“Yeah,” I smile up at him. “I am now.”
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“I’d like to thank you all for coming out to our ‘One Night With’ auction today to help support the Dragons as we raise funds for The Denver Youth Hockey program,” I say into the microphone as I stand up on my makeshift stage in front of what must be at least one thousand men and women who quieten down from all their chanting and cheering for my boys.
It has been such a crazy day. After I spent the last few weeks promoting the shit out of the auction, far more people have shown up then I could ever have imagined. We had originally set up in one of the lecture halls and have had to move it to the ice rink, where I stand in the middle of the ice on a little stage, looking up into the grandstand, with a thousand people staring back at me and I tell you, this does nothing for my nerves, but there was no way in hell Sophie was going to stand up here, so it’s left for me to do.
“Alright, let’s meet our boys,” I sing. “Please put your hands together for the undefeated Kings of Denver. The mighty Denver Dragons.” The crowd roars as Miller leads the boys onto the ice, they all show off as they skate around the rink, motioning for the crowd to get as loud as possible, and I must say, for an arena that can hold eight thousand people, this crowd certainly is doing a great job of filling it with noise.
Miller makes a quick hand gesture to the boys and they all make a quick lap before coming and taking a seat in the row of chairs lined up on the ice, facing the crowd.
“Ok, before we get started, let's cover a few ground rules,” I say and I get a collective groan from the crowd and the boys. “As many of you would be aware the majority of the team are single and have generously volunteered themselves to be auctioned off tonight,” I explain and receive a scoff from each and every one of my boys. “Ok, so, I may have slightly twisted their arms, but what the hell, they are still here before us,” I laugh as the women of the crowd all start cheering and whooping for the boys.
“We are playing by standard auction rules, if you would like to make a bid on one of these fine-looking men, just raise your hand,” I explain.
“Alright, let’s get this party started,” I holler through the microphone sending the crowd into another round of cheers. “Calm down, calm down,” I say, gesturing for the crowd to take their seats. “I’m sure you would all like to get this over with to get the most out of your time with these boys,” I laugh.
I spin to face the boys and smirk wickedly at them, each and every one of them narrow their eyes at me, trying to work out what secret I hold. My eyes roam over the boys and land on Coach Harris. “Coach,” I start, “Please step forward and show these fine people what you’re made of.” The boy's smirk at me and Coach Harris’ mouth pops open in shock. Yeah, we definitely didn’t discuss this.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”
The women of the crowd boo and I turn my gaze on them. “Can I hear from all the lovely women and men out there who would love the chance to win ‘One Night With’ the strapping Coach Harris.” The crowd roars causing his face to turn beet red in embarrassment.
“Gotta lead by example,” Tank laughs ushering Coach into the centre.
He groans but eventually obliges and stands in the centre, raising both his arms and flexing his muscles for the ladies, which naturally, sends them wild. Coach Harris is only young and most definitely keeps in shape so I’m not surprised.
I start the auction off and I must say we were all shocked when we sell him off for five hundred and sixty dollars. Maybe we're going to rake it in tonight. Coach struts back to his position at the end of the row of Dragons looking extremely pleased with himself.
I turn my attention back to the boys. “Alright, which one of you misfits are up first?” I ask.
A man from the crowd shoots up and hollers, “I wouldn’t mind winning you for the night, Dani.” The audience breaks into laughter.
Miller shoots to his feet. “She’s not for sale,” he snaps, staring the man down with absolute venom.
He backs off immediately as the women of the crowd all sigh dreamily at Miller’s protective boyfriend side, because the moment Miller could, he made it a well-known fact that we are a couple, in fact after the last four weeks of accepting the inevitable, we have apparently become the new ‘it couple’ FML.
“Cut it out,” I warn playfully. “I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see what kind of doe these boys bring in,” I say, getting right back on point. “Bobby,” I say, looking at the man in question. “Why don’t you lead the team off tonight,” I say gesturing to the centre floor. He groans and makes his way to the centre, though I see the excited sparkle in his eye, in fact, I see it in all of theirs.
Bobby goes for eight hundred and forty-five dollars and the audience gives a round of applause. The auction moves on steadily with the prices raising more and more as I get closer to the seniors.
The boys all snicker and giggle to themselves when Jaxon is sold for one thousand three hundred dollars to Jared and I realise immediately, that the team had put Jared up to it, because I know for a fact that Jared would never bid on Jaxon, especially as he is crazy in love with his boyfriend. I bet the team paid him to do it. That suspicion is confirmed the second I lock eyes on Jared who gives me the wickedest grin I have ever seen. God, they are all idiots.
I finally make it through all the boys, leaving just Tank and Miller, the two team members who are currently not single. “Ok, ladies and gentleman, that completes our single volunteers for our ‘One Night With’ auction,” I explain as they all boo, each and every one of them wanting to get their hands on the major prizes of this team. Miller and Tank. “But… I have personally spoken to the girlfriends of these fine specimen, who have agreed to put their men up for auction,” I tell them getting cheers and hollers from the crowd while Tank and Miller get out of their chairs to start protesting. “As long as you horn dogs promise to keep your hands to yourselves,” I warn, causing the crowd to laugh as one.
