head. Not since first meeting him. It was the weirdest thing. I was even dreaming about the guy. And these were dreams that seemed to have been painted in Technicolor, with sensory details that felt so real I would wake up sure that I was still in his arms.
And yet I’d had to keep it completely chill when I was around him during the last few practices. I’d sneak glances at him, and I’d listen in on some of his conversations, just to get to know him a little more, but I never really partook. And if I was brought into the conversation, he would casually drift off. Almost like he couldn’t be in the same space as me.
There was also the fact that he was apparently very straight. He hadn’t been tied publicly to any women from what I could tell, but there had been hints of romantic relationships in the locker room banter.
And yet…
I stopped at a red light and reached for my phone. I’d gotten his number through the group text Dylan had added me to (which he had also called Bobcat Baddies).
I hovered my thumb over Gabe’s name.
Should I invite him to this?
I wanted to see him outside of his gear again, experience him in a more casual setting. He made me so damn curious. Maybe we could end up being good friends? Maybe that was the oddly intense tug I felt toward him? It could also be a good opportunity for me to get some more intel on Gabe’s dating life.
Then again… why was I even thinking about any of that? I had just moved to a new city, to play on a new team, after breaking up with an old love; the last thing I needed was a fresh source of complications and drama. That was exactly what messing around with Gabe would bring.
Nope. Couldn’t do that. I needed to focus on myself and on making sure I proved myself out on the ice.
No distractions.
I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat and continued on my way.
The Grind wasn’t very far from my house. Took me less than ten minutes before I was pulling up to a parking spot right in front of the coffee shop. It was a cute spot, with a varnished dark wooden facade and a cluster of green ivy climbing up the side, creeping toward the hanging black and gold painted mug with the coffee shop’s name scrawled across it. A rainbow flag waved in the air right above a trans flag. Through the two wide windows, I could see a group of people gathered around multiple tables.
From down the street, I spotted Dylan and Chris walking toward me, both wearing similar brown leather jackets and white t-shirts. They’d match completely if Dylan hadn’t been in black jeans and Chris in blue.
“’Sup, man,” Dylan said, clapping my hand with his and bringing me in for a hug. Chris did the same. One of them wore a really good cologne.
Not as good as Gabe’s though…
“Thanks for coming to this, guys.”
Chris waved a hand in the air. “I like these kinds of things. Meeting new people that are passionate. It’s fun for me.”
“And I’ve been wanting to learn,” Dylan added. He pulled out his bright orange and scratched up phone and waved it in the air. “I can barely take a photo with my phone.”
“That’s because you never clean your lens,” Chris said.
“You have to clean your lens? That’s a thing?”
Chris narrowed his eyes at him. “That’s why all your Instagram posts look like you applied a Vaseline filter to them.”
“Huh,” Dylan said. “I thought that was just like an upload thing or something.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Nope. It’s definitely because you need to wipe down that lens.”
“See, I’m already learning something, and we’re not even inside.” He flipped his white baseball cap back and reached for the door, opening it.
“Thanks,” I said, already glad I had invited them to join.
The smooth scent of freshly ground coffee filled the space as I entered, along with something else. Something deeper, more… piney? Like the woods after a long rain.
I looked around to see if someone had put up a Christmas tree a couple months early.
To my right was a table with a check-in sheet, which I assumed would be the first stop. But then I glanced to my left.
Frozen. My muscles became stiff with shock. Like a damn opossum.
I found myself turned to stone by the tall man with the dark scruffy beard in a Bobcats hoodie, his sky-blue eyes piercing through me as if his gaze had been made of arrows.