Dani: Congrats on the win.
Dani: Are you okay? What the hell happened?
Dani: Hope you aren’t injured, but you’re on the ice, so just press your face against it or something.
I snorted.
Dani: I’m heading to Tipsy with the girls. I’m not really in the mood to stay out late, but we should celebrate your win.
My chest bloomed with heat. I couldn’t wait to see her.
Chapter 13
DANI
“Thanks,” I said when Cora passed me my vodka soda. I was only going to have two max. Maybe three.
By some miracle, I had no clients tomorrow. The few scheduled had canceled, so the only plans I had were to enjoy the game and sleep in tomorrow before swinging by One Center in the afternoon after I met with Meredith.
I was excited and apprehensive about my meeting. I didn’t want anyone to think that we were getting assistance from the team just because of who I was dating, but the thought had crossed my mind more than once, so I knew it would cross others’ as well. But it was for the kids, so I kept my focus on that.
“The zoomies killed me.” Harper laughed as she clinked her beer bottle to my glass.
I smiled. Why was that man so damn adorable? He’d texted back that his face was fine and then we’d watched the media clipas soon as we’d arrived at the bar. Gabe had told reporters that he’d gotten the zoomies and overshot his jump.
“He’s annoyingly adorable,” I muttered.
“Yeah, he is,” Josie said, knocking her shoulder into mine and giving me a knowing wink. These ladies were pushing hard for me to fall for Gabe, but I didn’t want to fall for anyone right now, and if I did, a hockey player would be at the bottom of my list.
And yes, I knew it had become a mantra I continually told myself, but if I said it enough, it would come true, right? Why the hell did he have to be a damn athlete? My dating history included a few of them, and I’d been burned by them every time. I should know better than to cave so easily to his charm.
But his charm wasn’t fake, dammit. He was exasperatingly genuine.
Weirdo.
“You okay?” Cora asked.
“Yeah, just nervous about meeting with Meredith tomorrow.” It wasn’t a complete lie.
She gave me a reassuring smile. “You’re going to be awesome. It’s clear you love those kids and that’s all that matters. Plus, we like helping where we can. Win-win.”
I laughed softly. “Let’s hope so.”
“And if you ever want more bunny books for your clients or to have in the waiting room, I’m happy to supply.”
“Thank you. That’s very generous.”
She shrugged. “I don’t agree with the idea of hoarding my wealth. Can’t take it with me, so I might as well share it. I don’t see a need to be on some list of richest people or whatever and luckily, neither do my brother, Will, or Kris, so we help where we can and where it makes sense. And helping kids will always make sense.”
I didn’t miss the brief look of sadness that crossed her features. I knew a bit of her story, but only the part that hadmade it into the media. Her parents and younger brother had been killed in a plane crash when she was a teenager, and she had been raised by her older brother, Christian, who’d been a college student at the time. It couldn’t have been easy for either of them and probably had helped them become the compassionate people they were now.
“Also? Those boys have energy to burn, so if the Center needs anything built or whatever, we’ll send them over.”
I chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Let’s face it, it never hurts watching a bunch of ripped men get all sweaty building stuff.”
I smirked. “And there’s the real reason you volunteer them.” She just shrugged and clinked her glass with mine, then we chatted with the rest of the women and waited for the guys to show up.
