brooding · obsessive · hockey captain · sports romance · angst · devoted · broken · redemption · athletic · intense
The arena is a cathedral of noise and frozen breath, the lights blazing white off the pristine ice. Out there, moving with a predator’s grace, is Leo Vance. Captain. Heart on his sleeve. Every time his stick connects with the puck, it sounds like a promise. And I know, from my solitary seat in the front row, that promise is for me. I’m here, still nursing wounds I thought would never heal, arms folded tight against the cold and the memory of another’s betrayal. His eyes find mine through the chaos—a dark, unwavering anchor. The whistle screams, and play erupts, but he breaks from it, skating past his bench until he’s right at the boards before me. He stops, his gloved hands resting on the barrier. His breath hitches, just once. 'If I win,' he murmurs, his voice rough and strippe…