Page 132 of Power Play

“Nope. Go wild, Sully.”

I think for a second and start writing, sliding it her way when I’m finished.

“There you go. Could be worth something one day.”

“Could be worth something now.” Piper looks at the message and laughs. “This is perfect.”

To Pipsqueak:

I tolerate you.

As a friend.

From Liam Sullivan

“Glad you like it. Are you having fun?”

“Yeah.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and surveys the room. “Good turnout. Five different people have come up to me and told me how much they appreciate the fresh energy I bring to the broadcast team, so that was an ego boost. The unbelievable part? Three of them were men.”

“Look at you. You might be the key to world peace.”

“I just might be.” She nudges my side with her elbow and stands. “I need to go mingle. There’s someone here from the Washington Post, and I want to introduce myself.”

“Go be a social butterfly, Sunshine. I’m going to keep hiding in a corner.”

“Don’t have too much fun.” Piper touches my shoulder. Her smile turns soft, and it’s the kind of beam I can feel everywhere on my body. “You look great, by the way. You should wear a tux more often.”

“Noted.” I give her elbow a quick squeeze. “But only for you.”

With a parting wave, she heads across the room, and I grab a bottle of water from the bucket of ice to my right so I don’t gawk at her ass as she walks away.

“How’s Piper?” Maverick asks, sliding up to me.

“What? How would I know how Piper is?”

“Uh.” He blinks at me. “Because you were just talking to her?”

“Oh.” I pull on my collar and shrug. “She’s fine. Off to do an interview or something.”

“She’s good at her job, isn’t she?” He leans against the bar and takes a sip of his water. “Glad you’re out with us tonight. I know this isn’t usually your thing.”

“Didn’t really have a choice. Coach told me he was going to bench me if I didn’t show.”

“He’s moved to ultimatums to get you to attend events? Genius. Should’ve done it years ago. Think of all the fun you’ve missed out on.”

“We have very different definitions of the word fun.”

“Come on. There are worse places you could be right now.”

“And there are far better places I could be.”

“Hey.” Maverick squints and lifts his chin. “Isn’t that Charlie? The guy who used to do the announcing for our games? Been wondering what happened to him.”

I follow his gaze and narrow my eyes when I recognize Charlie Woolworth, Piper’s old boss and douche extraordinaire, making a beeline for us.

Before I can try and escape, he takes the spot on my other side, a cocky grin on his smug, punchable face.

“Gentlemen.” Charlie sticks out his hand and Maverick gives me a confused look before shaking it. I ignore the invitation and take a long sip of my water. “Are we having a good evening?”

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