Breaking the Ice (Timberwolves #1)

by Lizzy Ripp

  "Agreed," Cassie said. The three of them finished their beers in relative silence, talking over the events of the night and formulating elaborate plans for revenge they would carry out, until finally, Cassie stifled a yawn.

  “Goodness. I didn’t mean to be out this long. I have an 8am flight to drag myself to in… She checked her watch in dismay. “Oh good. Four hours. Joy."

  "Let's get some sleep," Yaro agreed, finishing off his beer in a single sip and throwing on his jacket, the idea of getting back in bed with Julia's warm, sleepy body enticing him from afar.

  The three of them made their way back to the hotel in near silence, all exhausted from a very full day. Yaro slipped into the hotel room which was full of the sounds and scent of a sleeping Julia and undressed as quietly as he could in the dark, slipping into bed beside her with a deep sound of satisfaction.

  "Mm," she murmured, nuzzling against him, warm and drowsy. "How was Jonathan?"

  Yaro tried to remember what he'd told her he was doing. He wasn't fond of lying - let alone someone he cared about - finding it both easier and more practical to be direct and honest. But this situation required careful handling.

  "Yeah, he was fine," he said. "It's late," he added before she could speak again, smoothing her hair away from her forehead and kissing it tenderly. "Get some sleep. Gotta be up early in the morning."

  She murmured something indiscernible and soon fell into the rhythmic breathing of sleep. He noted with amusement that she made teeny tiny little snores as she slept - the kind of noises he imagined a sleeping kitten might make.

  Adorable, he thought. And that was the last thing on his mind before he drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  A WEEK WENT by with no word from Sasha and no splashing of the photos she'd taken across the Twittersphere. Julia was starting to get nervous. She almost wished it would go ahead and happen already - the waiting was the worst part. Every morning she woke up as if nothing at all was amiss, went to work, chatted to Christina and dealt with any last-minute issues that came up with the team, all while waiting for the click of a mouse that would ruin her entire career. It was positively nerve-wracking and if she hadn't had Yaro to lean on through it all, she doubted she would have made it this long without going insane.

  That part of her life was, she had to admit, going better than she ever could have imagined. Since the night of the benefit, the two of them were spending as much time as possible together - every night this week, in fact, Julia realized with a smile as she sat behind her desk on Thursday afternoon. She was writing up a press release on a draft-pick who'd found himself in hot water at a strip club over the weekend.

  "...deeply regrets his actions and any offence caused," she wrote and then paused with a sigh, digging out her phone. She found herself doing that more and more often lately.

  "Today is taking forever. Kill me. How was practice?" She texted, placing her phone down to await a reply which came, she noted with amusement, almost instantaneously.

  "I'm wrecked," came the reply. "Ramen for dinner?"

  Julia smiled. How had this happened so quickly? A week ago, hanging out with Yaro had been nothing more than a stepping stone designed to get her from point A to point B in her career - and to get him out of the press's bad books. Now... It was something real. And it still felt like a dream.

  The press and fans, she also noted with some satisfaction, were eating it up. Someone online had called her a "good influence" over the "volatile defender" - which Yaro had found amusing and also impossible to deny. Julia was secretly pleased at how well their plan was unravelling - but living in dread of the day one photo would send the entire plan up in a blaze of smoke.

  Julia had taken Cassie’s advice about keeping what the night of the gala. She was keeping it to herself – but it was putting her on edge, more and more with each passing day. Which was why, when Christina suddenly appeared in the doorway of her office on the Friday after their return, she nearly jumped out of her seat.

  "Hey," Julia said with a smile, imagining Christina wanted to go over the previous night’s post-game press. "Do you want to get a coffee?"

  Christina shook her head. "Jerry wants to meet with you. Now," she added, an unreadable expression on her face.

  "Oh," Julia said, her heart beginning to pound, trying to play it cool. "Does he want a debrief on the benefit finally?” He hadn’t asked for one yet, and she was starting to get nervous.

