Free Falling for the Backup (Novella): The Assassins Series by Toni Aleo Page A

he's my agent, knows that I'm not happy and has been looking at other teams for me to transfer to."
    Aynslee didn’t know what he was talking about but she had a feeling it wasn’t good. Nodding her head she said, "Okay . . "
    "Well, the reason I was in Buffalo was because I had a meeting with the New York Islanders and the Buffalo Sabras. Unfortunately, they don’t want me, so that leaves the other team I wanted to go to which is the Carolina IceCats."
    "Okay." she said again. He looked at her like all this meant something but she was completely confused. "I'm sorry, I don’t know what you are trying to tell me."
    He took in a deep breath before he said, "I'm probably going to leave Nashville and move to another state that has a team I can start for."
    Whoa, what?
    Her eyes went wide as she looked at him confused.
    "What? I thought you loved Nashville."
    "I do," he said softly, "I love my team and I love this city but ever since I hurt my knee, they don’t want to play me and Aynslee, hockey means the world to me. I want to play, I don’t want to retire. I am healthy, and I need to play."
    She knew he was awesome. All the videos she watched on YouTube proved that so why couldn’t he stay here? Why couldn’t he be the starting goalie for the Assassins?
    "When?"
    He looked away.  
    "I'll finish the season here, and then start somewhere new next season. I am hoping for Carolina since my family is there, but if that doesn’t work than I'm not really sure."
    She nodded and asked, "It's a sure thing? That you’ll be moving, that is?"
    "Yeah, I have to play, somewhere. I can't do this much longer."
    "But there is a chance that maybe you can stay?"
    Looking up at him, hoping for the answer she wanted, she watched as he shook his head.
    "Unless the goalie they have now quits or leaves, no, I won’t be staying."
    She took in a shaky breath, looking down at the table again. She couldn’t believe this. She finds the guy that she has been dreaming about and he already has one foot out the damn door.  
    Shit!
    Shaking her head, she knew she should chalk this up as a loss and walk away but when she looked back up at him, she knew she couldn’t. Just like he couldn’t walk away from her anymore. Maybe they would get lucky and he wouldn’t go. Or maybe in the short time they had, he'd fall for her like she knew she was falling for him and ask her to go with him. Even though this was her first year at New Life, she knew she would be able to find a job somewhere else and if this relationship went the way she felt in her heart it would go then she'd relocate, no problem.  
    Just to be with him.
    "What do you want Jordan?" she asked quietly before moving her hand into his, "Do you want to keep going with this? Or stop it right now? Because I want to keep going. I've never felt like this about anyone and I’m not ready to let it go."
    He smiled, leaning in closer to her, reaching up to run his thumb along her lips.  
    "I've been so closed off to everyone but with you it's different. I like the way I feel around you. Call it crazy but I like you. A lot. I don’t want to walk away but I also don’t want to hurt you."
    Her heart skipped a beat,
    "I like you too and we'll just have to remember that we both knew your future plans going into this and if we make it to the end of the season we'll reevaluate everything."
    He nodded, leaning into her placing a sweet kiss on her lips. When he smiled against her, she smiled back before kissing him again. Aynslee's heart was pounding in her chest, while her brain was going crazy. She was worried that she would fall hopelessly for this man and he would hold back because he knew that he was leaving. But when he kissed her and held her, it didn’t feel like he was holding back. It felt real. It felt like forever.
    "You know, too bad hockey isn’t like sex," she said offhandedly.  
    He glanced over at her and laughed as he laid his credit card on top of the bill.  
    "Why's that?"
    She