27. Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
“No generals or admirals, guys. Everyone is divided into groups of six. Find the others with symbols matching yours and you’ll have your group for the escape room.”
I turned to search out the rest of my group, but Melani grabbed my arm. “Photo ops first, Shep!”
Merri skirted around the table and almost escaped Melani’s grasp.
“Merri!” The PR woman narrowed her eyes at Merri and pulled her back to the camera crew.
“Photos, please.” She gave my girl a once over.
“You look fantastic. No wonder you’re lighting up the socials every game.
I bet if I post a pic of you and Shep together, we’ll get even better numbers. ”
Merri wore a happy smile, but the light in her eyes told a different story.
My fingers curled into a fist as I battled the need to tug her closer.
I had to keep it G-rated. Prove that I could be as professional as she needed me to be.
She’d made her boundaries clear and if I didn’t respect her choices, I wouldn’t stand a chance.
Her proximity, though… I smoothed my damp palms over the long sleeves of my shirt.
The photographer motioned for us to scooch closer together.
When Merri lodged her hand at my waist, I leapt at the opportunity to hold her.
She darted a quick glance up at me. What?
Had she felt the way my breath caught at her touch?
Or the shake in my hand as I resisted the powerful urge to tuck her tight into my side?
To stake my claim in a room full of men?
I shot a glance around the room. At the first responders. Local heroes and competent professionals. How many of them were single? How many would Merri deem better candidates to date than an arrogant, irresponsible hockey player?
When the photographer waved us off, Merri stepped away. She melted into the crowd faster than a sheet of ice under a hot summer sun, and it was everything I could do not to trail after her.
Whatever. Let her slink off for now. None of these yahoos would measure up to me. Maybe she needed to see that for herself.
As long as “seeing that” didn’t involve dating. Or touching. Or giving them the idea that she was available.
Yeah, officially, she might seem available.
Unofficially, Meredith Wylie was mine.
The decision settled into my gut, my head, my heart, sending a spiral of relief, excitement, heat spinning through me.
I loved Merri Wylie with every beat of my heart.
That something I’d been missing spending family time in Three Corners? It’d been Merri.
That feeling that’d burned in my gut as I watched my sister and Tiago? It’d been about Merri. Wanting that same intimacy with her.
Clear as day. Merri was my future. Between her and Hannah, I’d have to stay on my toes, never a dull moment. A grin split my lips. Sign me right the hell up.
I understood her reticence. I understood her resistance. I even understood her reasoning.
But I didn’t agree that it meant we couldn’t be together. We just needed to figure out a way we could both live with.
I circled the room, eyeing badges, shaking hands, and turning on the charm. I met a woman from Three Corners I didn’t know and we spent ten minutes talking about car clubs, the Gas’n Apple Farmers’ Market and how no place in Richland rivaled a Sugar Squared breakfast pastry.
“Did you make it home for Christmas, Shepherd? Did you get to try her Cranberry Apple Slab Pie?”
“I did make it home, and made it to Sugar Squared, too, though I missed this slab pie. What the heck is slab pie?”
“Pie in a slab?” She shrugged. “Whatever it is, it was delicious. Rae’s holiday menu never fails.”
“Whenever my sister or I go home, it’s a rule that we have to bring something back from Sugar Squared. Nothing in town compares.”
I glanced around the lobby. Bodies swayed and moved like a tide rolling in and out as folks visited old friends and made new ones.
Of all the Renegades organization events, I loved the smaller ones.
Especially the smaller ones that didn’t involve schmoozing old sponsors or getting new ones to crack open their bank accounts.
“Have you found any of your team yet?” I motioned to her name badge. “Found any other red squares?”
She pointed to a corner where they’d set up a bar.
“One is slumped on that barstool. Another is standing by the exit like he can’t wait to leave.
And she,” she pointed to a woman smiling up at Charlie Taft, “is doing a bang up job of sniffing them out. I think we’re going to have an edge on the competition. She seems determined.”
I straightened, eyeing the woman in question, my sense of competition sparking. “She looks familiar.”
“Vida Sanchez’s little sister.” My new friend leaned in conspiratorially. “Keep your distance, if you’re smart. She can sniff out a weak spot faster than any bloodhound.”
“No way.” I grinned. “So appearances can be deceiving, I see. She looks like a friendly Golden Retriever, but she’s actually a high-drive German Shepherd.
Got it.” I leaned closer, just as she had a moment ago.
“Thing is, when it comes to competitions, I kinda have an advantage. It’s just not in me to lose. ”
Except to Merri. But somehow, losing to Merri felt the same as winning against anyone else.
The woman snorted out a laugh at my brag.
“I think she’ll give you a run for your money.
She’s a determined little thing. She has a search and rescue dog.
She’s part of the squad that covers Richland.
We drove over together. It was all I could do to convince her to leave her dog at home tonight.
” She pretended to shudder. “She’s got a reputation, that one. ”
“Scout would have loved having dogs here.”
The woman laughed. “I hear she has her hands full already.”
I thought of Clyde and ET. “More than full, I think.” I held out my hand and we shook. “I’m off, then. Gotta find the rest of my team.”