Page 44 of Out of Bounds

“So your grand idea is to parade them around like the prize-winning pig at the county fair?”

“I spoke with Heather—”

“Oh, of course,” Jonah said, cutting her off for what felt like the hundredth time. Felicity’s skin heated as her anger boiled up inside her again. This was not fucking happening. “You want to hold it in that questionable establishment.”

“Jonah,” she snapped, her resolve disappearing. He’d managed to find her last nerve and was happily dancing right on top of it. She could feel tears starting to form in her eyes, her emotions having nowhere else to go. There was no way she could say what she really wanted to. It would make her look unprofessional, like she couldn’t handle the role. Not that crying would be any better. But at this point, she’d had enough. She’d fought hard to get here and was just as qualified as anyone else at this table. She deserved to have her voice heard.

“Are you really, seriously presenting this idea?” Jonah continued, ignoring her. “This has to be one of the most ridiculous proposals I’ve heard. This is why having a woman in charge of these things is a bad idea. You don’t understand our target demographic—”

“Would you just shut the fuck up?” Gunnar exclaimed. “Let the lady fucking finish a sentence, would ya?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re excused,” Gunnar replied, his face stone still. “No, I take that back. You’re not. You need to learn some fucking manners. You have done nothing but interrupt this entire meeting. Felicity was speaking, and I don’t believe she was done telling us her idea. So just sit there with your mouth shut, would ya?”

Jonah sat there, slack-jawed, staring back at Gunnar. Felicity had never seen anyone put Jonah in his place like that, and it sent a thrill rushing through her. The look on Gunnar’s face was a mix of annoyance and pride, as he stared right back at Jonah, silently challenging him to test out what would happen if he didn’t comply. Felicity’s heart squeezed as he turned and looked at her, his eyes full of apology. She just didn’t know if it was on behalf of Jonah or himself.

Blinking rapidly to fight back the wetness in her eyes, she gave him a grateful smile. For as much of a dumbass as he’d been this morning, watching him come to her defense made her melt a little inside. Gunnar was the one who put a stop to it and campaigned for her to be able to have her moment. There was no way for him to know the hurt she was feeling. To know how betrayed she’d been feeling since her father listened to Jonah the other night at the table instead of her, and how much it stung to know he’d helped Jonah and not her with the project. Yet, Gunnar was the one to put a stop to it.

Maybe he did get it.

“Felicity, please continue,” Gunnar said, the corner of his mouth turning upward in an apologetic smile. “I like where you were going with this. What else did you have in mind?”

Her heart squeezed again, this time joined by her stomach doing some kind of somersault at the sound of his voice. He liked her idea? She knew him well enough at this point to know that he wouldn’t just say that, so for him to put it out there in front of the rest of the board must mean that he really did believe in her and her idea.

And right now, that meant everything.

“It’s simple. A bachelor auction featuring the players from the Rising, and maybe one or two of the staff at Bunz. Research shows that this kind of event can really garner some major donations. Plus, they are a lot of fun. After talking with Heather, she said that we could host it at Bunz, and that she would run specials during the events that would also contribute to donations. Devlin, one of the servers, suggested a number of different local organizations that we could host the night in benefit of, which I think would help garner more interest than supporting one of the big national charities.”

“What would be the expectations of the players?” Cowboy asked, looking up from the packet he’d been flipping through. “Date wise.”

“Nothing outrageous,” she assured him. “If this is something that we want to proceed with, we can even ask the players what their comfort levels would be. We could make it a two-hour date of their choosing. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a traditional date either. Maybe they offer up their services for help around the house or something.”

“Well, if she’s hot enough, I’ll certainly offer up my services,” Cowboy joked as laughter spread through the table again. “I agree, I think this would be a great introduction of the players to the city.”

The murmurs around the table seemed to point toward everyone agreeing with Cowboy’s statement, making Felicity feel pretty damn good about herself. She knew this event could be huge, and she was thrilled at the potential to bring it to life. The disdainful pout that was on Jonah’s face wasn’t half bad either. She’d been waiting for a moment to be able to show him up for years, and now that it was here, it felt better than she could have expected, and yet, still felt lacking.

* * *

Irritation still ran through him, but Gunnar couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride as he watched the incredibly subtle smile that played with Felicity's lips for the rest of the staff meeting. It was one that he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have noticed even just a few days ago, but now that he’d been given a glimpse into the inner workings of her mind, he couldn’t miss it. A battle still brewed within him, though, his temper still on edge from the confrontation he’d had with Felicity. He was still pissed at her reaction to him. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if she would have been standoffish to him regardless of his actions this morning. But he also knew she was right; he shouldn’t have tried anything with the others around. She’d let her guard down and let him in last night, and he repaid that by acting like a jackass. Nonetheless, she didn’t have to close ranks so quickly on him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement at the far end of the table, bringing him back to reality. People were gathering their things, signifying the meeting was over. He hoped nothing important was discussed, because he hadn’t heard anything anyone had said since Felicity had stopped speaking.

The glare on Jonah’s face as he stood from the table almost made him want to laugh. Did this punk really think that a look like that was going to scare him? Gunnar didn’t care who Jonah thought he was, treating someone like that was uncalled for. The fact that it was Felicity only pissed Gunnar off that much more.

“You hungry?” Cowboy asked him as they walked out of the conference room.

“I was just planning on grabbing something on the way to the training center. Plan is to spend the afternoon with the goalies. Liam is looking pretty good, but I want to make sure he’s unstoppable.”

“Did you talk to Felicity yet about an English tutor for Cardoza?”

“No,” he said, cursing himself for forgetting. “Totally slipped my mind. Let me go grab her while I’m thinking of it.”

He turned the corner to head to her office, half-excited for an excuse to talk to her and half-worried that she was going to try and castrate him all over again. Slowing his steps, he ran through the different ways to start this conversation. He didn’t need a repeat of this morning.

“Hey, got a minute?” he asked, knocking on Felicity’s open door.

She whipped around, a surprised look on her face as her eyes met his. He couldn’t help but notice that her eyes were glassy as she forced a smile onto her face, like she’d been fighting back tears. A pang of longing hit him, his whole body aching to pull her to him, despite the anger he still felt. He had no idea what it was about Felicity Sutherland, but there was a magnetic force around her pulling him in, and she was quickly becoming a bit of an Achilles’ heel.