Hip Check Read online

  Praise for the novels of Deirdre Martin

  Breakaway

  “A great contemporary romance with a charming cast of characters and a setting that I want to visit in real life.”

  —Book Binge

  “Erin is a character a female reader can be proud of.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “As usual, the romance is top-notch! Fans of second-chance love stories will delight in Rory and Erin’s reunion as she puts him through the wringer just a bit, making their eventual happiness just a tad bit more fun!”

  —Romance Junkies

  “This series is such a delight to read . . . Martin really knows how to write about sexy, athletic, attractive men!”

  —Fic Talk

  “An enjoyable book in an amazing series.”

  —Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews

  “Breakaway is a smash hit! The eleventh installment of Deirdre Martin’s Blades [novels] proves this series just keeps getting better and better! This one’s a must-read.”

  —Joyfully Reviewed

  “This story will enchant you from start to finish.”

  —Coffee Time Romance & More

  “Readers will cheer as Rory works on his chance at redemption . . . Breakaway is a sassy treat filled with intriguing, lighthearted characters and tons of sexy fun. Don’t pass this one up!”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  “This contemporary mainstream romance is absolutely perfect. I hated the mere thought of putting it down . . . I don’t think I can rate this book high enough.”

  —Night Owl Reviews (Top Pick)

  “Deirdre Martin knows how to write a beautiful romance . . . Breakaway is delicious from the first bite to the last.”

  —Single Titles

  “[A] good bet for readers who enjoy Carly Phillips and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.”

  —Booklist

  Icebreaker

  “[Icebreaker] made me laugh, swoon, and just enjoy myself.”

  —About Happy Books

  “Deirdre Martin has an absolute winner on her hands. Icebreaker is a smart and down-to-earth romance . . . Utterly enjoyable and genuine.”

  —A Romance Review (Five Roses)

  “Deirdre Martin’s books are always enjoyable, full of life . . . Great read!”

  —The Romance Readers Connection

  Straight Up

  “Delightful . . . Filled with Irish charm and dialogue . . . An excellent novel.”

  —The Romance Readers Connection

  “Ms. Martin writes stories about real people in real relationships, which is refreshing in a world of fantastical plot setups and contrived conflicts.”

  —All About Romance

  “Straight Up abounds with energy, Irish humor, a little melancholy, but also plenty of love and happiness. Aislinn and Liam take a chance on love and it pays off in spades.”

  —Romance Junkies

  With a Twist

  “Natalie and Quinn are excellently written as total opposites who are helpless against the attraction between them . . . A first-class contemporary romance.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “Funny, energetic, and loads of fun.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  Power Play

  “Contemporary romance doesn’t get much better than this.”

  —All About Romance

  “Deirdre Martin has another hit on her hands.”

  —Romance Reader at Heart

  “Sparkling banter and a couple with red-hot chemistry.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  Just a Taste

  “Another victory for Martin.”

  —Booklist

  “Be prepared to get a little hungry . . . Pick up Just a Taste for a tempting read you won’t want to put down.”

  —Romance Reviews Today

  Chasing Stanley

  “Martin has a way of bringing her dissimilar characters together that rings true, and fans and curious new readers won’t want to miss her latest hockey-themed romance.”

  —Booklist

  The Penalty Box

  “[Martin] can touch the heart and the funny bone.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “Martin scores another goal with another witty, emotionally true-to-life, and charming hockey romance.”

  —Booklist

  “Fun, fast.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  Total Rush

  “Deirdre Martin is the reason I read romance novels.”

  —The Best Reviews

  “Martin’s inventive take on opposites attracting is funny and poignant.”

  —Booklist

  “Martin depicts the worlds of both professional hockey and ethnic Brooklyn with deftness and smart detail. She has an unerring eye for humorous family dynamics [and] sweet buoyancy.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Makes you feel like you’re flying.”

  —Rendezvous

  Body Check

  “Heartwarming.”

  —Booklist

  “One of the best first novels I have read in a long time.”

  —All About Romance (Desert Isle Keeper)

  “You don’t have to be a hockey fan to cheer for Body Check.”

  —The Word On Romance

  “A dazzling debut.”