  "I'm not sure," Christina said with a small shrug. "He just told me to send you his way when you got in. He's in his office now."

  ”Oh. Okay," she said brightly, trying to keep calm. "I'll uh... I'll be right in."

  Christina gave her a weak smile of solidarity, clearly suspecting the worst. "Okay," she said. "Good luck."

  Then she shut the door. Julia took that moment to have a tiny freak out, put on abrupt pause as Christina opened the door again.

  "Can I get you a coffee? I'm going to Starbucks."

  "Sure," she said, her voice strangled. "That'd be great."

  With one more encouraging look, Christina disappeared, and Julia figured there was no point delaying any further. Taking a moment to smooth her hair and clothes, and square her shoulders, she made her way down the hallway towards Jerry's office, knocking gently on his door.

  "Come in!" Jerry barked, almost instantly. Julia took a deep breath and pushed the door open, trying to radiate confidence and competence as she said hello.

  "Have a seat," Jerry said gruffly. A former hockey player, she'd always thought his bulk looked odd stuffed into suits and ties, especially now that he'd put on a few pounds around the middle. But he made for an imposing figure, one Julia tried not to worry about as she took the proffered seat and smiled.

  "Julia," he began. "I had some feedback from the benefit. A Malerie... something."

  "Uh huh," Julia said, her heart beginning to pound, images of her drunkenly kissing her ex dancing through her head. She fought to retain a neutral expression.

  "She raved about you," Jerry said, matter-of-factly. "Said your speech brought the whole room down. Didn't know you were doing a speech."

  "Neither did I," Julia said, giving a weak, relieved laugh. "Until I got there."

  "Well. Damned impressive. I just wanted to say you did a great job representing the team. And you've handled this whole -" he waved a hand over his head vaguely - "situation well. I honestly didn't think you had it in you."

  Julia wasn't sure what to say to this. Surely not ‘thank you’? Instead, she gave a small, uncertain smile.

  "But," he cleared his throat. "I make it a point to know what my players are up to both personally and professionally. They're almost inseparable, much as you might like them to be," he said, musing. "But one always winds up affecting the other. So, I want you to tell me straight - are you and Yaro dating seriously now?"

  Julia was taken aback. There seemed to be something unseemly - perhaps even illegal, though she wasn't sure - about her boss asking about her relationship status. But of course, this was no ordinary job. And he was right - everything the players did in their personal lives permeated onto the ice. It was a reason Yaro had been such a great defenseman - he had plenty of aggression on ice and off. She could understand Jerry wanting to make sure nothing impacted that.

  "Yes," she said firmly. "We are."

  He nodded, as if he'd expected this and sat back in his chair, musing. "This could get messy, you know."

  "I know," she said simply. "But... Obviously we're both hoping it won't. And neither of us planned it. It just sort of..." she shrugged her shoulders.

  "Happened," he finished for her.

  "That's pretty much the gist of it, yeah."

  "Hmm. Alright. Well, I have a solution - and I think it's one that will work best for everyone involved."

  "What's that?" Julia asked, instantly wary. Was this why Christina had looked so worried? Had she known Julia was about to be fired?

  Jerry di
dn't reply right away, drumming his shoulders on his thick, walnut-paneled desk. "You want the interview with the network for an on-air position, don’t you?"

  Julia felt her mouth drop open and snapped it shut. "Yes. I do."

  "What if we sped up that process?"

  Julia paused for a moment, overwhelmed. "Are you telling me I have an interview?"

  He nodded. "You do. With my strong recommendation."

  Almost before she knew what was happening, Julia had launched herself out of her chair with a cry of delight. Jerry seemed moved in spite of himself, cracking the barest hint of a smile - something she didn't think she'd ever seen before on his stern, hawkish face.

  "You'll be meeting with Patrick Ross, who's in charge of hiring for the on-air correspondent position. On Friday. Can you make that work?"

  "Of course!" Julia said. "Jerry. I don't know what to say."

  "I think 'thank you' will be fine," he said, gruff again.

