Meet Me in the Penalty Box: A Small Town Hockey Romance (Orchid City Book 1)

As much as I loved traveling, I was tired of doing it without Harper. It was getting old having to travel to different cities and leaving her behind. With her job, it wasn’t guaranteed that she would be sent along as the photographer for the game. It seemed like they rotated through their people and her time would be coming again soon, but not soon enough.

Instead, I was stuck on the road for a week without her and I was a fiend for her like an addict looking for their next fix. I was tired of only being able to see her face through the screen on my phone. It just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I needed to feel her skin beneath my fingertips. I wanted her voice in my ears as she surrounded and consumed me.

She had her first newborn shoot while I was away and the excitement that lit up her face when we talked was contagious. She and Ava went out to get different props and things she would need at her client’s home where she did the shoot.

I wanted to buy her a fucking building with her own office. One where she could open up her own studio. Getting her to allow me to buy her a damn camera was a feat in itself. I would have to take baby steps and work up to getting Harper her own studio. Harper wasn’t exactly one who liked to let others try and take care of her.

I pulled up out in front of her apartment building and sent her a text to let her know I was there. I got out of my car and stood by the side as I waited for her. It didn’t take her long to come down and a smile danced across my lips as I saw my girl.

We were caught in a weird place. We both admitted our feelings for one another, yet there was no real definition between us. A part of me cared while the other part of me didn’t give two shits. At the end of the day, she was my girl and that was all that fucking mattered.

“There you are.” I smiled as I stepped away from my car and met her by the door. Instead of pulling it open for her, I pulled her flush against me.

She looked up at me, her eyes dancing under the moonlight. “I missed you,” she breathed.

“Not as much as I missed you,” I countered as I swiftly claimed her mouth with mine. It was a hasty kiss, but I couldn’t wait to taste her. She was mine and I planned on reminding her of that every time I saw her.

“Come on,” I told her as I broke apart from her and ushered her to the car as I opened the door for her. “I made reservations and I don’t want us to be late.” I paused for a moment as I leaned down to look at her with a devious smirk pulling on my lips. “That is, unless you wanted to skip out on dinner completely and do something else instead…”

Harper laughed softly and shook her head as she pulled the seat belt across her body. “Let’s eat first. We have a history of not eating if we tend to other needs first.”

I smiled down at her, my laugh matching hers as I pushed the door shut. She wasn’t wrong there. Although, I would much rather eat her than dinner right now.

I took her back to Dare and I watched the excitement in her eyes as we were seated at another private booth. The last time we were here, things got heated pretty quickly and we ended up taking our food to go. Tonight I wanted to do things a little differently. If she was going to make me wait, then I wasn’t going to make it easy for her at all.

We were seated with our drinks, and our food was already ordered, as I sat next to her with my hand on her thigh. “I had some other ideas for what we could do tonight, but I wasn’t sure if you would be interested or not…”

Harper raised an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?”

I slowly moved my hand between her thighs and gripped her flesh. “I want to take you ice skating.”

“Umm…” Harper paused as a nervous laugh fell from her lips. “So, I’m embarrassed to say this since you do it for a living, but I’ve never ice-skated before.”

A smile pulled on my lips and lifted them upward. “I was honestly hoping you would say that.”

“Why’s that?” she said with a curious look in her eyes as she tilted her head to the side.

“Because I want as many of your firsts that I can have.”

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and I watched a wave of emotion pass through her bright blue irises. She ducked her gaze down to the table as she lifted her drink. I watched the hues of pink appear on her cheeks and I couldn’t help but feel satisfied.

“Where were we going to go?”

I winked. “I think I might know of a place.”

As we stood outside of the stadium, Harper glared at me. “You want to break in? Do you want us to get arrested?”

I laughed as I looked over at her as we reached the players’ entrance. My hand dipped into my pocket and I pulled out a key. “It’s technically not breaking in if you have a key, right?”

She didn’t look amused. “Nico… if anyone catches us here, we’re fucked.”

I swiftly pulled her flush against me and dipped my face down to hers as I nipped at her bottom lip. “This is what you’re worried about getting caught doing with me?” I laughed quietly as I pulled her bottom lip between my teeth. “I think there are worse things we could get caught doing.”

“Nico…” She said my name in a warning tone, yet her voice was hoarse and thick with lust.

Releasing her from my grip, I stepped away from her as I slid the key into the lock and opened the door. I looked back at Harper who was standing behind me with her arms crossed over her chest. “Are you coming with me or are you going to play it safe instead?”

Conflict washed over her expression and finally she sighed and took a step after me. “If we get caught, this is your fault.”

“I’ll gladly take all the blame, love.” I laughed again as I pulled her into the stadium with me. Whether we got caught in here or for doing something else together, protecting Harper was my number one concern. If there was one of us that would take the fall, I would do everything I possibly could to make it be me and not her.

