“Unprofessional?” He rolled the word around on his tongue. “You’ll have to explain that to me. How can an expression be unprofessional?”
“By insinuating that he’s seen me naked before!” she blurted out angrily.
“But I have seen you naked,” he reminded her.
“So what? We barely know each other.”
“Well, in a biblical sense, we know each other very well.”
She rolled her eyes. “Obviously, theSaint, who everyone from the league only knows as a good guy, would resort to Bible comparisons.”
“Ah, I see you’ve gotten your hands on my file.”
It had been sent to her, yes. And she knew how to use Google.
“So what? The thing about you abstaining from sex during the season wasn’t in there.”
“Man, man, man. My name is always associated with sex.” He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re obsessed with me and my skills in bed.”
That made her laugh. “I have to disappoint you. You won’t find any dirty underwear from me in your locker any time soon,” she replied calmly, raising her chin. “Although, I’m sure you get enough of those from elsewhere.”
“Ah, no. Actually, I get more bras.”
She snorted. “Of course. And I don’t want to hurt your ego, but the night wasn’t that memorable.”
Penny had expected a variety of reactions to that statement, but above all, anger and general annoyance. But he just stared at her stubbornly, his eyes expressionless, his lips pressed together, and his eyebrows slightly raised.
And then he said, “Did you really slaughter a rooster in front of hundreds of people?”
She groaned. Great. He ignored her direct attack on his masculinity, but he couldn’t get past the story about the dead bird?
“It was a statement,” she replied irritably.
“A statement of being crazy?”
Crazy. The word pierced her heart like a thousand pinpricks, just as it had for as long as she could remember.
Crazy Penny. Strange Penny. “Is that seriously Darron Clark’s daughter?” Penny. She’d heard it all before, but she’d decided ages ago that she was no longer going to justify herself for the woman she was. She wasn’t crazy or weird. She just wasn’t the norm.
“You know what? I’m leaving now,” she snapped, and this time, she didn’t have to make an effort to make her voice sound like it had been in the freezer.
She tried to push past him and out the door, but before she could turn the handle, Jack caught her wrist.
“You’re leaving this room…or Los Angeles? Because you never planned on staying long, did you?”
She opened her mouth, wanting to contradict him, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She’d confessed to him that she was a terrible liar.
“I thought so,” he replied quietly. “So. Do you want to go back to South America and forget what’s waiting for you here? Forgetting seems to be one of your favorite things to do.”
She yanked her wrist away from him, rubbed the spot that he had touched absentmindedly, and lifted her chin. Yes, he would like that. Everyone here would like that. Her parents expected her to give up. Her brother expected it. The whole damn hockey team probably expected it. It was a good thing Penny had never been great at living up to expectations.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said with dangerous calm. “And if I were you, I’d stop provoking me, otherwise, I’ll sell you as soon as I own the team. I know you think I’m sweet and kind, and a little crazy… But I’m none of those things unless I want to be.” And then she bumped her shoulder against his one last time as she walked past him into the hallway.
All those arrogant, powerful men could go to hell. She might not be the obvious choice to lead this team, but damn it, she was going to be the best.
Chapter Ten
Was it a stewardess?”
