Back Check (Aces Hockey #4)(62)

 

Tanner had paused, thinking, What the fuck? And then the sound of guffaws all around him had clued him in that they were yanking his chain about Katelyn.

 

Funny. Very funny.

 

He had revenge plans, but he'd wait until they were off guard.

 

After he'd showered, eaten oatmeal with fruit and almonds on it, and guzzled down some coffee, he called Kevin in response to a voicemail he'd left about a conference call he'd had with Aces management on Friday, only to learn that, once again, there'd been no progress.

 

Fuck this. It was making him crazy.

 

The trade deadline was just over two weeks away.

 

The latest rumors came from Dean Heinz at the big blog Hockey News Today, writing more about the Ducks' interest in him. "For the Ducks to absorb Bennet's cap number, even this late in the year, there would have to be guys going back to the farm. The Ducks don't have a first-round pick and that might be the coup de grâce for them since they traded next year's first-round pick to the Florida Panthers as part of the Varick trade last season. They'll likely have just north of three million in cap space at the deadline, but that's a little more than half of Bennet's $4.9 million cap hit."

 

Tanner sighed.

 

"But there's still a chance that Bennet won't be moved by the deadline; there are reports that Chicago is still interested in re-signing him. Keep in mind the Aces also have to re-sign top-three forward Julien Boucher, who's a UFA this summer, as well as young defenseman and pending RFA Hugh Land, who has top-pairing talent."  

 

Same old shit. It was getting harder and harder to ignore it and focus on hockey. And now they had a weird stretch in the schedule that gave them six days off between games.

 

That didn't mean he had nothing to do, mind you. His agent had lined up an endorsement deal with Crossport Sporting Goods, and he had a photo shoot on Monday. Then Thursday night was a big lip-sync charity event organized by the Aces Foundation. A bunch of the guys were going to battle one another in a lip-sync competition. He and Boosh had been secretly practicing. Fuck, they'd even hired a choreographer to help them. Not that they were competitive much. They had a few practice sessions scheduled this week.

 

He rubbed his hands together an anticipation of the win Thursday night. And it was for a good cause.

 

Next call … Katelyn.

 

They'd texted a bunch during the trip, which was kind of cool, and hence the Wedding Planner joke. He knew she'd watched the game on Wednesday night and some of Friday's game, apparently from a bar with Rachel and some other girlfriends. Last night she'd been busy working.

 

He remembered that morning at his place when she'd taken a call from a client, the one who was apparently giving her a hard time by continually postponing the wedding, and how well she'd dealt with it. Listening to her being so direct and yet tactful had made something in his chest go all mushy and warm. Admiration. Affection. Dammit, he could not be falling in love with her.

 

He didn't exactly have a good track record when it came to relationships. He needed to keep that in mind so as not to end up in the same situation they had last time, both of them broken and hurting. This time he'd keep his heart out of things.

 

"How'd the wedding go last night?" he asked when she picked up the call.

 

"Not bad. There's always something unexpected."

 

"No! Not for you. Don't you plan for everything?"

 

"I try." She sighed. "I told this couple they should arrange for a snack later in the evening. Lots of people are doing really creative things for a late night snack. I knew they liked burgers and I said maybe a slider bar."

 

"That's a cool idea."

 

"Yeah, well, they didn't think it was necessary. So what happens? Everyone is hungry and I'm ordering a hundred and fifty cheeseburgers from M Burger and driving to pick them up."

 

"Jesus, seriously?"

 

She laughed. "No lie."

 

"I hope you charged extra for that."

 

"Oh yeah."

 

"People must love you for going above and beyond like that, though."

 

"I guess. Not everyone appreciates it. Last night, they did."

 

"So what are you doing today?"

 

"Resting."

 

"Hey, me too! Wanna rest together?"

 

"Ha-ha."

 

He grinned, leaning back on his couch. "How tired are you? Maybe we could take a walk? It looks like a nice day."

 

"Hmmm. I could be up for that."

 

"I'll come by your place and we can start from there, go along the lake."

 

"Sure."

 

"Be there in an hour."

 

When he arrived at her place, she was dressed in jeans and a chunky ivory sweater. She gave him a shy smile that made his heart stutter, and he reached for her, pulled her into his arms, and kissed the breath out of her.