The Billionaire Hot Shot: The Billionaires Club

Chapter Seven

Charlie looked out on the sheet of ice below his owner”s box, watching his Otters struggling to get any shots on the California Sunbursts” goalie.

Charlie had talked to his uncle last year about acquiring Fletcher Keris from the Sunbursts and they were able to get him here with a trade with the Sunbursts. It was the first time Fletch was facing his old team, and Charlie knew the hockey star would be frustrated by his lackluster performance against them.

Not that Charlie was paying any real attention to any of that. The only thing Charlie could concentrate on right now was Maggie.

The server for his suite brought in tonight”s dessert selection right before this period started and Charlie could only stare at the tray of cute little cookies and fresh donuts rolled in cinnamon and sugar.

There was no way he could eat any of that because it would just remind him of Maggie, which would just remind him that he was an asshole.

There was just no other way to describe it.

He had sex with Maggie on her desk in her office at the factory. And of course, being Charlie, he smashed her cupcake in the middle of doing other things to her. But this time, she seemed to like it and holy hell, did her tongue licking that icing off his fingers do things to him.

But then...

He was riding high on that moment for a whole twelve hours until he got into the office with the contract in his pocket for the team”s new dessert factory.

That”s when he ran into Noah and the lawyers in his office.

Since then, Charlie had spent the last ten days talking to the team lawyers about his stupid cousins and their stupid decision to try and sue him. There was some documentation here and conversations there. It didn”t help that it was during a long road trip for the team.

Between the road and the lawyers and the stress and the....

Charlie really needed to stop the excuses because that”s all they were. Excuse after excuse to cover up for the fact that he was an asshole and he should”ve texted Maggie.

Who has his way with a beautiful woman with a tongue that can drive him wild and then never contacts her again?

And oh yeah, Charlie gave that signed contract to Noah the day after he picked it up. It was official. She worked for the team now. She was an employee that he already had sex with and then completely ghosted her.

The cheers from the crowd broke him out of his thoughts, which was probably a good thing. He was spending way too much time wallowing in his current stupidity. And right now, he needed to focus on the end of this game. Only one more minute on the clock before the game was over and he could start thinking about Maggie again.

But as the second ticked down, he started to wonder just what he was going to say to her. He needed to start with an apology, right? But then what?

The crowd was cheering another Otters win, pushing them closer to a playoff spot for the end of the season and Charlie was on his feet clapping his hands with a smile on his face. He had learned after an earlier game that the cameras would like to focus on the owner”s box and see his reaction after a win or a loss. So he always had to be smiling or have a brave face.

The team skated off the ice and the fans started filtering out so he took it as his cue to head back to the confines of the suite.

He still liked watching the games alone in the owner”s box. It didn”t feel right to have someone else in there with him if his Uncle Tony couldn”t be there to share the game with him.

He wondered what Uncle Tony would think of him sleeping with the talent and then never calling them back. He also wondered what his uncle would think of the new dessert contract. But Charlie and his uncle were usually too busy talking to care about the catering.

That”s probably why Charlie never realized just how boring the desserts were before Maggie came alone -- or how boring his entire life was without her.

Tonight, the suite was packed with little cookies and these s”mores sandwich things and cupcakes. The cupcakes were making Charlie think about things he shouldn”t be thinking about in his suite at the hockey game.

So of course that”s when he heard to door behind him open and voices in the space.

”Please don”t ever make those double chocolate chip cookies again,” he heard Noah say.

”That bad?”

Maggie”s voice felt like a punch to his gut that was only relieved by Noah”s laugh breaking the tension.

”That good!” he said. ”Seriously, I ate half the tray in the staff suite.”

Charlie took a deep breath and turned with a smile to face the two guests in his space. ”So you”re enjoying our new dessert contract, Noah?”

Noah gave him a sarcastic smile. ”Not at all. Here are the numbers for tonight.” He handed a folder over to Charlie in what had become a routine each night with attendance numbers and revenue for a game. ”Plus, I ran into our favorite dessert maker and thought I would bring her in and let you give her some feedback on everything.”

Maggie gave Charlie a tight smile. He was sure that Noah meant well and didn”t think anything of bringing Maggie with him, but Charlie and Maggie had a secret that Noah didn”t know. It made everything more awkward with a third wheel in the room.

”Thanks, Noah. I”ll look these over soon.” He dropped the folder on the counter next to those stupid cupcakes that were driving him wilder than they should. ”Anything else?”

Ugh. That came out a little more tense than what he wanted it to, but he was desperate to get Noah out of there so he could talk to Maggie. It was good that Noah didn”t seem to notice the edge to Charlie”s voice.

”Nothing else, boss,” Noah said with a teasing smile. Charlie should”ve never told him that the ”boss” thing was annoying him. ”Remember our meeting tomorrow with the attorney.”

