Page 154 of Penalty to the Heart

“Hi. I’m Roxanne. Pleased to meet you.”

“Hi, I’m Becca,” the red-haired girl greets.

“Don’t you mean Rebekah,” Piper teases, elbowing Charlotte.

“My friends call me Becca.” Her cheeks redden. “Only my husband calls me Rebekah.”

“Oh, is he also on the team?”

“Actually, he owns the team,” Piper explains before Becca has a chance to.

Again, the poor girl’s cheeks turn a deeper shade of red.

“You mean—” I start, baffled.

“The one and only. Lawrence Preston III,” Lottie retorts, looking unhappy about her friend being married to Lawrence.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that Mr. Preston got engaged, much less got married.”

“Not many people do, isn’t that right, Rebekah ?” Piper interjects, wiggling her brows at her friend.

“I… um… if you don’t mind, I’m just going to grab something to drink,” Becca excuses herself, uncomfortable with the topic of her recent nuptials to the Boston Guardians’ owner.

“I’ll come with you,” Charlotte says, throwing Piper a menacing glower, to which Piper just shrugs off.

I watch the two women walk over to the table filled with food and refreshments at the end of the room while I remain rooted to my spot next to Piper.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” I say.

“Trust me, you’re not the only one,” Piper states, matter of fact, her gaze fixed on her two friends. “Becca used to be Lottie’s assistant at Love Moore agency. That was until Laurie supposedly swept her off her feet and married her a few weeks ago. I only found out myself not too long ago.”

I take that morsel of information and chew on it for a while. The Preston family is one of the oldest families in all of Boston. Their high prestige is only followed by their notoriety. I’m surprised that the media hasn’t gotten a hold of this information, especially after they made such a big deal about his return stateside.

“Lottie is still a bit sore about Becca marrying one of her clients unexpectedly. She adores Becca and feels that maybe Lauire might have coerced her into this marriage under false pretenses. I have to admit, I even think he married Becca for all the wrong reasons.”

“Wrong reasons?” I parrot.

“Money,” Piper says with a frown. “And a whole lot of it.”

I watch as Lottie says something consoling to Becca, placing a smile back on her face before they return to us.

“I didn’t know you were a hockey fan,” Piper says, moving away from the bit of gossip we were discussing.

“I’m just here for moral support.”

“And who are you supporting?” Piper asks with that same insinuating tone she used on Becca a few minutes ago. “Anyone special in mind?”

“I’m just here to support the team in general, of course,” I deflect the loaded question.

“Right. The team.” Piper winks.

Thankfully, when the music starts announcing the players are about to skate onto the rink, her attention is pulled off me and onto the players.

My heart jumps in my chest when I see Caleb skate towards the goalpost, lifting his head up in an effort to make eye contact with me. I know it’s impossible for him to see me up here, but I could swear I saw his sly grin making an appearance on his lips.

My heart is still fluttering away in my chest when I feel Piper lean in and whisper, “Before I forget, thank you for coming today. It means a lot to him that you’re here.”

“I… um… don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie.

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