I looked up from my textbook. I wanted to get on top of my reading. I’d told Holly I’d be tied up until after the game. The women’s team was hosting a party after, and I’d promised her we’d go together. Faith was not going to mess with my head anymore.

“Got a minute, Hunter?”

I put my book down. I was on my bed, and he sat on the desk chair.

“What’s up?”

He stared at me for a minute, and I wondered what was wrong.

“Is Faith the one?”

I froze. I couldn’t speak. I wasn’t ready to talk about Faith. How the hell had he worked this out?

“Devereaux. You two obviously know each other, but you pretend you don’t.” I shook my head a bit, and he held up a hand. “She didn’t swear at any of us or call us by our first names.”

At least Faith was the one who’d messed up.

“Plus, you knew she’d done that newbie shoot-out thing before, but then you disappeared. And her name is Faith.”

I’d mentioned her name last year when it had all gone down. I hadn’t said she was a hockey player. I hadn’t said much about her to anyone those first couple of weeks before the big blowup, but I had said her name. I’d hoped no one had remembered.

“She’s from Toronto, and you were playing like someone else while she was in net today.”

Cooper was listing everything off like I was on the stand and he was cross-examining me. Had he switched to a prelaw major? He leaned back, waiting for me to respond. He knew. No way I could deny it. I forced my muscles to relax. I hadn’t committed a crime. It was just embarrassing.

“Yeah, she’s the ex.”

I’d gone out with a couple of girls last year before Holly, but Faith was the ex. The others hadn’t been a big deal. With those girls, we’d gone out and had some fun, but it had never been like with Faith.

“Have you talked to her?”

I’d said her name and almost kissed her back on that first day, but no, we hadn’t talked.

“Only when she called me out on the ice today.”

“That means she doesn’t know what really happened?”

I shook my head.

I’d been so drunk when I talked to her last year that I still didn’t know exactly what I’d told her. I shouldn’t have tried to contact her until I was sober. My teammates had tried to convince me. They’d taken my phone. I’d been petrified she’d find out from someone before I could explain, so I’d found a phone and called her. Whatever I’d told her hadn’t explained it clearly. I’d made it sound like something had happened.

That misunderstanding had been too much for her. She’d never taken another call from me and blocked me on every avenue I could think of to reach out to her. I’d been desperate enough to try a lot. If the team hadn’t stopped me, I’d have driven to Toronto, if I could have found a car.

It had been hard to accept that we were over. It had hurt that she hadn’t thought we were worth enough to at least let me explain. I’d thought we were going to be forever. I’d been wrong. And hell if I wanted to talk about it now, not with Cooper or Faith.

“You should tell her. Let her know what really happened.”

Like she would listen to anything I said. “Why? I’ve moved on, and I’m with Holly now.” I almost flinched. I was with Holly, but it wasn’t like Faith and I had been. To be fair, Holly and I hadn’t been together that long yet. I’d been with Faith for most of two years. Of course, the thing with Faith had been more intense. It had ripped me to shreds when she’d cut things off, so I was okay with things being a little lighter right now.

“Sure about that?”

“What the hell are you talking about? Of course, I’m with Holly.” I wasn’t going to admit I’d just been comparing my feelings for Holly and Faith.

“I mean,” He was speaking slowly, like he thought I was stupid. “Have you really moved on from Faith?”

Fucker. Maybe I hadn’t totally, but I was working on it. “Why wouldn’t I have moved on? It’s been a year.”

“Maybe because she still doesn’t know what really happened, and you two can’t even look at each other?”

“Not your business, Coop.”

He shrugged. “You’re good now, you know you didn’t cheat, and you’ve got another girlfriend. But what about Faith?”

I frowned. “What about her? I don’t know if she’s got a boyfriend, if that’s what you mean.”

He shook his head. “She thinks you cheated on her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I’m quite aware of that.”

“How do you think she feels about that?”

“She refused to talk to me, so I’m guessing she isn’t too thrilled.”

He looked at the ceiling. “Can you look at it from her side for a minute? She believes that the first chance that rolled around, you either forgot about her or decided she wasn’t worth it and cheated on her. Fucked someone else. Decided she wasn’t enough.”

The words hit hard. I’d felt this way once when I hit the boards helmet first. Like I was suddenly drifting above my body, not really attached to it anymore. Shit. I hadn’t thought about that part of it. Faith had been so perfect for me that it was hard to think she might have felt she wasn’t good enough. How had I missed that? Because I’d been so hurt myself, I’d felt like I wasn’t good enough. Had she felt that way, too?

Damn Coop. What was I supposed to do with that now? How could I explain what had really happened without sounding like I was just trying to get her back? Especially after that run-in at the arena, the one where I’d almost kissed her. Plus, there was Holly. It wasn’t fair to her, and Faith would think I was two-timing Holly. Why the hell did Coop have to bring this up now?

“She won’t talk to me. It’s just going to upset her if I try to bring it up. It’s better to let it go.”

“Sure about that?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s ancient history now.”

“I hope you can play tonight when she’s in net.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Cooper stood up. “Okay. I just don’t want to do suicides because you’re wound up about our goalie.”

         We talked and drank soda until we were the last people in the restaurant and we finally paid the bill and walked out to my car. I didn’t want this night to end but he had another game tomorrow and I needed to spend the whole day working on my research paper if I was going to go out again tomorrow night.

