A New Season: Rules of the Game Book Six Read online

  A New Season

  Rules of the Game Book Six

  Emma Tharp

  A New Season: A Second Chance Hockey Romance (Rules Of The Game Book Six)

  By Emma Tharp

  Copyright © 2019 by Emma Tharp

  For more about this author, please visit www.emmatharp.com

  All characters and events in this book, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, then please return to amazon.com and purchase an additional copy.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator” at the address below.

  www.emmatharp.com

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Emma Tharp

  One

  Nick

  No way.

  Could that be her?

  Teddy is briskly shaking my hand and swatting me on the back, telling me how happy he is for me and how he's known me since I was a little baby. I can barely focus on what he's saying because I’m laser-focused on her every movement.

  It's been at least four years since I've laid eyes on Loralei Shaw. And, man, has she changed. The red dress she's wearing highlights her full hips and perky breasts, two things she didn't have the last time I saw her.

  It's also been four years since I've spoken to her. That’s going to change right now.

  "Excuse me," I tell Teddy and pat him on the back before stalking off in Loralei’s direction.

  Three different people stop me on my way to her, shaking my hand and congratulating me. I smile and nod, but I don't stop my forward momentum.

  Finally, I'm standing in front of her and my heart skips a beat.

  She looks up at me with pale green eyes, but her expression is hard to read. There's so much that's different about her. Her blonde hair is down and soft curls frame her face looking shiny and sleek, not the tangled mess of a bun that she always used to wear. And she stands up straighter, with an air of poise and grace she never had before. The red in her dress brings out a pretty pink undertone in her skin, a stark contrast to the acne that once littered her cheeks when she was eighteen. And she's lost at least fifty pounds. "Hello," she says flatly and crosses her arms in front of her chest.

  I guess I deserve that. "Hello, Loralei." I lean in and give her a kiss on the cheek. The sweet scent of warm honey and citrus invades my senses. Delicious. "It's good to see you."

  "How long has it been?" She swirls the wine around her glass. It's almost empty.

  She and I both know how long it's been since we've seen each other. The night before I left for Clarkson was the last time we were in the same room—and the last time we spoke. "Four years."

  Her eyes flash with recognition. As if she’s picturing that night. Her breath hitches slightly, but I catch it. "Oh, right."

  I’d like to change the topic. No sense in dredging up the past. "And how was everything at Carnegie Mellon?" From time to time, my mother would mention Loralei when we talked on the phone. She’d tell me about how well Loralei was doing with her courses. My mother, Cora, and her mother, Alex, are good friends. They got close when Dad and Loralei’s father, Cole Shaw, played for the Wolverines together.

  She sips her wine and it's impossible to look away from her full, red lips. They’re sensual and kissable. "It was wonderful. I'm going to miss it. But I got hired as a software engineer at a local company. I just moved back home." There it is, a glimmer of the spark she used to show me.

  Very nice. I know that she knows that I’ve also moved back. That's what this party is for, after all. "Oh, that's great news. Congratulations. I'm moving home now, too."

  "Yes, congratulations on getting drafted by the Wolverines. Your father must be so proud. Following in his footsteps." Even her speech has changed. There is a quiet confidence now. Before, she would stumble over her words around me. I think I intimidated her. It was very obvious that she had a huge crush on me. It's too bad it seems that has changed now, too.

  "Yeah." My eyes scan the room. There are so many of my dad's old teammates here, cheering me on. Dad, Derek Parker, played as a forward for the Wolverines for nine years. "He's really excited to have me home and playing for his old team."

  A small smile plays at her lips and I can't look away. "Did you enjoy your time at Clarkson? I noticed your team won the championship two years in a row."

  "Some of the best years of my life." I don't elaborate on all of the ups and downs. "Any chance you're free for dinner next weekend?" I’d love to see her again and maybe peel away some of her layers.

  She shakes her head and sets her empty wine glass on a nearby table. "No. Sorry. It was good to see you, Nick." She saunters away and doesn’t look back.

  Damn. I probably deserved that. No, I definitely did.

  Maybe I should’ve told her that I’m sorry for the way I left things between us. Should I have brought that up? Too late now.

  My mom walks toward me, heels clicking on the tiled floor. "There you are."

  "Yes, I’m right here," I say.

  My father comes up and puts his arm around my mother. "You and Loralei looked comfortable over here. What were the two of you talking about?" My parents are deeply in love and have started hinting now that I am finished with college, they'd be happy to see me in a relationship. I don’t know what their rush is.

  "It was good to see her. She looks great," I murmur, still unable to get the image of her in that red dress out of my head.

