6. Nick
Nick
P ractice ran long, as usual. Coach Mac had us doing rush drills and then two-on-twos until half the guys were bent over and begging for mercy.
I stayed longer on the ice to take a few extra shots, not because I needed to impress anyone, but because I liked the ice. It was simple. Predictable. Clean.
Unlike the very filthy thoughts I’d been having since Saturday night.
I woke up to an empty bed and a scribbled note that made me grin like a damn fool.
Thx for a great night. ~S
Nothing else. That was all the note said. There was no number, no last name, not even an IG handle. Just a lipstick print beside the S and the mental image of her walking out of my place with nothing but hot memories and zero regrets.
I hadn’t stopped thinking about her since.
Not that curly blond hair that gave the false impression that she was sweet and innocent.
Oh, Sonya was sweet all right, but not like sugar and spice.
More like honey and nectar. Sweet, delicious and addictive.
She’d dominated thoughts for the rest of the weekend, which made farm work and hockey fly by in a blur I couldn’t quite remember.
I was the last one into the locker room and into the showers, earning me a few teasing jabs and glares from my teammates.
“Hey, man, don’t be trying to steal my thunder!” Brock, the center and undeniable star of the Thunderhawks, grinned as I stripped out of my gear.
“Stop givin’ it away,” I teased back, referencing the goal I’d scored against the Frozen Thunder when he was trapped and sent the puck my way. “Anything to make you look good.”
Brock sprayed himself with cologne. “That’s the easiest job on the planet,” he laughed. “I wake up looking good.”
Cal groaned while Will and Ryan laughed.
The guys were loud enough that I heard their jokes over the spray of the hot shower. They teased Cal about his growing family with his former nanny. They joked about catching Simon and his woman, Bryn, making out in the locker room this morning.
It’s what we did, gave each other shit about any and everything. But we were brothers with a bond thicker than blood, and the team had been instrumental in making sure both guys didn’t lose their women due to typical male stupidity. If anyone could joke about it, we could.
I’d just stepped from the shower when Jade’s voice cut through the chaos.
Jade owned the team, had inherited it from her father but she loved the sport, loved the business aspect and she was a world-class ball-buster in the best possible way.
“Listen up, boys. I want to introduce someone very important to our organization.”
A round of groans sounded around the room, no doubt wondering what kind of fresh corporate hell would be inflicted on us now.
Jade laughed, but I knew her well and she wasn’t deterred by anything. “She comes highly recommended, fresh from working social media for a D1 basketball team in the States. I expect full cooperation and that’s not a suggestion.”
“I’m happy to offer a few pointers,” Brock called out. “Since we all know I’m social media king around here.”
Jade huffed. “You were. But Simon has surpassed you, so maybe he can give you some pointers.” Her delivery was deadpan and I knew if I peeked around, I’d find a teasing glint in her eyes that was hard to see unless you knew her.
“As I was saying, we want to capitalize on the popularity gained through Bryn’s series on the team, and our new social media manager is going to help us do that. Welcome, Sonya Simmons.”
And just like that, time stopped.
Sonya isn’t a unique name, at least I don’t think so. I didn’t have any stats to back that up, but it wasn’t so unique that it couldn’t be another Sonya, but I knew. Somehow I just knew.
I rounded the corner and stopped dead in my tracks. Holy shit.
It’s her.
Sonya.
My Sonya.
Okay, not my Sonya.
Sonya Simmons. Holy shit. I wasn’t a man who gave into coincidences and I knew that her last name combined with the loving, almost longing look on Coach’s face that she was the daughter he spoke of with pride, but none of us had ever met.
I defiled Coach Mac’s kid.
She wasn’t a kid. Oh, no, Sonya was all woman. Hell, she was the best kind of woman, curvy, sassy and sexy as fuck.
She stood there in the middle of the locker room wearing a pale green dress that, despite being office-appropriate, sent my thoughts running in all kinds of erotic directions.
Her curls were pulled back off her face but still cascaded down her back and her lips were that same shade of red that had peppered my body and still lingered on the note in my kitchen.
But it was those green eyes that slayed me when they took in the sight of me in nothing but a towel.
They were wide, filled with surprise and heat.
The same heat I remembered from Saturday.
She froze.
I froze.
“Put some damn clothes on, Blaze!” Coach Mac snapped, clearly not thrilled I was standing there dripping and half-naked in front of his daughter.
I smirked. “It’s the locker room, Coach.
Not a church. She’ll have to get used to it.
” I turned back to Sonya, ignoring everyone else as I extended my hand to her.
“Nice to meet you, Sonya,” I said, keeping my voice low and just for her.
I didn’t miss the way her eyes dropped from my chest to my abs, then lower.
The flare of heat in her cheeks told me she was remembering too.
“You too,” she whispered, her voice breathy and just for me.
Our fingers touched and the air crackled. She was trying to keep things professional, trying so damn hard, but I felt the way her pulse stuttered when I wrapped my hand around her wrist.
“Break it up,” Coach barked. But I just smiled as I released her hand, slow and lingering so she knew just how reluctant I was to let her go as I walked back to my locker.
Her gaze followed me every step of the way.
I knew exactly what she was thinking because I was thinking it too.
Holy hell.
Sonya was Coach Mac’s daughter.
She worked for the team, which made us coworkers.
Jade launched into a speech that I mostly ignored while I dressed, gaze stuck on Sonya in that figure-hugging dress.
Something about how Sonya was taking over the team’s socials, revamping the Thunderhawks’ online presence, and increasing player profiles.
“I need all of you to stop in to see her over the next few weeks to go over your social media presence.”
“I’ll go first,” Brock volunteered, giving a mock salute to Sonya.
She nodded, lips pressed into a phony but professional smile. “I’ll take today to go through your profiles so we can come up with a strategy for each of you.” Armed with a tablet in her hand she was in work mode, which was almost as hot as weekend mode.
Except I caught the way her grip tightened on the edge of the tablet when I brushed past her to toss my towel into the bin.
This was going to be fun.