Protecting Her Heart: Indianapolis Eagles Series Book 4

by Samantha Lind

  I drop my lips to hers, needing another taste of her before I can let her go. I’m seriously going to be going through withdrawals these next five days while we’re apart. I know we’ve only been dating for a few days, but fuck, if I’m not already addicted to her.

  “Okay,” she says breathlessly, breaking our connection and taking a small step back from me. “I need to get inside and get some work done. Have a good trip and I’ll see you when you get back.”

  “Do you want me to come straight to your house once we’re back?” I ask, knowing that I’ll be disappointed if she turns me down. We won’t be back until the middle of the night, as we’ll fly back after our last game against Philadelphia, so I’ll understand if she turns down my offer.

  “Sure,” she says, a smile filling her face. “I might already be asleep, but I’ll wake up for you.” She winks at me.

  I reach out and grasp her waist, pulling her back against my front and crashing our lips back together.

  “I’ll see you in five days. Be ready for me, because I can already tell you, I’ll be ready to pounce on you.” I drop one last searing kiss to her lips before I step back and walk to the doors for the players’ entrance. I know if I didn’t walk away in that moment that I might do something stupid, like pin her against the building and get us both in trouble for indecent exposure.

  Chapter Nine

  Laura

  I make it into the building and get situated at my desk. As my computer turns on, I head down the hall to check in with Daniel. I noticed his car already in the parking lot when I pulled in, as it usually is on road trip days.

  “Good morning, Daniel,” I greet him, sweeping into his office. “Do you need anything from me this morning?”

  “Good morning. You’re chipper this morning,” he muses.

  “Yep, had a good night’s sleep last night. Woke up feeling nice and rested,” I say, not able to keep the smile from my face.

  “Ah, happiness looks good on you,” he replies knowingly. “I just need the final arrangement documents for all our hotels and meals. I didn’t see it in my packet yet this morning.” He motions to the packet he gets before every road trip.

  “I’ll track that down for you and get it to you as soon as possible. What time are you heading to the airport?”

  “I was planning on leaving here by nine. Wheels up is around nine forty-five.”

  “Sounds good. Let me go find that information for you and I’ll be right back,” I tell him as I walk back out to my desk.

  My computer is on now and I pull up the information saved on the company intranet. We have a department that deals with all the travel the team does. There’s a lot of logistics that go into a professional sports team who travels all the time, from transporting them, booking hotels, arranging meals, and anything else that might pop up during a road trip. Thankfully, we have connections in each city, so things usually run pretty smoothly.

  As soon as the schedule is released each season, the travel department starts working with the vendors we use in each city to get things booked, so it’s ready to go when the time comes. That way, the only last-minute travel issues they have to deal with are moving players who are called up or sent down to our AHL affiliate, or guys that are traded throughout the season.

  I find the paperwork Daniel needs and get that dropped off to him before I check in with my dad. He doesn’t usually need anything from me, but I always check, just in case.

  “Good morning, sweetheart,” my dad says, as I take a seat across from him at his desk and he hangs up the phone.

  “Morning, Daddy. Ready for your trip?”

  “As ready as I can be.” He chuckles. “That was Coach I just got off the phone with. He’s already been busy this morning, and might have some guys that need moved around while we’re gone. Zach Elmore might be going on the IR. He’s being checked out by Josh right now, and possibly by the docs if Josh feels the need. He’s complaining of some knee pain that’s only gotten worse overnight, apparently. If that happens, and it looks like it’s going to be more than the seven-day minimum on the IR, then Coach has already picked who will be called up to fill the roster spot. If that happens, he’d like for the player to be flown to meet us in Washington. Today, if possible.”

  “No problem. Any idea what Zach did to his knee?”

  “He said it felt weird after practice yesterday and started swelling after he got home. He talked to Josh and he had him ice it, then told him to come in first thing this morning, so they could take a look at it. It’s the same knee he had surgery on at the end of the season a year ago, after that bad hit he took in the playoffs.”

  “Okay, well, keep me posted, and if he’s added to the IR, I’ll get right on filing the paperwork and get the other guy called up and to D.C.”

  “Thanks, sweetheart. I’ll let you know as soon as we get word from downstairs.”

  I leave my dad’s office and head back to my desk. I open my email to find a reply from the Make-A-Wish rep that called me yesterday, with the contact information for the parents of the boy attached, so I can arrange all the travel directly with them. She’s also told me she’ll look into getting me the information on any outstanding medical bills, as requested.

  I draft an email to Amber, Brayden’s mother, outlining everything I’d like to set up for him and their family.

  Amber,

  I was given your contact information by the Make-A-Wish organization, as the Indianapolis Eagles have happily agreed to grant your son, Brayden’s, wish.

  We’d like to go above the requested wish and offer the best experience we can for your son. Below you will find the list of things I have put together, so far. I know time can be of the essence when granting wishes, so I’ve selected our next home stretch of games that fall over a weekend in just a couple of weeks. If those dates do not work for your family, please let me know and we can adjust to accommodate any other dates.

