Knight before christmas, p.1
Knight Before Christmas, page 1
Knight Before Christmas
A Lauderdale Knights Garland Grove Holiday Novel
Kat Mizera
Copyright © 2021 by Kat Mizera
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
* * *
Edits: Taylor Bellitto
Cover Design: Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs
Created with Vellum
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Excerpt from “Slap Shot”
Also by Kat Mizera
About the Author
Chapter One
Remy
* * *
I leaned back against the plush leather seats and loosened my tie as the limo inched through the snow of an unexpected New York City storm.
“I don’t know if we’re going to make your flight, sir,” the driver called back to me.
“Do your best,” I told him. Weather wasn’t something anyone could control so there was no need to express frustration, especially to my driver.
I sent a text to my assistant, Fiona, and asked her to call the airline’s customer service number to see if there were any backup flights available if I missed this one. I was flying to Vancouver, British Columbia and from there, renting a car and driving to Garland Grove. I didn’t have time for this trip, but going forward I’d have even less, so it was now or never. Besides, my mother was in Vancouver, so I’d be able to spend a few days with her during the holidays.
Picking up my phone again, I called the older of my two younger brothers, Kingston.
“Hey.” He sounded half asleep, which was no surprise since he was a rock star who was currently on tour.
“Did I wake you?” I asked.
“Yeah, but it’s cool. What’s up?”
“Needed to run something past you.”
“Shoot.”
“In Dad’s infinite wisdom, he left us an ice arena.”
“He left us an ice…arena?” Kingston sounded as confused as I’d been. “The lawyer didn’t say anything about that when he read the will.”
“It was part of the everything-not-mentioned-above stuff. The lawyer sent me a box of papers and deeds and shit, so I forwarded it all to my attorney and asked him to sort through it. It’s deeded to the three of us. You, me and Ashton.” Ashton was our youngest brother, who was only twenty and in college.
“You’re not going to keep it, are you?” he asked.
“I don’t think so, but I’m on my way to visit now. You’ll never guess where it’s located.”
“Garland Grove?” he asked, chuckling.
“Yup.”
“He didn’t have a romantic or sentimental bone in his body for anything except that place. You think we have a whole family of half-siblings living there?”
I groaned. “Jesus, don’t even put that out in the universe, man.”
He laughed. “Look, if you want to buy me out, I’m cool with it. I have zero interest in an ice rink in Bumfuck, British Columbia.”
“I’m thinking Ashton will be excited to get a check from me,” I mused. “Since I was definitely not his favorite person after the reading of the will.”
“Well, Dad put his entire inheritance in a trust with you as the administrator. What twenty-year-old would be happy about that?”
We both laughed. “You’re lucky he didn’t do the same with yours.”
He snorted. “Fuck him and his inheritance. I’ll donate it to charity. I don’t need his fucking money.” Kingston and our father had not been close. At all.
“I don’t either,” I replied, “but I feel like I should check out the rink, see what’s what, before I sell it off sight unseen.”
“Wait, is that the place he said is magic or some such bullshit? Like everyone who skates on the outdoor rink during the holidays falls in love?”
“That’s the place.”
I could picture him rolling his eyes.
“Look out, bro, or you’ll be married before the end of the year.”
“It’s November thirtieth. I highly doubt it.” I was a confirmed bachelor, as was Kingston, so it was a joke between us about who would succumb to matrimony first. I was thirty-five, of course, to his twenty-seven, which meant statistically it would be me. But I was fighting it for all I was worth. Women had been nothing but a hassle as far as I was concerned.
“Friendly wager?” he asked.
I laughed. “Sure. What are we betting?”
“If you lose, you come onstage and sing with me at the venue of my choice.”
I cringed since I couldn’t sing for shit and Kingston’s band, Onyx Knight, was one of the biggest rock bands in the world right now.
“Fine,” I said, since there was no way I was getting married in thirty-one days. “But it has to be at a relatively convenient time—I did just buy an expansion hockey team. However, on the flip side of the bet, if you lose, you play hockey with me at my yearly charity event.”
“Ugh.” Kingston groaned. He liked hockey about as much as I enjoyed singing. “Fine. It’s a bet.”
“Love you, kid.”
“Love you too, asshole.” He disconnected.
I put my phone away as the limo got on the highway that would take us to LaGuardia.
“We might make it,” the driver called over his shoulder.
“Excellent.”
