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

He’s a fixture in Gainesville, lives here year round.”
    “A regular hero, is he?” Ethan nodded, looking almost as if she wasn’t giving him the news he wanted to hear, which made no sense.
    “To a lot of people, yes, he is.”
    “And to you, personally, what do you think of Mr. Black?”
    “Me? I think he’s wonderful. He’s the consummate captain, and he keeps his nose clean off the ice, which is really important when it comes to public perception. Keeps an eye on his guys, too.”
    Ethan nodded, rubbing his chin, a habit he seemed to do when asking the tough questions. “So, Lauren, where do you see yourself in ten years or so?”
    “Doing essentially what I’m doing now.” Her answer was honest and without emotion. She’d long ago accepted that she might have gone as high as she could, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t keep fighting.
    “You don’t want to be the director of player personnel or the GM?”
    “Of course, I do, but I’m realistic, too. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, but I’d like more responsibility, more say in how the team is built and run. Regardless, I can’t imagine doing anything else, anywhere else.”
    “They don’t take you seriously, do they?” Obviously, he’d noticed, not that it was difficult to figure out.
    She met his gaze and shook her head.
    “What if another team offered you a big salary increase?”
    “What can I say? I’m loyal, like Coop. This team hired me when no one else would.” Yeah, she’d come running back with her tail between her legs after Max dumped her, leaving her destroyed and destitute, and begged the Giants to take her back.
    “You’re a rare woman, Lauren.” Ethan’s voice lowered an octave into that sexy range that had her squeezing her legs tightly together. Seriously, how stupid. She wasn’t even sure she liked the guy, let alone enough to sleep with him.
    Kaley’s words came flooding back to her. You don’t have to like a guy to screw him. It’s even better if you don’t because then it’s all about the sex. No one has any expectations, and there’s none of that awkwardness afterward because one person thinks there was more to it than the other.
    Easy for Kaley to say. She scored in bed more than Cooper scored on the ice. Lauren rarely scored at all. She just did her job, minded her manners, and dated occasionally. If Lauren could have Kaley’s guts for just one night, she’d hop into bed with Ethan and not think another thing about it in the morning.
    This never happened to her. She’d been surrounded by hot hockey players from birth, and none of them did this to her. Why Ethan? A guy who didn’t fit in this world any more than she fit in his.
    Sure, she’d lost her virginity at sixteen to one of her brother’s minor league hockey teammates—a fact her brothers and father didn’t know or they’d have castrated the poor guy. It wasn’t all Max Price’s fault. He hung around the house a lot, and he was hot. Really, really hot. Melt-your-panties hot. And he’d melted hers right off of her. She’d flirted shamelessly with him until he agreed to meet her outside the rink, and they’d done it in the backseat of his car that first time.
    His rookie year he played for the Giants, and he charmed the pants off of her again. Several times. On a drunken whim, they flew to Vegas and married. Lauren had been in an entry-level position with the Giants, and they immediately fired her for breaking the cardinal rule—no fucking the players. Max was traded to Buffalo, and Lauren went with him. She learned pretty quickly that Max was the ultimate man slut, and he spent every penny of their money on parties and women, walking out and leaving her bankrupt emotionally and financially. She begged the Giants to hire her back, and spent the next few years in financial and emotional recovery.
    Sure she’d gone out with a few guys since, but nothing serious, nothing that lasted, and she liked it that way because getting