Hat Trick (D.C. Stars, #4)

by Chelsea Curto

For the ones who fight even when they want to give up. I’m rooting for you. (And for the readers who love a hockey player that wears slutty glasses… Riley is for you)

I wish I had the balls of a mediocre white man who thinks he’s hot shit. I’d be unstoppable.

“I’m going to get him skating again,” I whisper to Piper and Emmy. “Lex, I don’t⁠—” “Hockey is his whole life.” I stare at the doors leading to the patient rooms. “I’ll work with him. We’ll do it together.” I’ve always been a determined bitch. Once I put my mind to something, I don’t stop until it happens, and I’ll be damned if Riley goes down without a fight.

“She wasn’t finished speaking,” Riley says, deathly low. The look in his eye is murderous. A shiver races up my spine when he curls his fingers into a fist. My cheeks turn bright red when he stares at my boss and tilts his head to the side. “And her name is Lexi. L-e-x-i. That’s not difficult, is it? Treat her with respect and get it right, or I’m leaving.”

I think I need to get my head checked, because that outburst was the hottest display of emotion I’ve ever seen in my goddamn life.

The romance books I read are right: having a guy turn a little unhinged and defend your honor is sexy as hell.

And I’m not saying you need to be saved. Just… let us be waiting with a life jacket if it starts to feel like you’re drowning, okay?”

“Not every day can be sunshine and rainbows. A lot of days suck, but you got out of bed today. That’s a win,”

“Fully capable of handling things by yourself. I know that. But guess what? Accepting help doesn’t make you weak, okay? It just means for a few minutes, someone else can help carry the load. And you’ve been carrying the load for me for months. Share the burden with me just this once.”

“I’m going to get dressed extra slow just so you can finish that chapter.” “A man after my own heart.”

I haven’t been able to get her out of my damn head, and I learned a long time ago that as long as we were on the same team, as long as we were in the same zip code and orbiting around each other, I had a shot. And I wasn’t going to blow that shot by going on shitty date after shitty date with someone who wasn’t her.

Is this what love feels like? Like the first bit of sunshine peeking through the clouds after a rainstorm? Like a warm blanket on a cold day? Like a million stars lighting up a night sky? Like I might not be able to breathe if he isn’t around, and like I’m taking my first deep breath in years when he’s close?

“This is not supposed to be a sappy rom-com moment. It’s supposed to be an adrenaline-filled workout session that leaves you in a tired heap on the ice because you’ve pushed yourself so hard. We can cross another thing off your Life List.”

“You’re the most important thing in my life. DC is my home. You are my home.”