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They were a ure this out

His head just hadn’t been in the game lately He knew part of this was his fault, and it was ti responsibility

He’d lost focus, and he knehy

Carolina He’d been chasing her since preseason, had put all his focus and attention on her instead of the ga hi ht of seeing her lessthe season was bad luck He wasn’t one of those guys Then again, when he played with his concentration fully on the game, he was an ass-kicker He had to adaae that As painful as it was, his career was his life, and he wasn’t going to let anything jeopardize that, no matter what--or who--that was

He showered and dressed, then packed his bag

There was a text h loss I know you can coe, then checked the next one

We need to set a tis, talk about the advertising caet together when you get back?

He stared at it for a long few e back to her

Have a lot of work to do, gaht now so coach wants extra practices I’ll get back to you and let you know

He knew Carolina needed hiht now, his priority was his team His career

Carolina would have to wait

TWENTY-SEVEN

CAROLINA HAD SENT DREW MULTIPLE TEXT MESSAGES, and had even called hi he was busy with hockey stuff and couldn’t find the tin

He’d actually popped in for the final fittings on a day she hadn’t been here She’d been at the event center, taking so to the event coordinator Her staff had handled the fitting, and he’d been gone by the time she’d come back

He hadn’t said a word to her He hadn’t called her or told her he was co by, so they hadn’t had a chance to talk about the advertising cao All she needed noas her oddaht now

The test photos they’d taken had turned out phenorapher on hand, she knew the real product would be spectacular Half a day A few hours That’s all she needed froet this finished

She paced in her workshop, everyone else having left for the day She’d known Dreas going to let her down She should have gone with someone else Not that it wasn’t too late to do that But dan was lined out perfectly in her head, and the only face and body she saw on there was Drew

Maybe that was because she was personally involved with hiperfectly

She tapped her pencil on her sketchbook, staring at it and getting nowhere She pulled up the Travelers schedule No gaely silent, at least as far as Drew Everyone else was texting and calling her about every last- invitations to the shohich was in three goddahten her chest and make it hard to breathe But the one person she needed to hear fro several tiot his voice h the roof She knew froa to be here for a while, including for the show, thank God

If he even planned to show up for that

She grabbed her coat and shut down the studio, then grabbed a taxi, giving the driver Drew’s address

She paid the driver, but asked him to hile she went up to the door and pressed the buzzer When Dreered, she waved the driver off

"It’s Carolina"

"Oh Sure Hang on while I buzz you in"

She rolled her eyes when he hit the buzzer She went inside and headed to his door He’d already opened it and was leaning against the doorway He didn’t have a shirt on, only a pair of low-slung sweats His hair et, the ends curling around his neck Despite her profound irritation with hie of desire that kicked in as her gaze instinctively followed the droplets of water sliding down his chest

Forcing her attention to his face, she saw hi

"This is a nice surprise"

"You didn’t answer your phone"

He frowned "I ot hoht away Sorry Come on in"

She took off her coat while Dreent into the bedroo to drink? A beer or a soda or water?"

"Water would be good, thanks"

He was being fored her or kissed her She didn’t like it It was like they had taken ten steps back in their relationship and she didn’t knoas going on

He handed her water and grabbed one for hi to his sofa

She sat and took a sip of water "What’s going on, Drew?"