I didn’t want to miss the flight because I’d probably change my mind completely and just head to Florida. I’d just bought a house in Fort Lauderdale on the Intracoastal Waterway. After bidding for an NHL franchise in said city two years ago, it was now official, and I’d just left a meeting with my investors. I hadn’t thought a pro hockey team in South Florida would garner much interest, but my business colleagues had surprised me. Now we were less than a year from our inaugural season and I had so much damn work to do.
A trip to British Columbia was a huge inconvenience but the holidays were around the corner so it was the perfect time for a little R&R before the new year. There was also a tiny part of me that wanted to visit Garland Grove, perhaps for the last time, because it was the last place I had any good memories of my childhood. Dad had loved Garland Grove, and we would go for a few weeks at Christmas every year. It was where I’d learned to ice-skate and had fallen in love with hockey.
We’d stopped going a few years after Kingston was born and by then I was involved in hockey, baseball, and all kinds of other things so it hadn’t been a big deal. Now that I was on my way back, memories suddenly flooded me, and I wondered what my father had been thinking by leaving us the rink there. A rink we hadn’t even known he owned.
My phone rang as I got to the airport and Ashton’s name flashed on the screen. Kingston had probably texted him with an update and I answered, saying, “Kingston tell you to call me?”
Ashton chuckled. “He texted me and said, ‘Remy has a surprise for you. You should call him.’ I can only imagine what you’ve got up your sleeve.”
I told him about the rink and he was as unimpressed as Kingston had been. “Oh, yay. Another asset I don’t have access to.”
“Actually, I’m probably going to sell it and we can split it three ways. I don’t need the money and I’m happy to give you your share once it’s sold.”
“You will?”
“I know you’re pissed off about Dad making me the administrator of your trust fund, but that was his doing, not mine. And the way he set it up, I legally can’t give you the money until you’re twenty-five even if I wanted to.”
“I know, but it still sucks,” he muttered.
“You’re twenty and have a free ride playing college hockey. Mom and I give you everything you need, including spending money. I don’t know what you would do with millions of dollars at your age anyway.”
“I guess.”
“So, how’s hockey?” Like me, Ashton had started playing hockey at a young age and was a star player at North Dakota University.
“Good. Having a decent season, though I’ve been in a slump the last couple of weeks.”
“Get out of your head,” I told him. “Just let your body do the work. It knows what to do. If you start thinking about shit, you mess with your vibe.”
“You coming to any games?” he asked. “Haven’t seen you since the season opener.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Work is crazy. But I’ll get there after the first of the year. Promise.”
“Cool.”
“I’ll let you know what I find out about the rink and we’ll go from there, okay?”
“Yup. Talk soon.”
“Love you, kiddo.”
“You too!” He disconnected and I chuckled to myself. They drove me crazy sometimes, but my brothers were awesome.
There were no brand-name hotels in Garland Grove, so I’d booked a room at a small bed and breakfast called the Christmas Mountain B&B. My room was clean and spacious, and the four-poster bed was comfortable. I propped myself against the headboard and turned on the TV as I scrolled through my email on my laptop. Normally, I wouldn’t dream of going to bed this early but I had a lot going on with the new hockey team and my day would probably start at five in the morning tomorrow.
When I’d been drafted to play pro hockey at eighteen, I’d never dreamed that an unknown heart defect would force me into retirement at thirty or that I’d subsequently make hundreds of millions by starting a line of sporting goods. And if anyone had suggested I was going to buy an NHL hockey team of my own someday, I’d have laughed in their faces. Yet here I was.
My father had made it clear that his sons had to make it on their own before getting any of his money, though that hadn’t really applied to me since I’d gone pro at eighteen. I’d played two seasons in the minor leagues before getting called up and after that, I hadn’t needed him or his money. I’d had the option of going to college—Dad offered to pay for all of us to go—but professional hockey was far more of a temptation. Kingston had gone to Juilliard and studied music, shocking the hell out of everyone when he went from classical violin and piano to hard rock, but he was so damn talented.
Ashton was more like me, taking my advice about going to college because we’d seen firsthand how unexpectedly a professional athlete’s career could end. The same heart defect that had ended my career had ended Dad’s life, because he’d been too stubborn to get it looked at or have the corrective surgery. Kingston and Ashton had been tested as well, and they were okay, which had been a huge relief, but Dad had thought he was invincible.
So had I once upon a time. Then there had been the heart attack. Right on the ice, in the middle of a game. One of my teammates had started chest compressions as they yelled for a team doctor and paramedics. The story I’d been told, since I didn’t remember this part at all, was that they’d used the defibrillator to shock my heart three times before it started beating again. I’d had surgery that night and I’d retired six months later.
