Houston was hot and sticky, even in late February. Because the team arrived late at night, the majority of them went to bed. A few single guys decided to check out the nightlife, which was fine, just as long as they showed up tomorrow to play. Seraphina got two suites, one for her and Katella, the other for Emma and Harper. Emma researched what they could do in Houston in case their boyfriends wanted rest or time to themselves before the game and managed to find a small fair a few miles south of where the rink was located.

After breakfast that morning with Brandon at her side, kissing her shoulders and placing his hand on her thigh, Seraphina pulled him into the shower with her so he could scrub her down and bend her over and take her from behind as the warm water hit their backs and muffled their moaning. Perhaps it wasn’t the smartest decision to have sex without protection but Seraphina was on birth control and she knew Brandon didn’t have any STDs thanks to yearly testing all the players had to submit to.

He carried her to her bed and they fell asleep together for a long nap.

When they woke up, Katella was banging on their door. Brandon grunted and Seraphina groaned. She was ready to throw her pillow at her sister and shout at her to leave her alone.

“We’re going out to dinner,” Katella said through the closed door. “Wanna come?” Seraphina opened her mouth to respond when Katella cut her off. “And don’t be gross.”

Seraphina laughed. “Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?” she teased. She glanced over at Brandon, still dozing, so beautiful in the shadows. There would be plenty of time to come out publicly. Right now, she wanted to keep this to themselves for as long as they could. “We’re ordering room service, but thanks.”

“Ah, I remember those days,” Katella murmured from the other side of the door. “Never leaving the room, getting acquainted with each other.”

“You literally started dating Negan a month ago,” Seraphina called causing Brandon to chuckle from behind her.

She turned to stare at him. The lower half of his body was covered with hotel blankets while his chest and arms were completely bare for her to stare at, to take in. He was beautiful, it almost hurt to look at him.

They ordered room service and indulged once more in intimate behavior. When their food came, Brandon met the waiter at the door and wheeled the table in himself so Seraphina didn't have to worry about a stranger seeing her naked. They turned on the television and flipped through the channels until Brandon put it on the NHL network. They were replaying a recap of all the games that had happened for the day, including any tidbits and hockey news that came out.

Seraphina took a rather unladylike bite of her spaghetti before nearly choking on her food. Phil Bambridge was being interviewed after the game the Blackjacks had with the Gulls'.

"I couldn't say why Brandon Thorpe dropped gloves," he pointed out, shrugging his shoulders as he stood at the podium, looking out at a group of reporters. Seraphina scrunched her brow. She hadn't realized she had been expected to say something after the game. But then she realized that this press conference was likely called by Bambridge himself. And her heart started to pound against her chest like a clock chiming out the time in heavy steady beats. "But I can speculate. I mean, you know players, right? They get under your skin anyway they can, right? And if they get you off the ice, it's golden. And that's awesome. And that's what Stevens did. He did his job. I didn't think he would take out Thorpe, though. I mean, he's steely and focused and he's never off his game, you know?"

"He didn't answer the question," Seraphina muttered to herself, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, but what did Stevens say to disgruntled Thorpe so much?" the reporter asked.

"Did you ask Stevens?" Bambridge asked, scratching the back of his head. "And he didn't say anything? Well, it's not my place to say or to guess, you know? But it might have to do with the fact that his GM and I had dinner plans that he didn't agree with."

"You asked Seraphina Hanson on a date?" someone else called.

Seraphina felt her cheeks turn pink and Brandon tensed behind her. Even though she wasn't staring at Brandon, she could feel him narrow his eyes at the screen.

"No, no," he said, though his smile was arrogant. "I made myself very clear. I don't know how she interpreted it but I wanted to get to know all GMs. I'm the new kid in the block, you know? I'm networking." He clapped his hands together and looked away before finding a camera and smiling. "But it wouldn't surprise me if she interpreted it that way. I mean, she wore this amazing white dress that left nothing to the imagination, if you know what I mean. God, she's gorgeous. Have you seen her? I mean, if that was my boss, I'd be protective of her too."

"Are you insinuating Thorpe punched Stevens because Stevens said something about Seraphina Hanson?" somebody shouted at him.

Bambridge shrugged his shoulders but a telling smile stayed on his face.

“Like I said,” he said with a shrug.  “Who am I to say?  I’m not going to question my guys with what gets said on the ice.  That’s why I have Connelly on the bench, coaching them.  That’s his job.  But, let’s be real.  This is the first female owner slash manager the NHL has seen.  It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if feelings should happen to get involved.  She’s been around hockey her whole life, you know?  Her sister’s dated at least one player we know of and she’s rumored to have hooked up with another.  Hell, she’s probably dating someone new, probably a Gull, now, too.”

