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“They’ve sweetened the pot. A lot.”
Daniel’s grip on his phone tightened and he sank onto the edge of the bed. Not till this very moment did he realize how badly he wanted Houston to win fair and square so he could make Paige happy. “What have they got?”
“The city council has approved a bond for a new stadium.”
So far that didn’t rock the boat. A lot of cities had promised that.
“A new light rail line has been prioritized to the top of their infrastructure schedule, dropping passengers at the door of the new stadium.”
He nodded. That was good, but not earth shattering.
“The list of tax breaks is as long as my arm. Daniel, the penny a year lease agreement for the first five years alone will be a nice chunk of change for salaries. The whole package should be in your email by now.”
Way ahead of his boss, Daniel had already accessed his email and was quickly scanning the city’s updated proposal. His boss wasn’t exaggerating. Daniel felt the blood rushing from his head.
So far, Paige and the Barons aside, Houston was sitting pretty to win the spot despite the downside of hurricane season overlapping much of the hockey season. As of five minutes ago, they’d been bumped into second place. What was he going to tell Paige?
Chapter Thirteen
Paige couldn’t be more excited to see Daniel again than a kid on Christmas morning hoping for a new bicycle. They’d talked on the phone, but she could hear a strain in his voice. At first she’d feared he’d fallen into the cliché,out of sight out of mind, but she quickly realized what she was hearing was the stress from the whole process.
Though she would have preferred their first encounter to have been just the two of them, he insisted on needing to speak to her and the Governor. Clearly, he had news of the teams move, but good or bad, nothing could squelch the excitement of seeing him again face to face.
Peeking between the curtains for a glimpse of his car coming down the road, she hadn’t moved for some time.
“Boy, you really do have it bad.” Her brother’s voice carried over her shoulder.
She let go of the curtain and spun around to face him. “Shh. Someone will hear.”
Like a little boy who had spilled the beans, his shoulders hunched up and his face scrunched into the cutest of apologetic expressions. “Sorry. Didn’t realize it was supposed to be a secret.”
Only the sound of gravel crunching outside stopped her from rolling her eyes at her brother. Just short of a full on run, she hurried to front door, swinging it open at the same moment Daniel’s fingers inched toward the door bell. “Hi.”
A sweet sloppy grin took over his face. “Hi.”
“Oh, brother.” Mitch almost groaned from behind them. “I’ll be waiting for you with the Governor in his office.”
Daniel closed the distance between them and before she could get in another word, his mouth came down on hers. All the weight of her feelings had her falling hard against him. Folded in the warmth of his arms, she’d never felt more…more.
A throat cleared behind them and Paige realized that Daniel had picked her up off the floor and her legs had wrapped around his waist. They fit together so perfectly well. They were definitely meant to be.
The Governor banged his cane on the hardwood floor. “I have a meeting with the rest of the Houston committee in thirty minutes. There’ll be plenty of time for reunions later.”
As her grandfather walked away, she slowly slid to her feet. “Missed you.”
“Ditto.” His hand latched on to hers, and he leaned in for a short, sweet, and quick peck on the lips. “But we need to get moving. We don’t want your grandfather sending the Marines after us.”
Still holding hands, they hurried into the Governor’s office and took seats beside Mitch.
“I hear the final reports are in.” The Governor glanced up from his place behind the massive desk.
His expression stone-faced, Daniel nodded.
“And it’s not looking good for Houston at the moment.”
Daniel’s expression crumpled into one of confusion.
The Governor almost smiled at Daniel’s reaction, almost. “My man, one doesn’t have as many years as I have under my belt without having made friends along the way.”