  —Millie Criswell, USA Today bestselling author

  Titles by Deirdre Martin

  BODY CHECK

  FAIR PLAY

  TOTAL RUSH

  THE PENALTY BOX

  CHASING STANLEY

  JUST A TASTE

  POWER PLAY

  WITH A TWIST

  STRAIGHT UP

  ICEBREAKER

  BREAKAWAY

  HIP CHECK

  Anthologies

  HOT TICKET

  (with Julia London, Annette Blair, and Geri Buckley)

  DOUBLE THE PLEASURE

  (with Lori Foster, Jacquie D’Alessandro, and Penny McCall)

  Hip Check

  Deirdre Martin

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) • Penguin Group (Australia), 707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) • Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) • Penguin Books (South Africa), Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North 2193, South Africa • Penguin China, B7 Jiaming Center, 27 East Third Ring Road North, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  HIP CHECK

  A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Berkley Sensation mass-market edition / February 2013

  Copyright © 2013 by Deirdre Martin.

  Cover photo by Claudio Marenesco. Cover
image of blue jersey fabric by Thinkstock.

  Cover design by George Long.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  ISBN: 978-0-425-25115-7

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-61906-3

  BERKLEY SENSATION®

  Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  BERKLEY SENSATION® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  For Freda Levine,

  for raising such a wonderful son and being such a great mother-in-law.

  Acknowledgments

  Special thanks to:

  Sinead Noel, for letting me pick her brains about eight-year-old girls.

  Additional thanks to:

  Mark.

  Kate Seaver, the most patient editor on earth.

  Miriam Kriss, the best agent any writer could hope for.

  Fatin Soufan, Dee Tenorio, Eileen Buchholtz, and Binnie Braunstein.

  Mom, Dad, Bill, Allison, Frankie, Aine, Jane, Dave, and Tom.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  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

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  1

  “Hey, Saari: who’s the cute blonde you parked with Lou?”

  Esa took his time answering Ulf Torkelson’s question as he stood in front of his locker, briskly rubbing his head with a towel. He couldn’t believe it had taken one of his teammates this long to ask about Nell. Maybe they didn’t want to distract him before practice. As if he wasn’t distracted already.

  Heads had turned when he’d walked into practice with her. How could they not? Thankfully, Nell was oblivious to his teammates gawps and glances. For some reason, it was Lou Capesi who held her attention. Since Lou was an expert on only two things, publicity and food, Esa assumed he was entertaining her with stories of his gourmet adventures.

  Esa draped the towel around his neck. “The blonde’s my niece, Nell.”

  “She visiting?” Ulf asked.

  “No. She’s living with me now. I’m her legal guardian.” Saying it aloud made it feel all the more surreal.

  The reaction in the locker room was akin to a sparkler being blown out, postpractice adrenalin plummeting to bafflement. The only people in the Blades organization who had known about Nell were General Manager Ty Gallagher, Coach Michael Dante, Lou, and Rory Brady, his best friend on the team.

  Esa sat down on a bench. “Fire away, guys,” he said, even as his guts filled with dread. “Ask anything you want. I think it’ll be easier to just get it all out of the way right now.”

  His teammates glanced at each other apprehensively. No one said a word, so Esa broke the ice. “You’re all thinking: ‘Esa, taking care of a kid? What the fuck—?’”

  “Pretty much, yeah,” Tully Webster admitted. “Is she living with you for good?”

  “Until she turns eighteen, I guess.” Esa anticipated the next question and decided to ask it himself. That way, he wouldn’t have to go deep into details that hurt too much. “Why is she with me? Because my sister died in a plane crash last year. Remember?”

  “Oh yeah.” Tully looked ashamed; clearly he hadn’t remembered at all.

  “So the kid’s dad bit it, too?” Ulf asked casually, slicking his armpits with deodorant.

  Eric Mitchell looked at the hulking defenseman with more than his usual disgust. “Jesus Christ. Do you have to be so insensitive?”

  “What?” Ulf whined, looking around the locker room for support. “Saari told us to ask questions!”

  “Yeah, okay, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea,” Esa said, half jesting. He felt drained, and not just from practice. The stress of his life changing overnight was taking an immediate toll.

