Chapter 8 Damon
Damon
“That is way too many croissants,” I say.
He glares at me… then adds another croissant to his plate, making it three. “I’m starved, Dee. Our… um, all our extra-curricular activities these past few days have been quite grueling.”
My face warms and I glance around. He thinks he’s subtle, but anyone who has enough sense knows exactly what he’s talking about—especially when he winks at me and licks his lips. This menace.
It’s the first time we’ve actually gone together to the breakfast buffet, and Ellis isn’t holding back. I can’t berate him too much about it though, especially not with the way his face lights up when he finds out there’s honey to go with his croissants.
“No lavender, but this is fine,” he announces.
I still don’t get the hype about those pretentious lavender-honey croissants, but whatever. We make our way back to our table, and Ellis gives me a bright smile as he digs into his food.
God, he’s a conundrum. I can’t figure him out. He’s cutthroat as an agent, purposely irritating when he wants to be, demanding in bed, but… there’s simply something about him that’s magnetizing. It’s as if he’s got a pull on me that I’ve been trying to fight since the moment I met him.
We’re checking out of the hotel today and parting ways, and I’m not sure how to feel about that. I won’t see him until next year, and even then, with all the traveling we both do, I don’t know when that will be.
And even if we made it clear that this thing between us ends here, the reality of it is still disarming. Why? I have no clue. It’s not as if it’s a shock to me that Ellis doesn’t do relationships. Besides, even if he did, would he want one with me?
Though… he reminded me he wanted to give me his number that night we met.
I’m not sure why he brought it up. Does that mean he regrets that he didn’t insist I take it?
That he hates how much that night ended as much as I do?
I was trying to figure it out last night, while he slept, and I came up with nothing.
Common sense says I could just ask, and I should. We’re parting ways very soon, and now’s as good a time as any to ask.
But how the hell would I even start? Hey, Ellis, I already have your number now, but… do you still want to give it to me?
I stifle a snort. Geeze, I’m a mess.
An ankle prods against mine, and I look up to meet Ellis’s deep blue eyes. He asks, around a mouthful of croissants, “Something on your mind?”
I smile. “I guess it’s just a little disorienting that we spent the last few days attached at the hip and now we’re going to opposite sides of the country, and I won’t see you again until… what, weeks from now?”
He titters. “Are you going to miss me, Dee?”
“Yeah,” I say, without missing a beat.
Ellis’s eyes widen. I’m not sure, but I think his cheeks redden by a fraction. He recovers quickly and gives me a shit-eating grin. “Understandable,” he says. “I’m irresistible.”
Even if I roll my eyes, I can’t keep the smile off my face. “Here’s the thing. I know we said what we were doing here stays here, but—”
My phone, which is on the table, suddenly buzzes and cuts my words off. It’s probably Mom again asking me for updates about my flight. Frowning, I swipe out a hand to cancel the call.
“It’s Dylan,” Ellis says, eyeing my screen. That stops me real quick.
My manager said he’d call me over the holidays, expecting an update about work. This isn’t the right time, though. Jesus, I was just about to shoot my shot here.
“Take it,” Ellis urges.
Sighing, I grab my phone and accept the call. Pressing it up against my ear, I say, “Hey, Dylan.”
“Damon,” he says simply. “I heard you’re still stranded in Buffalo. You’re flying out to Anchorage soon, right?”
“Yep,” I say, popping the “P.” Ellis watches me, his mouth quirking at the corner. “Heading to the airport in an hour.”
“That’s great. Anyway, just wanted to catch up with you. Since you’ve been cooped up in a hotel for days, I thought you were probably bored and maybe had a chance to do your scouting report.”
I bite my cheek, trying not to laugh. Bored would be the last word I’d use to describe recent events. “I haven’t had a chance to work on the report.”
The exasperated sigh he gives me would be a lot more upsetting if Ellis weren’t in front of me stuffing his face with his stupid croissants.
There are crumbs on his chin, and I want to lick them off.
Dylan says, “You need to get another client on your roster, Damon, or you’ll miss your KPIs.
You might not get your annual bonus if you do.
Worst case scenario… well, I don’t want to think about it. ”
I might be out of a job, I say in my mind.
Dylan mumbles, “Listen, you’re a great kid. You work hard and you’ve brought in a lot of business to the agency. If it were any other guy, I’d be able to defend you with just that, but… well, our CEO’s always been harder on you than the rest of the guys, hasn’t he?”
