Read On the Surface (In the Zone) for Free Online Page A

been telling the truth. It was new. As she got out the money, she told herself it was worth it. Dr. O would be touched and thrilled to get a hat autographed by one of those Barracuda guys, right? Erin you are the bomb! You know how much I love hockey! he’d say. Then his expression would turn thoughtful and he’d smile as an idea occurred to him. Hey , how about you and me grab some dinner together tonight? I’ll pick up some salmon and we’ll grill it at my house. I have a wonderful Chardonnay in my wine cellar we can have with it.
    “Are we doing this or not?” Megan asked, startling Erin out of her daydream.
    “Yes. Here.” She gave her the cash. “Thanks.”
    Erin turned her attention to the lines. Megan’s line was by far the longer of the two. Obviously Megan’s guy was popular, but Erin was running out of time. She’d already spent ten minutes bargaining with Little Miss Wheeler Dealer and the lines inside to buy food didn’t look promising. She decided to take a chance on the less-popular player because if someone brought her, say, Kim Cattrall’s autograph, even though Sarah Jessica Parker was her favorite Sex and the City girl, she’d still be excited and grateful at the thoughtfulness of the gesture. Hopefully, Dr. O would feel the same way.
    With that in mind, she marched forward to stand in the underdog’s line where four people stood in front of her. The closest she had ever gotten to a celebrity was when she’d been at Disneyland and heard that Channing Tatum had been spotted on the Matterhorn. She’d kept her eyes peeled the entire day, alert for a crowd of giddy women, but never spotted him. The most she could claim was that maybe her butt and his butt had shared the same bobsled. Now look at her, about to meet a bona fide pro athlete.
    The other player, the one Megan was excited about, was young but seemed to be more readily recognized. His table tag identified him as Calder Griffin. She couldn’t see the tag of the player whose line she was in. Only one person—a guy in cargo shorts, a T-shirt and flip-flops—now stood between her and the mystery player. He had a plastic bag full of what looked like Barracuda merchandise.
    “I know you’re only supposed to sign one thing per person, but I was hoping you could bend the rules a little. I got a bunch of Little Brothers. You know, the underprivileged kind. They really love the Barracudas.”
    Erin leaned to the right and saw the hockey player had light brown hair, cut close, and gray eyes. He hadn’t shaved, so she could see he could easily grow a pretty impressive beard if he ever wanted to. And he had a small, shallow cleft in his chin that gave his face a boyish quality. Oddly, she felt an urge to rub it with her thumb. She thought hockey players were supposed to be violent, tough bad asses. This guy looked like a big teddy bear. Still, she could tell he worked out a lot. His T-shirt clung to his very developed shoulders, arms and chest. She knew without looking that the man had abs hard enough to crack nuts on.
    It occurred to her that Dr. O probably wasn’t a hard body.
    Then again, she had heard he liked to play tennis. Tennis players had awesome butts.
    The player glanced at a staff member standing nearby. “Jasmine?”
    The woman said, “Up to you, Tim.”
    So the player’s name was Tim. Progress. She pulled out her phone to see if she could find out his last name.
    Tim and Jasmine exchanged glances. Tim sighed and turned the Sharpie over in his hands. Erin noticed he had big hands. Strong hands.
    The fan started pulling junk out of the bag—some rolled up posters, three XXL jerseys, a dozen pucks and a hat exactly like Erin’s. She wanted to ask him how much he’d paid for it.
    “How many Little Brothers do you have?” Tim asked. His voice was deep and sexy. Erin perked up her ears, curious to see what the guy would say. She didn’t believe his story for one minute. Size XXL for little boys?
    The guy just