Skating on Thin Ice: Seattle Sockeyes (Game On in Seattle Book 1) (15 page)

“Lauren. You’re a little early this morning.” His calm, deep voice gave away nothing.

“I had to get an early start. I have this slave-driving bastard the league requires I cater to, and he’s demanding.” The second the words escaped her mouth, Lauren slapped her hand over her mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that. I—”

He quirked an eyebrow and smiled at her, one of those smiles she lived for. Then he nodded. “Let’s get to work then. We wouldn’t want to piss off the bastard.”

Lauren agreed and minutes later they worked side by side. On the surface, a casual observer would never know about the sexual current arcing between them, but Lauren knew, and she knew Ethan did, too. He touched her too much for it to be an accident. It was a glorious, torturous day, and Lauren wouldn’t have been anywhere else for the world. She wondered if Ethan would.

Lauren kept her mouth shut about Ethan’s skate with Cooper for the majority of the day until they were sitting in the empty stands watching the team warm up prior to the night’s playoff game. Coop skated as if he’d had a week’s rest instead of going like a crazy man this morning and during the last game two nights ago.

Lauren glanced at Ethan to find him watching her. His hungry expression almost sent her into cardiac arrest, but she wrestled her wild heart under a semblance of control. “You’re full of surprises, Ethan Williams.”

His gentle smile warmed her heart. “More than you know, Lauren. More than you know.” Something flickered in his blue eyes, almost like regret, which she didn’t exactly understand.

“You and Coop? Who’d have thought you’d become best buddies?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but we’ve developed a healthy respect for each other.” If her comment surprised him, he didn’t show it.

“I saw you this morning. I didn’t know you could skate.”

The smile dropped off his face, but he recovered quickly and smoothly responded. “Not bad considering I’m not a hockey guy.” Ethan was jerking her chain, but she didn’t give a shit. In fact, she liked it in a weird sort of way. She liked Ethan, despite her best efforts; she looked forward to a future working with him to make the Giants a team to be reckoned with year after year.

If she wanted a future with this team, she had to keep their relationship strictly business, which was getting more and more difficult day after day. The man cast hot looks in her direction whenever he thought she wasn’t looking. He probably caught the same hot looks from her. In the elevator a few nights ago, she’d caught more than that, but Brad and fate intervened to stop the inevitable.

Was sleeping with Ethan inevitable? She feared it might be.

“You never told me you played hockey.” Hurt and accusation crept into her voice despite her best efforts.

“What makes you think I do?” He cocked his head at her, and his lips tipped up in a cocky smirk.

“I watched you. You’re not a pro, obviously—”

“Obviously,” he repeated with a wry grin.

“But you played like a good amateur. There’s no shame in that. You’re athletic.”

He shrugged. “I don’t advertise that I play. I’m not that good. Didn’t play much until college, but I got hooked on it because I had a Canadian uncle who was rabid about it. He played in the minors at one point in time. Growing up I spent a couple weeks in Vancouver every year with him. He’d take me skating every day, took me to Canucks games. I couldn’t beat ’em—”

“So you joined him?”

“Yeah, I played on a low-level intramural team at the UDub. Now I play in an adult hockey league.”

Lauren frowned at him. “UDub?”

Ethan’s face paled, but he recovered quickly. “Yeah.” He didn’t elaborate. Not one bit.

Lauren wanted to push him for an explanation, but his reluctance held her back. She’d Google it later. “So you were serious when you said you had a passion for the game?”

“Did you doubt me?”

Lauren had to smile. “The truth?”

“Nothing but.” He put his hand over his heart and faked a serious expression.

“Yeah, I did doubt you. You’re an enigma.”

Ethan shrugged and looked away from her. “Not really. Just a private man.”

“And you don’t let too many people in.”

“Neither do you, Lauren, so we’re a pair, aren’t we?” He looked up, his blue eyes earnest. “If people think you’re a novice, they drop clues they don’t think you’ll get. I’m here to evaluate the team, so it was best to keep my limited hockey knowledge a secret.”

“Is that how you felt about me?” Lauren cleared her throat which suddenly seemed dry and fiddled with her tablet.

He nodded slowly and swallowed. “Yeah, somewhat. This is business, and I take it seriously.”