“He is,” I agree. It’s not that Paul Donlan is unpleasant to me.
He isn’t. But he’s always been more watchful since that day he found me without shoes in his kitchen.
It’s never been a secret to anyone that he observes me closely.
“So, uh, what you’re saying is that if I don’t sign Killian on, I might be in more trouble than I think? ”
Ellis freezes.
“Something like that,” Dylan says. My eyebrows crunch as Ellis grabs his phone and frantically types into it.
“Just try your best. Please. I know Ellis is there with you right now, and I’m assuming he’s got his eyes on the same player.
Since you’re both scouting the same player, the company won’t let you offer a deal to him—so whoever comes up with the best scouting report will be given the go-ahead to speak to Killian on the agency’s behalf. ”
Before I can respond, Ellis shoves his phone screen in my face.
Tell him about my no-trade idea, he has typed.
No, I mouth.
Ellis glares at me.
Dylan says, “You need to come up with an angle that Killian won’t refuse and even Ellis won’t think of.”
“Ow!” I yell as a sharp pain on the ankle hits me.
Oh my god. Ellis kicked me. This menace. I shoot him an angry look as I lean down to massage my ankle, and he only points at his phone screen again.
“What was that?” Dylan asks.
“Stubbed my toe,” I mumble.
Ellis seems to have lost all his patience because he raises his hands in the air and lets out an exasperated sigh. He then says, loud enough for the whole fucking breakfast buffet to hear, “Hey, Damon, tell Dylan about your fabulous idea.”
“Was that Ellis?” Dylan lets out a startled laugh. “I heard he was also stranded in Buffalo, but I didn’t realize you were together right now.”
“Unfortunately,” I say.
Ellis ignores that. He gets up and leans over the table, getting as close to my phone as he can. He almost spills over his honey in the process. “Dylan! Killian Schultz quit junior hockey because he got homesick, so Damon should maneuver a no-trade clause for him with a team in the area!”
“Ellis!” I hiss.
“That’s interesting,” Dylan says. “Tell me more, Damon.”
Glaring at Ellis, I kick my seat back and get up. He gives me a smug look as I walk away, heading out of the dining area and searching for a quiet spot. “That’s not how I do things,” I tell Dylan. “Ellis came up with that.”
“Why’s he telling you to do that, then? Are you two getting along now?”
Leaning back against the wall in the massive hallway right outside the buffet, I bite my cheek. He has no idea just how much we’re getting along now. “I don’t know why he’s making me do it.”
Really. I have no clue. A migraine starts to form as I try to wrap my head around this.
“Maybe he thinks his roster’s big enough,” Dylan says. “Why did he make the trip there, then?”
“A change of mind, maybe.”
It doesn’t make sense to me. Ellis badly wants Killian.
Did he do that because he overheard our conversation…? Replaying it in my mind, he did jump the moment I said I might get into trouble if I didn’t sign Killian. A smile tugs at my mouth. Jesus Christ. Ellis cares. He actually cares about me, doesn’t he?
Dylan makes me promise to do the scouting report and send it first thing after the holidays.
While he’s talking, all I can think of is Ellis.
I can’t even wipe the goofy expression off my face.
After I hang up, I make my way back inside the dining area.
Ellis has already stood up and is on his way out.
He chatters endlessly as we make our way back to our hotel room, and I nod along with him. He tells me more and more about how his plan to recruit Killian will surely work, even giving me pointers on how I should approach the prospective teams about it.
I’m not sure why he’s so happy about giving me his lead. He told me he really wanted the guy on his roster, and now he’s… so easily handing over the opportunity to me? Ellis is practically vibrating from the idea.
“Why are you doing this for me?” I ask him when we step into our hotel room. “I thought you were eager to sign him on as a client.”
Ellis flashes me a wide smile. “Because you need him more than I do, and if he’s going to be signed on by anyone else, I know you’ll take care of him!”
I stop in my tracks. Ellis doesn’t notice. He only titters and walks over to his suitcase, leaning down to rearrange his things. He’s already packing. Right.
This is where we’re parting ways.
He’s going to head back to Tampa, and I’m heading back to my family, and it will be weeks before I see him again. I wonder what it’ll be like when we see each other again.
Will we once more pretend like we never slept together?
I’m quiet as I roll over those thoughts in my mind. I make my way to my suitcase, not really paying attention to what I’m actually doing. I even unfold and fold a pair of pants that I don’t need.
“Dee,” Ellis says. I look up, and his eyes glint with amusement.