AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, no,” she says, but she doesn’t move from the spot. Then it hits me—she wants to meet the famous bad boy Mason Raker whenever he chooses to grace us with his presence.
I suppress an eye roll. He can flirt all he wants— on his own time.
“Well, see you in half an hour when we’re ready for the tour,” I say politely, and I stand there until she utters an irritated hmph, and walks off.
I hope Mason doesn’t keep me waiting too long, I think, as I carry the bag over to the table.
But I’m assuming that he will. I brought a book about hockey,Beauties: Hockey’s Greatest Untold Stories, because I am on a mission to eat, breathe, and dream hockey in preparation for being named as the new lead publicist for the Rovers.
Think positive, my mother always told me. Dream it and you’ll be it.
As I set my purse down on the table, I hear a little clinking sound and smile. Ruby, my younger sister, is so sure I’ll get the publicist job that she bought me a personalized metal tumbler that says “Congratulations on your promotion. I definitely sort of thought maybe you’d get the job.” The wording wraps all the way around the mug.
I love my little sister, and I very rarely give in to the temptation to grab her, pin her, and give her a noogie. Not as often as she deserves, that’s for sure.
I settle into my seat, idly betting with myself that he’ll be at least half an hour late.
Then again, it seems like everyone bets against Mason.
It’s been a few days since the Bambi incident, and I kind of wonder what it’s like to know that most people only want to get near him because they want something from him. I mean, Bambi hadn’t even wanted to spend a single hour chit-chatting. All she wanted was a notch on her bedpost, the opportunity to brag that she’d banged a famous hockey player.
I think I’d feel kind of lonely if I were him.
A door on the far end of the room bangs open, and I let out small shriek, startled. Mason walks out, and I realize that he actually beat me here. He was just in the restroom.
As he swaggers towards me, all sex and smug confidence, my feelings of pity evaporate in a puff of mist. He needs no one’s sympathy. The scornful curl of his upper lip tells me he plans to unleash all kinds of hell on me today.
Well, Mama didn’t raise no pushover.
Right back at you, I think.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” I say.
He walks over and settles into a seat a few chairs down, with a lazy smile.
“Hello, strawberry. You’re looking less buttoned-down than you did the last time I saw you working.” He nods at me, glancing at my pink polka-dotted puff-sleeve flare dress, matched with low-heeled pink pumps. I accessorized with pink pom-pom dangle earrings and chunky plastic pink bangles.
I shrug, feeling a tiny sting of defensiveness. “It’s a fun look for the kids,” I say “Also, why am I strawberry?”
He’s already looking bored, studying his fingernails. “Strawberry blonde.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Trust you to reduce a woman to her component parts.”
He snorts. “Thanks for making me sound like someone from aDatelinespecial. ‘He was an ordinary guy. Quiet, kept to himself. Seemed so harmless.’”
I reach for the bag and unzip it. “You’re none of those things.”
“I’m making note of the official date and time you called me extraordinary.” He glanced down at the bag. “That’s a lot of Rovers swag you brought with you.”
I smile at him, my eyes glinting with happiness at what’s about to unfold. “Sure is. Oh, and thanks for showing up on time, actually early; that was unexpected.”
You’ll need the extra time to put on the clown suit.
“No problem. My father drilled punctuality into me from a young age. One of the few things I’m glad to have learned from him.” His eyes cloud over at the mention. Interesting reaction. His father was a billionaire commercial real estate broker; I’ve done my research on Mason over the past few days. And it seems he maybe has some daddy issues?
Then again, don’t we all.
Soft music pumping through the air temporarily distracted me, and I flicked an annoyed look at the speaker hanging from the ceiling.
