Melting the Ice Read Online Free PDF Page A

opposing goal.
    Tied one to one in the third, the last thing they needed was a tie. This had been a tough game already and he knew everyone was beat-up and exhausted. There were two minutes left in regulation. Time to end this thing.
    He passed the puck to Ray Sayers and skated past the defender, getting himself into position by the goal, fighting with the defender to stay where he needed to be while Sayers and Litman fought to keep the puck away from Denver’s defender.
    When the puck came toward him, he jostled with Marquette on Denver’s team, one of their toughest defenders. He took a shot and missed.
    Dammit. A quick glance at the clock showed they were down to the final minute. With renewed determination, he fought for possession and gained it back, and made a tricky shot toward Litman who was right at the goal.
    Litman slid it past the Denver goalie and it went in.
    Drew had never seen anything sweeter than when the goal lit up. He raised his stick in the air and skated toward his teammates while the fans in the Garden went wild.
    That had been a great victory, hard-won because Denver was a tough team to beat.
    As they worked the line to shake hands with their opponents, Drew searched the crowd and saw Carolina, standing and clapping along with everyone else.
    He liked seeing that smile on her face. He skated over to the boards and motioned for her to come down. She did.
    “You played very well, though I wasn’t sure you were going to finish it off in regulation.”
    “Neither did I. Will you stay and wait for me?”
    She looked uncertain. “I have some work to do.”
    “Did you eat?”
    “Well, no.”
    He shook his head, then smiled at her. “Have dinner with me.”
    “I suppose I could.”
    “Great. I won’t be long. Just wait right here.”
    “Okay.”
    He stayed long enough to sign a few autographs for some of the fans, then headed to the locker room to take a shower. He hurried out of there before he got stuck doing media interviews, which would likely piss off his coach, but he wasn’t in the mood tonight.
    Not when he’d convinced Carolina to go out to dinner with him.
    She was still waiting in her seat, her knees drawn up, her sketch pad on her lap. She hadn’t seen him, so he watched her. She was so engrossed in her work that nothing could shake her out of it.
    She had her hair pulled behind her ears and she was worrying her lower lip with her teeth, which brought his attention to her mouth. It might have been eight years since that hot night in the dorm, but he could still remember the sweet innocence of her taste, how she’d flung herself wholeheartedly into sex with him.
    She might have been a virgin, and she’d known nothing about sex, but she’d wanted to sleep with him, had been eager to rid herself of what she’d referred to as the unpleasant yoke of virginity.
    He’d been surprised that, at twenty, she’d still been a virgin. When she was a teen she’d been a little overweight, but she’d always been beautiful, with her dark hair and stunning blue eyes. What was wrong with guys that they hadn’t leaped at the chance to be with her?
    Then again, what the hell had been wrong with him that he had missed out on her the two years they’d been together in college? He’d been so wrapped up in sports and his friends and screwing every girl he’d had the chance to be with that he hadn’t noticed her. Or maybe he had noticed her, but she’d been Gray’s little sister, and you didn’t screw your best friend’s sister. That was one of the rules.
    Or it had been, at least until graduation night, when he’d been plenty drunk and Carolina had been plenty brave enough to ask him to take her to bed.
    He’d broken the rule. And had never regretted it.
    When she finally looked up and saw him, she tucked her sketchbook into her bag and came down the stairs.
    “Took you long enough,” she said, her gaze scanning his face and hair. “Did you use extra gel and a blow-dryer?”
    He liked