On the Fly (Crimson Romance) by Katie Kenyhercz

Vaughn name is safe.”
    Feeling generous, she let the snide tone slide and kept her voice level. “You weren’t in a casino?”
    “That again?” He glanced away and pushed a hand back through his hair. “Come on. I don’t do that anymore.”
    If she pushed, he’d get defensive and shut down. “All right. But if you do get in trouble, you need to tell me. I mean it, Maddie.”
    “
Ah
.” He held up a finger in reminder of her promise. “Jace, I swear. If I find myself in trouble, you’re the first one I go to. But I won’t, so it’s not a problem.” He must have sensed she wasn’t about to let it go, because he followed that up with, “So what’s with you and Phlynn?”
    The non sequitur gave her pause, and her mouth dropped open as she tried to connect the dots. “Carter? Nothing.”
    “Carter.” An impish grin transformed his bruised face into the lady-killer she knew him to be. “If you want people to believe that, you really gotta stop calling him by his first name, Sis. Dead giveaway. Oh, and you brought him to our house.”
    Jacey could feel the color in her cheeks and willed it away, shaking her head. “That … I didn’t plan that. I knocked him down, and he was bleeding, and I felt responsible. I was responsible.”
    “Mmmhmm. I felt a vibe.”
    “Vibe? There was no
vibe
. He’s the captain of my team. I have a vested interest in his health.” Jacey huffed, and Madden laughed. She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not that stupid.”
    “Oh, you’re the smartest person I know. This is pretty out of character. That’s why I’m concerned. You really must like this guy.”
    “I don’t like him. I barely know him.”
    “Okay.” He smiled. “Just be careful, huh? My occasional bar fights won’t even make the media radar if you start dating the captain of our team.”
    Jacey crumpled up a Post-It and threw it square at her brother’s forehead. It bounced off into his open coffee cup.
    “Nice. That’s nice.” He grinned as he picked the paper out with two fingers and tossed it in her wastebasket. “Assignments for the day?”
    She scooped up a pile of papers and held them out. Madden took them and headed for the door. “One more thing. You know he’s a player, right?” There was a
duh
on her lips, but he wasn’t done. “And I don’t just mean hockey.” Jacey closed her mouth. Madden quirked up a half smile and winked. “Just watch yourself, okay? Don’t want to see you get hurt. Not after last time.”
    Last time. Alex.
    Jacey swallowed the knot of emotion in her throat. Madden only had the Cliffnotes version of “last time”. It’d been a year, but every now and then the pain swelled to the surface, new and fresh. He must have seen it because he walked back over and dropped a light kiss on the top of her head before leaving.
    The door closed, and Jacey sat back, numb. Madden. Felt protective. Of her. It was such a role reversal that she didn’t even dwell on his comment about Carter being a player. If she were being honest with herself … there’d be time for introspection later.
    • • •
    “Reese, get your ass off the ice.” Nealy blew her whistle at the goalie, causing him to scramble around and find his footing, though he leaned heavily on the crossbar. Jacey bit back a smile as she eased down the arena steps in her black, round-toed pumps to a seat behind the players’ box. The rest of the team panted, and their strides slowed as practice wound down. It was a large rink, but up this close, the sweat-sock smell was strong, and Jacey made an effort to breathe strictly through her mouth.
    “All right, ladies, we’ll call it a day. Bennett, you made some good progress in the passing drills. Cole, you’re second-line center, so I need you to work on that face-off. And Phlynn, for God’s sake, make a mistake once in a while. I need something to criticize.” That got a laugh from the Sinners’ captain and grumbling resentment from the rest of the team as they