Breaking the Ice Read online

  Breaking the Ice

  Love of the Game

  Shayne McClendon

  Copyright © 2013 Shayne McClendon

  Published by Always the Good Girl LLC

  www.alwaysthegoodgirl.com

  Cover Design by Alexandra Andersen

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author and publisher. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Also by Shayne McClendon

  The Barter System

  Yes to Everything

  Damaged

  In the Service of Women

  Obsession - Endurance

  A Little Bit Country – Volume One

  Being Delightful

  The Hermit

  Permission to Come Aboard - The Great Outdoors

  Special Delivery – The Great Outdoors

  A Sunny Heart – The Great Outdoors

  Embrace the Wild – The Great Outdoors

  Revenge is Best Served Hot – Doorways

  Woman’s Best Friend – Doorways

  Ready to Rumble – Love of the Game

  Somebody – A Little Bit Country

  Dedication

  Sports have always been a big part of my life. I love to watch them (though those pesky “rules” sometimes escape me and I have to be told, “relax…they’re allowed to do that”), scream through them, argue over them, and ogle professional athletes. Most of the men I’ve known in my life have been into sports – my brothers, my friends, my hubands, and my son.

  I played softball and ran cross-country track but I never had the dedication true athletes seem born with. I didn’t really care if I won or not, I just did it for fun. Blasphemy to true devotees.

  For those of you with a deep-rooted love of the game, I salute you. For those of you who just like the way athletes look in their gear…I get it. Have fun!

  Much love

  Shayne

  Author’s Note

  How you play is just the beginning…

  This is the first novella in my collection “Love of the Game” – a four-part series of stand-alone novellas that feature a lead character involved in professional sports.

  Breaking the Ice – Hockey

  Time to Make the Doughnuts – Football

  Win, Lose, or Raine – Baseball

  The Three-Pointer – Basketball

  These are NOT “sports stories” with an erotic romance twist. They are erotic romances with a character who happens to be a pro player. So please! Don’t jump all over me if you catch a little technical mistake.

  I hope you like reading them because they were a lot of fun to write!

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Time to Make the Doughnuts – Excerpt

  Curb Appeal

  About Shayne McClendon

  Chapter One

  Four years ago…

  Diesel LeBlanc skated to the edge of the huge frozen pond to watch her.

  The rest of the guys had taken off an hour before; exhausted after eight hours of hockey practice and drills. He’d stayed behind, always pushing himself.

  It was winter break, he was home for a few weeks from college before classes started up again. Most of his friends played for college teams. There were a few of his old high school teammates who hadn’t gone to college, but they still played locally and liked to stay sharp.

  When he was home, they spent a lot of time on the ice. During the summer, they used the rink in town. Winter meant fresh air and sunshine on one of the many ponds near their hometown an hour outside of Fargo, North Dakota.

  She drove up in a banged-up Silverado and parked in the plowed area about an hour ago. She got out wearing a ski jacket with her skates over her shoulder. On a fallen log, she took off soft boots and laced up her skates.

  Diesel watched as she gathered her long brown hair into a ponytail and stepped confidently out on the ice. She warmed up with lazy circles, soon removing the heavy jacket and tossing it to the log. A bulky sweater that fell to mid-thigh and wool leggings hid most of her figure.

  Moving faster, she started stretching her legs out behind her, extending straight out then bending them up toward the back of her head. Speeding, she made small jumps, then spins, looking more graceful the faster she skated.

  Around and around the pond she glided, forward, backward, side to side. Her legs were powerful, her posture precise. She did a series of jump combinations that had Diesel holding his breath, afraid she’d fall. He looked around and realized she’d come out to the middle of nowhere alone. What if she fell and hurt herself?

  She raced across the ice, leapt, landed sure time and again until she glided to the center. She lifted one skate over her head with one hand and lowered it smoothly. Her arms in an arch above her, she started to spin, getting faster and faster. She spun until he was dizzy watching her.

  A sudden stop, ice sprayed, and she struck a pose.

  Instinctively, he clapped and scared the hell out of the young woman. She jerked into a prim position, skates touching and her hands folded in front of her, watching him warily.

  Diesel didn’t blame her. He was big and dark with plenty of hockey scars…carrying a massive hockey stick. He was surprised to see more than an hour had passed while he stood here like a fucking stalker.

  “Not going to hurt you, hon. I’m…” he started to call across the ice.

  She interrupted smoothly, “I know who you are, Diesel. I know you’re not going to hurt me. You just startled me. I normally skate alone.”

  Her voice had a tinkling bell quality beneath the huskiness that sounded familiar but he couldn’t place who she was. “You don’t remember me. It’s okay. People rarely do.” She skated slowly to the edge of the ice, not looking directly at him. “I’m MacKenzie Rhodes.”

  Oh, shit.

  “Kenzie, you’re…um, older than I remember.”

  He busied himself pulling off his skates. Seeing her up close was shocking. She’d been pretty jacked up the last time he’d seen her.

