Quick Trick (Rough Riders Hockey 1)

“Weren’t you supposed to do that this morning?” It was the reason he’d given her when he’d texted later in the morning to tell her he couldn’t help her set up.

“No, he said he had something else to do this morning and pushed it back.”

A pang of hurt pulled hard at the center of Faith’s body. She winced and pressed a hand to her forehead. “I see.”

“No, I don’t think you do. I just figured out what he was doing.”

Now dread joined the hurt. But Taylor sounded excited, and she would never be excited about Faith getting hurt. “And?”

“Your Christmas Light Fantasia is up on YouTube. It looks incredible. It’s adorable and funny and informative. And the final result is a-freaking-mazing.”

She grinned, excited. “Really?” He’d spent the morning editing her video? “But…I didn’t get around to narrating…”

“Grant did. And he’s really good. He’s got a sexy, professional voice, yet he’s got a really straightforward way about explaining things, and he’s funny. Must be all those interviews he does with the media all the time.”

He did media interviews? She really needed to learn more about hockey and the NHL and… She shook her head. Yeah. Maybe in her spare time.

“Wow,” she said. “That’s amazing.” She couldn’t stop smiling—even though she knew without any doubt her heart was going to shatter when he left. Which reminded her that she only had a couple of days left with him before he returned to DC to reenter hockey season.

“It is,” Taylor agreed. “But what’s really amazing—are you sitting down?”

Faith slid her butt onto the nearest table. “I am now.”

“You’ve already gotten one hundred and twenty thousand views.”

Faith’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

“But it gets better.”

“How?”

“He went online, found the components necessary to put the whole thing together, listed them, and linked to them on the Home Depot website.”

Faith laughed. “Well, that’s great for Home Depot, but it doesn’t do anything for me.”

“It does when you have an affiliate account.”

“I don’t—”

“Yes, you do. Grant set one up for you.”

Her mind swirled. She was still high on the number of views of the video alone. “What? How?”

“This is the beauty of living in a small town, girlie. You bank at Old Town Bank, which is managed by Betty Fleur. Betty’s son, Hank, played ho

ckey with Grant from the time they could skate until they left for college. Grant’s parents also keep their money locally and bank there. So when Grant went in and told her what he wanted to do, Betty did everything short of jumping over the teller counter to help him hook up your bank account to the affiliate account. But I hear she did it without giving him access to your account information. Now, just so you know, the funds for affiliates don’t go in for thirty days, so whatever you see in your Home Depot account won’t be deposited into your bank account for a month.”

Faith pressed a hand to her heart. “But…how do you know all this?”

“Faith, seriously? The same way I know his car’s been outside your shop two nights in a row.”

She said the last with a how-could-you-not-tell-me you’re-gonna-hear-about-this-later tone. Which meant that between friends and family members, Taylor had probably gotten that information from half a dozen different sources, vetted it, and pieced together a very accurate story.

“Oh my God.” Her stomach jittered so hard, she felt sick. She dropped her hand from her heart to her stomach, then gripped the table edge. “That’s…” Tears welled in her eyes. “Oh my God.”

“I hope he’s good in bed, girlie, ’cause that boy is a winner in every other way. I just pulled up to the store. I’ll call you if I find out more, but I have a feeling he’ll be seeing you before I do, so you’ll probably already have the scoop by then.”

Taylor didn’t bother to say good-bye before she disconnected. And Faith lowered her phone, staring at it in awe. She couldn’t begin to fathom having anyone think of her so…unselfishly. Anyone but her father. And even he hadn’t been able to do that for years. Not since he’d gotten sick.