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“Smart lady,” I say. “I can only image how that conversation went with Coach.”
“I’m surprised you call her by her nickname,” he says. “Only players call her Coach. I don’t think I’ve ever used that name with Charlie.”
“That’s how she introduced herself to me. My dad calls her Coach, and so does his team.”
“Oh, right. Your dad is the general manager.” He drops the remote on the coffee table and picks up a controller, giving it to me before he clutches the other one in his hand.
I take it from him with a smile, because I love that he could care less about my father and his star power. “It must be weird to have a woman like Coach as your best friend.”
“It’s not so bad. Charlie is like my sister. But no one ever believed us until Alex had come along. Everyone would assume we were dating, and we never corrected them. Charlie liked it that way because that kept some of her clients from hitting on her.”
“I see it didn’t work with Alex,” I say, laughing. “I’m not all that surprised either. He asked me out years ago.”
Jamie scoots closer, the controller still in his hand, with a curious look on his face. “This is a story I need to hear. Please tell me you turned him down.”
I blow out a puff of air as I chuckle. “Of course, I did. Alex was such an arrogant asshole. He had the nerve to make some reference to my dad being a hall of famer, and how that must mean I know how to score.”
“Oh, my God.” Jamie bursts into laughter, having a mirroring effect on me. “Keep going. I have to tell Charlie about this. Alex will never live it down. He’s been harassing me about being the man-of-honor for weeks now.”
“Well,” I begin, “I guess you can say that Alex isn’t as smooth as he thinks. He was rude, arrogant, and a complete pig. My dad had introduced us at an event. I got bored, as I normally do at these sports fundraisers, and a few hours later, he found me outside. What a mess. Alex was completely hammered and spilled his drink on me. Then, he had the nerve to run that line on me, as if it would ever work.”
Jamie is laughing so hard he snorts. And it’s cute. “What did you say?” He chokes out.
“I told him to hit the road and to go find a puck bunny to hook up with. After knowing who my father is, I would’ve thought that would have deterred him. Not Alex. He was so damn persistent.”
“That sounds like Alex. He was the same way with Charlie. I wanted her to run, but she felt sorry for him because of his drinking and his father’s death and everything. She was able to relate to him on a different level.”
“You two are very close. Do you get wrapped up in her business a lot?”
“No, not at all. Just the occasional event here and there. That’s why I was there today. We coach little league basketball together, and I come to some of the sporting events with Charlie, but for the most part, I don’t get involved all that much with her work. I’m sure it’s a lot worse to have a dad who’s a famous hockey player.”
“It’s like being stuck in the shadow of someone else,” I confess. “I can never fully break away from his legacy.”
“But you chose to work for him. Is that not what you want?”
I shrug. “Yes and no. I wanted to be close to my dad. That’s a big reason why I took the job. I grew up around professional athletes, and I love the sport. But I don’t work directly for my dad or the Flyers. I handle all the event planning and public relations for the building. Like you, I have a team, so it’s not all that bad, but I almost never get a break.”
“Same here,” Jamie says, raising the controller in his hand. “Some people would call this fun, but they have no idea how much work it requires to make a game that people actually want to play.”
“Maybe we should get to it,” I say, finding his intense gaze too much to bear.
When Jamie looks at me, it’s as if he actually sees Regan, the woman who likes sports and video games. The person who takes her job seriously and wants to be seen as an individual. The woman who is trying desperately to break free from her father’s legacy. It’s the first time in years that anyone has seen me as anything other than the daughter of hockey royalty.
I am able to be myself around Jamie. So, it’s no surprise when we start playing the game that I find myself scooting closer to him on the couch. With our eyes trained on the game and players popping out from different vantage points on the screen, I try to focus on staying alive. But the heat that radiates between our bodies sets my skin on fire, making it hard to do anything but think about Jamie.
Of course, his team wins the first round. I smack him playfully in the arm. “No fair. You know all the tricks.”
He chuckles, quick to catch my arm before I’m able to pull back from him. Dropping the remote in his lap, he stares into my eyes and runs his
thumb over my skin. “I won fair and square.”
There’s nothing fair about what he’s doing to me right now. What he’s doing between my legs. This is war.
Staring down at his fingers, I let out the breath of air I hadn’t realized I was holding. He still hasn’t let go of me. But I haven’t moved either. And I don’t want to. We share a moment, one that’s short-lived, because his cell phone rings so loudly that it snaps us out of the trance we were under.
After Jamie releases my hand, he reaches into his pocket, slides his finger across the screen, and holds the phone up to his ear to answer. It’s a work call. I can tell by the way he speaks to the person on the other end. A yes, sir and no, sir here and there gives away the fact. He rambles off details about the game and uses computer jargon that makes zero sense to me.
The entire time, I watch him and study his movements. I like how he uses his hands to emphasize certain words, the way his hair dark falls into his eyes when he jerks his head forward and nods. He keeps his hair short, though some of it rests on his forehead, and it’s the longer strands he has to push away from his face.
