Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Still, I found myself watching Simon as they shook hands, searching for any sign that he found her attractive. It felt petty to even care—we were only fake dating for Alexander’s benefit—but relief washed through me when I saw no indication that he was even the slightest bit interested.
“So, what did you want to give me?” I asked.
Hazel held out the white envelope. “Tickets to the Lynx game this weekend. I was planning to go, but I have to head out of town Thursday for work.”
This wasn’t unusual. As a journalist, Hazel sometimes traveled for stories. She liked to attend all of Miles’s home games when possible, so she always had two tickets—one for her and one for a friend so she wouldn’t have to sit alone. When she couldn’t use them, she’d pass them along.
“Thanks,” I said, opening the envelope to find premium seats. Unsurprising. Miles would want Hazel positioned where she’d have the best view of him on the ice—and where he could easily spot her in the crowd.
“Well, I’d better get going,” Hazel said, checking her watch. “I’ve got an interview in twenty minutes.”
I thanked her again, and she headed for the elevator. The moment she was gone, Simon moved to stand in front of me, a peculiar smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“This is perfect,” he said. “You can take me to the hockey game.”
I arched an eyebrow at his presumptuous assertion. “Excuse me?”
He shrugged. “I’m a huge Lynx fan. And this will be good practice for us before the resort trip. We need to be comfortable together, and convincing. Spending time outside the office will help with that.”
I considered his words, trying to read past the surface. “So… this would be our first date.”
I aimed for a joking tone and missed by a mile. Probably because a part of me desperately wished it could be real.
Simon’s expression gave nothing away. “It’s a chance to get to know each other better outside of a work environment. Build the kind of ease that Alexander will expect to see between a real couple. The last thing we need is to show up at Neptune’s Kingdom and have him sense that something’s off.”
Of course that was Simon’s concern. The business angle. His answer wasn’t a confirmation that this was a date, but it wasn’t a denial either.
He turned and strode back toward his office, and I had the distinct feeling that his ambiguity was intentional. He was toying with me, and I couldn’t tell what he actually wanted. Was this really about selling our act to Alexander? Or did he genuinely want to spend time with me?
Maybe it was better not to know because hope was a dangerous thing. It had a way of filling in the blanks with the answers you wanted instead of the ones that were true.
Simon had never given me any reason to believe he wanted anything more than a capable assistant. Every decision he made was calculated, every conversation rooted in logic. If he suggested we spend time together outside the office, there was probably a practical reason behind it. Preparing for Neptune’s Kingdom fit neatly into that category.
Anything beyond that was wishful thinking.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Simon
The roar of the crowd was deafening, the atmosphere in the arena electric with tension. I leaned forward in my seat, close enough to the glass that I could see the scratches in the ice from the players’ blades. I’d attended games before with Kurt and it was always a thrill, but tonight was something else entirely—the kind of edge-of-your-seat experience that made you forget everything outside these walls.
The Lynx were battling a team from Jersey, and they were tough. The game had been brutal from the opening whistle—hard checks that rattled the boards, high-speed rushes up and down the rink, bodies crashing into each other with bone-jarring force. Now, with forty seconds left on the clock, the score was deadlocked.
Beside me, Raina was equally transfixed, her eyes tracking every movement on the ice. Despite the intensity of the game, I found my attention drifting to her for what had to be the hundredth time tonight.
I’d never seen her dressed so casually. Gone were the silk blouses and tailored pants and skirts she wore at the office. Tonight, she was in fitted jeans and a Lynx jersey that somehow managed to make her look even more appealing than her professional attire. Her blonde hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders, and she wore barely any makeup, just enough to make her blue eyes seem impossibly bright.
She was utterly beautiful, but it was more than that. She was relaxed in a way I’d never witnessed before. For the past three hours, she’d been yelling herself hoarse, leaping to her feet at every good play, groaning dramatically at every missed opportunity. She’d devoured a giant soft pretzel dripping with cheese, followed by a hot dog, followed by a bucket of popcorn that she’d generously shared with me. I had no idea where she put all that food, but I’d always been attracted to women with healthy appetites who weren’t afraid to actually enjoy themselves.