  The Eagles organization will provide the following for your family: Round trip transportation from the nearest airport to Indianapolis. All ground transportation will be provided by a private car service, or we can provide a rental car, if you prefer. We’ll arrange either a multi-room hotel suite or Airbnb rental for you, whatever you prefer to have for the weekend.

  As I said above, the dates I’ve selected are October 25-28th. We have home games on both the 26th and 27th that your family can attend. I’d like to bring you in on the 25th, and let the kids watch the practice, meet the team and coaching staff, and have a full tour of our facilities. On the morning of the 26th, we’d invite your family back to take part in our morning skate before the game that evening. Box seats will be provided, with full access to the home locker room before and after the game once visitors are allowed to enter. If Brayden would be up to drop the ceremonial puck before the game on the 26th, we’d love to have him be out on the ice with the team for that presentation, along with the rest of your family. For the game on the 27th, we’d also provide box seats for everyone and one last team chat sometime that day before the game. We’d arrange for you to return home on the 28th.

  Please let me know if these dates will work for you, and I can start to arrange for the travel.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Erickson

  Executive Office Manager

  Indianapolis Eagles Organization

  I send the email, loving the idea of making this little boy’s dreams come true. I just hate that he has to be sick for something like this to be accomplished.

  My morning passes quickly as I take care of emails and the normal hustle and bustle of the office. It was determined before the team left that Zach was, in fact, injured and placed on the IR list. I took care of filing the necessary paperwork with the league for that, and then coordinating with our AHL team in Champaign, Illinois to send Benjamin Morris to meet the team in D.C. The Champaign Eagles also happen to be on a road trip, but on the west coast. We were able to get him a flight that will get him into D.C. late this evenin
g, but at least he will make it in before tomorrow, and can possibly play if Coach needs him to.

  I finally have a few minutes to stop and get myself some lunch around one. I grab my keys and wallet and head out to pick up something to bring back to the office. I head to the Panera just a couple blocks from the arena, and decide once I’m there to just sit down and eat, so that I don’t try and work while eating, like I usually do when I bring my lunch back with me.

  I’m scrolling through my Instagram feed when I come across a picture that Mark posted just a few minutes ago from D.C. He’s snapped a picture of the ice before their skate. “Ready to hit the ice again tomorrow! Just wishing my girl was here to watch me play.” #hockey #nhl #missingmywoman. Cue exploding ovaries and a collective sigh by all females.

  I double tap the image and read a few of the comments before I go to leave a reply of my own. Most of the comments are nice, some are vulgar, as women are upset about the fact that he’s apparently announcing he’s no longer available. After reading some of the comments, I decide it’s probably best I don’t comment, as I don’t need people figuring out we’re dating and start to attack me on social media right now. I’m perfectly fine keeping our relationship on the downlow and out of the public eye, for now.

  I move on from his post and keep scrolling through my feed until my food is delivered to my table. I snap a picture of my food and add it to my feed. #lunch #starving #panera #Imissmyman

  I’m not very creative when it comes to my Instagram feed, so it’s mostly pictures of food and outdoor pictures I take when out for a walk or run. I sometimes snap pictures when I’m at games to post, but that’s only on a rare occasion, and most of those end up on the team’s Instagram account.

  A message pops up in my DM’s and I open it to find a screenshot of my post with a hand-drawn heart around my last hashtag, from Mark. I miss you, too, Princess.

  I close out Instagram and pull up my contacts, immediately pressing the FaceTime icon to call Mark as I put my earbuds in and connect them via Bluetooth. Seconds later, his face appears on my screen and a smile fills both of our faces.

  “Hey, beautiful,” he greets me.

  “Hey, yourself.”

  “How’s your lunch?”

  “Better now, I was starving. I got caught up in work and didn’t realize how late it was already. How was the flight?”

  “It was good. After arriving, we stopped at the hotel and had a quick lunch. We just got to the arena a little bit ago. We hit the ice here shortly for our quick skating session,” he tells me. I can now see that he’s sitting in a locker stall with half his gear on.

  “Oh, don’t let me keep you, then. I just wanted to say hi quickly.”

  “I’ll call you once we’re back at the hotel. I think some of us are going to head out to dinner somewhere rather than eat at the hotel restaurant.”

  “Okay, I don’t have any plans after work, so just call me when you’re done and back in your room.”

  “Will do, Princess. Have a good afternoon,” he tells me, and we disconnect our call. I finish up the remainder of my lunch and head back to the office to finish up my afternoon.

  When I make it back to the office, I have an email waiting in my inbox from Amber Macentire.

  Laura,

  I don’t know what to say to the generosity of the Eagles organization, except thank you from the bottom of my heart. When your email hit my inbox this morning, I stared at it in disbelief and amazement. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as we’ve just received some not so great news from Brayden’s latest scans.

