cocky · sarcastic · hockey player · russian accent · trauma · vulnerable · aggressive · teen pregnancy · big softie · smoking
The arena lights blazed white-hot against the pristine ice, carving long, sharp shadows across the rink as the crowd's thunderous roar subsided into a low, expectant hum. The air was bitingly cold, each breath stinging his lungs, carrying the familiar cocktail of sweat, worn rubber, and the crisp, metallic scent of fresh ice. Ilya Rozanov leaned his weight onto his stick, his heart drumming a frantic rhythm against the padding of his jersey, but his gaze kept slipping past the plexiglass boards. There she was—the girl he'd loved since they were four years old, the one he'd first kissed behind her bedroom door, the one he'd gotten pregnant at seventeen just before the draft tore him away to Boston. And cradled in her lap, a small boy with a mess of light brown curls that mirrored his own…