Skating on Thin Ice: Seattle Sockeyes (Game On in Seattle Book 1) (8 page)

His rookie year he played for the Giants, and he charmed the pants off of her again. Several times. On a drunken whim, they flew to Vegas and married. Lauren had been in an entry-level position with the Giants, and they immediately fired her for breaking the cardinal rule—no fucking the players. Max was traded to Buffalo, and Lauren went with him. She learned pretty quickly that Max was the ultimate man slut, and he spent every penny of their money on parties and women, walking out and leaving her bankrupt emotionally and financially. She begged the Giants to hire her back, and spent the next few years in financial and emotional recovery.

Sure she’d gone out with a few guys since, but nothing serious, nothing that lasted, and she liked it that way because getting attached hurt too much when it didn’t work out. She’d never fall for a handsome face, sexy smile, and ripped body again.

Besides nothing came between Lauren and her passion for hockey. Nothing. She’d derailed her career once for an unworthy man.

Then there was Ethan. If the glitter in his eyes was any indication, he’d jump in bed with her given half a chance. He’d be out of her life in a few months, despite his hints that he might stay on with the team assuming his group purchased them. She couldn’t see him sticking around. He had to have a life elsewhere. Hell, as far as she knew, he had a wife and kids at home, a home he never talked about.

“Lauren?” His voice brought her back to the present.

“Sorry, thinking about the game this evening.”

“Are you nervous?”

She nodded. “I’m always nervous before a game.”

And even more so when Ethan pinned her with his intent stare and fingered his napkin as if he wished it were a specific part of her body.

Oh, God, she wished it were, too.

* * * *

Cooper watched Ethan Williams chat it up with the Sleezers after the game, like they were old buddies.

He’d just walked out of the locker room after a close win that he didn’t feel nearly as good about as he should. He hadn’t scored a goal, but at least the rest of the first line picked up his slack. Cedric played inspired hockey, all over the ice as if there were three or four of him.

Now it was back home with the series tied one-one.

Speak of the fucking devil, Cedric, stopped next to him. He followed Cooper’s gaze. “You got a real issue with that guy, don’t you?”

“The Sleezers or Williams?”

“Everybody hates the Sleezers. I was talking about Williams, our savior.”

“He’s not our fucking savior. What was your first clue?”

“You look like you’re ready to drop the gloves every time you catch sight of him. Why don’t you duke it out, get it out of your system?”

“That’d go over well with the league. They’re salivating all over the guy. That’s the problem, Ced. Why? If he’s who he says he is, what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is the big bucks behind him. The commish trips all over himself when guys with deep pockets want to buy into the league.” Cooper narrowed his eyes as Ethan threw back his head and laughed out loud at something one Sleezer said. The ass was totally faking it.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s more than that. There’s a damn good reason why we don’t know a fucking thing about them.”

“Man, you’re a distrusting soul, buddy. Let it go. Take him at face value.”

“And what is that?”

“He’s here to vet the team for prospective owners. Simple. To the point. As long as the Sleezers are out of our lives, what do we care, ya?” Cedric liked to throw in a
ya
once in a while to make sure everyone remembered he was from Sweden even though he didn’t have much of an accent anymore.

“You’ll care if they move the team.”

Cedric shrugged. “Not really. I spend most of my life inside an arena. It’s all the same to me where it is. Come the offseason, I can go where I please.”

“I wish I felt like you did, but I’m a part of this community, and I want to keep it that way.”

“Let’s get to the bus. Everyone’s waiting. You know how cranky Coach gets when he’s tired and ready to sleep in his own bed.”

Cooper nodded and had to laugh. “Yeah. He’s already pissed at me. No reason to make it worse.”

Cedric winked at a couple puck bunnies standing just outside the doorway. They squealed when they saw him, but security kept them back. He turned to Alex and Brick. “Watch and learn, children.”

Ced stopped to sign their programs. One of them wanted her chest signed, her low-cut tank not hiding much. Ced gladly obliged, and Cooper had to drag him away by the arm, but not before the blond scrawled her number on a card and tucked it in his pants. Ced grinned as she copped a feel.