  "She sure does. You interested?" my mother asks with one eyebrow raised. She’s so transparent. I can read her like a book. She's practically begging me to ask Loralei out. The thing that she doesn't know is that I already did and she turned me down. She also doesn't know how we ended things the last time we saw each other. If she knew that, she wouldn't be pushing me toward her now. She’d probably slap me across the face.

  "Is she single?" I ask.

  My parents exchange a quick look and then turn their attention back to me. "She is. You should ask her out." The hopeful expression on my mother's face makes me smile.

  "I just might do that,” I tell them. Now that we're both in the same city, I've got time to fix things and win her over.

  Two

  Loralei

  Dabbing on the new lipstick I just bought—a creamy coral shade—I throw it in my purse and take one last look around my new condo.

  I still can't believe it's mine. It's big and open, with one wall that’s all brick. So artsy, yet my plush warm beige furniture gives it a homey f
eel. It doesn't seem real that I graduated from Carnegie Mellon a month ago and I've already moved back home into a gorgeous condo. I could never have afforded it on my own. Thank goodness for generous parents. I’d pay them back if they’d let me, but they never will.

  I drive my five-year-old Honda downtown to meet up with my girlfriend, Lake. We grew up together. Our dads played for the Nashville Wolverines at the same time and our moms would tag along to games and bring us with them when we were young. Lake stayed in state to go to school and just graduated with her teaching degree. Unfortunately, like most of my friends from my hometown, I lost touch with them while I was away. Being busy with school and other circumstances kept me from visiting home often.

  We meet at a wine bar downtown and I pick her out as soon as I walk in the door. She's at the bar and her long red curly hair flows down her back. She got the color from her father, Teddy Anderson, who was the goalie for the Wolverines when my dad played for them.

  I walk through the bar and tap her shoulder.

  Swinging around, she lets out a squeal and pulls me in for a huge hug. She pulls back and looks me up and down. "You look so hot!"

  My cheeks heat up. I'm still not used to people telling me how good I look. I’m what people might call a late bloomer. Once my hormones leveled out after high school and I got into a healthy lifestyle regime, I started feeling better and looking better.

  Pulling the barstool out next to hers, I take a seat. "Thank you. You look amazing, too!” Lake has always been beautiful. She's tall and thin and right now she's wearing a royal blue dress that highlights her tiny waist and perky boobs. But beyond her outer beauty, she’s truly a good person, which makes her even prettier in my eyes.

  Lake gets the bartender's attention and points to her glass. The next thing I know he's bringing me a pink drink just like hers. "Tell me everything. It's been so long since I've seen you."

  I swallow the guilt that bubbles up the back of my throat. Sure, I could've come home more regularly but my ex was very controlling and never wanted me to. That should've been the first clue that he wasn’t the right guy for me. Hindsight is 20/20. "I know. My life was so crazy at school. I need to hear all about your time away."

  "State college was the best. I made some great friends." Her light eyes begin to sparkle. "Had a couple boyfriends. But nothing serious. And I got my degree. Now I'm excited to be back home and find a teaching job."

  "That sounds amazing." And I mean it. While I had a positive college experience, I can't help but regret wasting so much of my time on Tyler. "I don't think I ever told you that I was engaged."

  Lake had just taken a sip of her drink, and it takes her some effort to swallow it down after my confession. She turns her whole body toward me, blinking rapidly. "You were what?"

  "Yup. To a sexy, controlling asshole. At first it was a good relationship until it wasn't. When he proposed, it was his last-ditch effort to try and save our relationship. I wanted it to work so badly, but it just wasn't right." The words fall out of my mouth so fast. It feels good to get them out. I only made a couple of friends at Carnegie Mellon. When I met Tyler, he started to consume all of my time and didn't care for me going out with friends.

  "I can't believe you didn't tell me.” She signals to the bartender and points at her drink. "I think I'm going to need another one of these."

  "I'm sorry. It was all a bit of a mess. It feels really good to be home. We broke up six months ago and I'm ready to get my groove back. No relationships. Just fun." I add a little extra vigor to the end of the sentence.

  "Yes! Sounds good to me. Let's find you a guy," she says.

  “What about you? We’ll find you one, too.”

  “Great idea.”

  We both turn to scan the bar to see if there are any prospects around. Sadly, nobody catches my eye.

  “Mom tells me she saw you at Nick’s party last night. How was it?" Lake asks, turning her attention back to me.

  Nick's party. Damn my mother for making me go with her. She guilted me into it, saying she didn’t want to go alone because Dad wasn’t available. I can’t deny the morbid curiosity I had with seeing him though—and I hoped he wouldn’t notice me.

