Faceoff by Kelly Jamieson

should get back and feed Caleb before we put him down for the night,” Jessica said. She looked at Scott.
    “I guess that means I’m leaving too.” But he grinned good-naturedly as he rose from his chair. “Mom texted me a few minutes ago to say Emily was down.”
    “Your cell phone is working?” Jase asked.
    “Yeah. Sometimes. The service is kind of spotty up here.”
    Tag sneaked a glance at Kyla. Did she know what he was thinking?
    A few minutes later, he yawned. “Well, I think I’ll call it a night. Keep an eye on Matt.”
    “He’s gone,” Logan said. “He left with those girls.”
    Tag frowned. He’d better not find them in his tent when he got there. “Well, I guess he knows what he’s doing.”
    Logan laughed. “Um, yeah. Pretty sure he does.”
    Tag glanced at Kyla, lifting one eyebrow, tossing some bills on the table to cover the tab. “G’night.”
    He strolled back toward the cottage down Main Street, then Bluebell Lane, through the growing darkness. The trees formed a lacy black canopy against the cobalt blue sky above him, where clouds were beginning to gather. The still-warm air brushed over his skin as he walked, a breeze springing up off the lake, and he breathed in deeply the fresh air scented with pine and grass and lake water. Would Kyla know to give it a few minutes and then follow him? Would she come?
    Was he crazy to be doing this?
    He wanted her with a deep visceral need that was almost shocking. It had started the moment he’d watched her keel over onto the grass on Friday night.
    Well, no. It had started years ago. He’d just never really admitted it, to himself, to anyone. She’d somehow wriggled her way into his heart as a girl when she’d been so determined to keep up with them, despite her complete lack of athletic ability and coordination. She’d been so stubborn, so determined, so willing to do things that were clearly outside her comfort zone to fit in with them. Something had opened in his heart and let her in way back then.
    It had turned sexual after that, when she’d grown up a little and he’d noticed that damn, she was hot. The one time they’d come so close to kissing, and he’d so wanted to, but he’d made himself back off. She was like a sister. Except not really. And her big brother was his best friend. Then Tag had left Winnipeg, had had lots of other girls, had focused on his career and had never looked back. Until she’d showed up here.
    He crawled into the tent and turned on the battery-powered lamp he’d set on the small table. The tent was a decent size, and, unlike when he’d used it as a kid, his mom had recently purchased an inflatable bed, a double bed that, with the help of an extension cord plugged in at the cottage, had quickly filled with air and was pretty damn comfortable. A couple of sleeping bags zipped together―one was never big enough for him―and there was easily room for Kyla.
    He stretched out on the bed, hands stacked behind his head, and stared up at the fabric of the tent. And waited.
    Crickets chirped outside in the quiet night. The trees rustled in the breeze that had come up and cast shifting shadows on the tent. Somewhere an owl gave a low hoot.
    Tag hadn’t thought much about work since he’d been at the lake, but that was the whole purpose of coming there―to get a break. It was the off season, and while he usually kept busy in the off season working out and training, doing some hockey camps for kids and organizing their golf tournament, this year had been a little different and was likely going to be different right up until training camp started in September. Maybe he should feel guilty about taking a break in the middle of the craziness, but hell, they’d survive without him for a week, and more importantly…Kyla.
    If she showed up here at the tent, it was meant to be. If she didn’t…he could handle rejection. Maybe. It didn’t happen to him very often, but he was under no illusions that he was that