Romancing the Grump (Appies, #4)

by Jenny Proctor

“How do you keep up? I can’t even find the puck.” Parker pops open a bag of Doritos and offers me one. “The trick is to stop looking for it. Just watch the players. You’ll start to recognize their subtle shifts in posture, their speed, the way they guard the puck when they have it. If they don’t have it, they know where it is, so if you watch them, you’ll get better at figuring out where the play is happening.” “They’re so fast,” I say before licking Dorito dust off my fingertips. “How do I watch them all?” “You’ll never see everything,” Parker says. “But I promise it will get easier.” She points. “Okay, see the guy over on the right? That’s Logan. Watch him for a second.” I watch as Logan glides across the ice with ease. He has the puck—I can see it, at least for now—but then he passes it to another player, and I lose it. I keep my eyes on Logan, watching where he watches, and soon, I spot the puck again, in front of a smaller guy who flies across the ice, pulling away from the rest of the players. He’s almost to Felix when another player cuts him off, bending low and checking him with his shoulder before spinning and ramming him into the wall, pinning him in place with his hockey stick. I wince as they make contact, bracing myself for whatever happens next. The two men scuffle a bit, then Logan skates over and pulls the bigger man off. “What was that?” I ask, realizing almost too late that I’ve practically pulverized my sandwich, squeezing it in my hands. “Um, that was N...