“Yes!”
“No!”
“Yes, Penny! Shit, you should know that. You have a damn profile for every player!”
“No!” Her voice grew increasingly louder. “That can’t be! I know I’ve been in South America for the last few years and don’t have all the info, but I know all the Hawks players! And you’re not one of them! I have their profiles, all the pictures and names. I’ve memorized the damn roster! I know all the stats, all the faces, and I even know every damn relationship status! And you’re not on the roster! Lists don’t lie, Jack!”
“I’mnew, Penny. Traded a few months ago! They must have forgotten about me. But shit, believe me, I play for the Hawks and your damn father signs my paychecks!”
“Oh God!” The blood drained from her face. “But we have…and you are…and I am…”
“I know!”
“No!” she whispered desperately. “I don’t even have the job yet and I’ve already slept with a player? Jack…the hockey player?”
“West. Jack West,” he stated harshly.
“Oh no!” she shouted again. With one hand on her forehead and the other pressed to her stomach, she stared at him. “You’re in Dax Temple’s profile! He hates you.”
Man, the list was really out of date. Dax was over that. Granted, not enough to say they were brothers in public. But, hey, one step at a time!
“Dax doesn’t hate me,” he clarified because, for some reason, it was important to him. “Damn, you look like you’re about to have a panic attack.”
“Oh, I am!” she squeaked. “Because my mom and dad – and probably my brother too! – will only see this as confirmation that I’m unprofessional. That I’ve been playing jungleadventurerfor too long, and I am completely incapable of running a hockey team. Oh, what am I saying? Itisunprofessional. I sexually harassed you!”
He snorted. “If anything, we harassed each other.”
“It doesn’t matter! I’m your boss!”
“Not yet.”
“Semantics.”
“Maybe your brother will get the team!”
“No! I don’t think so. We always wanted to share it and… Oh my God, you lied to me!” Her eyes widened. “I asked you yesterday if you were a hockey fan and you said,you could say that!”
He shrugged nervously. “Well, you could say that, couldn’t you?”
“You’re aprofessional hockey player!”
“Exactly. What I feel about hockey goes way beyond fandom.”
“Oh God.” She ran her fingertips through her hair, pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes, and shook her head. “Oh God, oh God, oh God…”
He fought a smile. “Now you sound like last night.”
She jerked her hands away from her face and pointed a finger at his chest. “This isn’t funny, Jack! This is a disaster!”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said in the most reassuring tone possible. Since the initial shock had passed, his brain was now functioning. “Honestly, Penny, no one needs to know.” He would also be screwed if it got out and that annoyed him immensely. The first time he broke his celibacy rule during the season…and this was the consequence.
“These things always come out!” she said, panicking. “Always.”
No, they didn’t. For ten years, he had kept it a secret that he and Dax were brothers. He had practice. “They don’t have to!” he said urgently, stepping forward and gripping her shoulders tightly. “Honestly. As long as we don’t repeat last night, no one has to know it even happened. No one saw us. No one heard us. We didn’t even know who the other was or what we were doing. So, let’s just erase last night from our lives.”
“Okay.” She nodded, gnawed on her lower lip, and nodded again. “Sure. You’re right. No one knows anything happened. Only the two of us. And that’s how it’s going to stay. No one needs to know about this. No one…”
There was a knock on the apartment door.
