Skating on Thin Ice: Seattle Sockeyes (Game On in Seattle Book 1) (7 page)

Cooper skated with a mesmerizing combination of speed and athletic grace that put the most talented players to shame. Despite being thirty-two—the same age as Ethan—Cooper showed no signs of slowing down nor had he been plagued with injury problems like other players. He’d earned a reputation for toughness and resiliency, and he deserved to be on a team that did everything it could to compete for the Cup each and every year. Ethan wanted to make the Giants—soon to be christened the Sockeyes—that team and Cooper Black his cornerstone.

One problem. Black seemed to hate his guts. Dislike, Ethan could live with, but he needed the guy’s respect. Ethan could schmooze and charm the best of them. With that in mind, he waited outside the locker room after practice. Cooper was the last one to leave, just like he was the first one to arrive every day.

Ethan stepped in front of Cooper, blocking his exit route. “Nice job last night. With a little more help from your offense, you’d have stood a better chance.” Cooper had scored two goals, but they’d still lost.

Cooper’s eyes narrowed with undisguised animosity. “What the fuck would you know about that?”

Ethan bit back a smartass retort. Getting into a pissing match with this guy wouldn’t get him anywhere. “You don’t care much for me, do you, Black?”

Cooper and Ethan stood the same height. Even though Ethan was no slouch, Cooper’s muscles were honed from thousands of hours in the rink and the weight room. Even so, Ethan would not allow the team captain to intimidate him. He wanted Cooper on his team, not just because he had a contract but because he wanted to play for this team with this ownership in Seattle. It’d be a hard sell and a near vertical uphill climb and wouldn’t happen overnight. But the first step would be to earn Cooper’s respect even if the future Hall-of-Fame center hated his guts.

“Give me one good reason why I should.” Cooper’s chin jutted out and he clenched his jaw.

“Because we both want the same things.”

“What the fuck is that?”

“To see this team become a dynasty.”

“You’re just here to do a job. I’m here to leave my blood, sweat, and guts on the ice—fuck, my soul. I don’t think guys like you even have a soul, do you, Williams?”

Ouch.
Now that was fucking low. “Souls can be bought and sold. Premier hockey players are harder to come by.” Ethan smiled even though it hurt his face to do so, but Cooper’s mouth retained its hard, firm line.

A muscle ticked in Cooper’s jaw. “So you think I’m premier?”

“Of course, I do. I’d be a fool not to.”

Cooper shrugged, not backing down and not impressed.

“Is it me you have an issue with or are you satisfied with riding the Sleezers into oblivion?”

“I fucking hate the Sleezers. The entire team does, but I hate ownership groups who don’t have the balls to reveal themselves and hide behind a thousand-dollar suit like you.”

Ethan laughed. “Have you yet seen me in a thousand-dollar suit?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I admire your honesty, even if I don’t appreciate your attitude.” He wove steel in his voice. Black needed to know Ethan didn’t get intimidated, and he didn’t back down. The sooner Cooper figured that out, the sooner they could move beyond this pissing match they currently engaged in.

“You’re the best, Coop, and this ownership is committed to putting the best team on the ice with you or without you.”

“They haven’t bought the team yet unless you know something you’re not telling us.”

Cooper’s penetrating gaze dissected every nuance of Ethan’s body language just like he dissected an opposing team’s goalie and defensemen, predicting their every move. Ethan had spent years covering up his emotions, and he’d be damned if he’d give Cooper a hint of the story behind the story. Not yet.

“This team hasn’t had one playoff appearance until now in the years the Sleezer brothers took over the team from their father. Current staff have managed to build a solid competitor with home-grown talent and young guys. But you know as well as I do, that once these young guys’ contracts expire, they’ll come looking for their money, and the Sleezers won’t pay up. You’ll be back to square one.”

Cooper’s frown cut deeper, etching deep lines into his face, as anger flashed in his blue eyes. “I know that. I want the team sold.”

“Then why are you fighting this?”

“Because something doesn’t add up, and I don’t trust you.”

Ethan didn’t respond, keeping his expression bland. This guy was too savvy, and he was one step away from figuring this whole mess out. If the sale became public before the team’s last game, the deal was off, and most likely Schneider’s group would get the team, and Seattle would get nothing.