  I'm not going to let on how much Nick got to me. Lake doesn’t know that anything happened between us. Or how difficult it was for me to stand stock-still at his party and act unaffected by him. Especially when I could feel the heat of his stare all over my body. I nearly melted into a puddle in front of him. It's clear he approves of my transformation. "It was a great party. Nice to see him again,” I say with as much nonchalance as possible.

  She gets a sly smile on her face. "Is he still as cute as ever?"

  Now it's impossible for me to hide my grin. "Yes, he's totally hot."

  "I'm so sad I missed the party, even though my cousin’s bachelorette partywas fun." She takes a long sip of her drink and sets it on the bar in front of her. "Do you remember us as kids and how great his laugh used to be? And he was always so damn cute. All the girls loved him."

  I nod. How could I forget? I had the biggest crush on the guy. I'm embarrassed to think of all the times I made a fool of myself in front of him.

  "Can I buy you a drink?" a tall man with dark eyes standing next to me asks.

  Lake’s eyebrows raise slightly and she nods her approval.

  Taking a better look at him, I realize he is quite cute. Strong jaw, clean shaven, with dark hair cut short. "Sure, that’d be great."

  He puts his hand out in front of me. I grab it and we shake. It’s big and warm with a few rough spots—calluses, maybe. "My name is Mark."

  "I'm Loralei."

  The heat of his smile warms my insides. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Loralei."

  It looks like I might be getting my groove back tonight.

  Three

  Nick

  "What do you think? One more trip?" my buddy Michael asks as he gathers a box labeled “odds and ends” into his arms.

  My shoulders relax seeing that there are only a couple more boxes to bring up from my truck. The movers brought most of it earlier today, but I wanted to keep track of some of the boxes, and my parents gave me some things that they picked up for me or gave me from their house. "It's a relief. Let's finish up so we can have a beer."

  I grab a box that’s heavy and awkwardly large, and we make our way to the elevators.

  "Does it feel good to be home?" Michael asks. He’s from Columbus, but plays for the Wolverines. We met at training camp and hit it off. We’ve been friends since.

  The elevator dings, opens, and we get on. I shift the box from one arm to the other. I might've filled this one a little too full. "Yeah. I was excited to get drafted, but the fact that it was the Wolverines made it that much sweeter." It'll be nice to be home near old friends and family.

  Mercifully, the elevator is quick—not stopping on anyone else’s floor—and we’re at mine. I can hardly wait to set this box down. Walking off the elevator, my heart stops. Loralei is walking right toward me. "Hey."

  Her green eyes widen and she clutches her chest. "Oh my gosh. What are you doing here?"

  "Moving in." I can smell a hint of her sweet, feminine perfume. My dick twitches in my shorts.

  She smooths her shirt down and stands up straighter. "Are you on this floor?"

  "Yeah." I gesture toward one end of the hall with my head. "At the end on the left."

  "I'm at the other end. Small world.”

  This is crazy. What are the chances two people who grew up together would move into the same apartment building on the same floor in this big city? "It sure is. This is Michael, my new teammate on the Wolverines," I tell her.

  "Nice to meet you, Michael. I’m Loralei. Good luck moving in. I've got to go." She gives me an apprehensive grin and steps past me to the elevator.

  Michael and I make our way down the hall to my apartment. Setting the box down, I roll my shoulders and take the key out of my pocket. I unlock the door and we head in. I set my bo
x down next to the rest of them. My place is a sea of brown cardboard.

  "Who is Loralei? She looked like she saw a ghost when she noticed you standing in front of her.” Michael laughs.

  Walking to the refrigerator, I grab us two beers and hand him one. "She's a face from my past." I leave out the part about how I haven't been able to stop thinking about her since I saw her a few days ago at my party.

  "A gorgeous face from your past. She single?"

  "Don't even think about it." I sit on my couch and put my feet up on one of the boxes.

  Taking a seat next to me, Michael takes a long drink of his beer. "Don't worry, man. If you like her, I’ll leave her alone."

  "Thanks," I say, but I'm thinking that he better stay the fuck away from her. Even thinking about Loralei with another man puts me in protective mode. It's quite ironic. I would kick my own ass four years ago.

  Later that evening after Michael leaves, I start unpacking boxes in the living room. This room is a priority. I would like it to look nice, should I have any guests over in the near future. The next room I’ll tackle is my bedroom.

  Rifling through box after box of meaningless junk and knickknacks, I realize that I'm going to need to go shopping with Mom to figure out how to decorate this place. I'm not a college kid anymore; I don’t want my place to look like a frat house.

  A soft knock coming from my door pulls me away from a box of old electronics cords.

  Looking through my peephole, my jaw nearly hits the floor when I see Loralei standing there. I wipe the dust off my shirt and run my hands through my hair before opening the door. "Hey."