Risky Business (30 page)

He punched Theo in the stomach again, but this time, Theo blocked it.

“Stop, Will. Listen to me, damn it.”

But Will was too mad to hear him. “You left her, and you left us. Was this some kind of game to you? Because this is our life. We counted on you. And you left.” He swung at Theo's head, but Theo managed to duck and fight back with a fist to Will's stomach.

Will stumbled back. Theo tasted blood, either from his nose or his lip, he couldn't decide. His whole face throbbed.

“I didn't leave Allison.”

“Is that right? Because she came to the gala by herself tonight. She had to break it to us today that you were gone. It broke my fucking heart to see her like that.”

He charged Theo again. Will was taller and heavier than Theo, and there was no way Theo could subdue him. All he could do was try to hold his own and defend himself until Will either ran out of steam or someone else noticed the fight and broke them up.

He blocked Will's next jab, then swung, hitting Will in the stomach. While Will recovered his wits, Theo scrambled out of his reach.

They panted, circling each other. “I'm trying to tell you—I didn't leave her.”

“Fuck you,” Will bellowed. “You didn't see her today. You didn't see how badly you hurt her.”

It killed him, knowing that, but he planned to spend the rest of life making up for it. “Listen to me, you son of a bitch. I bought Cloud Nine for her.”

A bit of Will's fight drained out of him. “You what?”

He swabbed the back of his hand over his upper lip. His suit sleeve came away smeared red, but at least he wasn't gurgling blood while he talked. “I met with Shorty's heirs today. I bought the business for her. That's where I was.”

“Why didn't you call her and tell her that? Why didn't you spare her what she went through today—what we all went through?”

At the time, all he had been able to think was, what if he failed? What if he told her his plan, but it didn't work out and then he would have had to tell her he failed her again? He'd already failed her so many times, he couldn't believe she loved him.

“I didn't want to give her false hope, in case it didn't work. I thought I could make it back in time.”

The lights in the parking lot cut out. Over the rush of adrenaline in his ears, Theo would've sworn he heard exclamations of surprise coming from within the tent; then everyone who'd been inside came pouring out.

Theo and Will ran toward the crowd. Theo didn't see Allison, but finding her would have to wait until he figured out what had happened. Then he saw Duke.

“What's going on?”

Duke looked panicked. “The power's out everywhere. All of it. The ice . . .”

Theo skidded to a stop. The power was out.
Oh, God.
Time slowed, noise hushed. He swung his gaze to the truck containing ice cooling machines, straining to hear if the machines were still running. He couldn't tell, but the lights on the control panel on the side of the truck were blinking. He had to get them back up and running fast because it wouldn't take long for the ice's condition to be compromised.

The machines were hot to the touch, almost to the point of overheating, and though they were running, the coolant temperature gauge wouldn't stop blinking zeroes.

“The power's been on the fritz all day,” Duke said. “When we couldn't find you, we called in another electrician, and he said everything would be fine tonight.”

“The gala must have shorted out the circuits. Go check the ice,” he said to Will, but he had a sinking feeling about what Will would find.

Though the lights in the gala tent and stadium had already come back on a moment earlier, the temperature control for the cooling brine had defaulted to defrost, and there was no telling how long ago it had done that, especially if the power had been faulty all day. For all he knew, the machines had been pumping warm, briny coolant through the cooling pipes under the rink for hours. If the ice had melted, even partially, there would be no way to restore the numerous, staggeringly complicated pattern of thin ice layers in a way that would make the rink safe to skate on in time for the game, not even if they flew the ice rink company expert out.

Theo was sprinting toward the stadium, but Will was already headed back his way. Theo looked at him and knew before Will shook his head that the ice was in bad shape. After everything, for this to happen, it was a nightmare. His stomach lurched.

He fell forward and braced his hands on his knees. “Are you sure?”

Will's expression was dark and sad. “Go look for yourself.”

Theo pushed through the crowd of gala guests gathering outside the tent and ran around to the back of the stadium, through the locker rooms that led to the ice. He dropped to the floor at the edge of the rink. A silent scream howled through him at the sight of water where the ice should be. He put both hands in it. It was barely cold at all.

He closed his eyes. How could this have happened? How could he have let his team—no, his blood brothers—down so completely? The hurt in Will's eyes when he'd attacked Theo told the story plain enough. Allison thought he'd abandoned her, and his team thought he'd abandoned them in their hour of greatest need, but what he'd done had been worse. He'd ruined the game.

“Theo!”

He opened his eyes at the sound of his name, sounding as though it might have been Allison who'd said it. He looked up. Allison was on the opposite side of the rink, done up in a slinky red gown that hugged all her curves. Before he could stand and compose himself, she'd jumped over the rails of the team bench section and into the water. It was only a little more than an inch deep, but the whole rink was covered with it. He couldn't believe she'd brave such a vast pool of water for him.

“You're ruining your dress. Get back on the bench,” he called.

“I'm coming to you.”

Holding on to the top of the wall, she bent and removed her black high heel shoes. Then she bunched her dress in her hand, lifting the hem above the water level and took a step away from the wall, then another.

Theo stepped into the water, too. He sloshed through it as fast as he could to bridge the distance between them. “Allison, stop. I'll come to you.”

She kept walking toward him. Her eyes were filled with tears, her expression stricken. “I thought you weren't coming back.”

“I'll always come back to you.”

“What happened to your face? Are you hurt?”

“Will punched me.”

Though she continued to slog through the water toward him, she pulled her face back, her brows pinched in concern. “He
what
?”

“I deserved it. He was looking out for you because I let you believe I'd left you. I'm so sorry.”

At his words, her face fell and her eyes released the tears they'd been holding.

