Read Online Skating on Thin Ice: Seattle Sockeyes (Game On in Seattle Book 1) by Jami Davenport - Free Book Online

and a happy-hour appetizer. She didn’t see Ethan sitting alone in a booth surrounded by messy piles of paper and numerous electronic devices until he caught her attention and waved her over. By then it was too late to cut bait and run like hell. Her feet carried her where she didn’t want to go, and she slid into the booth seat across from him.
    “We have to stop meeting like this.” He smiled, showing off two dimples she’d never noticed before, and she was a sucker for a man with dimples, just like she was for a man with deep blue eyes, dark hair, and a long lean body. He had this one unruly lock of hair that insisted on falling over his forehead, but other than that nothing was out of place. Even though he wore jeans and T-shirts as opposed to business suits, he’d probably look just as at home in a suit. Today he wore his usual faded pair of jeans and a Giants sweatshirt. For a businessman, his manner of dress was curious at best, but she assumed he might be playing down his role to make the staff more comfortable around him.
    He signaled to the waiter, and they ordered beers and nachos. He stacked the papers into a haphazard pile with his iPad and cell phone balanced precariously on top. Looking up, he caught her watching him and winked. “You should see my office at home.”
    “I’m not sure I could handle that.” Lauren liked things neat and tidy, everything in its place. “A bit messy, are we?”
    “Actually I like things tidy, I just pay other people to do that for me.”
    She nodded; that seemed to be a common theme with him. “Paying others to do the detail work for you means missing out on the journey and just arriving at the destination.”
    “And that’s a problem?” He was still grinning, still making her heart throb. No shit, it was actually throbbing. And her panties, well, she didn’t even want to think about what was going on between her legs.
    “It could be because I suspect that once you arrive, you schedule another trip. You never sit back and enjoy the ride.”
    “Pretty much.” His eyebrows furrowed, as if she’d pointed out something he hadn’t considered. “My mom always tells me to stop and smell the roses, but I’m too busy climbing the next mountain.”
    “Your mom’s a smart lady. And what mountain will you tackle after this one?”
    He shrugged, suddenly shutting down, his blue eyes shielded and wary. He did a quick subject change. “Ready for game two?”
    “I don’t have to be ready. The guys do,” Lauren said. As much as she hated to say it, the few playoff series the guys played in since she’d been with the team pretty much sent her over the edge, as if she wanted something badly enough she could somehow fuel their ability to win.
    It hadn’t worked two nights ago.
    “I’m sitting in the box tonight to get the big-picture view.”
    Lauren nodded. Ethan could sit anywhere he pleased. The way the league was bowing down to him, he could probably sit on the players’ bench if that’s what he wanted.
    “I want you to join me. Any progress on the payroll stats?”
    “I’m working on them. We have the lowest payroll in the league for staff and players. I can tell you that much already. That’s why we lose free agents and competent staff left and right every year. This isn’t exactly a destination for elite players.”
    “Except Cooper.”
    “Yes, except Cooper. He’s an anomaly. Loyal to a fault. I often wonder if he wouldn’t prefer to go elsewhere.”
    “But he doesn’t. Why is that?”
    Cooper stuck around while every other decent player packed up his sticks and skated out of town at the first opportunity. “Like I said, he’s loyal, which is probably not to his advantage.” She thought for a few more seconds, as she sipped the beer just deposited on her table. “He’s done a lot of work with kids over the years at the Children’s Hospital and sponsors a summer camp every year for underprivileged kids both here and in his hometown of Detroit.