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“With your hands?” I looked at them, horrified. “It might bite you or something.”
Killian glanced around the room. They both wore their practice pants and T-shirts, and Liam pulled his T-shirt over his head.
“We can trap it in my shirt,” he said, walking to one end of the drink station.
“Be careful,” Keri said in a small voice. “That thing might gnaw your face off.”
Liam gave her an amused glance. “We’ve got it, don’t worry.”
One of Liam’s arms was covered in a dark sleeve tattoo, and his skin glistened with moisture. All three of my employees were staring openly.
Killian pulled his T-shirt over his head, and I couldn’t help staring myself. He had several small tattoos on the top of his chest. Every one of his arm and chest muscles was defined and I swallowed hard, forcing my eyes away.
They both took a goaltender’s stance at the ends of the drink station, and I couldn’t resist a small grin. This puck was going to be fast and furry, but hopefully it wouldn’t be flying through the air.
The janitor swept a broom handle beneath the reclaimed buffet and a blur of gray emerged out Liam’s end. He jumped on it, covering the rat, which was enormous, with his shirt. He enclosed it and picked it up.
The bundle in his shirt was squirming and squealing, and I looked over at Keri. She was pale and appeared on the verge of passing out.
“Get it out of here,” Killian said.
“I’ll take it to the alley.” Liam walked out the doorway and a collective sigh of relief sounded around the room.
“Barb, can you call an exterminator?” I asked. “We need to have this place treated.”
Killian went to Barb’s desk and offered Keri a hand. She took it and he helped her down.
“I’m so sorry, Sid,” she said.
I waved a hand dismissively. “It’s nothing. You alright now?”
She nodded. “I think I’ll go down and watch practice for a bit if you don’t mind. Just getting out of this office will help. I’ll be okay when I get back.”
Killian cocked his head at me, tilting it toward the open doorway. I followed him into the hallway, hoping he didn’t plan to continue our argument from the other night.
“You want one of my T-shirts?” he asked. “I’d give you this one, but it’s sweaty.”
I looked down at my brown-stained sweater. I kept extra clothes in my New York office, but hadn’t gotten around to bringing anything here.
“That’d be nice. I’d go home and change, but I have a meeting at eleven.”
“I’ll bring one up.”
I fell into step beside him. “I can just come down with you. Thanks for the save, by the way.”
He glanced over and grinned. “No problem. I take it that was Keri who screamed?”
“Yeah. She’s mortified by the whole thing, I can tell.”
“That scared the shit out of me. I thought someone was up here hurting you guys or something. I took my skates off in about five seconds.”
His concern and chivalry warmed me. I’d never had a man run to my rescue. Mostly because I’d never needed it, but he didn’t know that. I would’ve caught the rat myself. It wouldn’t have been the most pleasant part of my day, and it probably would’ve involved putting a bucket over it until an exterminator arrived, but I would’ve taken care of it.
“You weren’t scared of it,” he said as we walked down the concrete arena stairs.
“No.”
“What are you scared of, it not rats?”
I didn’t even have to think before answering. “Failure. That’s the only thing that scares me.”
We were at the bottom of the stairs now, and Killian stopped and looked me over. I saw admiration in his expression. “You’re something else, Sidney Stahl.”
“So are you, Captain.”
Orion came around a corner and saw us. His brow furrowed when he noticed Killian’s bare chest.
“Just helping with a rat in the office,” Killian said. “We used our shirts to catch it.”
“There’s a rat in there?” Orion eyed the shirt balled up in Killian’s fist.
“No, uh . . . Liam caught it.” Killian pulled his shirt back on over his head.
We hadn’t been doing anything wrong, so why did I feel like we’d been busted? I smiled at Orion and crossed my arms over my coffee-soaked chest, hoping nothing beneath my sweater was showing.
“The team’s looking good, Coach,” I said. “And I hope we’ll see you and Samara at the fundraiser Saturday night.”
“Oh, we’ll be there for sure . . . I have to run. I’ve got an interview to get to.”
He nodded and headed back down the hallway he’d come from. Killian and I walked the rest of the way to the locker room in silence.
“Hang on,” he said when we got to the door. He went inside and as soon as the door closed I heard him yell.