That could not happen. Not on Ethan’s watch. Not when he was so close he could taste it. He’d dreamed of this for so long, planned for it, waiting and watching for an opening, he couldn’t lose his goal when it was within inches of his reach. Besides, he’d made a promise to his family, and Ethan took his promises seriously and so did his family. This was his contribution to the community.

Cooper scrutinized him like he was an opposing team’s starting goalie. “I don’t like all this secrecy bullshit. Why doesn’t this group just come out and announce who the fuck they are?”

“They’re not willing to do that until they’ve done their due diligence.”

“What the fuck ever.” Cooper pushed past him and strode down the long hallway.

So much for winning over the team’s best player. If anything, Ethan had dug a deeper hole for himself, and he’d raised the suspicions of the one man he didn’t want sniffing around. Lauren was bad enough, especially considering who her father was.

God, he hated subterfuge. He’d always been a straightforward, honest businessman. This went against his nature.

Once the sale was announced and the move to Seattle was revealed, he wondered if any amount of damage control would repair the destruction left in their wake. Yet, he’d do it over again, knowing what he knew now because he wanted this team in Seattle that badly.

And he wanted Lauren and Cooper in Seattle along with it.

* * * *

All morning and into the afternoon, Lauren worked on her stats, only she couldn’t concentrate.

She wanted to hate Ethan Williams. It’d make her life that much easier. Try as she might, her body refused to go with the program, and she wasn’t sure the rest of her was buying in either. It wanted Ethan eight ways until Sunday, in the net, in the luxury suites, in the locker room showers. That horny body of hers wasn’t picky. In fact, the man had lived in her dreams last night to the point where she gave up on sleep and worked on some salary cap stuff.

The Sleezers had the lowest staff and player payrolls in the league—the cheap bastards. While they wined and dined in expensive restaurants and chased around the country with models and wannabe stars, their staff held it all together, and the league bailed the Sleezers out so they could make payroll. Those days were coming to an end.

With an exasperated sigh, she sat back and sighed. Numbers weren’t sticking in her head even though she’d kept at it until late afternoon, like a cat chasing its tail, round and round and getting nowhere. Ethan wanted a salary report, along with recommendations on who would be paid what if they were on a premier team. She almost smiled as she remembered his orders:
I don’t deal in details. I pay staff to do that. I want a summary. I’m interested in your high-level assessment based on your data.

Finally, Lauren headed downstairs to the hotel bar for a beer and a happy-hour appetizer. She didn’t see Ethan sitting alone in a booth surrounded by messy piles of paper and numerous electronic devices until he caught her attention and waved her over. By then it was too late to cut bait and run like hell. Her feet carried her where she didn’t want to go, and she slid into the booth seat across from him.

“We have to stop meeting like this.” He smiled, showing off two dimples she’d never noticed before, and she was a sucker for a man with dimples, just like she was for a man with deep blue eyes, dark hair, and a long lean body. He had this one unruly lock of hair that insisted on falling over his forehead, but other than that nothing was out of place. Even though he wore jeans and T-shirts as opposed to business suits, he’d probably look just as at home in a suit. Today he wore his usual faded pair of jeans and a Giants sweatshirt. For a businessman, his manner of dress was curious at best, but she assumed he might be playing down his role to make the staff more comfortable around him.

He signaled to the waiter, and they ordered beers and nachos. He stacked the papers into a haphazard pile with his iPad and cell phone balanced precariously on top. Looking up, he caught her watching him and winked. “You should see my office at home.”

“I’m not sure I could handle that.” Lauren liked things neat and tidy, everything in its place. “A bit messy, are we?”

“Actually I like things tidy, I just pay other people to do that for me.”

She nodded; that seemed to be a common theme with him. “Paying others to do the detail work for you means missing out on the journey and just arriving at the destination.”

“And that’s a problem?” He was still grinning, still making her heart throb. No shit, it was actually throbbing. And her panties, well, she didn’t even want to think about what was going on between her legs.

“It could be because I suspect that once you arrive, you schedule another trip. You never sit back and enjoy the ride.”

“Pretty much.” His eyebrows furrowed, as if she’d pointed out something he hadn’t considered. “My mom always tells me to stop and smell the roses, but I’m too busy climbing the next mountain.”