He took a minute to pause and Seraphina clenched her jaw so tightly so thought she might pop a brain vessel.  Who did he think he was, talking about her sister like that?  Like he knew her.  He didn’t know anything about them. But just because they were female, he could speak that way about them.  Would he say that about the GM from any of the Canadian teams?  For the Hollywood and Sacramento teams?

Of course he wouldn’t.  This was plain sexism and now Katella was involved and she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“This is all pure speculation,” another reporter – a female – pointed out.  “Katella Hanson has nothing to do with the original question of Stevens instigating a fight with Brandon Thorpe.”

“Technically speaking,” Bambridge said, glancing at the female reporter and giving her a charm smile.  “Thorpe started the fight.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Bambridge,” she said.  “It’s clear Stevens said something and continued to say something until Thorpe was provoked.  I know you’re new here but Brandon Thorpe doesn’t lose control like he did out there on the ice.  Something had to have riled him up for him to respond that way.”

“How do you know it was what Stevens said?” Bambridge asked, the charm smile gone from his face.  He gripped the podium so his knuckles were white and his eyes narrowed in her direction.  “How do you know it wasn’t the fact that Seraphina Hanson agreed to go to dinner with me and he got jealous?”

There was a moment of silence.  Literally, a beat of complete stillness in the room where everyone present needed time to process what Bambridge just said.

“Are you insinuating that Brandon Thorpe has feelings for Seraphina Hanson?” the female reporter asked. She sounded familiar but Seraphina couldn’t place the voice.

“Do you know if Seraphina Hanson has engaged in illicit behavior with her player?” another correspondent shouted.

“Or maybe he’s just being protective of his team’s owner?” someone else said.

“Why would Stevens even talk about Seraphina Hanson?” another reporter asked.  “I highly doubt he’s going to talk about another GM that way.  Wouldn’t that reveal misogynistic tendencies?”

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bambridge said, putting his hands up in a sort of defensive gesture. "When did this suddenly become a let's attack Stevens line of questions? Look, it doesn't matter whether or not Stevens said anything about Seraphina Hanson. What matters is the retaliation. A goalie - a calm, stoic goalie targeted my player, threatened him to fight, and had to be pried away from Stevens. Don't you think that that should be questioned? We never see goalies fighting. Patrick Roy isn't playing anymore, as far as I know. Is there something going on between Thorpe and Hanson? Possibly. Like I said, she was all over me at our date to the point where I had to remind her that this was a business meeting. I mean, yeah, she's gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but I'm here because I'm a professional. I'm not going to sleep with my fellow GMs in order to try and attain certain players."

"What?" Seraphina asked in a flat yelp.

Brandon dropped his glass of soda on the carpeted floor, spilling the dark bubbly liquid everywhere. He clenched his jaw so tightly there was a good chance he was going to cause a hemorrhage somewhere.

"That's extremely libelous," the female reporter pointed out.  

"It's not libelous if it's true, sweetheart," Phil said in a condescending tone.

"So you're telling me Seraphina Hanson made advances on you and you rejected her?" the reporter asked. "Aren't you the same man who got arrested twice for assaulting two different women?"

"What does my history have anything to do with this press conference?" Phil asked.

"What do Seraphina's looks have anything to do with her job?"

Phil made a face. "You know what?" he asked. "I'm over the feminist bullshit. I'm here to talk about what happened between Thorpe and Stevens. Do I think the fighting was excessive? Hell yeah, I do. Stevens hit the ice and Thorpe managed to get a couple of punches in while he was on the ice. That's cheap."

"So is making sexual remarks about his GM," the reporter said. "You can call it feminist bullshit all you want, Phil, but the truth of the matter is Stevens - if he did speak about Seraphina Hanson at all - would never talk about another GM the way he talked about Seraphina Hanson. That implies her sex has something to do with it."

"Of course it does!" Phil said. "Why would he talk about a male GM?"

"Do you deny there are gay hockey players?"

Phil pinched the bridge of his nose. "Who are you again?" he asked.

"Harper Crawford," she replied.

Seraphina had never been more proud of Harper than she was right now. Tears had sprung into her eyes and she was so grateful to have her friendship.

"Aren't you dating Zachary Ryan?" he asked. "You're the blogger for the Gulls', right? So your view is already skewed. Of course you would defend Brandon Thorpe."

"Brandon Thorpe isn't even going to get suspended," Harper pointed out. "Are you really standing up here, upset that a fight broke out at a hockey game between two opposing players?"

Phil glared. "I think we're done here," he said, and before anyone could say anything else, he stomped off stage.

"Thank God for Harper," Seraphina murmured to herself.

"He's lucky I'm in another state right now," Brandon said. 

Seraphina glanced over at him as she turned off the television. "Don't worry about it," she said. "Seriously." She placed her lips on his and gave him a long kiss. "I can think of a way to distract ourselves."

"Can you?" He raised his brows.

She laughed and kissed him again.