“No,” Penny replied lightly. “The players just don’t like me much. They think I know nothing about hockey and will ruin the team.”
“Oh, they don’t like me either, so that’s nothing special.” Freddie’s ears turned red. “And they don’t think I know anything about hockey. They think I’m a wimp.”
Penny choked on her water and coughed loudly into her hand. “Oh, come on,” she said quickly, waving it off, “I’m sure…”
“Oh, yes. I’ve heard Leon Alvarez call me that several times,” Freddie interrupted grumpily. “And he didn’t even bother to lower his voice.”
“Leon Alvarez is a complete idiot,” she said cheerfully, waving it off. Funnily enough, Leon was the guy who was haunting her mind, too, among other things – such as Jack, who was haunting her on, under, and all over her entire body. “Anyway, I was wondering, Freddie, has Leon always been a defender?”
“What?” He glanced up in surprise. “Yeah, yeah, he was drafted as one straight out of college. He has been playing defense since he was a kid, why?”
“I don’t know,” she said slowly, adjusting her napkin. She had that usual tingling feeling in her chest when she finalized a statistic and had a clear result in front of her. Leon Alvarez had scored a goal, assisted another, and was much further ahead than the other defenders 54 percent of the time. And there were his other stats, which she knew by heart! She knew themallby heart.
“Actually, we shouldn’t be talking about defenders but strikers,” Freddie said. “Has Thomas told you that he’s looking for a new one?”
She frowned. “No, this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Oh. He said he had been…” Freddie broke off.
Penny sighed. “Discussing it with Clark?” she finished his sentence. “He probably meant my brother.” Who hadn’t told her about it either. Fantastic. “So, a new striker,” she stated.
“Yep, right now we’re looking at Devreaux and Anderson.”
“They’re under contract with the Predators and the Whales, right?”
“Yes.” Freddie raised his eyebrows in surprise, but she had to give him credit for trying to banish that expression from his face as quickly as possible.
“Hm. Anderson played with Jack…West. With West,” she said, clearing her throat quickly. “That could be advantageous, of course, but… Well, what about defenders? Are we looking for them, too?”
Freddie laughed nervously. “What? You already hate Leon Alvarez so much that you want to get rid of him?”
“Nonsense. I was merely thinking that maybe we should restructure the team before bringing on a new player.”
“What?” Lyle’s assistant stared at her blankly.
She was impressed that Freddie didn’t immediately flip her off, even though his hand twitched.
“Um. You can’t just restructure,” he said slowly, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. “But if you really wanted Leon gone, I’m sure we could talk about it.” He cleared his throat when their drinks arrived. “I don’t want to dismiss your ideas outright…but um…”
A sudden wave of platonic affection washed over her. Of all the men within the Hawks organization, Freddie was the only one who showed her any kindness or respect. “Freddie? Thankyou for being here,” she said solemnly, impulsively squeezing his hand on the table. “And God, no, I don’t want to get rid of Leon. He’s an idiot, but I know how to separate personal from business.”
“Do you?”
She flinched at the voice coming from her right because it flowed warmly down her neck before settling in her chest, alerting her immediately to who was standing next to her.
Her whole body went on alert while the monkey in her head clapped its cymbals together in joy. Still, she tried to put on a neutral expression as she glanced up at Jack’s face. “Excuse me?”
That was how someone who hadn’t slept with him would react, right?
“Well, this looks cozy,” he said tonelessly as his gaze wandered to her hand, which was still resting on Freddie’s.
She hastily pulled it off the table. “Oh, it’s okay. The chairs are incredibly hard for such an expensive restaurant,” she said, adopting a friendly but distant tone. “Anyway, nice game tonight.”
“The chairs are really hard,” Dax Temple agreed, standing next to Jack. “Bad when you have a lot of bruises.”
Yes, she understood, since he had taken on two players at once, out on the ice.
“Hello,” Freddie said, smiling and rising from his chair before reaching to shake Jack’s hand. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet.”