Lauren looked back at her computer screen. “On that note, we have work to do.”

Ethan looked almost sad. “That we do, Lauren.”

* * * *

The Giants lost the next game, but came back like gangbusters in game four. Cooper’s hat trick led the Giants to a 5-2 victory. The guys weren’t finished yet, but they were down three to one. The team would be heading back to Boston for game five in front of that rabid, deafening crowd.

One thing became crystal clear to Ethan. This playoff run could end in one game, and he had to wrap Lauren up, professionally that was. Not that he wouldn’t mind wrapping her up physically and emotionally, but he needed to stay focused on the goal, his mission, that dream within his grasp—bringing professional hockey to Seattle.

Which brought his addled brain back to the most pressing subject of all. He couldn’t afford to lose Lauren as an employee, and he was prepared to pay her a handsome salary along with a bonus. If he could wrap her up for a year or so, that’d give her time to adjust to Seattle, forgive his deception, and get on board with the program. Fuck, at least he hoped like hell a year would be enough.

The team flew to Boston on the day before the game, and Ethan and Lauren flew with them. Time to put his plan into action. If the team lost tomorrow, it’d be too late. He had twenty-four hours. Ethan invited her out to dinner to talk hockey. After dinner he sat back and sipped on a glass of wine, regarding Lauren with a forced smile on his face; inside he was nervous as hell, feeling like a thirteen-year-old boy asking the prettiest girl in school to his first dance.

“I have a serious offer for you.” He gulped down his wine and ordered another. Tonight he’d need all the help he could get, liquid or otherwise.

Her eyes filled with wariness as if she suspected his offer might be sexual in nature. Damn, he wished it could be. Ethan opened his briefcase, forcing himself to keep his thoughts strictly on business. He pulled out the employment contract Cyrus had sent to him yesterday, knowing he was doing a devious, sneaky thing here, but doing it anyway. He needed Lauren. Absolutely needed her in more ways than he cared to analyze.

“Read this.” He pushed the contract across the table to her and gave her time to read it. Her eyes grew big as she read it and most likely spotted the dollar amount. In typical Lauren fashion, she read every word. Ethan forced himself not to fidget and wiped his sweaty palms on the napkin in his lap.

After an agonizing eternity, she stared up at him, speechless and shaking her head, as if words failed her.

Ethan rushed to explain before she turned him down. “Lauren, as I alluded to previously, the ownership group is prepared to make you a very handsome offer if you’ll agree to sign this employment contract with them.”

“Handsome offer? This is an insane amount of money.” Lauren stared hard at the contract, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was reading.

“You’re worth every penny of it.” He spoke with absolute sincerity. At least she was to him.

“They don’t own the team yet. Why would they want to hire me?”

“They’re willing to take that gamble. At the very least, you’ll be paid a guaranteed amount for a year and a bonus for signing on regardless of this team’s future. Besides, they do own a minor league team, so you’d have that if this deal fell through.” He resisted the urge to cross himself, even though he wasn’t Catholic. “Think about it. Same position, twice the money. But with a progressive management team committed to creating a winning culture extending beyond a few seasons.”

“I don’t know.” She hedged.

Ethan tamped down the urge to plead. This was not the time for emotions but cold, hard logic and facts Lauren would appreciate. “If you stay, and your father’s group buys the team, do you really think you’ll get similar responsibilities or will they keep you in a clerical role with a fancy title for it?”

“Like I have now.” She spoke softly.

“Yeah, like you have now. We’re willing to give you a say in how this team is built and operates because we believe in you.”

“We?” She studied him, but he didn’t even blink.

He’d made a mistake saying “we,” and he rushed to cover it. “I’ve been here for over a month, so yeah I do feel like I’m part of all this.”

“Are you truly a part of the team’s future?”

Ethan didn’t miss a beat. “That’s being negotiated.” Not a total lie. He was still negotiating in his mind how big of a role he’d play with this team.

Lauren read through the contract again then looked up. “What is PSHA?”

“I’m not at liberty to say at this time.”

“Why are you pushing this right now?” Her eyes narrowed, and he feared she was on to him.

“Because once the team is done for the season, things will happen fast.”

