“You rang for me, ladies?” I said, grinning.
A tall woman with long, dark auburn hair stood to greet me. “Mr. Bosch, I presume?”
I was dumbstruck, but I managed a response. “That’s me.”
“Sidney Stahl. I’m the new owner. This is Kerrigan Oliver, my PR director.”
I took her hand and shook it, mindful not to squeeze too hard. It was long and graceful; her red nails a contrast to her ivory skin. I barely registered the other woman.
“You’re the sole owner?” I asked. She didn’t look much older than me, and I was twenty-six. A woman that age having the means or the interest in owning a hockey team caught me by surprise.
“Correct.” Her green eyes cast a spell over me. She was stunning. Fuckable was definitely not the way I’d describe this woman.
“What’s a beautiful woman like you want with a hockey team?” I asked, my curiosity about her piqued.
The P.R. lady—Keri I think her name was—now stood, her cell phone in her hand. “Sorry, but the furniture’s here, Sid. Do you want me to go down and sign for it?”
“Yes, that would be great. Thank you.”
Keri hadn’t even left the room yet and my blood was already pumping hard. Once I was alone with Sidney, I’d get this meeting over with and then lay on the charm nice and thick. I was already picturing her in my bed tomorrow morning. Stacy the bartender would have to wait.
Sidney
Keri gave me a sympathetic look as she rose to leave the room. We did business in a man’s world every day, and shutting down advances was just part of it. I tamped down the flare of aggravation I felt toward my team’s captain and sat down on the edge of my desk. “More at issue, Mr. Bosch, is what I have planned for this team. Please, have a seat.”
He sat down on the old metal folding chair Liam had vacated and continued in his familiar tone, “Well, the good news is, it can’t get any worse. Bet you got a deal on this team.”
“I was well aware of your losing record when I bought the Flyers. I have the means to turn it around and that is precisely what I intend to do.”
“Good luck,” he said sarcastically. His icy, gray-blue eyes were locked on mine. His blond hair was cut short and his face was nothing short of chiseled. He had a bigger, more muscular build than most hockey players I’d met before. If he ever gave up hockey, this guy had a future as a model.
“Keri and I are focusing on the big picture, Mr. Bosch, so don’t worry yourself about that. You’re here so we can address issues specific to you.”
His expression was a mix of amusement and confusion. “Since I doubt you’re cutting your star player, what issues would those be?”
Arrogant asshole. I returned his look of amusement.
“Your inability to behave like an adult, Mr. Bosch. You were recently arrested for disorderly conduct while on a road trip with the team.”
“I took a piss in a dark alley. That cop was being a dickhead.”
“And your arrest the month before?” I glanced down at my notes. “For assault?”
His jaw tensed. “The other team showed up at the bar we went to after the game. Their captain was running his fuckin’ trap about my guys. I’m not having that.”
I arched my brows skeptically. “So it’s okay for you to say your team sucks, but no one else can?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
I sighed and folded my hands in my lap. “Mr. Bosch—”
“Killian.”
“Mr. Bosch,” I continued. “You have the skills to be playing at the highest level of the game. Instead you’re known for being a hothead and a womanizer. Is that what you want?”
He shrugged. “Makes no fuckin’ difference to me what people think of me … uh, pardon my language, Ms. Stahl.”
“I’ll be blunt. I’ve got bigger balls than most of the men I know. Swear all you want around me, but do not ever dismiss me.”
The corners of his lips quirked up with amusement. “So I like to drink and fuck in my off time. I’m still the best damn player you’ve got. I suggest you meet with the guys who refuse to get in shape or learn how to fuckin’ skate.”
“Change starts at the top. The team has new ownership and a new coach. And you’re the team captain. I need you to stop behaving like a frat boy and start leading this team.”
A dark shadow of anger passed over his face. “Give me a team worth leading and I will. On the ice.”
“I’m not interested in having a team captain who gets in drunken brawls and whores around every night of the week. It’s toxic to the image of this team.”
“Well, I’m not allowing you to have a vice grip on my balls. I work hard on the ice, and I’ll be blunt right back: I like to fuck after games. Hockey brings out my primal side.”
His words made my skin feel flushed. I kept my expression all business, but I was secretly a little turned on by Killian. Not just because he was hot and intense, but because he wasn’t intimidated by me. Once I asserted myself to a man, he usually backed down or ran scared. But Killian was different.
We stared at each other in a face off that felt like it lasted for several minutes. I cleared my throat and broke the silence, forcing myself to focus on the topic at hand. “Perhaps you’d be more comfortable if someone else was team captain,” I said.
He scoffed and arched his brows. “Perhaps not. This is my team, Ms. Stahl. You may have written a big check to call it yours, but in every way that matters, it’s mine. Lazy guys and all. Are you going to tell the four guys getting cut that they’re out of a job?”
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest. “You’re waffling now? A few minutes ago you were all about making changes to the team.”
He stood up from his seat in front of me. Because he was several inches taller than me and about a foot wider, he was physically imposing.
“Don’t get me wrong, change needs to happen. But I’m not some asshole who enjoys it. The hard work to rebuild this team will take place on the ice. At long, grueling practices. On long, exhausting road trips where we sleep on a fuckin’ bus at night. Don’t think your presence in this room gives you the same investment in this team that I have.”
The tension between us was thick. His glare was dark and brooding. I’d pushed him too hard.
“Why don’t we revisit this in a few days?” I suggested. “Let’s take a breather.”
He didn’t even acknowledge my suggestion, instead turning for the door. As he reached for the handle, he turned back to me.
“Plenty of teams would love to have me. Rough edges, legal troubles and all. I’m here because I want to be, and that’s subject to change at any time.”
