Lynn Rush - In the Penalty Box

Advance praise for

I love this book so much! Brodie and Willow are funny, charming, and totally swoon-worthy!

Tracy Wolff, New York Times bestselling author of the Crave series

The Cutting Edge meets Friday Night Lights whats not to love? A fresh, sweet, and addictive romance!

Ali Novak, author of My Life with the Walter Boys

Sizzles with romantic chemistry while exploring shifting friendships, complex family dynamics, and uncertain futures. Strong, driven, and independent, Willow and Brodie are protagonists readers will root for both on and off the ice.

Katy Upperman, author of Kissing Max Holden

A sweet, charming dive into the world of high school hockey. Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount have crafted a sweet, heartfelt forbidden romance that will have you falling in love with high school sports and small-town life.

Samantha Martin, Frolic Media

A fast-paced, funny, heartwarming read. Grab a cup of cocoa, sit back, and let the games begin.

Chris Cannon, author of Blackmail Boyfriend

A delightful, fast-paced, heart-skipping, super-fun read!

Jennifer Brody / Vera Strange, award-winning author of the 13th Continuum trilogy

This novel is pure joy. A sweet romance, engrossing characters, and intense hockey action. Reading it was like sitting in a chilly ice rink, wrapped in a fleece blanket and sipping hot chocolate.

Rob Shapiro, author of The Book of Sam

A flirty, sweet figure skater vs. hockey player romance with an adorable twist.

T.H. Hernandez, author of Prom-Wrecked

Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount have created characters you will fall in love with and cheer forand you might even consider strapping on your own skates.

Fiona Simpson, freelance editor

A heartwarming story of perseverance, love and friendship. Rush and Blount do an amazing job of weaving depth into this feel-good story. I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

Noreen Bruce, RespectYourShelves blog

Also by
Lynn Rush & Kelly Anne Blount

The Twin River High Series

Gutter Girl

Also by Kelly Anne Blount

I Hate You, Fuller James

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright 2021 by Lynn Rush, LLC and Kelly Anne Blount. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

10940 S Parker Road

Suite 327

Parker, CO 80134

Entangled Teen is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com .

Edited by Stacy Abrams

Cover design by LJ Anderson, Mayhem Cover Creations

Cover images by

Vasyl Dolmatov/GettyImages and
karych/Depositphotos

Interior design by Toni Kerr

ISBN 978-1-68281-576-2

Ebook ISBN 978-1-68281-583-0

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition January 2021

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To God, from whom all blessings flow. To Charlie, who has my whole heartfor always. To Kelly Anne Blount for making a statement that changed both our worlds: Hey, we should write a book together. Lynn
To Lee Roy, Bella Rose, my family, and to Lynn Rush, who is the best cowriter in the universe! Kelly

CHAPTER
ONE

Willow

Ten months of physical therapy and grueling pain was about to pay off. Clutching my arms to my chest, I spun through the air.

I had to land this jump.

My skate made contact with the ice. Yes! I felt fine. Finally, I

Pain exploded up from my heel: a cruel reminder of the injury that crushed my Olympic dreams and threatened to decimate my future as a champion figure skater. My jaw clenched as I balled up my fists.

I flailed like a newbie, then turned my left skate at an angle and came to a stop in the middle of the rink.

A vise cinched around my chest, and a wave of nausea stormed through my stomach. Id failed. Again. My shoulders slumped.

The muscle in my ankle seized, and it felt like a steel baseball bat had rammed my calf. I bent over and clutched the area as hot tears burst from my eyes and seared a path down my cold cheeks. Id been fanatical about my physical therapy exercises. Spent hours in the pool keeping up my cardio. But itd been almost a year now, and my progress had been so unbelievably slow. Rupturing an Achilles tendon was one of the worst injuries a figure skater could endure.

And the hardest to recover from.

Coachs words echoed in my mind. Everythings going to be just fine. Youll be back on the ice before you know it.

Lies.

Everything she had said on the ride to the hospital was a lie.

The sound of laughter yanked me back to the moment, and I shifted to see what was going on behind me. Three hockey players lined up outside the rink, near the door. When they glanced my way, they shook their heads. Hockey players always hated getting rink time after figure skaters. Id been chewed out more times than I could count for roughing up their smooth ice with my toe picks.

I wasnt surprised they were chomping at the bit to get on the ice. This rink was really nice, and that was coming from someone whod spent the last nine years in Colorado, skating at a first-class training center that had top-notch ice.

The large clock mounted on the wall showed I still had three minutes until the Zamboni came out, so I pushed off, gaining some speed.

One more try. You can do this, Willow!

Hearing the scrape of my blades on the ice and feeling the breeze against my skin as I picked up speed kicked me into the zone. Everything else faded as I drank in the burn in my quads, my heart racing.

If I could just land one more jump today, Id be happy.

A fluttery feeling spread from my chest to my fingertips.

Holding out my hands, I pushed off with my back skate and snapped the opposite knee around the front. My heart hammered as the near-perfect rotation threw me into a spin that felt as natural as breathing.

I was weightless. I was free. This was what I lived for.

And I was going to land this jump.

My skate hit the ice. My leg buckled, and in the next breath, my butt slammed into the frozen surface. The momentum sent me sliding, but the boards stopped me with a breath-stealing crack .

Damn it! I slouched to the side and slammed my fist on the ice.

Heat rushed up my face as some of the hockey players snickered. I pounded the ice one more time, then scrambled to my feet, fighting back the tears. From the stands, Jessa smiled and gave me a small wave.

She was the best friend in the world to be sitting here, watching me like this. My biggest cheerleader, she wanted to see me landing these jumps nearly as much as I wanted to land them. As I needed to land them. I had to get back to competition strength ASAP, or any chances of making it onto the Olympic team would be gone, gone, gone.

My breath hitched in my chest as I slowly stood. Jessa was the only person Id stayed in touch with here in Woodhaven after my family had moved out to Colorado. My parents came back two years ago when Gramps got sick, but Id only returned a couple of weeks ago.

At the sound of the Zamboni roaring to life, I made my way toward the exit. Glancing down for a moment as I brushed the ice from my sore butt, my shoulder rammed into something hard.