He intercepted her in the center of the rink. She melted into his arms as a sob broke free. He held her tight as she trembled and cried. He stroked her hair, whispering about how sorry he was.

When her tears subsided, she sniffed and set her cheek against his chest. “This is a lot of water,” she said with a shiver.

“You didn't have to come out in it. I told you I was coming to you.”

“I had to get to you faster than that. You looked so hurt and your face . . .”

“It looks bad, I bet. I don't think my nose is broken, but it's close.”

“You look like a true hockey player.”

He chuckled. “That's one way to think about it.” He dipped his face close to hers. “I'm sorry I was late.”

“You're really late. Will was right. I thought you'd left me for good.”

“Never. But I'm sorry that I failed you so completely that you doubted me.”

“You didn't fail me.”

“May I tell you why I was gone?”

She nodded.

“I was on a mission to prove to you that you could count on me when the going gets rough—not our friends, not your sister, but me. I want you to trust me to take care of you and Katie. The talk we had last night was the wake-up call I needed because you thought you were going to have to fight for me. For us. You thought I might abandon you to deal with this on your own. You didn't think you could count on me for your future. That was a hard pill to swallow.”

“I had no idea I'd hurt you with what I said,” she said. “I'm so sorry. I wanted to be different for you from the people in your past who hurt you. Your parents, Noelle and her parents. I didn't want to scare you away by forcing my agenda on you. I thought you'd resent me and leave if I assumed you'd help me.”

“Don't apologize. Please. I'm the one who owes you the apology. The way I acted . . .” He shook his head. “I pushed you away at every turn. I told you over and over again that I wouldn't help you, but something happened to me along the way.”

“What?”

“I fell in love with you, Allison. I want to be your hero. I want to be the one person you can always count on.”

Her eyes brimming with tears, she touched his cheek. “You already are my hero.”

“No. I wasn't. But I'm going to be, if you'll let me. I left last night because I bought Cloud Nine for you.”

“What?” she breathed, her eyes wide and searching.

“I met with Shorty's heirs and convinced them to sell. I'd been saving for years to buy the company, and I finally got to put the money to good use. They need it worse than they need the business, so it was a win-win.”

She brought her hands to her cheeks. “They sold to you?”

“No, to you. I put the contracts in your name.”

“Not both of ours?”

He shook his head. “Buying the business for you was the only way I could think to prove that you mean more to me than Cloud Nine. More than money or Lanette. I put the contract in your name only because I want you to choose me. And I don't want it to be because we're business partners. I want you to choose me because we belong together and because I make you happy. Because I love you more than anything else in this world. My God, Allison, I love you so damn much.”

She looped an arm around his neck, threading her fingers in his hair. “I do choose you. I love you.”

He brushed his lips over hers. “Good. That's good.”

“Is it too late to change the Cloud Nine contract to include your name?”

“Probably not, but there's only one way I want to be a part owner of Cloud Nine.”

“Name it, because I can't imagine running it without you.”

He closed his eyes and kissed her, slow and easy, with the confidence that came with knowing she belonged to him, and he to her.

From his pocket, he pulled out the second part of his plan, the most important part, really. The water at his ankles was cold, but he only planned to do this once, so he wanted to get it right. He took her hand in his free hand, then lowered to one knee and flipped the ring box open.

“Veux-tu m'épouser?”

A tear rolled down her cheek and onto her smiling lips. “Say that again in English, please.”

Sheesh. He hadn't meant to say that in French. Maybe he was more nervous about this than he'd thought. “Marry me.”

She smiled so brightly, with her tear-filled eyes so full of love, that he already knew her answer. “You're proposing to me in the middle of a pool of water.”

“I suppose I am. You told me that all the big moments of your life involved water, so I guess this is fitting, right?”

She laughed. “It is.”

“So, will you marry me?”

“Theoren Lacroix, I love being yours. So, yes. Yes. Forever, yes.”

“I love being yours, too.”

His heart ached with happiness as he slid the ring onto her finger. It was a plain platinum band with the biggest diamond he could afford. He'd decided the simple design was a perfect symbol of his love for her because, for the first time, his life and what he wanted from it were simple. It all came down to one word, one woman. Allison.

He rose, gathered her face in his hands, and kissed her with everything he had.

He didn't hear the applause of the crowd until they'd ended the kiss and Allison said, “I think our audience approves.”

He held her close and looked past her at the cluster of gala attendees, surprised that the onlookers didn't bother him. He picked out Duke, looking sharp in a tuxedo, and Liam, Brandon, and Will, cleaned up and in their dress uniforms. He'd never seen any of them in their uniforms, and it reminded him of their connection, and how far beyond hockey it extended.

Seeing them like that reminded him of how lucky he was that they hadn't given up on him becoming a part of Destiny Falls' veteran community. Allison had been the one to bridge the distance between himself and the rest of his team. She and that fire she'd set that had brought Duke's crew into Cloud Nine, and showed him the true value of brotherhood.

He raised his hand to his forehead in a salute, which they returned. All around them, the other soldiers—the American team and the Russians both, along with a smattering of Wounded Veterans International officials and other veterans who had come to show their support—joined in the salute.

He turned his attention back to Allison. She was watching him with a smile. “My hero.”

“That's the first time I've ever liked the way that sounded.”

“Well, Mr. Hero. I think I'm ready to get out of the water now. Even though that means I have to walk through it again.”

“I've got a better plan.” With that, he swept her into his arms and started toward the edge of the rink to the applause of the crowd. Laughing, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, reminding him all over again that he was the luckiest man in the world.

The only black spot of the night was the melted rink. “I feel terrible for ruining the exhibition game. What do you think the chances are of us finding another rink available on such short notice? I guess we can play at the Iceplex.”