“Your mom’s a smart lady. And what mountain will you tackle after this one?”

He shrugged, suddenly shutting down, his blue eyes shielded and wary. He did a quick subject change. “Ready for game two?”

“I don’t have to be ready. The guys do,” Lauren said. As much as she hated to say it, the few playoff series the guys played in since she’d been with the team pretty much sent her over the edge, as if she wanted something badly enough she could somehow fuel their ability to win.

It hadn’t worked two nights ago.

“I’m sitting in the box tonight to get the big-picture view.”

Lauren nodded. Ethan could sit anywhere he pleased. The way the league was bowing down to him, he could probably sit on the players’ bench if that’s what he wanted.

“I want you to join me. Any progress on the payroll stats?”

“I’m working on them. We have the lowest payroll in the league for staff and players. I can tell you that much already. That’s why we lose free agents and competent staff left and right every year. This isn’t exactly a destination for elite players.”

“Except Cooper.”

“Yes, except Cooper. He’s an anomaly. Loyal to a fault. I often wonder if he wouldn’t prefer to go elsewhere.”

“But he doesn’t. Why is that?”

Cooper stuck around while every other decent player packed up his sticks and skated out of town at the first opportunity. “Like I said, he’s loyal, which is probably not to his advantage.” She thought for a few more seconds, as she sipped the beer just deposited on her table. “He’s done a lot of work with kids over the years at the Children’s Hospital and sponsors a summer camp every year for underprivileged kids both here and in his hometown of Detroit. He’s a fixture in Gainesville, lives here year round.”

“A regular hero, is he?” Ethan nodded, looking almost as if she wasn’t giving him the news he wanted to hear, which made no sense.

“To a lot of people, yes, he is.”

“And to you, personally, what do you think of Mr. Black?”

“Me? I think he’s wonderful. He’s the consummate captain, and he keeps his nose clean off the ice, which is really important when it comes to public perception. Keeps an eye on his guys, too.”

Ethan nodded, rubbing his chin, a habit he seemed to do when asking the tough questions. “So, Lauren, where do you see yourself in ten years or so?”

“Doing essentially what I’m doing now.” Her answer was honest and without emotion. She’d long ago accepted that she might have gone as high as she could, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t keep fighting.

“You don’t want to be the director of player personnel or the GM?”

“Of course, I do, but I’m realistic, too. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but I’d like more responsibility, more say in how the team is built and run. Regardless, I can’t imagine doing anything else, anywhere else.”

“They don’t take you seriously, do they?” Obviously, he’d noticed, not that it was difficult to figure out.

She met his gaze and shook her head.

“What if another team offered you a big salary increase?”

“What can I say? I’m loyal, like Coop. This team hired me when no one else would.” Yeah, she’d come running back with her tail between her legs after Max dumped her, leaving her destroyed and destitute, and begged the Giants to take her back.

“You’re a rare woman, Lauren.” Ethan’s voice lowered an octave into that sexy range that had her squeezing her legs tightly together. Seriously, how stupid. She wasn’t even sure she liked the guy, let alone enough to sleep with him.

Kaley’s words came flooding back to her.
You don’t have to like a guy to screw him. It’s even better if you don’t because then it’s all about the sex. No one has any expectations, and there’s none of that awkwardness afterward because one person thinks there was more to it than the other.

Easy for Kaley to say. She scored in bed more than Cooper scored on the ice. Lauren rarely scored at all. She just did her job, minded her manners, and dated occasionally. If Lauren could have Kaley’s guts for just one night, she’d hop into bed with Ethan and not think another thing about it in the morning.

This never happened to her. She’d been surrounded by hot hockey players from birth, and none of them did this to her. Why Ethan? A guy who didn’t fit in this world any more than she fit in his.

Sure, she’d lost her virginity at sixteen to one of her brother’s minor league hockey teammates—a fact her brothers and father didn’t know or they’d have castrated the poor guy. It wasn’t all Max Price’s fault. He hung around the house a lot, and he was hot. Really, really hot. Melt-your-panties hot. And he’d melted hers right off of her. She’d flirted shamelessly with him until he agreed to meet her outside the rink, and they’d done it in the backseat of his car that first time.