Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
My heart hammered in my chest as his words spun around and around in my head. I was their girl. His girl. I couldn’t help but remember how he had to leave his ex-girlfriend behind to pursue hockey, how heartbreaking that was for him. Whether he admitted it or not, he was a romantic.
The fact that he came all the way out here for me, that he sacrificed time for me, meant the world to me. All of them touched me by going above and beyond for someone they once saw as an enemy. Now, we were all one.
“That block you made with ten seconds left was incredible,” Stephen told me once Mikael set me down. He kissed me on the temple before Colm threw his arm around my shoulders.
“Hall of famer right here,” Colm said, making the others clap and playfully cheer me on.
An uncontrollable blush burned my face as I shook my head at them, feeling like I was floating over the clouds. Having them here to support my team made a world of difference. It always helped us hearing people cheer for us in the crowd, and the rest of my team started to warm up to them as well. All around, the energy was better than ever before, and all I wanted was for us to bring the ultimate victory home.
“I can’t believe we made it into the finals. It doesn’t feel real!” I said, my heart racing just at the thought. More pressure weighed down on me because I didn’t want to blow this opportunity, but I was just grateful to have it in the first place.
“This is where you belong, Leah,” Hugo assured me as he smiled at me. “Winning matches in front of millions of people.”
I looked at all of them, taking in their smiles of support and care. A strong surge of emotion suddenly took hold of me, threatening to make my eyes water as I tried to wrap my mind around how hard I had fallen for them. I didn’t even think that it was possible to fall for so many people at one time, but I didn’t want to be without any of them.
I wanted all of them.
But I was too nervous to spill my feelings to them right then and there. I wanted to wait for the perfect moment, which would most likely be after the tournament when all of the stress and pressure had faded away. Admitting my feelings to six guys was daunting enough on its own.
“Leah!”
I turned to see my mom heading my way as we all stood out of the way on a high section in the arena. I smiled and hurried over to her to hug her.
“Great job! You were so good!” my mom exclaimed.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I murmured, a swell of emotion rising in my chest. It meant a lot that she sacrificed so much time to come on this trip and watch me play.
When we broke apart, my mom looked at the guys with a curious expression.
“Who is this handsome bunch?” she asked me.
My face burned as the guys chuckled.
“Mom, these are… they’re part of the men’s hockey team,” I told her, unsure of what to call them. They weren’t just friends, but they weren’t officially boyfriends either.
Each of them politely introduced themselves to my mom, shaking her hand and telling her how great it was to watch my team play.
“She’s pretty great, isn’t she?” Stephen commented as he shook my mom’s hand.
“She was born to play this sport,” my mom replied with a proud smile.
Stephen looked over at me.
“Yeah, she was,” he said, secretly shooting me a wink.
I merely smiled to myself, glad that my mom seemed pretty charmed by all of them.
Hugo went up to her last. Usually, he was bold and confident, but I didn’t miss the slight nervousness in his smile. Did he really care about making that much of a good impression?
“Leah has told me a lot about you. I’m Hugo,” he introduced himself.
“Hopefully good things!” my mom laughed as she shook his hand.
“I heard it’s your first time traveling abroad,” Hugo mentioned to her, flashing her a charming smile.
“It is. I couldn’t miss watching her play,” my mom said as she gave my arm an affectionate squeeze. “She’s such a good goalie!”
“Goaltender,” I corrected her. “That’s soccer, Mom.”
Hugo chuckled and shared a smile with me that could’ve made me melt on the spot.
“Well, I’d love to take both of you out to dinner to celebrate,” he replied.
“We’d join, but we promised the rest of the women’s team that we’d buy them drinks if they made it to finals,” Mikael explained.
“Have fun. But not too much fun,” I told them, flashing them a sultry smile while my mom was busy telling Hugo how much of a gentleman he was.