Chapter 4
Roman
My eyes go to the round clock on the locker room wall the minute I step inside, and it confirms what I already figured.
I’m late to practice.
Again.
Pavel Alogrin pushes past me in a rush, giving me a brief “What’s up?” He’s late as well, but he doesn’t make it a habit, so I’m sure he’ll be forgiven.
As it stands now, I’m totally going to get the evil eye from Coach Pretore. Fortunately I can usually get that look to die down before the end of practice, because I work my ass off for this team. Every time I put on my practice jersey, I play as if it I were in a Stanley Cup final game.
Not bragging. It’s just that I don’t know how to do anything half-assed.
Except, well…being on time.
It’s a fault for sure, but one I think they should forgive me, since I have so many more things in the plus column as a Cold Fury member. And Coach will forgive me for sure. Gray Brannon…probably not, since I’m already on her shit list. Luckily, general managers do not attend practices, and as long as Pretore doesn’t tell her I’m late again, she’ll never know. I’ll just make sure to superiorly impress him at this practice so he has a smile on his face when I skate off the ice.
Because I’m late, I don’t waste time going to my locker so I can get suited up. Sitting on the bench, I bend over to take off my shoes when the voice of Brian Brannon catches my attention. I tilt my head to the right toward the athletic training room as my fingers work the laces and spot the CEO and owner of the Cold Fury looking sharp in a dark charcoal gray designer suit. The training room has glass walls that separate it from the general locker area and is where the athletic trainers work on our injuries. It should be empty now, as the athletic trainers will be up on the ice with the team during practice. My fingers freeze on my laces and my attention is immediately taken by the woman with whom Mr. Brannon is talking.
The gorgeously sexy black-haired woman I spoke to briefly two days ago in the Cold Fury executive lobby. She’s leaning a curvy hip against one of the training tables, pressing one hand down into the vinyl-covered top for balance. The other hand is at her hip, with her thumb hooked through a belt loop of faded jeans with holes in the knees and rolled at the cuffs. Her top is nothing but cream-colored lace with long flowing sleeves with a cream camisole underneath, and she’s wearing Dr. Martens again. Very funky and totally out of place with Brian Brannon’s posh attire. I note, though, that the woman’s posture is relaxed and she’s listening with interest to Mr. Brannon as he explains the training room.
Now that I’m paying attention, their voices become clearer to me.
As I work one shoe off, I watch as Brian gestures with his hand around the room. “The athletic trainers work mostly in here, either attending injuries sustained during a game or practice, or doing preventative work like taping or mobility. Each AT is a certified strength coach as well, so they’ll often work with the players in the workout rooms.” He stops and points to the adjacent room, which is also walled with glass but has a pass-through door, before adding, “I’ll have you shadow Vale Campbell one day so you can watch.”
“That would be awesome,” the woman says gratefully and with an eager smile on her face. “I really appreciate you taking the time to show me all this behind-the-scenes stuff.”
“Well, it’s important,” Mr. Brannon says back to her with a smile. “You should have the opportunity—”
But he’s cut off as his phone starts ringing. His hand reaches inside his coat’s chest pocket, pulling it out, and he answers, “Brian Brannon.”
My other shoe comes off as he says into the phone, “Hang on just a moment.”
Turning to the woman, he glances at his watch and says, “I have to take this. It shouldn’t be long and I’ll finish well before we have to meet Gray. Just hang tight.”
The woman nods with a gracious smile and Brannon walks out of the training room. He doesn’t spare me a glance and heads out of the locker room, leaving me and the woman the only two people in here.
She hasn’t seen me yet but I’m about to rectify that. I push up off the bench and in five strides I’m standing in the open doorway to the training room. She has her back to me, looking at some of the rehab posters on the wall, so I’m not surprised she startles when I say from behind her, “Imagine that…running into you twice in one week.”
The woman spins around, and it’s clear she recognizes my voice, as her eyes are already bright with welcome as they make contact with my own.
“Well, if it isn’t the team troublemaker, Roman Sýkora,” she says with a grin.
I grin back at her, since she obviously knows who I am. “I will not deny that moniker. But don’t you think it’s about time I got your name? We didn’t have a chance the other day.”
Fuck, she’s totally cute when she tilts her head to the side, raises her eyes up to the ceiling, and taps a forefinger against her lips as if she’s pondering my request with great care. Then she looks back to me with a smile and takes three steps my way with her hand outstretched. “Lexi Robertson.”