Charlie nodded and gave Noah a wave before he walked out of the suite. Then he took a deep breath and turned out to see the arena just beyond the seats in the suite.

The attorneys were meeting with him again to see what they could do to get this team secured in Charlie”s hands. They had assured him that this would work out and the will was ironclad. It wouldn”t take much to tell a judge that the team belonged to Charlie because that”s what his uncle wanted. It was still going to be nerve-wracking until they got it done.

”Uh, Charlie?”

Oh hell. His head snapped back to see Maggie staring at him. He had totally forgotten about her still being there, which was so wrong.

”Hey.” He tried to put a smile on his face. ”Hi. Sorry, I just... My mind was going somewhere else.”

Maggie nodded. ”I mean, sex with you in my office kind of made me forget my name, but it seems to have made you forget me completely.”

Charlie cringed. That stung but he deserved it.

He stood there for a moment before finally willing himself to do something or say something. Anything.

”Did you try the cookies?”

”I made the cookies.”

There was a little bit of a smile that teased the corner of her mouth and made Charlie think maybe this wasn”t a hopeless cause after all. Maybe he would have a chance to get this back on track with Maggie.

So Charlie decided to take a chance and grabbed a plate from the buffet, piling it with some of the cookies on the tray that was still full in his suite.

Then he nodded towards the seats that looked out on the arena, hoping she would follow him.

She did.

He placed the plate on the countertop with the bar chairs in the back of the seating area looking out on the ice. It would give them a little more privacy from the fans who were still straggling out of the arena.

It also gave him the chance to sit next to her without being able to look directly at her. He wasn”t sure he could do that when he was talking to her.

Charlie pulled a chair out for her to sit in before taking the one next to her, close by still a respectful distance away. And yet, as he held the chair for her to sit down, he couldn”t help but let his fingers slide against her back every so gently.

He remembered the way her back felt against his fingers in her office and he wished he could do that again, but he had other things to do now.

He owed Maggie an explanation and an apology and anything else that ended up coming out of his stupid mouth.

Charlie sat down next to her and stared at the plate of cookies he put in front of them, too afraid to look at her directly when he started talking to her. But he still didn”t know what to say to her.

”Lawyers, huh?”

She broke a piece of a cookie off and slipped it into the mouth with her eyes continuing to stare at him. At least she was the one to break the ice.

”You heard that.”

”I was standing right next to Noah when he said it.”

Right. Charlie”s head was swimming with too many thoughts going in too many different directions. He could barely remember one moment from the next apparently. He needed to get a grip if he was going to have any conversation with Maggie.

He grabbed one of the cookies from the plate and broke off a piece to eat as he tried to put his thoughts together. But it was hard considering all the lawyer stuff while sitting next to Maggie like this.

”I get it,” she said.

He turned and gave her a weary look. ”What exactly do you get?”

”I mean, I get that you”re talking to lawyers so you can sue that hockey website for not naming you the Billionaire Hot Shot owner in the league.”

Charlie couldn”t help but laugh at her attempt to break the tension between them. And to be fair, she did succeed. He had to at least give her that.

”Can you believe they gave it to the guy in Detroit?” he asked incredulously. ”The voting was rigged.”

She gave him a small smile and then looked down at the plate again.

The tension started to come back and he could feel that buzz between them that was tight and perilous. Charlie hated it. He hated the feeling that he had hurt Maggie when all he had to do was send a text. It was such a simple thing.

But things weren”t simple in his life. They hadn”t been since the day his uncle died, and there were a lot of things he had to accept about that. But he also had to accept that some things could be normal again -- even for a billionaire with a hockey team.

Wanting to be with Maggie was one of those things.

”Listen, about the lawyers.”

Maggie held up her hand to stop her from talking. ”Just tell me the truth,” she said quietly. ”Is the lawyer thing why you didn”t text me after that night?”

Charlie cringed. ”I”m really sorry about that.”

”I was at Icing the other day and Riley said there were things going on behind the scenes with the team.”

Charlie took a deep breath and turned to look out over the ice. ”My uncle gave me this team and now my cousins are trying to take it away from me.”

”My uncle gave me a tiramisu recipe.”

He turned and smiled at Maggie. ”I”m sure it”s delicious.”

”Eh.” She shrugged. ”It”s not a billion dollars delicious.”

Charlie could feel himself deflate a bit. For as much as he wanted Maggie to him as a real person, he also forgot he had to adjust to carrying some extra pieces with him. He had made him wonder if anyone would ever care about him for him or for his money.

Charlie got up from his seat and walked back into the suite to the tall table inside. This was all going wrong. All of it. The money, the team, the woman. It was going in these different directions and Charlie”s brain couldn”t keep up, especially with the woman in the same room with him.

