Free Seduced by the Game by Catherine Gayle, Cassandra Carr, Toni Aleo, Jami Davenport, Cindy Carr, Nikki Worrell, Jaymee Jacobs, V. L. Locey, Bianca Sommerland, Lisa Hollett

expected that,
but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t beyond happy to hear her say it.
“Really?”
    She nodded. “I don’t want
to be apart from you, and I can go to school wherever you get picked up at.
I’ll take out loans and get a job. It will work as long as we have each other,
right?”
    “Yeah, it will.”
    With a grin, she said,
“Good, ’cause I think so, too.”
    As she cuddled into him,
Karson wrapped his arms a little tighter around her, placing sweet kisses
against her chest, and then her neck before looking up into her eyes. “Hey,
Lacey?”
    “Yeah?” she whispered
against his lips.
    “Will you go with me
wherever I go?”
    He knew the answer, but
hearing her say it made it ten times sweeter. Looking down into his sparking
eyes, she smiled as she answered, “Yes.”
     
    I love you.
     
    Coming off the ice, Karson
headed toward his locker, lowering himself onto the bench as he gasped for
breath. It was a tough practice but a needed one. They had their first play-off
game the following day, and Karson was ready to win. This was his last season
as a Cat, and he planned to go out with a bang. It had been decided that
morning. He was going into the draft, and he was beyond excited. Especially now
that his girl would come with him, wherever he went.
    Removing his jersey and
then his shirt, he bent over to undo his skates as everyone filed in, doing the
same. He wanted to hit the showers before heading home for a nap. He was
meeting Lacey that night for dinner with his parents and, while he was excited
for his mom and dad to meet her, he couldn’t wait to tell her that he was going
to go into the draft. She would be excited for him, proud even, and that put a
little pep in his step as he slid his skates off before hanging them in his
locker. Removing his girdle and then shorts, he wrapped a towel around his
waist and proceeded to the showers.
    “King.”
    He looked over his
shoulder to see Coach standing in the doorway. “Yeah, Coach?”
    “When you’re done, come to
my office.”
    Karson nodded. “Sure.”
    Not knowing what that was
about since they’d had a meeting that morning with his dad, Karson hurried in
the shower before getting dressed and heading to his office. After he knocked,
Coach looked up and said, “Shut the door and come in.”
    Karson did as he was asked
before falling into the seat in front of his desk. “What’s up, Coach?”
    Coach sat there for a
moment, moving his fingers along the desk, and then finally looked up. “You’re
not going to like what I’m about to say, but I have to protect my daughter.”
    Karson’s whole body went
cold as his coach’s pale green eyes held his. Choosing not to say anything, he
waited as Coach gathered his words. He slowly stood, looking at Karson as his
hand came to rest on his hips. “You love her?”
    “Yes,” he said, like a
promise.
    “Then let her go.”
    “I can’t do that,” he
said, sitting up in his seat. “I need her. I love her. I know you want to
protect her, but I promise I’ll do just that. I’ll make you proud, Coach.”
    “She wants to go with you
wherever you go, and we both know it won’t be Chicago. She can’t leave. She
needs to finish her education, for free, I might add, and she needs to be here
with her family, not off somewhere where you’re going to leave her when you’re
on the road.”
    He had a point, but Karson
had every plan to love and protect Lacey. He just had to ease his coach’s
doubts. “I understand your concern, Coach, but she will be fine. She plans to
go to school and work while I play. When I start making the big bucks, I’ll buy
her the business she wants and then she can work from home. We’ve got a plan,
one I believe in.”
    “So you want her to go to
school and pay an arm and leg? When she can stay here and go to school for
free? How is that fair? How is that protecting her? She has everything here,
but that’s not what is worrying me, King. What if the cancer comes