Her hand is small in mine, bones slight and delicate, but her shake is surprisingly strong. Her silvery eyes with tinges of blue around the pupil sparkle at me in amusement as I refuse to let her hand go after the introduction is long dead.
“So why’s a gorgeous girl named Lexi Robertson getting a personal tour of the athletic trainer’s room from the great and powerful Brannon?”
For a second, I think I see something akin to panic flicker across her face, but then I’m completely redirected when she grips my hand tighter, showing no desire for us to break apart, then goes as far as to run a finger from her other hand across the back of mine. “I’m curious why a known troublemaker would dare be sauntering into the locker room long after the rest of the team started practice. Surely you’re not looking for more trouble?”
Fuck…she’s a flirt, and I like that too. I like it because I am as well.
At this point, I’m not sure if the “trouble” she’s referencing is the fact that I’m late or the fact that I’m bantering with a woman who potentially could be considered trouble. I’m guessing by the mischievous look in her eyes it’s the latter, and damn if that doesn’t hook me harder.
I’ve never run from trouble before and actually find myself quite at home around it.
“Well, I am indeed late for practice, but it would be totally worth it if I spent this time talking you into going out with me,” I tell her bluntly, but with a boyish grin to enhance my charm.
Her eyes sparkle even more brilliantly, and I swear the blue ringing her pupils expands outward to overtake the silver-gray. She narrows her eyes at me contemplatively. “Hmmmm. I’m what most would consider an adventurer, but I’m not quite sure I could handle the likes of you.”
“You should only believe half of what you read about me,” I advise her seriously as we still hold hands.
“So true or false?” she asks slyly. “Did that woman really try to blackmail you over that photo?”
“True,” I say unabashed.
“And was she engaged to one of your teammates?”
“Also true,” I say, and manage not to wince, because that could be a total turnoff for most women. I also press forward with some of my better qualities before she asks me about the video my ex-flavor-of-the-month posted online of me in the shower singing. The glass was frosted and you couldn’t see details of my body, but my singing is fucking awful. “But I have many good points. I work with a local golden retriever rescue organization, transporting animals when I have time and writing hefty donation checks. Doesn’t that make me an upstanding guy?”
“You get chronically ejected from games for underhanded hits,” she points out.
“But golden retrievers,” I say with an exaggerated mock whine. “Puppies…warm bundles of puppy fur. Surely that makes up for my rotten temperament on the ice, right?”
“You really are bad, aren’t you?” She laughs as she pulls her hand from mine and takes a step back. Oddly, I don’t like this, but then I’m relieved when she merely hops up onto the therapy table behind her. “Trying to bribe me with puppies.”
“Well, what else could I bribe you with to go out with me?” I ask as I step closer to her.
She crosses one ankle over the other, plants her palms on the vinyl top, and casually swings her legs back and forth. “What did you have in mind?”
My mind blanks for a moment, because I hadn’t really thought where we’d go on a date. I’d sort of jumped ahead to what would happen after the date, which I hoped might involve being naked.
“We could go out to dinner tonight,” I throw out to her. It’s classic and is easier to get to know someone a little better rather than sitting through a movie.
She shakes her head and a wave of disappointment hits me. “I have to work tonight.”
“Tomorrow night?” I counter quickly, only to remember I can’t because I have a game. “Shit…not tomorrow night. How about the night after?”
She shakes her head again. “Also have to work.”
I take a breath, let it out, and try to put things in better perspective. “Okay, let’s start with what do you do for a living and when you do have time to go out with me.”
Lexi smiles at me in amusement, and for the first time I realize she’s not falling all over herself in an effort to have a date with me. I mean, most women would skip out on work or cancel other plans to go out with me. Well, with any hockey star to be honest. But she’s just sitting back and enjoying the fact that I’m slightly flustered here.
“I work at a coffeehouse called The Grind,” she says as her legs continue to swing back and forth. “Mostly nights, but sometimes day shifts.”
I blink at her in surprise, as I’m not a coffee drinker. “You mean people actually drink coffee at night? Doesn’t that keep you awake or something?”
Lexi snorts at me and says dryly, “There are other things to drink there that don’t have caffeine in them.”
Huh? Learn something new.
“Okay, how about we do this, since I am getting to practice later and later,” I tell her as I take one more step that puts me so close, the tips of her swinging feet bump into my shins and I’m towering over her. “You give me your phone number, and we will work out a time we can go out.”