         “Where do you live?” I asked him when we got into the car. It was a frigid January night and I shivered as I waited for the heat to kick in.

         “In the apartments on Bellamy,” he said.

         I knew just where those apartments were located since a lot of Moo U students lived there and it wasn’t far. I’d considered living there too but I got my room and board for free between being a resident assistant in the dorm and my teaching, and I liked the fact that I didn’t have to count on my parents for housing. They already paid for my car, insurance, and phone, so I’d been willing to suck it up for the tiniest bit of freedom.

         He told me where to drop him off and I pulled up to the curb.

         “Tonight was great,” he said, turning to me. “I’m really looking forward to doing it again tomorrow night.”

         “You are?” The words slipped out before I could stop them, and I mentally grimaced, wishing I knew how to be a little coy, a little flirty, instead of insecure and out of my league.

         “Well, yeah.” He frowned. “Aren’t you?”

         “I haven’t dated anyone since I came to college,” I blurted out. “I was only fifteen then, so I was too young for college guys, and now that I’m legal, most guys think I’m dorky. So I don’t know how this works. If you’re just trying to be nice so I’ll tutor you, you don’t have to because I’d do it anyway. As a favor to Paxton.”

         “You think this is about tutoring?” He looked both a little mad and a little sad, which confused me even more.

         “I don’t know why the captain of the hockey team—who can and does sleep with everything that moves—is interested in me when not a single guy on campus ever has been before.”

         There. I’d said it. It was out in the open now and if nothing else, he’d know I wasn’t naïve enough to think he really wanted to date me.

         “You haven’t gone out on a single date the whole time you’ve been here?” he asked, ignoring everything else I’d said.

         I shook my head. “Not a real date, like we had tonight. I’ve met guys at the library or for coffee, but never like this.”

         “Their loss is my gain.” He reached out and pushed one side of my hair behind my ear. “I thought we had a connection,” he said softly. “That night at the party. I think you’re pretty and smart and sweet. It has nothing to do with tutoring or anything like that. I don’t know what other guys see when they look at you, but I’ll be honest and say that someone as smart as you is probably a little intimidating.”

         “And you’re not, um, intimidated?” Why did I say “um” all the time? I sounded like a nervous twelve-year-old.

         “No.” He leaned forward, his eyes locked with mine. “Not even a little. And I think maybe the best way to prove that to you is like this.”

         Oh-shit-oh-shit-oh-shit—he was kissing me. His lips were lightly pressed to mine, caressing them as if they were made of glass. Gentle whispers of skin against my mouth, nothing like I’d imagined kissing a hottie like Patrick would be. I’d only been kissed a handful of times before and it had always been sloppy and wet; this was ridiculously sweet. And definitely not sloppy.

         Not even when he slid his tongue along the seam of my lips, gently prying them apart. My mouth opened of its own volition, anxious for more, because nothing had prepared me for this. When our tongues finally met one another, it was like a magnetic force had drawn them together and I couldn’t do anything but go along for the ride. It felt like my whole body was involved, instead of just my mouth, and I let myself get swept away.

         I might have whimpered in protest when he finally pulled away, and the look in his eyes was one I’d only ever read about in books. I didn’t know men actually looked at women that way. It didn’t have to be love or anything that deep, but sheer, unadulterated desire? I’d never seen it outside of movies and this was way, way better because it was directed at me. The fact that I turned him on enough to put that look there, well, that was something new to me and it did all kinds of things to my nether regions.

         “I should go,” he said softly, still watching my face with that look that made me shiver all over.

         “It’s late,” I said out loud, though I really wanted to sit here long enough for him to kiss me again.

         “I had fun tonight. And I’d like to go out with you again after the game tomorrow…if you want to.”

         “I…yes.” I almost said “um” again but caught myself. “Yes, I’d like to.”

         “Good night, Ellie.” He pressed his lips to mine, chastely this time, and then got out of the car and bounded up the steps of his building.

         I was in so much trouble.

REVIEW

4 stars for Ovetime! 

Patrick and Ellie meet at a party and they both have an instant spark of connection, however the cops break up the party and they end up going their seperate ways. But Patrick ends up needing a tutor which is where he finds himself running into Ellie again. Elle is 19 and already has 2 degrees and is working on her masters, which isn’t enough for her parents as they want her to go to medical school. While Patricks’s dad has always pressured him about playing hockey professionally. Both Patrick and Ellie bond over their shared misfortune of the pressures they face from their parents.

If you’ve read Gametime, you would have seen how much of a player Patrick was in that book however when we learn more about Patrick, he is actually sweet, devoted and loving. I loved how he so easily embraced his feelings for Ellie and connected with her completely. 

Ellie is only 19 and I think the author did a good job at portraying her being that age. It was nice to see her getting more comfortable with herself along the way as the story went and how she was able to start really finding herself outside of her ‘genius’ environment. 

They were both such a cute couple, they really balanced each other out and complimented each other so well. There was also just the right amount of steam and sweet factor in the book to make you feel like you knew their relationship as a whole even if it happened quickly. 

This was a quick and fun read for me with just the right level of emotion that keeps you interested and invested in the story. I really liked it. I’ll definitely be checking out Kat Mizera’s other books.


*ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review*