If it wasn”t for his uncle, he wouldn”t have the team. That was a plus. If he didn”t have the team, he couldn”t have hired Maggie to replace the awful dessert caterer. That was also a plus.

But the money? That was still messing with his head. Becoming a billionaire overnight was not something he could wrap his head around still.

And his family was becoming a nightmare. This looming potential for a court case and trying to keep this team away from his cousins who would ruin it or sell it to some billionaire.

Oh wait, he was a billionaire. Maybe they could sell it to him.

But if the will was invalid and his cousins got the team, they would get the money too. He would be left with nothing.

He would be left with Maggie.

Charlie looked up at the woman who was now staring at him from her seat at that bar. He really looked at her. Charlie hadn”t known her for that long, but he knew her enough to know that she probably wouldn”t care if he owned the team or had the money. He could give it all up. He could be his normal self again -- without the owner”s suite.

It would be nice to be himself again.

”What would you say if I just gave this all up so I could just spend time with you?”

Maggie”s eyes went wide and she shook her head vigorously. ”No. No. Absolutely not.”

”It”s just a hockey team and I don”t want to be a billionaire. I mean, it sounds great and it”s not.”

”What the hell is wrong with you?”

She jumped down from the chair and marched over to him. That was not what he was expecting at all. Maybe he misjudged her. Maybe she was the type of woman who wanted him for his money, which kind of broke his heart.

She stopped right in front of him and stared up at him with a fire in her eyes. ”You listen to me.”

Her voice was strong and demanded and kind of turned him on, which was weird considering she was about to tell him he had to keep the team and the money or she would dump him.

”You see that ice?” She pointed to the rink behind her without turning around. ”I have made good friends because of the money you pay Riley Rookwood to skate on that ice. Money he used to open a bakery that is a client of mine and run by friends of mine. Do you know what would happen if you give this team up?”

Maggie put her hands on her hips and stood a little taller. ”I landed a huge contract because of this team. We hired an extra shift on game days because of this team. Giving up this team just because your cousins want it or you”re uncomfortable being a billionaire or whatever would screw a lot of people that I care about.”

Yep, Charlie had it wrong. She wasn”t worried about the billion dollars she could get from Charlie. She was worried about everyone else who relied on him actually owning the team. People she cared about.

Except he cared about her too and that was a problem.

”Maggie.”

She held her hand up again to stop him from talking. She was doing that a lot tonight, but he kind of liked it.

”I think we both need to accept that whatever is going on between us will have to be put on ice for awhile.”

”Put on ice?”

He quirked his head to the side and was pleased that he could pull a smile small from the fiery Maggie.

”Put on ice,” she repeated. ”And that”s OK.”

”Is it?” he asked. ”Because I don”t like that plan.”

”Why not?”

”Because I want all of this. This team and you.”

Her face softened a bit and she stepped closer. Gone was the fire as she reached out and grabbed his hand.

”Get this team first,” she told him. ”You love this team. This is your team. There are players and fans and bakers who depend on you owning this team. So do whatever you have to so you have this team.”

Charlie nodded and smiled down at her. ”OK.”

”Besides.” She stood up taller and reached for his shirt to straighten the collar. ”I have a new client who is quite demanding and is taking up my time with cookies and cupcakes and things.”

”Black cherry chocolate cake?”

She rolled her eyes dramatically. ”They are so demanding about that black cherry chocolate cake,” she said with a smile. ”Which is ridiculous because that cake seems to have it out for certain people.”

”It hates me.”

”It really does.” She gave him a small smile. ”But don”t worry about that, OK? Just worry about your team.”

Charlie leaned in close. ”And then can I worry about you?”

Maggie nodded. ”Then we can worry about us.”

Charlie couldn”t help but pull himself close to her, wrapping his arm around her waist and burying his head in her shoulder. ”Thank you.”

She snuggled into the crook of his neck in a way that made him feel like this was how they belonged together. This is how it was supposed to be.

But then she pulled away for just a moment and smiled up at him before pulling him down to kiss her. Her lips were sweet and gentle but there was something else there. Something fiery and warm. If he could call it anything, it would be potential. There was potential for something more. He just needed to get what he wanted. The team first and Maggie would be waiting for him.

Maggie pulled away again but this time it was for good -- or at least for now.

”I have to go.” Her voice was soft and there was a bit of remorse behind it. ”New contract and all that.”

He smiled down at her. ”Of course.”

She leaned in closer and gave him a wicked smile. ”Tell those lawyers to do whatever they have to so you can have this team. I can”t lose the arena”s contract and my spot in the owner”s suite.”

He couldn”t stop himself from kissing her again. ”I”ll make sure you get both.”