  She laughed but it wasn’t a happy sound. “Yeah, Diesel, older. That happens, I suppose. How’s your family?” Kenzie was taking off her skates and putting her boots back on. She wasn’t rushing exactly but she wasn’t taking her time either.

  “They’re good, real good. How…how’s yours, Kenzie?” he asked to be polite, knowing instantly it had been the wrong thing to do as she snatched up her stuff and turned away. He followed her up the small embankment to her truck.

  Her smile was self-mocking as she yanked open the door. “My family? My family is great, Diesel. Peachy, in fact. Dad is still the town drunk but doesn’t endanger his family anymore because he can’t see to drive. Mom doesn’t get out of bed but we find we like it that way just fine. Cristiana and Katya left for college last year. Jaqueline went this year. Thadias and I are still home. Once he leaves home in the summer, I’ll head out.”

  She threw her skates to the passenger seat and turned to him with her hands on her hips. “Tell your family I
said hello, Diesel. Good to see you.” Then she jumped up behind the wheel and tore out.

  Diesel stood staring after the truck for a long time before walking to his F150. He stored his gear in the backseat and climbed up in the cab to drive back to his parent’s house.

  Kenzie sure grew into her looks.

  When he parked, his younger brothers, Jon and Justin, came barreling out of the house. “Diesel! Man, why didn’t you tell us you were going to practice? We would’ve come to watch.”

  “Hey guys, I didn’t want you out in the cold for eight hours. Mom would kill me.” He ruffled their twelve-year-old heads affectionately. “Mom home?” They nodded and followed him like eager puppies inside. “Would you guys mind cleaning and oiling my skates? It would be a huge favor. I’ll give you ten bucks.”

  Whooping with joy, they hauled ass back to his truck and argued over which of them was going to do the better job. The twins had been quite a surprise for his mom, coming eight years after Diesel, who’d been her youngest of four boys. All the older brothers were done with college and involved in their careers. Diesel was a junior in college and chomped at the bit to be done with the school.

  He found his mom in the laundry room and swooped in to kiss her cheek. They’d always been close because he’d been her baby for so long. They chatted for a few minutes before he got around to what he wanted to talk to her about.

  “I saw MacKenzie Rhodes out on the big pond today. Ice skating. She’s really good.”

  Jenna LeBlanc eyed her son knowingly before continuing to fold the warm towels. “Yes, she’s very good. Could have been an Olympic contender if her daddy hadn’t screwed up her life so bad. You know she’s the oldest of the Rhodes brood?”

  He nodded. “All her sisters are off at college. She was in my grade in school, I wonder why she didn’t go. She was always really smart.”

  “She still is. That girl has had all kinds of opportunities. She turned them down to raise her brother and sisters. Thadias is the youngest, he should graduate this year, I believe. Maybe she can escape then.” She tsk’d and added, “I sure hate to see a sweet girl like that waste her life in this town. There isn’t anything for her here.”

  “She looks…different than she used to.”

  “Yeah, Diesel, she does. It wasn’t her fault her daddy drove her home bombed out of his mind. Kenzie got thrown from the car, lucky she survived. Between the halo and various casts they had her in and out of, I’m amazed she can still walk, much less skate. Broke her jaw in three places. That’s what shed the last of the baby fat off her frame. She limps when it gets really cold, she must work the muscles and joints hard to be able to skate after being on her feet so much.”

  “What’s she do?”

  “She’s a bartender and waitress at the Triple Z. There most nights, I think.” She folded the towel and set it on the stack, not moving her hands from it. “Diesel, that girl has had nothing but pain and trouble she didn’t ask for. Don’t toy with her. You won’t be back here and there’s a good chance she’ll never leave. Tread careful, son.”

  He nodded and kissed her cheek. “You raised me right, Mom. No worries.”

  “Yeah but the girls do love to throw themselves at you boys. Funny enough, never any of the Rhodes girls. You’d think they’d be, I don’t know, badly behaved coming from what they have.” Jenna smiled. “Must be Kenzie’s influence, it sure isn’t her mama and daddy’s doing.”

  Diesel hung out with his little brothers for a while, then showered and changed into jeans and a t-shirt, his comfortable black cowboy boots on his feet. Finger-combing his longish black hair, he grabbed his keys, and handed his brothers a new Alien DVD to watch while he was gone.

  Kissing his mom she told him his dad would be visiting in three days.

  He nodded and headed out. None of the brothers liked to discuss their dad, Donald. He’d left their mom soon after the Double J’s were born with one of the girls who worked his auction house. He sent money but his new family was his priority.

  They saw him occasionally but it was uncomfortable for all of them.

  The drive into town took fifteen minutes and all the action was at the Triple Z honky-tonk. A town as small as theirs didn’t have much to do after dark, but the highway passed through to Fargo and the bar always had business.

  He parked and several of his friends called out to him. They went in together and found a table. Immediately swamped by the local girls, Diesel found himself looking around for Kenzie.

