Chapter 6
six
BLAIR
By some miracle, no tears were shed as I hustled Reed out the door and to the bus stop this morning.
I annoyed the hell out of him by asking him no less than fifteen times if he was sure he could find his way to our apartment and get inside without any issues after school, but there were no tears.
Just a twisty tummy and a lot of nerves on my part.
Nerves that only get worse as I stand in front of my new place of employment and stare at the impressive facade. The building looks so much bigger in person than it did online. Imposing. No matter how many times I rub my palms up and down my pencil-skirt-clad thighs, they still feel clammy.
This is a different world than the nonprofit I spent so long at. The pressure is higher, the events larger, and the donors more high-profile. Not to mention that the nonprofit was tiny compared to this organization.
“You can do this,” I whisper to myself. “You’re going to kick ass as a Social Impact & Development Coordinator. Hell, you’re overqualified. You could run this shit.”
Oh, god. I think I might be sick.
“Blair?” A smooth voice pulls me out of my panic spiral, and for a moment, my brain expects to see Logan when I turn around. Which is utterly ridiculous. I’m in Minnesota. Logan is in California.
A handsome, smiling man about my height with chestnut hair and kind brown eyes meets my gaze.
Not Logan. Obviously. His straight white teeth flash as his smile grows.
He’s got thin lips but a wide-set mouth, a straight nose, and a short beard that hides what looks like a square jaw.
“Blair, right? I’m Bryson James, I’ll be your coworker. ”
My brain goes back online, and I return his smile, extending my hand. “Bryson, hi. How did you know who I was?”
He chuckles, his gaze doing a quick sweep of my face as he shakes my hand. “Tess described you in case you arrived before her.” He pauses as we end the handshake. “Plus, you look like a deer in headlights. It was an educated guess.”
Bryson’s easygoing manner and genuine smile calm my nerves a bit. I let out a puff of air and hold tight to the strap of my purse. “Do I really look that nervous?”
“A little. But don’t worry, that’s normal.
This place can be overwhelming at first.” He gestures for me to follow him to the side entrance, where there’s a badge scanner.
He waves a key fob in front of it, and the door unlocks.
“Come on, I’ll show you to your office. Your badge and fob should be on your desk.
The key fob will unlock the doors between seven a.m. and eleven p.m. If you need to get in outside of those times, you’ll have to call security to disarm the alarms and let you in.
” He waves at a few people as he strides down a large hallway.
I have to hurry to keep pace with Bryson. Not the easiest thing to do, since I’m wearing heels and the floor is polished tile. The last thing I need is to slip and face-plant on my first day. God, that would be mortifying.
With that horrifying mental image, I carefully navigate a long set of stairs that leads up to a second floor.
Bryson points out a break room, employee kitchen, executive suites, and other random offices.
He tells me the names of each office’s occupants, but I won’t remember.
Not as frazzled as I am. Finally, Bryson leads me into an airy space with a big wall of windows comprised of half a dozen small offices.
He gestures to his and Tess’s before leading me into mine.
It’s nothing spectacular. The desk is moderately sized, the chair looks like it’ll make my ass hurt by the end of the day, and the cabinets are all basic birch numbers you could buy from any hardware store in the country. But it’s mine. And it symbolizes a fresh start.
It’s perfect.
“IT will be up this morning to get you all set up with your computer and logins, and Tess should be in soon.” Bryson leans against my desk casually, one leg crossed over the other.
He looks around the office like he’s making sure no one will hear whatever he’s about to say.
I find myself leaning forward as he inclines his head toward mine.
“Tess is brilliant, but she has a pretty severe case of time-blindness. It’s a running joke that we consider her early if she’s less than half an hour late to work. ”
“I heard that,” a disembodied voice says in a sing-song tone as a blur of black hair and black clothes streaks past my office.
“Oh, shit.” Bryson chuckles, but he’s clearly not worried about getting in trouble, which gives me hope that everyone here will be easygoing and cool. “She’s early.”
“It’s Blair’s first day. Of course, I’m early.
” The blur of black is actually a stunning, petite woman with an edgy shoulder-length bob and blunt bangs.
Her blue-black hair frames a heart-shaped face, dark brown irises that are such a rich umber they almost appear black, sharply angled hooded eyes, and perfectly shaped eyebrows.
She’s elegant and cool, and I immediately like her.
Especially when her full lips twist into a radiant smile.
“Blair, it is so nice to finally meet you in person.”
I expect Tess to shake my hand, but I’m momentarily stunned when she closes the space between us and wraps her arms around me in a hug. Since I’m a bit taller than average and Tess is a bit shorter than average, I’m sure we make a hilarious picture. But after a moment, I return the gesture.
Tess beams at me as she steps back. “We are so excited to have you on our team. I just know you’re going to bring a fresh set of eyes to our initiatives.
” She claps her hands and looks between Bryson and me.
“Did Bryse show you where our fancy coffee maker is? I don’t know about you, but I need a healthy dose of caffeine this early in the morning. ”
Bryson chuckles, shaking his head as he pushes off my desk. “Not yet, Tess. It was going to be the next thing on the agenda.”