Ced loved women. Women loved Ced. The guy needed one of those take-a-number machines installed on the door of his condo to accommodate the steady stream of women in and out—often more than one a night. Coop had his share of women, and he could flirt with the best of them, but right now it was all about the playoffs for him. Women came later, after the playoffs. Hopefully much later.

Cedric sighed as if he were the most maligned guy on the team.

“It’s the playoffs. Get your head in the game and forget about the women.”

“The women are part of the game. Without the women, I wouldn’t be able to wind down.”

Cooper shrugged. “Whatever works, Ced.”

They were the last two on the bus and got the evil eye from the coach as they kicked a few young guys out of their preferred seats.

“I’m going to look into that guy.” Cooper muttered for only Ced’s ears.

“What guy?” Obviously, Ced had moved on to another subject, a subject most likely with a nice rack.

“Williams. I want to know his story.”

“Whatever. I wouldn’t put much energy into it. Whatever happens, we don’t get a vote. Consider it a grand adventure.” Cedric pulled his baseball cap down over his eyes and tipped his seat back.

Cooper glared at his buddy. Sometimes Ced irritated the hell out him. Beating the crap out of the team’s second highest scorer probably wasn’t an option.

He sighed and stared out the window. He had good instincts, and right now his instincts didn’t trust Ethan Williams.

Chapter 6—Check to the Head

The excitement of the playoffs sucked Ethan in like nothing ever had in his life—not even making his first billion on a gamble that paid off came close to the euphoria of watching
his
team win a playoff game, and they were his team—damn it.

He was walking on air after the Giants split the next two at home, losing the first and winning the second, tying the series at two-two. The playoff atmosphere in the finally sold-out arena didn’t match the din of Montreal’s arena, but he’d take it. For now.

Lauren had cast several strange looks at him during those games even as she was jumping up and down and screaming her lungs out. Maybe he’d been a little too excited for a guy who supposedly didn’t have a horse in this race and hadn’t been around long enough to develop an affinity for the staff and players or to feel part of the team.

Ah, Lauren
. Somehow, he’d managed to keep it strictly business between them even though his dick protested like a mother, and the rest of his body joined in on the torture. He could not and would not go down that road again. His family and his partners counted on him to maintain a professional atmosphere, and screwing one of his management personnel didn’t exactly breed confidence in his abilities, especially since he’d succumbed to a female employee a few years ago with near disastrous consequences for the family business. Yeah, so technically no one knew he owned the team, and the staff still worked for the Sleezers. But the justifications he’d worked over and over in his head still didn’t make it right.

But Lauren was so fucking hot like a sexy librarian, and so attractive to him. Her hockey knowledge alone gave him a raging hard-on. Throw in her cute body, pretty face, and take-no-prisoners attitude, and he was all in, even though he couldn’t be. He needed her as an employee, and a temporary fling would change their relationship irrevocably. In addition, he was slowly earning her trust, even though on so many levels, he didn’t deserve it.

Tonight they were back in Montreal and sat in the guest owner’s box. Conspicuously absent were the Sleezers. Ethan didn’t miss the constant bickering and whining of the brothers and their ladies du jour.

Lauren looked around the small box then at Ethan. “Where is everyone?”

“I haven’t a clue. It’s like we missed an important memo or something.” Ethan popped the tops on two beers from the small bar in the corner of the room. “Might as well drink their booze.”

“I like nothing better than spending the Sleezers’ money.” She smiled up at him and his heart did this little thump-thump which had become par for the course around her lately. She was dressed uncharacteristically in a Giants jersey and a pair of jeans, her long, silky milk chocolate hair tied in a sassy, though neat, ponytail rather than her usual prim bun. Ethan like sassy. Hell, he liked her. Too much.

“Coop’s not having the best series.” Ethan commented, trying to distract his libido, but in this case, not even hockey did that.

“Coach is playing him too much, not giving him a chance to rest his legs. He’s no good to us tired. The team has other guys who can skate, but Coach is too conservative, too afraid to give them their shot.”

