Page 52 of Gross Misconduct

Tangi laughed and rolled her eyes. “You should hear yourself. Look, I know you don’t get into who you’re dating and that’s fine. You don’t have to. But I saw a spark with him. You were having fun. So have fun. Let there be no constraints.”

I picked at my salad and threw the word “fun” around in my head. “I’m getting to the point in my life where I don’t want fun. And I’m pretty sure Jeremy is getting close to that point too.”

Not that it mattered, but I was a little older than him, and it made me wonder if maybe even those two short years meant a lot to a guy his age. I was going to be twenty-nine in a few short months, and though I was still young, I didn’t want to struggle with dating a bunch of losers into my thirties. I wanted to jump into finding the right guy now. And part of me knew it wasn’t Jeremy.

“I get that, but how do you know that Jeremy isn’t at that stage too?”

“You were the one to tell me about his reputation. Do you think he’s ready to give that up?”

Tangi put down half of her pastrami sandwich she was holding. She put on her mom smile, and I knew I was about to get a lecture. “Of course he’s ready to give it up. Don’t you think after a while it gets boring? Do you know how many guys on the Ravens and Kodiaks go through the same cycle Jeremy went through? Then they grow up and find the right woman. I think you’re the right woman. I’ve thought that for a while.”

“You did,” I said, feeling my mood suddenly lift.

“I do. And I have to wonder if what happened with Orla was his wakeup call. I see the way he is with you. You can’t fake that.”

She was seeing things I either didn’t see yet, or wasn’t readyto see. “I am spending the holidays with him and his family in Calgary.” I hadn’t told Tangi about it sooner because I wasn’t sure how she’d react. Would she wonder why I was going there? At least, now, it made sense.

Her hazel eyes lit up. “You are! That’s great! We’ll miss you here, but I bet that will be fun. Ethan says his sister Gwen is hilarious and a shit disturber. Sounds like maybe she’s a little like you.”

If Tangi was going to call me a shit disturber, I was going to wear that like a badge of honor. I wanted to know more about the Vaughns, but a few people came in to have their lunches, so Tangi and I changed the subject to the weather and her holiday plans. Chloe and I returned to my office, and I thought about what Tangi said. Could Jeremy and I ever be more? I wasn’t sure, but I was willing to find out because, if nothing else, the sex made me want to risk the consequences.

While the Kodiaks were on their Midwestern road trip, I was busy working. Not only did we have more promotional shoots to set up, but the issue of a jilted ex-girlfriend of one of the players she was stalking had to be dealt with, and a slew of news releases to prepare for upcoming events. I also had to approve materials for a charity fundraiser the wives and girlfriends were putting on. Not to mention fan appreciation night. I was up to my eyeballs with work, and it kept me busy while Jeremy was gone.

I was looking over the language for the news release for the fan appreciation night when Clay waltzed into my office unannounced, not that he had to announce himself. Chloe opened one eye from her bed and went back to sleep. Clay glanced ather, blinked a few times, then set his gaze on me. He shut the door and pulled up a chair across from me.

“Good work with Vaughn. I hear Lex’s foolish wife is writing sex books and trying to malign the Kodiaks. And that it’s been taken care of.”

“For now. We have the legal team on it. When the book comes out, she may have some things to say.”

Clay smirked. “I have no problem suing her.”

I suspected he had another reason for being in my office, but he wasn’t ready to say it just yet, so we made small talk about the team, the weather, and my time in Vancouver. Then he finally spit it out.

“We have a bit of a situation,” he said.

No. I didn’t want to know. I couldn’t deal with anymoresituationsright now. I needed and wanted to focus on my job and not more scandals. But Clay was my boss, and I loved this job. If it meant putting out another fire, I would.

“I guess you better hit me with it.”

“Dave and I have been talking a lot about you. We like you. You’re doing an excellent job. Lance, he is the head of PR for the Ravens, is completely incompetent. We’ve put up with him for years, and I just can’t do it anymore. The do-nothing has to go. He can go do nothing somewhere else.”

Was I getting a demotion? “All right, but how does that involve me?”

“We’re going to let him go right after the holidays. We’ll look for a replacement, but we would like you to take over for the interim and train his replacement. I know that sounds like a tall order, but the scope of the job there isn’t as big, and you hopefully won’t have to work that long. You will also be generously compensated.”

More work. Not what I was looking for, but the negotiatorin me kicked in. “What sort of compensation are we looking at?”

“Double your salary while you are taking over and training his replacement.”

“Along with six weeks of vacation per year and a twenty-five-thousand-dollar bonus on top of my regular bonus.”

He smiled deviously. “Are you trying to bankrupt me?”

“Hardly. And I know what you pay the Kodiaks.”

“All right, I’ll agree to your terms. Let’s keep Lance’s firing between the two of us.”

“Of course.”

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