  "Thank you. Thank you so much," Julia said. "I... Seriously. Thank you."

  He nodded absently, shuffling papers on his desk as an indication that she was dismissed. "Keep me posted," he said. "Let me know how your interview goes. Tell Patrick I say hello. We play golf together sometimes."

  Julia grinned. "I will." She fought the urge to thank him again and made her way to the door.

  "Oh, and Julia?"

  She turned back, a pit forming in the bottom of her stomach, giving him a quizzical smile.

  "Good luck."

  With a smile of both triumph and relief Julia nodded and closed the door.

  -----

  "That's amazing, babe," Yaro said, listening to Julia's giddy relaying of her meeting with Jerry. "You're gonna knock it out of the park."

  "I hope so - he did mention they were golf buddies, which... I mean, does that mean I'm a sure thing? I want to get the job on my merits, not..."

  "I think this is a case of… what’s that expression? I’m bad with idioms. ESL problems. Something about a horse? And a gift? Anyway, don’t look at it,” he said firmly. "You'll just have to take it on whatever terms you can get it. You said yourself interviews like this are almost impossible to get. It's safe to say everyone else has an 'in' too. Don't bother feeling bad about yours."

  She took this in silently for a minute. "I guess," she says at last.

  "We on for ramen tonight?" Yaro asked, changing the subject.

  "Definitely," she said. "I'm daydreaming about the smoky miso."

  "God, yes. Let's do Shuyu at... Can we make it 7?"

  "Oh. You don't want to go right after practice?"

  "I've got something to take care of first. Gotta run into the city."

  "Oh," she said again, clearly curious but not wanting to be 'that' girlfriend. Normally he would assure her that it was fine to ask, that he was an open book - but for now, a little bit of discretion was necessary.

  "I won't be long," he promised. “You know me - I'd never be late for food."

  Julia snorted. "Nice. Food first, Julia second."

  "What can I say? I've been in an intense relationship with food for much longer than I've been dating you," he teased, delighting in the laugh she let loose on the other end of the phone. He loved her laugh - it was just like a little kid's. Loud, unbridled, and full of joy.

  "Fair."

  "Anyway. I've gotta get back to it," Yaro said, not looking forward to returning to the gym for training. "I'll see you at dinner."

  "Okay," she said. "Looking forward to it."

  "Me too. Bye."

  The rest of Yaro's day went by in a painful, grinding sort of way. The gym was grueling, and after that was conditioning which was perhaps even more so. He was incredibly thankful for the sports massage he'd been booked in for to end the session - his muscles were crying out for some relief and he needed time to think.

  Afterwards, he felt like a new man - ready at least to take on the task at hand. He took a cab into the east side of the city, into the Commercial District which, counter to its name, was anything but. A haven of hipsters, the district was chock full of alternative bookstores, funky little clothing boutiques and specialty cafes - including the vegan cafe that Rhochelle had suggested as a meeting point.

  She was sitting by the window as he walked up, dressed down in a beanie, sweater and skirt and nursing a steaming cup of chai when he entered. After giving her a big hug and ordering a coffee from the bar, he sat down opposite her.

  "What have you got for me?" He asked.

  She smiled wryly at him. "Straight to it then. I always did like that about you."

  He smiled.

  "The good news is, she hasn't done anything with the pictures yet," Rhochelle said. "I have seen them though, on her phone. So they're still out there. Though I must say," she added. "The quality isn't great. I'm not convinced she could do something with them at all."

  "How did you see them on her phone?" Yaro asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

  "Oh," Rhochelle said breezily. "I reached out to her on Instagram pretending to want to do a collab for a sponsored post. Yes, I'm an influencer," she said, raising her eyebrows at him archly. "It's part of my business model – and business is thriving, thank you very much."

  "I didn't say a word," Yaro replied, with another grin.