She looks up at me, still amused, but also with a tinge of attraction given the proximity of our bodies to each other. Lexi doesn’t back down or attempt to lean back, and instead tilts her chin up. “You’re awful pushy.”
“When I see something I want,” I concede in a low voice, and there’s no mistaking my meaning.
“And you want me or you want to go out with me?” she asks slyly, tilting her head to the side.
“Given how close I’m standing to you, would you kick me in my balls if I admitted both?” Her legs have stopped swinging and I inch in a little closer, which has me peering almost directly down at her as her head cranes back to look at me.
“I admire honesty,” she murmurs so softly in that sexy, husky voice that seems to flow through my body and straight down to my dick. I’m fascinated that the blue in her eyes has now constricted so tightly I see nothing but the silvery gray with tiny flecks of gold in them, and I have the strange urge to put my mouth on hers to see what she does.
“Sýkora.” I hear a terse female voice behind me and my spine stiffens involuntarily as I recognize it’s from my boss, Gray Brannon. “Practice started ten minutes ago.”
I straighten up and turn slowly to face Gray, but not before glancing at Lexi. Oddly, she’s also straightened up on the table and her back is ramrod, her face a little pale and tense. My instinct is to ask her what’s wrong, but it’s probably more prudent to face the general manager of my team and kiss her ass over yet another infraction.
“He was helping me with my contact,” Lexi blurts out from behind me, and I feel her jump off the table, coming to stand beside me. I don’t dare look down at her, but rather watch as Gray’s eyes slide from me to Lexi as her jaw goes hard. “It folded in my eye and got stuck, and I couldn’t get it out.”
It’s a blatant lie, as I was most certainly not helping her with her contact, and I know without a doubt she doesn’t wear them because I was just staring up close and personal into those gorgeous eyes. I figure Gray knows it’s a lie too, as Lexi’s eyes are clear and without irritation, and besides that…Lexi’s voice was shaking as she told that whopper of a story to cover my ass.
Gray’s eyes cut from Lexi back to me, and she says, “I suggest you get up to practice. I also suggest you don’t forget our talk from the other day.”
And thus is my cue to exit and exit fast. I’m skating on thin ice with Gray—no pun intended—and I need to try to keep my nose semiclean at the very least. Any hope of getting Lexi’s number right now evaporates, because on the off chance Gray fell for her lie about me helping out with her contact, I can’t diminish that perception by letting her in on the fact I was really asking for a date.
So I merely look down at Lexi and say, “It was great meeting you. Hope your eye feels better.”
I can see the amusement dancing in her eyes, but she very solemnly nods her head and says, “It was nice meeting you too, Mr. Sýkora.”
I nod slightly to Gray, then push past her to head back to my locker. I’m still close enough when I hear Gray say to Lexi in a voice that sounds chilly, “I’m a little bit early and my dad had to go back up to his office for something. We’ll meet him up in the executive suite.”
Definitely chilly. Maybe even icy, and it makes me wonder what their relationship is. I’m even more perplexed when I hear Lexi say just as I reach my locker, “It’s really nice to finally meet you, Gray.”
This shocks me, as I just assumed they knew each other, since Lexi was with Gray’s father earlier. I also assumed this because Gray’s first words to Lexi were not a formal greeting, which also implied they knew each other. The fact that Lexi just introduced herself to Gray is really weird, and my curiosity gets the better of me. I turn back around to look at the two women.
Lexi’s hand is outstretched toward Gray with an almost pleading look on her face. Gray’s back is to me, so I have no clue what her expression looks like, but she doesn’t make a move to shake Lexi’s hand, and there’s no doubt it’s an awkward moment.
Finally, she raises her arm stiffly and wordlessly offers a very hard, brisk shake to Lexi. Gray then turns toward the door, now facing me, and I see nothing but uncertainty and confusion on her face, two emotions I would have bet were not a part of her repertoire.
It appears she’s being very guarded with Lexi and I have to wonder why. Just in my two short interactions with her, I found her to be outgoing, fun, and free-spirited, which makes it sort of hard to hold yourself in reserve with a person like that.
It’s a good thing I know where Lexi works, and an even better thing I don’t have any plans tonight. I might not like coffee, but I’m sure there’s something there I can drink, and perhaps get a few minutes with her and ask for her phone number so we can actually arrange to go out.