It was quiet as we walked through the concrete halls. There was no one here but us and it was the first time I had ever experienced this before. When I was in high school, we used to sneak into one of the local rinks to play pickup games in the middle of the night. It happened a few times before we got caught, but then the owner just started leaving the door unlocked for us instead.

There were soft lights glowing throughout the building, probably for actual security if and when they patrolled the area. It was just enough light to guide us to the locker room and I pulled Harper inside. The room was dark and I flicked on the light as it illuminated the entire room. Harper walked over and sat down on the bench as she looked up at me.

She sat right by my name and I couldn’t help but smile down at her. “Do you even have skates I can wear?”

Shit.

“I was thinking you could probably just wear Wes’s or something. They’re not going to fit but I’ll tie them tight enough that it shouldn’t matter.”

She continued to look at me, unconvinced, but shrugged instead. I walked over to grab Wes’s skates as she kicked off her sneakers. I moved back in front of her and slid each of her feet into the skates before lacing them up. She was quiet and watched me as I tied them tightly and set them back on the floor.

I grabbed my own skates and put them on before helping her up to her feet. She was a little wobbly and I held my arm out for her to hold on to for support.

“This feels like a terrible idea,” she muttered as I began to lead her down the tunnel toward the ice. “I’m going to break my ankle or something.”

I chuckled and shook my head at her dramatics. “Are your skates not tight enough?”

“Well, considering the fact that it feels like there’s no blood flowing to my feet… I think they’re tight enough.’

“Then your ankles should be safe,” I told her as I led her onto the bench and opened up the door. “Come with me, love,” I said softly as I stepped out onto the ice and turned around to face her with my hand out. “I won’t let you fall.”

Harper hesitated for a moment before sliding her hand into mine. I helped her onto the ice and her eyes were wide as her feet slid involuntarily. I laughed and held her steady as she attempted to get her bearings. One of her hands were in mine and the other was clutching my arm as she held on for her life.

“This feels so unnatural,” she breathed and shook her head. “You guys make it look so easy.”

I slowly began to move and pulled her along with me. She slowly released her grip on my arm and I watched her as she watched my feet move. She tried to mimic the movements as we moved around the ice. “See, you’re getting it. Just move your feet like this,” I told her as I alternated between pushing off on one foot and switching to the opposite.

Harper tried to do what I was doing and her foot slid a little farther than she wanted. A nervous laugh escaped her as she clutched on to me again. “Nope, not doing that,” she said as she shuffled along. “I’m good doing whatever this is.”

We did one lap around the arena and as we made our way back toward the bench, I saw a light flash on in the other locker room. There was movement in the room and I caught a glimpse of someone moving down the tunnel. My heart stopped in my chest and I quickly pulled her to me.

“Fuck,” I muttered as I lifted her up in my arms and skated faster to get off the ice. “We gotta go, Harper.”

“What’s wrong?” Her voice shook with concern. I pulled her through the door and broke off into a jog as I led her down the tunnel with me. We stepped back into the locker room and I left the light off as I pushed her against the wall and shielded her with my own body.

“Shh,” I murmured as I gently pressed my finger against her lips. “I saw the security guard walking toward the ice down the other tunnel.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

I shook my head even though she couldn’t see the movement through the darkness. My heart pounded erratically and I couldn’t get it to slow down. “I wish I was.”

The footsteps outside the room got louder and Harper’s body grew rigid against mine. I sucked in a deep breath and held it as the door slowly opened. As it opened, we were carefully tucked just behind one of the cabinets so the guard didn’t see either of us as he flicked on the lights.

Harper’s eyes were wide as she stared up at me. I moved my hand over her mouth, covering it completely as I shook my head. I didn’t want either of us to get caught and the adrenaline was surging through my system right now.

The security guard let out a sigh and the light flickered back off before the door closed behind him. I waited three more seconds before finally exhaling the breath I was holding in. I removed my hand from Harper’s mouth and she exhaled simultaneously. The darkness had surrounded us again and I couldn’t see Harper, but I could feel her under the palms of my hands as she was pressed against me.

Her chest rose and fell in rapid succession and I slid my hands along her torso, using all of my senses but sight to absorb her. “What are you doing, Nico?” she questioned me breathlessly.

“There’s no way we can go back out there now without getting caught,” I murmured as I slid my hands up over her shoulders and pushed her coat away from her body. “We have to wait it out now until he goes away.”

“You really didn’t think this through, did you?”

I stifled a laugh and shook my head. “I thought we would be good and be able to have time to skate before anyone showed up. Looks like plans have changed.”

“Now what?” she asked me.

I smiled as I slid my hands under the bottom hem of her shirt. “We can go to one of the public rinks and do their public skates instead.”

Harper was silent for a moment. “You mean that was always an option? You just decided you wanted to do something illegal instead for my first time?”

“What’s life if you’re not taking risks?” My face dipped down to hers. “I’m willing to risk it all for you, love. What about you?”

She slid her arms up around the back of my neck and pulled me closer until her lips brushed against mine.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

My lips collided with hers as I staked my claim on what was already mine.

She was mine and she was willing to risk it all for us.