The boys skate over and Miller takes the microphone from my hands and flicks the off switch. “No,” he says immediately. “I’m a one-woman man,” he tells me.
“I second that,” Tank says.
“Quit it,” I say. “Don’t think of it as a date, just imagine it as spending time with a fan for a good cause. Do it for your team,” I tell them.
“Fine,” Tank growls as Miller groans.
Miller makes his way back to his seat while Tank takes front and centre. The bidding starts straight away, starting at one thousand and getting higher by the second. Women all around raise their hands over and over, trying their luck at getting their ‘One Night With’ Tank. Sophie stands by the side watching with raised eyebrows and her mouth hanging wide open, much like the rest of us as the figure raises higher and higher. Finally coming to a close at three thousand, four hundred and fifty-eight dollars. Shit, and to think Sophie is taking that home for free.
Tank takes his seat, looking extremely impressed with himself as Miller stands and skates to the centre. He glances over at me with regret in his eyes and I know this is killing him but I couldn’t say no. He is the captain and needs to do this for his team. I blow him a kiss which seems to brighten his mood.
The Miller show immediately turns on as he puts on a front for the crowd, showing himself off with a cocky attitude that the crowd believes he truly possesses, but none-the-less, they eat it up like he is their last meal. The bidding starts quickly, just like Tank, starting at one thousand it goes higher and higher as woman after woman raise their hands or should I say the competition raises their hands. The auction fly’s easily past three thousand and jumps to three and a half when he releases one of those damn sexy half smirks that only a male can do.
He glances over at me with mischief in his eye and no matter how much he hates taking another woman out, he truly does love the attention. He slowly shrugs out of his shirt, showing off his perfect body, sending the crowd wild
, particularly the women but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I see a few men getting a good look at my man too.
The bidding raises to four thousand and then to five and comes to a screeching halt when one very familiar woman stands up, raises her hand and calls out, “Ten thousand dollars.” Millers' head whips around to the voice with confusion, probably wondering why some strange cougar is dropping so much money on him.
“Fuck,” I hear murmured through the surprised crowd.
“Mum?” I ask completely and utterly stunned.
The crowd hushes as they try to figure out what is actually happening, eyes flicking between me and my crazy mother. “Sorry Hun, I couldn’t let you auction your man,” she shouts over the distance.
I see Miller visibly relax from the corner of my eye and I can’t help but smile for my own relief. “Well there you have it guys,” I say into the microphone. “Thank you so much for making it out tonight. Please make sure that all our successful bidders make their way down to the lobby to sort payment and find your man,” I explain. “And boys,” I say, fixing them all with a hard stare “Remember what we discussed in the locker room,” I say, reminding them of the ‘No sexual favours’ rule for tonight. They all groan and smirk as they nod along.
“Alright, get out of here,” I laugh.
The crowd quickly make their way out as the boys all make their way over to me.
“That was surprising,” Coach Harris says extremely stunned.
“Do you have any idea how much money we raised?” Aaron asks.
“Not sure,” I tell them. “but my guess would be somewhere upwards of maybe forty grand, I won’t know till I can sit down with a calculator, but that including the twenty we’ve already made from the calendars is pretty damn impressive, if you ask me,” the boys all laugh as we celebrate our huge win for the night.
“Go get your skates off, you’ve all got a certain woman to impress,” I say, then glance to Jaxon. “Except you, Jared loves Chinese by the way,” I smirk.
“Shut up,” he groans as they all break away and head for the locker room.
Miller stays behind and helps me down of the little stage and carries me to the side where I can stand without making a fool of myself. “Looks like I’ve got a date with your mum,” he comments.
“Looks like it,” I laugh.
“Any tips?” he asks nervously.
“No, she is super easy,” I tell him. “Just be your normal charming self but if that fails just lose your shirt.”
Chapter 16
Miller
“Hey man, have you seen this?” Tank asks as he kicks his way through my front door.
I hit pause on my Xbox as I glance up at him. “Seen what?” I ask.
He throws his phone down into my lap as he passes me and heads for the kitchen, opening up the fridge and pulling out a beer. “The girl’s latest article was just posted.”
“Ah,” I say, picking up his phone and lighting up the screen to find the article. I quickly read through it and find a huge grin on my face by the time I get to the end. “Fuck, they make us sound so much better than we are,” I laugh as I scroll through the pictures Dani had attached to the article. I get to the end to find the article has already been viewed over two thousand times.
Tank comes and joins me on the couch and picks up my discarded controller and hits play “I know,” he says. “They are killing this assignment,” he smirks proudly and I must say it’s a nice change to see this guy finally with a woman he loves.
“Yeah,” I smile. “So, what’s up?”
“Nothing, wanted to chill,” he says.
“Bullshit. I saw you two hours ago, you never want to chill after a gym session,” I scoff.
He places the controller down on the coffee table next to his beer and takes a deep breath “I’m thinking about asking Sophie to move in with me,” he says just as I take a drink from my own beer.