  Not seeing her anywhere, he danced with one woman after another, many of them openly groping him and making him laugh. All the LeBlanc boys had a reputation with women, well-earned and an open joke among the brothers when they were together.

  There were two blondes coming on pretty strong when he spotted Kenzie and about stumbled during Cotton-Eyed Joe.

  She had really grown into her looks.

  Her long, dark hair was crimped and had two tiny pigtails in the front, all of it hanging loose almost to her waist. Her dark brown eyes were highlighted with eyeliner and she wore lipstick but no other makeup.

  Wearing a cropped black bar t-shirt and low hung jeans with heeled boots, she was smokin’ hot. Full breasts and nice hips, real nice ass, long legs, and a flat stomach. There were four inches of bare midriff showing and a belly button ring sparkled on her naturally tanned skin.

  Her coloring was likely the only thing she appreciated inheriting from her folks. Her father was white but her mother was full-blood Sioux, of the Lakota tribe.

  She was serving drinks off a tray to a table of rowdy cowboys who consistently found reasons to touch her. Kenzie was smiling but it sure as hell didn’t reach her eyes.

  Once she put down all the drinks and pitchers, she left the table and he could see her lips moving, like she was giving herself a pep talk. She turned and locked eyes with him just as the two blondes he was dancing with worked their way down his body from the front and back simultaneously.

  She rolled her eyes, gave him a double thumbs-up, and a fake smile. He watched her off and on all night, though his dance partners kept changing.

  So many men grabbed her ass he lost count. She was getting more and more annoyed. Around midnight, a particularly drunk redneck put his hands right between her legs. She grabbed him by the wrist, twisted it behind his back and had him face down on the table in less than three seconds.

  Bent over his back, her body was drawn tight. So was the tribal tattoo down her spine that ended between two tiny dimples leading down to her butt. She said something in Lakota, real loud and obviously not flattering, then threw his big ass back in his chair.

  Diesel was wondering if he was the only one who realized she’d palmed a switchblade, closed but ready. Picking up her tray, she walked away, and discreetly slid the knife in her back pocket.

  The owner, Bob Zeller, patted her shoulder, pinched her chin, and told her to take a break. He’d owned the bar for thirty years and didn’t like the roughnecks messing with the female staff.

  Whatever he said to Kenzie finally provoked a smile and she nodded. Tossing her hair over one shoulder, she walked down a hallway to the back of the building.

  Diesel excused himself from his current partner – he couldn’t remember her name at the moment – and smiled when she pouted at him.

  “Back soon, darlin’.” Then he went after Kenzie.

  Stepping through the back door, he caught her stretching her back and legs. She was bent completely in half, her nose touching her knees. He cleared his throat and she turned her head to look at him.

  With a heavy sigh, she stood and faced him, her arms crossed over her lovely chest.

  “Just wanted to make sure you were alright, MacKenzie.”

  “I’m fine, Diesel.” She turned and put her foot on the wall, walking it up until she was almost in a standing split. Her face was in agony and she reached down to rub absently at her hip.

  “You sure you should be doing that? Looks like it hurts.”
/>   “It hurts worse if I don’t do it, Diesel. I have to hyper-extend it to keep the tendons from locking on me. Was there something you needed?”

  “Why do you do a job where you’re on your leg all the time, Kenzie?” He couldn’t hide his shock when she dropped her leg and whirled on him.

  “Are you fucking kidding me right now, Diesel? You have no concept of my reality and I get that. What I do not get is why you are speaking to me. You are a little too self-absorbed to be worried about one of the Rhodes kids, don’t you think?”

  She shook her head. “Go play with the groupies who will hang on your every word and leave me to cope with my life. It sucks just fine without you pointing it the fuck out.” She said something in Lakota and stormed past him. “You don’t know shit about me, LeBlanc. No one does.”

  He couldn’t help but notice she smelled like pears.

  Back inside, she plastered a smile on her face and served alcohol to drunk cowboys and half-naked women it was obvious she detested.

  When Play Something Country came over the jukebox, Bob Zeller had them turn it up and took MacKenzie out on the floor. Bob had been an award-winning dancer before he opened his bar. It was obvious he danced with Kenzie a lot.

  Their moves were fast and complicated and soon tons of people were lining up behind them to imitate the dance. When they changed from line dance to couples dancing, Diesel’s mouth dropped open when they started to salsa…to Brookes and Dunn for God’s sake.

  Diesel watched MacKenzie move and recognized the stirring in his pants. Lord, the woman could move on ice and on the dance floor. They kept dancing to Honky Tonk Badonkadonk and she finally looked like she was relaxing.

  When she smiled, he realized it was contagious. Bob dropped his black Stetson on her head and she pulled it low over her eyes and worked her body down to the floor and back up again.

  As the song ended Bob hugged her and said something in her ear. She put his hat back on his head, and got a sad look on her face. He chucked her under the chin and headed over to the bar.