  “Here’s the deal: my sister, Danika, was single; Nell’s dad is someone she selected from a sperm bank. Even though I’m Nell’s legal guardian, when Danika died, her best friend, Leslie, and I thought it would be better if Nell stayed with her, since it meant not uprooting Nell from London. Plus, Leslie has always been like a second mother to Nell.”

  Esa sighed deeply. “Unfortunately, Leslie just took a job that involves a lot of travel to Asia. We decided that the best thing for Nell was that she come here. That’s it.”

  “That’s it?” Jason Mitchell repeated incredulously, pulling a Blades sweatshirt over his head. “Does this Leslie know you know shit about kids?”

  Esa’s hackles went up. “I’m not a fucking moron, you know. I can figure it out.”

  “How old is she?” Ulf asked.

  “Eight.”

  “Same age as you mentally,” David Hewson pointed out to Ulf.

  “Dude.” Teammate Tully Webster looked at Esa like he was delusional. “No disrespect, but you don’t seem the single parent type. Single uncle type, I mean. She’s an eight-year-old girl. You’re a professional hockey player whose number one hobby is chasing tail.”

  “No, it could work out,” Ulf interjected. “When this happens in the movies the uncle is usually some crabby old bastard, and the kid is scared of him. But in the end, they get really close and love each other.” He looked at Esa. “So don’t worry. There’s always a happy ending.”

  Esa stared at him. “You’re a Swedish idiot.”

  “He’s just trying to be helpful,” Rory pointed out quietly. Thank Christ for Rory, Esa thought. If he and his wife, Erin, hadn’t been there for him when he found out Nell was going to be his, he’d probably have lost it completely.

  Esa looked at Ulfie, who was clearly hurt. “Sorry, man.”

  Ulf grunted begrudgingly. “You can be a real Finnish fuck, you know?”

  “Look.” Rory’s voice turned serious as he slipped his wedding ring on. “I think we should try to support Esa with this.”

  “Who the fuck are you, the Irish Dr. Phil?” Eric mocked affectionately. He patted Esa on the shoulder. “Anything we can do, bro. You know that. You need to learn how to do a French braid? I’m your man.” He jerked a thumb at his brother, Jason. “You want to k
now which Barbie dolls she might like? This douche bag is the expert.”

  Esa rose, too tired for a clever comeback. He noticed that Tully Webster’s expression hadn’t changed: he was still looking at him with disbelief. “What’s the problem?”

  Tully just shook his head. “You have no clue what you’re getting yourself into.”

  Esa slammed his locker shut. “Everything will be fine.” That ended the conversation. Leave it to Tully to be the voice of doom. Just because Tully had two kids, it didn’t mean he was the world’s expert on child rearing. A bunch of the guys had kids. Hell, Coach “Mikey the Merciless” had kids and he hadn’t given Esa a hard time. Yet.

  There was just one problem: Tully was right. Esa had no idea what he was getting himself into. He couldn’t remotely imagine what life with an eight-year-old little girl was going to be like. He and Nell knew each other a little bit, but they weren’t especially close. He saw her once or twice a year, when he went to visit his sister. Yet for some inexplicable reason, Danika had wanted Nell with him.

  It didn’t make sense. He could understand her not making their parents Nell’s guardians. For one thing, it involved moving the poor kid to Finland and forcing her to learn a whole new language. For another, his parents were strict and impatient, with about as narrow a world view as an ayatollah. They weren’t the warmest people, either. But why hadn’t Danika left Nell to Leslie? Shit, “left” was the wrong word. It made Nell sound like she was a lamp or some family heirloom.

  Nell was the most precious thing in Danika’s life, and she was close to her Aunt Leslie. Didn’t it make more sense to make Leslie Nell’s legal guardian from the start? So what if she wasn’t a blood relative? Danika had no illusions about what Esa’s life was like. Did she think making him responsible for Nell would tame him, turn him into some kind of domesticated beast? Those were the last things he wanted right now—domestication and responsibility. Nell was a great kid, but he resented the way she had been thrust upon him. He felt like a shit thinking that, but it was true.

  Still, he was determined to honor his sister’s wishes and give it his best shot. He just hoped he didn’t screw up Nell too much in the process.