I do my best not to spray it all over my lounge room as I take him in. “What?” I ask completely shocked. Tank prides himself on living alone and hates the company, hell, the dickhead didn’t even want to move in with me. “That’s pretty serious, I mean, that’s a huge step for you,” I comment.
“I know, man,” he says. “But I can’t imagine not living with her. We’re practically together every night anyway.”
“True. How do you think she’s going to take that?” I ask with a smirk, knowing just how hard Tank has had to fight to get any sort of commitment out of that girl.
“Fuck man, you know what she is like,” he laughs. “It won’t be good. She’ll have my balls for even asking but she’ll give in eventually.”
“Yeah, she will,” I agree.
“How're things going with Dani?” he asks, picking up the controller once again.
I smile thinking about my sweet girl. “Great,” I tell him honestly. “She’s amazing, but I feel like she is hiding something.”
“Hiding something?” he asks with curiosity. “What? Like she’s cheating?”
“Nah, nothing like that,” I tell him. “I don’t know, it’s like something has her freaked. She puts on a brave face and acts like nothing’s wrong, but I can see it. Something’s bothering her.”
“Did you ask her about it?”
“Nah,” I comment with sarcasm then give him a stupid look. “Of course, I asked her, what kind of shitty boyfriend do you think I am?” I scoff.
“Sorry man, it was just a question. No need to bust my balls,” he laughs.
I smirk over at him and shake my head in exasperation. “I’ve asked her a few times and she just shrugs it off, but I’ll get to the bottom of it, even if I’ve got to beat a few heads together to do it.”
He nods his head and I know he is thinking that he would do the same had it been Sophie. “Alright man, let me know if you need my help with anything.”
“Sure.”
We sit for another thirty minutes going back and forth between the Xbox controller when I finally decide to get up and plug in the second one and switch to an NHL game so I can beat his ass on the screen as well as the ice.
There is a soft knock at the door and I put the controller on the table and head to the door. I open it up to find Dani and Sophie standing before me with bags upon bags of groceries. “Well, well, to what do I owe this pleasure?” I ask, getting pushed aside by the girls who rush in towards the kitchen and put the groceries down on the bench, then glance down at their reddening hands.
“We’re making you two dinner,” Dani declares as she strides up and presses a kiss to my lips.
“Oh really?” I ask, catching her around the waist before she has a chance to escape me. I deepen the kiss and moan as her tongue slips into my mouth.
She raises her hands to my chest and gently pushes me back. “Get out of here, we have work to do,” she says as she ushers me out of the kitchen. I get pushed back into the lounge room and can’t help the grin that takes over my face as I flop back onto the couch beside Tank.
“Who was that?” he asks, taking in my face.
“The girls. They’re in the kitchen, they want to cook us dinner.” I smirk.
“Shit,” he groans. “What are we going to do?”
I laugh at his response knowing there is nothing worse than Sophie and Dani’s cooking. There is a reason they live with Jared and let him rule the kitchen. “What we always do, man. Suffer through the pain with a smile.”
“Shit. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for that girl,” he grumbles.
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I groan at the early morning light as my alarm goes off from beside me. I reach over and turn it off and uncurl myself from Dani’s beautiful naked body. She groans in her sleep as I climb out from around her and pull the blankets back up to tuck her in.
I head into the bathroom and do my best to piss with my morning wood and quickly get ready for training not wanting to disturb too much of her sleep. I go about the house making sure I’ve got everything I need, feeling good, sure th
at today is going to be yet another great day.
Once I’ve downed a protein shake I head back up to my room and give Dani a kiss. She stirs under my touch. “Where are you going?” She mumbles into her pillow with her eyes closed as her fingers lace through mine.
“Got hockey practice,” I remind her as I run my finger along the side of her face, tucking a stray lock of golden hair behind her ear. “Go back to sleep.”
“Mmmkay,” she whispers.
I smile down at her and give her another kiss. “I’ll see you later, baby,” I whisper as she falls back asleep, her hand coming loose from mine.
“Kay” she grumbles again. I pull the blanket back up again and get up off the bed “Mmm, luv you,” she moans in her sleep as she burrows her face into the pillow.
What? Did she just say love you?
“Baby?” I whisper into the darkness, only to get no reply. Damn, she’s asleep. But I could have sworn she said she loves me. Yep, I knew today was going to be a great fucking day. I leave her be and make my way out the door feeling pretty damn good about myself.
I get to the rink right on time and meet the boys in the locker room. “Look alive, boys,” I holler across the room to the bunch of boys who all look half asleep.
“Geez, what’s with all the energy this morning?” Jaxon groans as he takes a seat to lace up his skates.
“You’d be like this too if you had the hottest chick on campus in your bed,” I smirk, making sure to nail him in the back of the head as I pass him.
I take my spot next to Tank and get to work on my training gear. “Seriously though,” Tank starts, “What's with the good mood?” he asks.
I grin over at him like a five-year-old boy. “Dani said she loves me this morning,” I explain.
“Shit, man,” he grins. “That’s what I’m talking about,” he says as he claps me on the back.
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