Chapter 3
Alexander
What an exhausting week. It’s been packed with too many pointless meetings—sponsor deals, contract negotiations, team strategy.
Being the captain of an NHL hockey team means you have to do more.
It’s expected, and usually I see it as a privilege.
But these past few weeks? It’s been a drag, and I’m worn out.
It’s been a nonstop flow of meetings and appointments, and I’m ready for it all to be over.
I just want to return to the usual routine. It’s still busy, but not like this.
My weeks typically include lots of practice and gym time.
Then I head back to my condo in the city, another irritating issue I’ve had to deal with recently—the bathroom had a bad leak, making it unusable.
Normally, I would just use the other bathroom, but I figured I could kill two birds with one stone by renovating it.
That led to my current situation: living out of suitcases in a hotel room.
Not my favourite thing to do, but I’ll manage for the next two weeks until my condo is all done and ready.
So, for now, I’m living in a suite that many people would love to visit.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s luxurious and big, but it’s not home.
I’m reviewing game tape, taking notes on the kitchen counter, when I hear a soft knock on the door.
I walk over and open it.
My day just got a lot better.
Standing before me is a stunning blonde with striking blue eyes.
Her eyes are sharp and lively, impossible to ignore.
She’s wearing a well-fitted, deep-green jumpsuit. It fits tightly around her chest and waist, then loosens down her thighs and legs.
She’s got on black heels and a cream trench coat.
I whistle at her because, holy hell, what a sight.
“Well, well, well, and who do we have here?” I say, as I drag my eyes down her body.
There’s a pull of warmth and challenge, as she already knows the effect she has on me. I feel a clear thrum of attraction, even before she said a word.
But then, when my words sink in, her body stiffens, and she straightens.
“Excuse me?” Even her voice sounds appealing.
“Noah must have sent you; it’s not my usual style to be with escorts, but hell, with the week I’ve had, I’m all for it,” I tell her.
Noah is my best bud on the team. Sometimes he does crazy stuff to mess with me.
Other times, he’s a really good friend.
All in all, I’m grateful for him and our friendship.
Especially today, with this beauty in front of me.
“Let me just get this clear, you think I’m a hooker?” At her tone, I freeze for a moment.
Slowly, the wheels in my head start turning, and I compose my obvious lust for this woman.
She’s not an escort?
“You’re not?” I say sheepishly, and she breathes hard, her eyes narrowing into slits as she raises her hand, slapping me right across the face.
It takes me a moment to process what just happened.
She hit me, a straight-up slap to my face.
I raise my hand to my cheek to check that this really just happened.
Before I have a chance to apologize to her, she’s talking, furious, making it clear who she is.
“I can’t fucking believe this. No, I’m obviously not a hooker, you idiot.
My name is Sarah, and I’m new to the PR team at your hockey team.
We have a scheduled meeting right now, and I came all the way here for it.
Apparently, you’re expecting someone else and don’t respect my time, so I will be going. ”
She begins to turn on her heels, but I stop her with a hand on her elbow. She turns those fiery eyes at me, looks down at my hand on her elbow, a clear warning to get my hands off of her.
I remove my hand and clear my throat.
“Look, Sarah, I’m sorry.” I start to say, but she storms off toward the elevator, leaving me standing in the doorway like the idiot I am.
I think these last few weeks have stolen quite a few of my brain cells because there’s no way in hell this just happened.
I groan as I go back into my hotel room, heading straight to my calendar on my computer.
Just as the stunning Sarah told me, I had an appointment with her right now. It only said
“Meeting on social media strategy. With Sarah Parker.”
Christ.
And I just screwed up big time.
She works on the team, and I just called her an escort.
During stressful times, I like to have some casual sex to blow off steam, but I haven’t even had the time to do that in the past few weeks.
I mentioned this to Noah, which made me think he was doing me a favour by sending a girl my way.
Hell, I’m such an idiot.
I drag my hands through my hair, trying to figure out how I can fix this. Then I double-check my calendar to make sure I’m not missing any other appointments today.
I look at my messages and check the latest from my agent.
And to make matters even worse, he even sent me a reminder that Sarah was coming to my hotel room 30 minutes before she arrived.
I was deep into game tape, so I didn’t see the text.
She must think I’m an asshole.
But then again, she stood her ground.
I smile, thinking about her reaction and the slap across my face.
There’s some serious fire running in those veins. She isn’t just absolutely gorgeous; she’s confident and strong.
It says a lot about the state I’m in when a headstrong woman slapping me across the face is the closest I’ve felt to being alive in a while.
I pick up my phone and call Noah.
“Hey, man,” he greets me, and I’m not sure if telling him is a good idea.
He will give me shit about this, but then again, I deserve that.
“Fucking hell, man, I just did something stupid,” I tell him, and he chuckles on the other end of the line.
Usually, Noah is the one who gets into trouble between the two of us.
I’m usually the reasonable one, making me the leader and a good captain. My run-in with Sarah certainly doesn’t fall into that category.
He urges me on.
“You’ve met Sarah, the new woman in the PR department?” I ask him, and I hear him sigh on the other side of the line.
“Hell, I’ve met her, been rejected by her, and got my heart broken by her. What a beautiful creature she is,” he says, sounding like he’s in a dream-state talking about her.
I curse myself even more.
Of course, he’s met her.
The whole team probably has, except me.
The way he talks about her is familiar, as if he knows her.
That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Why did I have to mess this up so badly?
“Yeah, sounds like her. So, I screwed up, big time, dude.” Noah is impatient on the other end of the line.
“Well, you know how I told you I haven’t been able to get with anyone lately, since my days have been crazy busy? When I opened the door, I whistled at Sarah, assuming she was an escort you sent to get me out of my misery.”
Noah starts laughing hysterically, which is annoying, but I can’t blame the fucker. He’s not the idiot here, at least not today.
“Ah, hell, man. How did she react to that?” I smile, thinking back to the fire in her eyes and how she put me in my place.
“First of all, she slapped me across the face before letting me know exactly who she was and how she certainly wasn’t an escort.”
This only makes Noah laugh even harder.
I usually don’t support physical harm, but I can’t really blame Sarah for her anger.
“Good for her. I’m proud.” Noah tells me, and I’m reminded again how acquainted he sounds about her.
“You’ve met her a lot?” I try to keep my tone casual, but he sees straight through my shit.
“What, jealous McGregor? After what you just pulled, I’m sure you’re last in line for the Sarah train, and believe me, there is a line.”
Fucking hell.
Obviously, the other guys on the team see her beauty just as well as I do.
Noah continues.
“Not that the line will ever shorten. Sarah has made it clear she’s here to do her job and doesn’t seem affected by any of our advances.”
I breathe a sigh of relief, I’m not sure why.
I get a notification on my phone: my agent, Derek, is asking how the meeting with Sarah went, and I groan.
I should probably tell Derek to reschedule if she even wants to see me again—probably not.
“Look, man, you’ll survive, and let’s be real, once in a while it’s nice to have your ego checked.” Noah chuckles.
“Yeah, whatever, I should probably get back to work. See you at the rink later.” I tell him, and we hang up.
We have practice at the arena later today, and part of me is hoping I’ll run into Sarah, maybe get a chance to make this mess right.