“Oh, good. Let’s go, then. IT should be here soon. Then, once they’re done setting Blair up, why don’t you give her the grand tour?” Bryson and I follow Tess as she strides down the hall toward the employee kitchen area.
“There’s more to see?” I ask Bryson with wide eyes.
He grins, clearly amused by my deer-in-headlights expression. “Yeah. This place is huge. And you haven’t seen the best parts yet.”
“So those were all the corporate spaces where we spend most of our time. We saw some of the public-facing spaces when we walked in this morning. How ’bout I show you the stuff the public doesn’t get to see?”
I nod, eager to get a glimpse behind the curtain.
Plus, Bryson is cool, and I’m having fun letting him play tour guide.
He tells me the names of everyone we meet, points out the best vending machines for snacks, and happily recommends places Reed and I need to check out near our apartment.
He even offers to have us over for dinner and tells me he thinks I’d get along with his girlfriend, Adrienne.
Apparently, she has a nephew around Reed’s age, so he suggests we introduce them.
So far, the morning has been better than I ever could have hoped. My boss seems awesome, my coworker is cool, and I’m feeling less and less like a fish out of water as Bryson chatters away to ensure I’m comfortable. It’s as smooth and simple a first day as I could have hoped.
“This is where all the magic happens,” Bryson says with a conspiratorial wink.
“At least, that’s what all the women who work here claim.
Just be careful. Your predecessor, Becky, got fired because she was a little too familiar with the talent.
” He rolls his eyes, but he’s still grinning.
“Hey, Joe.” He nods at a beefy security guard.
“This is Blair Sherman. She’ll be working with Tess and me. ”
Joe inclines his shaved head and sticks out a meaty palm. “Pleasure to meet you, Miss Blair. How are you liking our little home away from home?”
“Honestly? It’s a little overwhelming, but I love it.” I offer Joe a bright smile. “And the people are so nice.”
“She’s from California,” Bryson says, as if that means something.
“Ah.” Joe nods in understanding. “That’s a big change. Well, if you ever need help or someone to walk you to your car at night, you just holler Miss Blair. Any of the security guards are happy to make sure everyone feels safe.”
“Thanks, Joe. I appreciate that.”
Bryson claps the security guard on the shoulder and nods to the double doors behind him. “I’m going to show her around the player spaces.”
“Have fun. Nice to meet you, Miss Blair.”
I offer the kind security guard a little nod and a smile. “Nice to meet you too, Joe.”
“He’s a good guy,” Bryson tells me as he ushers me through the doors.
I’m immediately hit with a wave of masculine scents and cleaning products.
It smells like sweat and bleach, and my nose must crinkle because my coworker chuckles.
“Yeah, it can be a bit intense back here. They’ve tried all sorts of air fresheners, but it always smells like sweaty socks. ”
Grinning, I switch to breathing through my mouth.
Bryson points out offices, a large room with a long table at the front and chairs facing it that he calls the media room, rooms full of massage tables and one stocked with medical supplies.
He points out the locker room, though we don’t go in, and then he leads me to a glass door with a sign beside it that says weight room.
“I think they’re all in here right now. We’ll go in, and I’ll just quickly introduce you before I show you the arena, then we’ll head back up to our little corner.”
Nerves flutter in my belly as Bryson pushes the door open and I’m met with the clanking of weights, the grunts of men working out, and the massive bodies of almost two dozen men.
“Bryse. What’s up, man?” A dark-haired man with a five-o’clock shadow abandons what he was doing and clasps hands with Bryson. I have to look up to meet his coffee-colored eyes.
“Maddox, hey. Just showing our new social impact coordinator around. This is Blair. Blair, this is Maddox Graves, captain of the Rogues.”
The captain’s eyebrows lift and his head tilts to the side as he extends a hand for me to shake. “Blair?”
Shifting my weight, I shake his offered hand. “Uh, yeah. It’s nice to meet you.”
“That’s not a super common name, is it?” The corner of Maddox’s mouth quirks.
“Umm, I’m not sure?”
He shakes his head. “Sorry. I’m being rude.
Let me introduce you to the guys.” Turning to face his teammates, Maddox claps his hands, and all eyes turn his way.
Our way. “Hey, assholes, everyone say hi to our new social impact coordinator. Her name is Blair.” His attention swings to the corner of the room. “Isn’t that a pretty name?”
Okaaaay. I wave at the massive men, my cheeks hot as they all respond with a chorus of hello. I scan the room, smiling at the sweaty athletes, until my eyes land in the corner of the room Maddox was addressing when he said my name.
Then I freeze, and static roars to life in my ears. My heart somersaults before kicking into a sprint when I meet a familiar gaze. A gray-eyed gaze I’ve been fantasizing about ever since my last night in LA.
How is this possible? This can’t be happening. I must be imagining things because I’m sex starved and desperate for human connection. That must be it. There’s no other logical explanation for what I think I’m seeing.
Because standing stock-still in a sea of tall, sweaty hockey players is none other than my one-night stand. The man who played my body like it belonged to him. My Viking, Logan.