  The dates that you proposed will work perfectly between his treatment schedules. As for the details of the trip, I think we’d prefer to have a rental car while in Indianapolis. Should something happen, and we need to seek medical attention for him, having a car would be best. I also think having a house via Airbnb might be more comfortable for all of us than a hotel would.

  Please let me know what information you need from me or what I can do to assist in making this happen for him. We will forever be grateful to the Eagles organization for making his last wish come true.

  Sincerely,

  Amber Macentire

  I pull up the Airbnb website and start looking for places close to the arena that will be large enough to accommodate their family of five. I quickly find a few options and save the links to send to Amber to get her final approval on one.

  Amber,

  I’m so glad that we could bring some joy to your family during such a trying and difficult time. I’m so sorry to hear you received not so great news recently.

  I’m attaching a few links to Airbnbs I’ve found, that are available for the dates we discussed, and I think would comfortably fit your family. I didn’t think to ask before, but does Brayden require any medical personnel to accompany him? If so, we’d gladly cover their travel costs, as well.

  The next things to book would be the flights and car rental. I think it would be easiest if you can call me here in the office and I can go over flight options with you while we’re on the phone. We can also book the rental car at the same time. So just call me at your earliest convenience. I’m in the office M-F 8-5.

  Can you also tell me every member of your family’s shirt size, please?

  Thank you, and I look forward to speaking to you soon!

  Laura Erickson

  Executive Office Manager

  Indianapolis Eagles Organization

  I send the follow-up email to Amber, and then shoot an email to our merchandise office, letting them know I’ll be needing some official team apparel personalized for the Macentire family as soon as I have all of their sizes. Every member of the team is provided everything, from ball caps to warm-up clothes, T-shirts, shorts, sweatshirts, and of course, jerseys and I want the family to receive the same and feel as if they’re apart of the team.

  With my plans to have the team sign Braydon to a one-day special contract, I intend to give him the full experience and send him home with everything our guys go home with. I not only want to give this to him, but also his siblings. I’m sure they sometimes feel like the spotlight is always on him and I want them to feel just as important on this trip.

  My phone rings, and I pick it up. “Indianapolis Eagles, this is Laura, how can I help you?”

  “Hi, Laura, this is Amber Macentire.”

  “Hi! Thank you for calling me so quickly.”

  “Thank you again so much. I’m still a little speechless over everything.”

  “It’s my and the team’s pleasure, I assure you. We’re here to do anything we can for your family. Now, let me pull up our travel options. What is the closest airport, or the airport you’d prefer to fly out of?”

  “We’re actually in an Atlanta suburb, so the Atlanta airport is fine.”

  “Perfect, let me see what is available for those dates. Will it just be the five of you, or do I need to look for more?”

  “I think our parents were going to try and come with us, but we don’t expect the team to cover their travel or anything.”

  “Please let me, it’s the least we can do for everyone. Will they be coming from Atlanta, as well?”

  The sound of sobbing fills my ear as Amber breaks down on the other end of the line. “Yes. I can’t believe you’re doing all of this for us,” she’s finally able to tell me.

  With the added people, I modify my search to include four more adults, but also to look for a chartered flight. “It looks like I can get you on a nonstop flight that Thursday morning, getting in here just before lunchtime. We can arrange for you to come here to the arena, and we’ll have lunch, then proceed with the tour and meeting the team, as well as observing the practice that afternoon. For the return, I’m showing a late morning return that gets you home early afternoon on that Sunday.” Hopefully, with a chartered flight, they’ll be a little more comfortable and able to spread out more than they would on a commercial flight.

  “That sounds perfect,” she tells me. />
  We go through all the booking process and I send her the confirmation emails with all their travel details, as well as looking again for a rental house that will accommodate their larger party. Once we have everything booked, I tell her to email me a list of any food they’d like to have in the house and we’ll take care of having a delivery service deliver it to the house after they check in on the arrival day.

  With the ball rolling on bringing the Macentire family to Indianapolis in a few weeks, I get the merchandise department the sizes and they get to work on making up everything I’ve requested to have ready.

  The remainder of my afternoon flies by, and I love knowing that we can bring such joy to this family.

  I pack up my things to head out and see a missed text on my phone from Madison as I walk out to my car.

  Madison: Dinner tonight?

  * * *

  Laura: Sorry for the delay, but yes let’s grab dinner!

  * * *

  Madison: I’m just leaving the office myself, want to meet somewhere?

  * * *

  Laura: Sure! Tacos or sushi sound good?

  Madison: Either works for me.

  * * *

  Laura: Lets go sushi! Mark doesn’t like it, so I’ve got to get it when I can.

  * * *

  Madison: Sounds good, I’ll see you at our normal spot in 10 maybe 15 minutes.

  “So, what do you have narrowed down so far for wedding plans?” I ask, taking a sip of my water.

  “We’ve settled on July twentieth, and we’re going to do it here in Indy. We still have to decide on the reception venue and have a couple to look at still,” she tells me, then takes a sip of her drink our server just dropped off.