Her skeptical look said it all, but she didn’t turn him down. “One year is a long time to enter into an agreement with an anonymous organization.”

“Six months, then. And you keep the money regardless of whether or not you stay with us.”

She worked her jaw. He could tell the money tempted her, but he doubted for a second that money was what drove Lauren any more than it drove him. It was the challenge, and in this case their mutual love of hockey. If only that shared passion could hold them together through the upheaval of the next few months.

Ethan reached across the table and took her hands, squeezing them. “Lauren, there may be a time in the not-so-distant future that it’ll be hard to trust me, but just remember that I’m doing the best I can for the future of this team, even if you may not agree with my methods.”

“I don’t agree with the current management’s methods. You listen to me. You’re progressive. You’re young and enthusiastic.”

Ethan chuckled. “So you’ll sign.”

She swallowed and looked up at him. “If you’re going to be part of this team’s future, I’ll sign.”

“I am,” he admitted and handed her a pen. She wrote her name in clear, precise script and handed the contract to him.

“You won’t regret this. I promise. I’ll get you a copy.” Ethan stuffed the contract in his briefcase and hoped she’d eventually forgive him for trapping her without giving her the full scoop on the team and its future.

The guilt overwhelmed him, but he’d done what he had to do. It could be the best thing he’d ever done, or the worst. She’d hate him short-term, but it was the long-term fallout that worried him most.

* * * *

Lauren and Ethan left the restaurant and walked across the lobby. She’d signed the contract on impulse, something she rarely did, and sealed her future with a team she knew better than she knew her family. Yet their future was as uncertain as whether or not the Giants could win three more games and make it to the Finals.

Then there was Ethan. The enigma behind the entire thing. The man with a secret. The man who made her knees weak and her heart flutter just by looking into his eyes or listening to the deep timbre of his voice—ridiculous romantic crap she’d never experienced in the past, despite the hot lust she’d once shared with her ex.

And now she’d tied herself to him for the next year. Even worse, she didn’t regret signing that contract, and she’d do it again given the chance. She’d been too busy to look up the meaning of UDub, almost afraid to find out. Now she’d add Parker Enterprises and PSHA to that list. Later. Some other day. Procrastination did have its advantages.

Lauren glanced at Ethan as they waited for the elevator, remembering another time in an elevator. He eyed her with a hungry look in his eyes as if he wanted to make her his main course.

“You’re not my boss yet.” The words escaped before she could stop them. Stupid, she knew, but if the Giants lost tomorrow, everything changed between them in a split second. Then he might be her boss, but tonight he wasn’t, and right now she’d twist her logic to suit her.

His blue eyes widened and desire dilated his pupils. A very sexy, very slow predatory smile eased some of the tension from his handsome face. “How do you know I will be?”

“I don’t. You’re not giving me any information to go with. This is a gut feeling.”

“A gut feeling? From you? What about your black and white facts?” He teased and lowered his voice as he stepped closer to her, filling her nostrils with the heady scent of soap, aftershave, and man—all man.

“In a case like this, facts are highly overrated.”

One eyebrow climbed into his hairline. “As in I’m not your boss tonight, so anything that might happen would be between two consulting adults?”

She laughed and stepped into the elevator. “I bet you can justify just about anything.” Too much wine and not enough resistance blew her common sense into the stratosphere. What the fuck was she doing? Lauren slammed that voice of reason into a safe deposit box and let desire take the wheel. She’d signed a contract with this man, and tonight might be the last night to satisfy her cravings for Mister Tall-Dark-and-Delectable.

“When it comes to you, I can.” He leaned forward, fingering her collar. “I have a suite, floors away from the team and staff. Even better, Brad isn’t on this trip.”

“Show me the way.” Lauren’s eyes feasted on his face. Just once, she wanted to see this man naked. She knew enough to know he had a fine body, but she wanted to see that body without clothes in the way, to feel skin against skin, as he plunged deep inside her.

And to feel that, she’d abandon all common sense.

For tonight.

* * * *

Ethan pulled his key card out of his wallet and jammed it in the slot several times. But each time the reader blinked red. “Goddamn fucking piece of shit,” he muttered. His hands shook as Lauren pried the card from his clammy fingers.