Free Laces and Lace (Assassins #6) by Toni Aleo

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 sparkling eyes, she smiled as she answered, “Yes.”

C oming 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 a 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 back?”
    Karson’s heart sank and dread filled him as he looked away. “Do you have the money to pay all the co-pays, for the surgeries if they’re needed? Do you think the doctors wherever you are can help her the way our doctors can?”
    “We can