Free Las Vegas Sidewinders: Karl (Book 3) by Kat Mizera Page A

imagine
losing her…”
    “You won’t!” Kate said
firmly.
    They talked for a while
longer and finally hung up. Kate stared at the phone for a long time, and then
sat back down with her computer. Work, she thought, would be the only thing
that would distract her from how much she missed him.
     
    Lacing up his skates,
Karl skated around the ice rink he’d grown up playing on. Here with his brother
and friends, it was fun to play hockey just for the hell of it. He took a shot
from his buddy, Viggo Sjoberg ,
and slammed it into the net. It wasn’t often he got to play forward, but the
guys he’d played with all through school liked to be in net when he was in
town, and he had fun switching it up a little. Sebastian skated past him, hip
checking him and sending Karl sprawling. He turned around and skidded to a
stop, spraying Karl’s face with ice.
    “Very funny,” Karl
shook it off and got up.
    “And all your NHL
buddies are gonna see it!” Viggo yelled, laughing, holding up the cell phone he’d used to capture a picture.
    “Yeah, yeah.” Karl
skated over to the bench and sat down beside his buddy, Otto. They’d been friends
since grade school and Otto and Viggo both played in
the SHL.
    “Good to see you home,”
he said casually.
    “Yeah, it’s great
except for the weather.”
    Otto laughed. “Got
spoiled in the sunshine of Las Vegas, eh?”
    “Something like that.”
    “You thinking of coming
back?” Otto searched his face. “You don’t have to back that idiot, Rousch , forever, you know.”
    “I know.” Karl stared
straight ahead.
    “Coach Nilson heard you were sniffing around and said he’d take
you in a heartbeat.”
    Karl glanced at him.
“How did he hear anything? The only people who knew I was even considering it
were you, my brother and my roommate back in Vegas. I know he didn’t
tell anyone.”
    Otto shrugged.
“Sebastian wants you to come home—so do I.”
    “You can’t be talking
about that shit,” Karl gave him a hard look. “I have a contract with the
Sidewinders, and it makes me look bad since I’m not a free agent until next
year.”
    “Sorry, man.” Otto held
up his hands. “We thought you wanted to come home. And that picture with
Therese—”
    “I don’t want to hear
another fucking word about Therese!” Karl rolled his eyes. “Jesus Christ, she’s
like a disease I can’t get rid of!”
    “Easy, man.” Otto
glanced at him. “What’s the matter with you? You’re wound up like a drum.”
    “My mom has cancer, my girlfriend
is halfway across the world, and people are trying to push me at some woman I
couldn’t give two shits about—it’s getting old.”
    “ Girlfriend? ”
    Karl groaned.
     
    Kate pulled on a light
suede jacket and grabbed her purse as she hurried out the door. She was meeting
Trey for lunch and running late. The last two weeks had been absolutely insane.
She had more work than she could possibly handle and was getting new clients
every day. Meanwhile, Dante had asked Larissa to marry him and bought her an
obnoxiously large ring that was now splashed all over every newspaper and
sports magazine in the country. While they worked on making him look like a
reformed bad boy who was getting ready to settle down and be a dad, she was
dragging him to every charitable event she could fit into his schedule. She was
commuting back and forth to Philadelphia every few days and it was exhausting.
    “Hey!” Trey stood up as
she slid into the booth across from him.
    “Hey.” Kate dropped her
purse beside her and asked the waitress for ice water.
    “You look tired,
girlfriend.” Trey was easygoing and funny, and he seemed to be spending a lot
of time in New York lately. Apparently, he had a new boyfriend here that was
kind of serious, and in his free time, he hung out with Kate.
    “I’m working 18-hour
days and going back and forth to Philly,” she groaned. “Plus I need to fly out
to Vegas next weekend for my friend’s baby shower, but Dante