“I was thinking that myself.” Ethan hadn’t been overly impressed with Fur so far. When the team lost, they lost because of the man’s decisions, the matchups he put in the ice, his game management, and when they won, they won in spite of him. Or so it seemed to Ethan, but he needed more information. He never made knee-jerk decisions, especially when it came to a man’s job, until he had all the facts.

He glanced at Lauren. She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and chewed on it. He took a long pull on his beer to stop himself from groaning but he choked.

“Are you all right?” She studied him with concerned brown eyes.

“I’m fine, I just—just. Nothing.”

Lauren fidgeted with her hands in her lap. “I don’t mean to say that Coach isn’t good, just that he sometimes tries too hard. You know? I mean he’s a great coach. We’re so lucky to have him.”

So now she was doing damage control, probably afraid she’d said too much. “Don’t worry, Lauren. Your opinions are safe with me.” Yeah, right, like he didn’t have the power to turn this team on its head and spin it. And he most likely would. The information she fed him in bits and pieces all became part of that bigger puzzle being worked out in his brain.

“I don’t want to criticize anyone. I’m not in his position, so it’s not fair of me to second-guess his decisions. Too many other people are doing that.”

“I understand.” What the hell else was he to say? That the coach was most likely on the hot seat? That he already had his eye on the guy’s successor, a fiery, young, progressive assistant coach for another playoff team, who’d be a hot item once the playoffs ended.

Ethan stared down at the ice. The skaters circled and weaved during their warm-ups somewhat reminding him of hawks circling over a clearing while on the hunt. These guys had the same grace and fluid motions, and he never got tired of watching them.

His team.

He never got tired of watching Lauren, either, especially when she didn’t know he was. He loved how she leaned forward and grabbed the seat in front of her during the game, her face an intense study in concentration. She didn’t care what anyone thought and let loose when they scored or when a bad call happened. She called out her guys when they screwed up—not that they could hear her—and she literally jumped up and down in her seat when they executed a perfect pass or defensive move that stopped a score.

God, he loved so many things about her in such a short amount of time and keeping their relationship strictly business was killing him, especially when she cast longing glances at him. That definitely killed him.

Regardless, he was here for hockey, not for any other reason.

* * * *

Lauren sat in her office the next morning after four hours of sleep, her fingers wrapped around a strong cup of French roast coffee.

They’d flown back to Florida late last night after winning game five in Montreal. Coop had been on fire, and the Giants won by a score of 2-1. One more win and they’d advance to round two. Wow. Imagine that. Round two of the playoffs for a team not given a chance of even making the playoffs at all. Cooper and Cedric carried the team on their broad shoulders and inspired their young goaltender to reach new heights. Brick possessed this unique instinct, prized in goalies, of knowing where the puck was heading before the shot was taken. He’d made a few mistakes, but not a lot.

She was exhausted, but sleep hadn’t been an option. She couldn’t stop all the thoughts ping-ponging around in her brain—Ethan, Cooper, the team, her father, and everything else related to Ethan and the team. Sure, she had misgivings, but she wanted to trust Ethan, believe he only wanted the best for the team. Yet Ethan was just a middle man for nameless/faceless billionaires who’d control this team’s fate. No one could be worse than the Sleezers, and she had to keep reminding herself of that fact. Unless they uprooted the team.

Rubbing her bloodshot eyes, she stared at the headlines on the hockey sites. The wildcard Giants were gaining the attention of the entire NHL.

Kaley waltzed into Lauren’s office and dropped some mail on her desk. “Great game last night, huh?”

“Oh, yeah. Incredible.” Lauren sat back and massaged the back of her neck. It didn’t help ease the tension. “How’s it been back here, holding down the fort for all of us?”

Concern flashed in Kaley’s eyes and put Lauren on instant alert.

Lauren sat up quickly. “What is it?”

Kaley didn’t look her in the eye. Instead she stacked and restacked the mail into a tidy, little pile.

Alarm rose in Lauren. Kaley didn’t usually let shit get to her, yet something obviously had.

Her friend abandoned the pile of mail and met Lauren’s gaze, her own deeply troubled. “I picked Brad up at the airport last night.”