  "Anyway," she went on with a cheeky grin shot his way, "I met her at a bar and plied her with cocktails - which was easy as piss by the way. She started talking about her 'business strategy' and mentioned that she had some ideas to go viral with, but she wasn't sure if she could make them happen the way she wanted. The photos were one way," Rhochelle said, taking a deep slurp of her chai. "Among about five. But it seemed pretty far-fetched to me and I told her I wasn't sure it was doable. You know," she shrugged. "Not acting like I had any skin in the game or anything.”

  “It isn’t a great photo for one thing,” she went on. “You can only tell it's Julia if you have a really good photo of her and really look for it. It's not the sort of thing that would grab attention for an article, say. Plus, as I pointed out - Julia isn't that well known aside from her relationship to you, and even then it's not really news anymore. The news was that she stopped you from being a dick in public and that's old news," she grinned. "As long as you keep it up."

  "I'm working on it," he said. "So what were her other ideas?"

  "Oh, you know. The usual. Fake scandal, famous partner. Sex tape. Daniel DeSoto didn't make it worthwhile for her as far as celebrity cache went. I mean, sure he's rich, but he's not flashy enough about it. She needs someone as fame hungry as she is," she said. "And, gross as he is, he's no match for her on that count. It seemed like those were the avenues she was more interested in pursuing."

  Yaro considered this for a moment. "I still don't like her having those photos," he said. "And I know it's going to make Julia crazy that she does. It already is," he admitted. "She's been super tense since she got back from Philly. Trying to hide it but... I can tell."

  Rhochelle nodded sympathetically. "That's understandable. It must be hard knowing someone else out there has your fate in their hands. Literally. But I did find out something that might help."

  "What's that?"

  "I know who she'd sell the photos to if or when she decides to do it."

  "You do?"

  "Uh huh," Rhochelle said, that Cheshire Cat grin returning to her face again. "And it just so happens that he's a client of mine. Clothing designer named… Well,” she shrugged. “That’s not important.”

  Yaro exhaled, amazed at his luck. "Now that is interesting."

  "I thought so."

  Both were silent for a time, Rhochelle sipping her tea, while Yaro considered what to do with this information. He rolled various possibilities through his head, casting his mind back to the night of the benefit when he'd planned for a contingency like this with Cassie and Jonathan.

  "I think I have an idea," he said slowly. "But I'm going to need your help."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
/>   THE NEXT WEEK passed relatively normally for Yaro and Julia, who were now together every night and during their free time at work, alternating only whose apartment they stayed at every night. On game days, they'd crash at Julia's, as it was closer to the stadium. Practice days were usually spent at Yaro's - which felt more like an escape to both of them.

  They were having dinner at Julia's the night before her interview and after a particularly grueling Thursday night game. She was buzzing with nerves, and to calm her down, he'd sat her on the couch with some wine and, despite being exhausted from the game and sporting a fresh black eye, made her a nice pasta dinner and let her talk through her nerves, even going through potential interview questions with her.

  "I don't even know what to wear - still, and I've been thinking about this all week," she said, sipping her red wine thoughtfully. "I mean, do I go super conservative? It's an on-air position though so I think maybe a bit of sex appeal is called for - but how much? It's such a tight line."

  "Have you asked Cassie?" He asked, concentrating deeply on the sautéing onions for his chicken alfredo.

  "No, but that's a great idea," she said, grabbing her phone.

  "Oh!" She said, giving a little laugh as she picked it up and it vibrated in her hands. "Speak of the devil. She just texted me. She wants to know if she can drop by to borrow a book I recommended." She frowned at the phone. "Weird timing, but okay. Do you mind?"

  "Nah, of course not. Should I make extra pasta?"

  Julia went silent for a moment, texting Cassie and then shook her head. "She says she's already eaten. I guess it's a book emergency," she said. "But anyway, I can ask her about the outfit so that's handy."

  Yaro concentrated on his alfredo, which was turning out to be, in his estimation, pretty spectacular. It was really the only dish he knew how to cook, so he'd had plenty of practice.

  "That smells amazing," Julia said, walking up behind him and putting her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his back. "Thank you so much for cooking - especially after that game. You're a total catch."