Killian (On the Line 1)

Liam snorted a laugh. “Ginger’s got you pussy whipped already?”

“Fuck you.” I stood up from my seat. “I’m going home. You guys coming?”

They both stood up, and Liam laughed again.

“Did Red give you a curfew? Do you have to be home by midnight so she can read you a story and tuck you in?”

“You’re fuckin’ hilarious. I’m just tired.”

I climbed in the back seat of Bennett’s car and he drove us the short distance to the strip of apartments that served as player housing. There was only one single-bedroom apartment in the complex and, as team captain, I got it.

I mumbled a goodbye to Bennett and Liam and they went into the apartment they shared. When I opened the door to mine, the smell of unwashed laundry and hockey gloves greeted me.

My laptop was on the couch, so I sat down and logged on. When Google popped up, I typed in Sidney Stahl before I had a chance to talk myself out of it.

Every article I found about her was more impressive than the last. She was a Harvard alum with an MBA who’d developed a sports app in college and then sold it for an undisclosed sum. She’d used that money to form a real estate investment company and a tech startup. And now, at age twenty-seven, she was a multi-millionaire. Her father was Steven Stahl, a successful business owner who’d sold his interest in an NHL team a few months ago. So, she was likely more knowledgeable about the game than I’d given her credit for.

I clicked on images and a stab of jealousy hit when the photos loaded and I saw several shots of Sid on the arm of a guy with salt and pepper hair. His name was Lance Holt. He had a lean body and a confident smile, his arm locked tightly around her waist in every picture. She wore a long, elegant gown in every photo, her hair loose and curly in some, and pinned up neatly in others.

I was surprised at my reaction to seeing her in those photographs—especially with that guy. The pull she had over me made my chest uncomfortably tight. I had never answered to anyone and I wasn’t about to start. And I sure as hell was not going to kowtow to a ball busting team owner who chastised me for having a little fun.

But I was going to have fun with her. I wasn’t leaving the team, and we both knew it. She couldn’t afford to lose me, and she knew that I knew that. I had the looks and charm to be the one player with a pull over her. It would take time and patience, but I was up to the challenge. With the assistance of some Internet research, I’d plan and execute her seduction before she even saw it coming.Sidney

Early the next morning, I sat at my desk and closed my eyes after seeing the one hundred and six unread emails in my inbox. I took a fortifying breath. I hadn’t left the office until after eight last night, and these messages had all come in since then.

My administrative assistant Barb set a mug of coffee in front of me and I took in the scent of the hot brew and the sweet creamer she’d stirred in.

“Drink and then we’ll talk,” she said, sitting down in front of my desk. I obeyed, downing half of the coffee before saying another word.

“Better,” I said. “Thank you. Looks like we have a busy day ahead.”

“Meeting with Orion at eight. You need to finish by eight forty-five so you can catch a flight that leaves Indy at ten. Flight time to New York is two hours and fifteen minutes. You’ll have lunch on the plane. I requested a salmon salad. Your meeting with the investors for the Gideon development is at one. I set aside two hours for that, but your next meeting isn’t until four so there’s some time there.”

“Who’s at four?”

“Tom Hardesty from HR at Firestorm.”

I rubbed my temple and sighed. Since taking over the hockey team I hadn’t been as involved in my tech company as I needed to be. Firestorm was normally a well-oiled machine, but I was the president after all and I liked to be hands-on.

“You’re scheduled to fly back to Indy at six fifteen this evening, but I can move it to tomorrow if you’d like to stay at your apartment in New York tonight.”

I shook my head. “I’ll come back tonight.”

“Can I get you some breakfast? It’ll help give you energy for this long day ahead.”

Barb was always looking out for me in a motherly way. It’d caught me off guard at first, because my own mother hadn’t been motherly at all. No one had ever been as nurturing to me as Barb.