Jordy chuckled. “Definitely.” He gave Kaira one last kiss, and she wrapped her arms tight around his waist.
“Bye, Daddy. I love you. Try to have fun!”
“Thanks, peanut. I will.”
Famous last words, he thought at the venue later as he adjusted his cuffs and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He looked significantly less pressed than he had at home.
He had arrived almost an hour ago, and he couldn’t say he was enjoying himself. The person on the door made a fuss about Jordy’s missing plus-one in a bubbling, overeager way. Then, in the main room, Jordy hoped to find a glass of water to ease his parched throat, but every time he spotted a waiter or tried to move toward the bar, someone else popped up in his space, ready to chat about the Shield’s latest and most disappointing season—which was how some people categorized any season that didn’t end in a Cup win, no matter that a Cupless end was the fate of over thirty teams every year.
Jordy had finally gotten his hands on some water, but the bartender turned out to be another armchair coach with the solution to all the Shield’s problems.
By the time he spotted the sign for the restroom, he was desperate for a break.
Dinner wasn’t for another hour. He had at least another three ahead of him before he could duck out gracefully.
Which was fine. Jordy was a big boy, and he could handle it. He took a deep breath and left the restroom… only to do an about-face when he recognized the woman walking into the ladies’ room.
Fuck. Of course Alana was here.
Jordy didn’t like to think himself a coward, but he had no intention of exchanging a single word with her. He took three long strides away from the restrooms to a small curtained-off alcove and stepped into it. He wasn’thiding. He was just taking a little time-out to get his bearings.
Except he didn’t lookintothe alcove beforehand, and he stepped on someone’s foot. “Ow,” said a familiar voice. “What the fuck.”
Jordy blinked as the man from the library—Rowan—scowled at him from a few inches away. So close together, it was hard not to notice that Rowan might actually be taller than him.
“Oh, it’s you.”
What was that supposed to mean? Flustered, Jordy opened his mouth and said, “What are you doing here?”
“Here as in the party?” Rowan gave a winsome smile, as if Jordy had not just accidentally caught him hiding in what amounted to a closet. “I was invited.” Rowan paused, placed a finger to his lip, and amended, “Ordered at stiletto-point? Coerced? I’m here at the behest of Her Majesty Gemma Bancroft, ostensibly to entertain her every whim because the rest of the table is insufferable—”
That sure was a lot of five-dollar words.
“—just because I can’t afford a thousand-dollar-a-plate dinner—”
“I meant here in this…” Jordy gestured around them. “… alcove.”
“Hiding.” Rowan deflated, then immediately puffed up again, a glint in his eye. “Wait—what areyoudoing here? At this dinner and also in this alcove?”
“I was invited.”
Rowan tilted his head. “Because…?”
Jordy hunched his shoulders. This was going to sound conceited. “The organizers asked people from the Shield to come to sell more tickets.”
To his surprise, Rowan didn’t roll his eyes. “Oh. Yeah, I can see how that would be a selling point if you’re going to spend this kind of money on dinner.” He peeked out from behind the curtain. Then he swore and plastered himself against the wall again. “So. Why are you hiding?”
You first, Jordy wanted to say. But something about Rowan’s endless talking disarmed him. Maybe he shouldn’t give the man too many excuses to talk about himself. “There’s a woman….”
“Does she bite?” Rowan asked. “I mean.” He waved a hand in Jordy’s direction. “You look like you could take her.”
As if Jordy was going to get into a physical altercation with anyone off the ice. He’d be thrown in jail immediately, and he’d deserve it. “She’s….” This was so hard to explain without using the wordstalker, which felt like overkill.Puck bunnywas pretty misogynistic. Unfortunately the alternatives, again, made him sound self-important. “Obsessed with me.”
Rowan took it in stride, one corner of his mouth quirking up as he flicked his gaze up and down Jordy’s body. “Ah. Well, at least she’s got some taste. No restraining order?”
Jordy shook his head. “It’s not dangerous or invasive or anything. Her parents have money, and she shows up to every event….” As well as some of the open practices and training-camp scrimmages. It made him uncomfortable, but she hadn’t crossed any lines. If she started showing up at Kaira’s school plays or something, he’d reconsider. “It’s just awkward.” And this conversation had become far too focused on him. “Your turn. Why are you hiding?”
Sagging against the wall, Rowan tilted his head as though to peer out from behind the curtain thing. “Same reason. Well,okay, not exactly. Do you know the fourth-richest man in Toronto? He keeps telling me his name and I keep forgetting it on purpose. Anyway, he’s very talkative.Very.And that’s coming from me, so that’s saying something. He loves a captive audience.”