“I’ll be very sorry if it does change,” I admitted. “But I’d rather own a losing team than one with players who act like careless boys instead of professional athletes. Our attendance at games is dramatically down. Our fans need players they can look up to.”
I saw the tense set of his jaw from across the room. He didn’t meet my eyes again before he walked out the door and closed it behind him.
My heart pounded in my chest. I couldn’t lose Killian. I’d lose Orion too, and they were the two most important people on this team.
I needed to step back and relax, and only one thing would do that for me. I grabbed my purse and phone from beneath my dilapidated makeshift desk and walked out the side door to my office. The condo I was leasing here had a gym, and I’d be logging several miles on the treadmill before I was my cool, collected self again.
Chapter 2
Killian
“I figured Calvert and Bertie were gone, but Grayson and Strauss surprised me,” Bennett said, peeling at the label on his beer bottle. He was kind of a sensitive guy, and he was still reeling from the news about our teammates who’d been cut today.
I set my empty beer bottle on the table. Stacy glanced over and arched her brows, silently asking if I wanted another. I shook my head and she scrunched up her face in confusion.
“Yeah, but we just lost almost a third of our team.”
“We’ll bounce back. They needed to clean house. Now if Liam can just stop being an asshole …”
Liam flipped me off from the other side of the table the three of us were sharing.
“Your words, not mine,” I said.
“What’d they say to you?” he asked, draining the last of his beer.
I shrugged, picturing Sidney sitting on the edge of her desk, her legs on display in the business suit she’d had on.
“The blonde P.R. woman left the meeting early. It was mostly me and Sidney.”
“She told you to call her Sidney?”
I gave him a look of confusion. “That’s her name, douchebag.”
“Yeah, I know that. Anyway, what’d she say?”
“She wants me to stop getting arrested and sleeping around.”
“Yeah,” Liam said with a laugh. “Sounds like we’re both bad for the team’s image. Apparently I’m not nice enough.”
“The fuck?” Bennett looked between me and Liam. “We’re hockey players. Sounds like they want us to be choirboys.”
“I’m on board with playing better hockey, but I’m not letting anyone tell me how to act,” Liam said. “Fuck that.”
Stacy approached our table and slid a fresh beer toward me.
“I’m good,” I said.
“We don’t close for another couple hours. You need to stay hydrated. I’ll be giving you a closer look at my tattoo later.”
Her tits were on display in a low cut top and her eyes were lined in black. She gave me a seductive smile, assuring me she was a sure thing tonight.
“Another time,” I said, picking up the beer and handing it back to her.
She gave me a puzzled look. “Another time?” she repeated, sounding as if she didn’t quite get my meaning.
“Yeah, I have to be up early tomorrow.”
With a dirty look, she swiped the bottle from my hand and left.
Bennett smirked at me but said nothing.
“I don’t want fans thinking I’m a dick,” I said. “I’ve never thought about myself that way.”
“You are a dick,” Liam said.
“I’m serious. When kids come to our games, I don’t want them thinking it’s cool to get arrested. I haven’t been thinking of myself as a role model and … I don’t know, I’m just thinking about it now.”
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 one-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.
“That sounds good, actually. Why don’t you order something for all of us from that deli? I’ll take an egg white scramble and some fruit.” I glanced at my watch and groaned. My meeting with Orion was in thirty minutes.
“I can go through all those emails and make a digest of anything you need to address,” Barb offered. “You may want to focus on the contract for your meeting about the Gideon development. And your father called yesterday and the day before, so you may want to return his call.”
“Eh. I’m already stressed and that call will likely push me over the edge.”
“I’ll tell him you’re very busy when he calls today.”
A wave of guilt hit. “No. I’ll call him. Might as well get it over with.”
Barb stepped out and pulled my office door closed. I pushed a button to call my dad and after two rings I started hoping I’d gotten lucky enough to get his voicemail.
“Sidney.”
Damn. I wasn’t lucky after all.
“How’s my little girl?”
“I’m good, Dad. How are you?”
“No complaints.” His voice was muffled as he stopped talking to me to direct his driver as to which road to take
. “What’s this I hear about you investing in Gideon?”
“I haven’t inked anything yet, but I’m leaning that way.”
His sigh was loaded with aggravation. “It’s an under-valued company, I’ll give you that. But it’s too risky. You’ve been lucky, Sidney. Don’t squander what you have on a risky investment.”
“What you call luck, I call working my ass off.”
“Of course,” he said, chuckling. “You’ve done well, honey. But when are you going to stop focusing all your energy on work? You’ll be twenty-eight on your next birthday. Your mother and I are approaching sixty. We’d like some grandchildren soon.”
“I’m not even seeing anyone, Dad.”
“Exactly. Because you insist on working so much. You need to take what you have and cash out. Get serious about finding personal success. I can have Ron value your companies and I’ll buy them myself.”
“You aren’t buying my companies. They aren’t for sale.”
His conciliatory, happy tone disappeared. “No man worth having wants a woman who’s married to her work.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and counted to five. I’d have to count to ten thousand before the anxiety my father caused me would begin to fade.
“Dad, I have a busy day. Do you need something?”
“I just wanted to remind you that our anniversary party is coming up. Your mother will be very disappointed if you don’t come.”
I clicked my mouse onto the scheduler on my computer. “I have it scheduled. I’ll be there.”
“I hope so. You have a habit of missing important family occasions.”
Dad was right. I did miss some of the family get-togethers, but there was a good reason for it— I was always subjected to judgment and scrutiny every time we got together. My younger brother, on the other hand, was slapped on the back and told to focus on school and work. Seemed he had a free pass until he reached his thirties.
“The party is on a Saturday night and there’s no game that night, so I’ll be free and clear. I’ll be there, Dad.”
Killian Page 2