Chapter Two

I’m sitting in my office looking over the ice and class schedules for the week. I see that Cooper has six days scheduled, all at three a.m. His agent told us that he wants to make sure he’s in and out before people know he’s here. So far the only people who know he’s rehabbing here is my staff of six and, of course, my kids.

After I got off the ice, I made my way upstairs, changing into my jeans. I’m telling you not only did I lose one hundred ninety pounds of dead husband weight, I also lost the extra twenty pounds I had floating around my body. It does help that I’m now skating and can say hello abs. Okay, it’s only two, but it’s better than none. I’m now wearing a black T-shirt that molds to my chest. Luckily for me, my boobs remained big no matter how much weight I lost.

Standing up from my desk, I walk over to the window that faces the inside of the arena. My view from the office is of the ice rink below, which is now filled with three and four-year-olds learning to skate. Another thing I added to the program list once I took over.

To the right I see the gym area, and my gaze lands on Cooper’s as he reaches up while he does chin ups. His shirt lifts a bit, showing me his bottom stomach. Holy fuck, is that a V? Holy shit, he does have a fucking V that women lust over. Of course he does, he has to. It makes up for the fact that his penis is small. At least that is how it is in my mind.

The good thing about these windows is that no one can see I’m standing here gawking at them. So he has no idea I’m standing here watching him.

I’m waiting for him. I know he’s coming. It’s going to be my absolute pleasure to let him know that he can take his shitty attitude and find somewhere else to train. It’s going to fuck up my budget, ruining my plans to add another rink, but I won’t let him get away with treating me or my staff members like shit.

A knock has me turning around just as Cooper walks in the door. He didn’t even wait for an answer. Figures. I can tell he is surprised to see me.

“I guess Parker isn’t in?” he asks with a snarl. Oh. This. Is. Going. To. Be. Fun.

“Actually, I am in, as you can see. I’m sorry we weren’t properly introduced before. I’m Parker Moore, and you must be Cooper Stone.” I go to him with my hand extended to shake his. He doesn’t answer or even try. He puts his hands on his hips. Okay, this conversation is going to go more quickly than I thought.

“So, Mr. Stone, as we discussed earlier, I have an email conversation between your agent and myself. I went back just to make sure I didn’t misunderstand the time we were scheduled to meet. I’ve taken the liberty of forwarding it to you again, just to make sure you get it. A second time. In this email you will notice that I said I would be here to open the door at three a.m.. I’m very sorry if you were under the impression that I would get here forty-five minutes before that time to open the door so your highness can get dressed. I’m also sorry that you see my establishment as ‘unprofessional.’ I will be more than happy to assist you in finding other alternatives to help you in your recovery.” I don’t even give him a chance to speak “I have also emailed you my recommendations. If you want to finish out the week, that is fine, but I believe you won’t be happy either way. So, for that, I apologize yet again for making you waste your time.” I stand up straight, waiting for him to shoot me back with something, but he does the complete opposite.

“I’ll be here tomorrow at three. See you then,” he practically yells, then storms out of my office, slamming my door on his way out.

My fucking door. I want to kick my desk. If I wasn’t afraid of hurting myself, I would have, but instead I go to my phone and call my person.

“Lunch?” I don’t even think it came out as a question but more so an order.

“Sure thing. Meet you at Overtime at noon?”

“Yeah, perfect. See you there. It’ll be five o’clock somewhere, so prepare for booze.”

For as long as I could remember, every single one of my memories have Meghan in it. She is my go-to, my person. It also helps that she is related to me. She has no choice but to accept me for who I am. She has been there through everything. She helped me sew a voodoo doll when I arrived home from surprising James. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it didn’t work because James still has his penis intact.

I pull into the parking lot of Overtime. I am over tired, grumpy, and fucking aggravated. After placing the phone call to Meghan, I had to sit down with my dad, informing him of the morning’s scene. I also went down to speak to Adam, making sure everything was okay. I was shocked to find out Cooper was so polite with him. Of course he was. He must be a chauvinist pig. Scared of my vagina?

I also spent a good amount of time stalking him on Google. I was looking for anything they had on him, which wasn’t much. He was completely off social media. He usually didn’t give interviews unless it was about the game. Not one picture of a girlfriend. Gasp, maybe he’s gay? What a fucking loss for the vagina team.

I walk in, taking in the regular people who hang out here. Larry, Curly, and Moe are all sitting at the bar. Okay, that really isn’t their names, but that is what everyone calls them.

Straining my neck left and right looking for Meghan, my eyes land on the blue ones from this morning. His baseball cap hides his hair. Honestly why, why the fuck is he here?

Now I’m stuck. Do I ignore him or be the bigger person? My grandmother and her manners are practically yelling at me in my head. I huff, head his way, hoping to finally spot Meghan, but all I see is him.

“I didn’t think you would socialize with the locals,” I say, trying to be funny and quirky.

“Funny how you made sure you’re on time for lunch.” His humor very dry.

I finally snap. “Oh, please, will you knock it off? I wasn’t late.” I don’t have to be nice to him when we are out of the rink. His lips curl up on one side like he’s going to smile, but he’s interrupted when Meghan literally throws herself in the empty chair in front of him.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were bringing a date.” She smiles and wiggles her eyebrows.

I want to reach over and smack it off her fucking face. “I’m not here with him...Meghan, meet Cooper Stone. Cooper Stone, meet my pain in the ass cousin. Also soon to be replaced best friend,” I say with my teeth biting together.

She reaches out to shake his hand. I’m waiting for her to be denied, because this man has no common courtesy. Shockingly he puts his hand out, smiles, and has the audacity to say, “So nice to meet you.”

I whip my head around so fast I may have given myself whiplash. “What the fuck is your problem?” I stare at him.

Meghan’s mouth hangs open. “Okay, how many cups of coffee have you had?” She turns her head to look at Cooper. “She is usually the social butterfly. She is probably having a bad day, excuse her.” She gets up, ushering me away from him before I say something else, shoving me into the booth.

“What the fuck was that?” she whispers.

I shake my head, proceeding to tell her about my morning run-in with jerk face. Rolling my eyes, I know it’s childish, but I don’t care.

She smiles at me like she’s a cat that caught a canary. “You like him.”

My mouth quickly shuts. “What did you just say to me?” My brows draw together in shock that she would jump to that conclusion. I’ve just basically told him to go fuck himself. Surely she knows the difference between flirting and hatred!

“You like him. You haven’t been that into someone since douchebag fucked you over.”

I stare at her, thinking I’m in some parallel universe. I’m watching the world go crazy. “Are you out of your mind? That wasn’t like, it was loathing. It was ‘I would rather cut my arm off and eat it before sharing a meal with him’.” Anger rises within me. I was supposed to be here with her drinking and making fun of him. Not discussing my lust for him! Wait a minute, I don’t lust for him. Jesus, I need to get laid.