My life was good—great, even—so I didn’t like to dwell on the past but I would have been lying if I said I didn’t miss hockey. That was a big part of the reason I’d been excited about buying an expansion team. Just being in an arena every day, being part of the day-to-day process of running a team, would help fill that empty part of my soul. It wouldn’t be the same as actually playing, but it would help. I’d been involved with the business end of things, for a team that didn’t exist yet, and I was already obsessed. I couldn’t wait for the Lauderdale Knights to become a reality.
An urgent succession of knocks on the door made me jump and I got out of bed, walking over to peer through the peephole.
“Mr. Knight? It’s Rudy.” The owner of the bed and breakfast stood outside the door.
“Hi.” I opened the door.
“Sorry to bother you, but there’s a fire down at the rink and we’re going down to see if anyone needs help. I just wanted you to know there wouldn’t be anyone on-site in case you need something but—”
“Wait, did you say the rink? The Garland Grove Ice Arena?” I asked.
“That’s the only one in town.”
“The arena I just inherited from my father?” I turned and started digging around in my suitcase for my sneakers. “Wait for me—I’m coming too!”
Chapter Two
Noelle
* * *
I’d just gotten out of the shower when I smelled the smoke. The smell was too strong to be coming from outside, but I couldn’t imagine what might be causing smoke. I dried off quickly, yanking on sweats and a long-sleeve T-shirt before stuffing my feet in my sandals and hurrying out of the locker room.
When I got into the hallway, it was filled with smoke and I turned around, going back into the locker room to grab my duffel bag and phone. If there was a fire, there was no way I’d leave any of my meager belongings to burn. I wasn’t particularly worried yet, since the arena was old and run-down. Things broke and went wrong all the time, so I tended to take things like this in stride.
The smoke was pretty thick, though.
Opting to err on the side of caution, I turned right and headed down to one of the emergency exits. Once I was outside, I could call our maintenance man, Dwayne, and have him come down to see what was going on.
I opened the door and was immediately assaulted by a combination of ice-cold wind and a barrage of lights and sounds. There were at least three fire trucks and five police cars, all with lights flashing, surrounded by dozens of people.
“Noelle!” I turned to see Dwayne hurrying toward me.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“You weren’t answering your phone!” he said, breathing hard. “They wouldn’t let me in to look for you.”
“I was in the shower,” I said weakly, looking around. “What’s going on?”
“Zamboni caught on fire, which spread to a bunch of stuff in the storage rooms too. They have it under control but you scared the crap out of me, girl.” He gave me a hard look and I swallowed uncomfortably.
Dwayne was my friend, my coworker, and one of the only people who sort of knew my secret.
“Is this her?” One of the policemen came running over to us.
“Yes. She was in the shower.”
“I had no idea something was wrong,” I said quietly. “I didn’t mean to worry anyone. I spilled ketchup on myself when I was closing down the concession stand, so I thought I’d shower…”
The policeman nodded. “You’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
“I am. Thank you all for thinking of me.”
“You look cold,” Dwayne said, taking off his jacket. “Here.”
“That’s okay, I’ll just go to my car and—”
“Parking lot’s closed right now.” He dropped the jacket over my shoulders. “And your damn hair is wet.” He shook his head. “You can’t keep this up, Noelle.”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled.
“Is this her?” A loud, unfamiliar voice made me jump and I turned in surprise.
I didn’t know the guy, but he looked pissed, and I took an inadvertent step back.
“Noelle, this is Remington Knight, the new owner of the arena,” Dwayne said to me, arching his eyes a little, as if telling me to behave. “Mr. Knight, this is Noelle Burrier. She runs the concession stand here.”
“Nice to meet you.” Mr. Knight held out his hand, giving me an obvious once over. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I…” It was a little hard to formulate a response when you were looking at one of the most intense people you’d ever met, especially a really good-looking one, but I managed to shake his hand. “I had a little ketchup accident,” I finally said. “Which is why I was in the shower when everything happened.”
“It’s incredibly dangerous for you to be at the arena by yourself this late at night,” he said, his hazel eyes never leaving mine.
Why did he look familiar? And why were my hands a little clammy?
“I close by myself all the time,” I protested.
“Well, I don’t foresee that continuing in the future,” he said.
My heart sank, but he’d already turned to Dwayne. “Can you schedule a staff meeting for the day after tomorrow? I was thinking around noon and I can—”
“Most of the employees are teenagers,” I interrupted. “They’re at school during the day so they wouldn’t be able to meet at that time until the weekend. But on weekends, we have hockey games all day, so most of them are busy.”
He cocked his head slightly. “So when would you propose a meeting?”
