Page 17 of Shot to the Hart

Sinclair pipes up with, “He is also the hottest player on the team, and according to every Instagram post on him, no puck bunnies can get or keep his attention.”

Harley nods her head in excited agreement, “You sure you don’t want to climb your new boss like a tree, Ko?”

Well, of course I do, but I can’t let them know that, I would never hear the end of it. I lift my chin and make eye contact with each of them before saying, with a little uncertainty in my voice, “I absolutely do not want to climb Maverick like a tree.”

I know for a fact my cheeks have blushed and Darcy scoffs, “Babe, you are such a bad liar. I give it a month before you’re sleeping in his bed.”

I gasp in shock. “Excuse me?I am classy, it will be at least three months.” Knowing in all seriousness that I can’t let anything happen with Maverick if I want to keep this job and not end up back on Darcy’s couch. We all laugh and spend the rest of the night enjoying each other's company before sprawling out around Darcy's apartment for sleep, wine drunk and giggly.

I’ve never been to a hockey game, but parking at the Tampa arena is a bitch. I approach the entrance that Tatum gave me directions to via email after our text message conversation, and a brooding man stands by the door raising an eyebrow at me as I approach. My tattoos are on display, but I’ve dressed up a smidge for this occasion. Trading my typical jeans for a pair of slacks that I swiped from D’s closet and a button up shirt.

I paste on my biggest grin as I get closer, “Good afternoon. I’m supposed to be meeting with legal today.”

“ID?” he asks, skipping over the pleasantries I suppose.

“Here ya go.” He cross checks it with a list he has next to him, hands me a guest pass, and then opens the door.

“Up the stairs, left down the hall, check in there.” He points towards the giant set of stairs down the hall.

“Thanks, have a great day.” I find myself at a reception desk once I make it up the stairs, there an older brunette woman sits behind a computer. “Hello, my name is Kodi Roscoe, and I am supposed to be meeting legal.”

“Kodi, you made it,” Mavericks voice drags my attention away from the woman in front of me to a conference room a little further down the hall. “Betty, she’s here for me. Come on in Kodi.” His look is a little more casual today, wearing sweats that cling to his thighs, a black athletic shirt and backwards hat.A small sheen of sweat on his face makes me wonder if he was working out or had practice before our meeting.

I offer the woman a smile before heading towards Maverick. He pulls out a seat for me in front of a stack of papers, heading around the table and sitting down beside the man I assume is the lawyer.

“Ms. Roscoe, thanks for coming in today. I’m Jeremy, one of the attorneys for the Manta Rays, and I’ll be going over the paperwork with you. It’s nothing crazy, an NDA to ensure that Bella’s safety is intact; for example, this NDA prevents you from telling anyone where she is or where you're working unless Mr. Hart gives explicit permission. Another will ensure that if you happen to hear any private Manta Rays business that it will stay private. I will need to borrow your ID for our files, and you’ll have a form to give us some basic contact information to fill out. Do you have any questions?” Jeremy speaks rapidly and leaves no room for argument, not that I was going to argue. This is information I would have kept private regardless, but I’ll sign my name on the little dotted line if it means I can secure this job.

“Nope, no questions. It all sounds reasonable to me.” I smile at Jeremy, pulling my own pen from my purse as he slides me the stack of papers. I read over each one just to make sure everything he said was clearly stated and I didn’t miss anything before filling out and signing each one.

After Jeremy has received the papers back he says, “Alright, Mr. Hart, you all should be good for the date that you had set for her to start. If anything comes up that gives me pause, I’ll call you. Did you need anything else today?”

“Nope, I think we are all set. Thank you for your help.” Maverick hasn’t said a single thing, sitting quietly beside Jeremy as he went over the paperwork and checking his phone every minute or so like he’s waiting for a message. It leaves me wondering if he’s checking in on Arabella, or he has somewhereelse to be, but I imagine making sure the person you’re hiring to care for your child is pretty important. “Kodi, can I walk you out?”

“Sure, thanks Jeremy. It was nice to meet you, but hopefully we don’t have to meet again.” I laugh lightly, but it appears my joke doesn’t land because neither of the men even smirk at me. Maverick stands and I follow him out of the room past Betty.

“Thank you for swinging by at such an odd time today. I wanted to get everything in order ASAP, but now is the only time I could get Tatum to watch Bella since she’s napping.”

“He’ll only watch her during nap time?” I ask.

“Yeah, Tatum doesn’t particularly want kids, but he adores Bella—even though he would probably never admit it. My Dad had his wellness check today, otherwise I would’ve asked him to watch her, so Tatum only agreed to watch her if she was asleep.”

“Ah, gotcha, that makes sense. I feel like my friend Sinclair is similar; she looks at kids and goes ‘ew’ now, but she literally works in the childrens ward at Tampa Health Hospital.” We pass a coffee cart that smells heavenly, and I think Maverick notices that I’ve slowed down.

“Coffee for the road?”

“Uh, yes please. I need an afternoon pick me up,” I respond as we pivot and join the short queue. Once it’s our turn, Maverick orders his caramel macchiato and I order a vanilla cold brew then we continue towards the exit, silently sipping our drinks.

“Can we sit and chat for a moment?” he asks me, gesturing towards a table to the left of the doors.

“Of course. About?”

“So, I realized after your interview, I wasn’t super clear about what your schedule would look like. Additionally, those NDAs are pretty tight, but I have a few exceptions to them.”

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

“So I am thinking that Monday through Friday will work from six a.m. to between four and six p.m., depending on the day. Bella typically sleeps until eight or nine, but I have to leave pretty early for practice most days; so, you should still be able to sleep past six as long as you have her monitor on your phone, which I will set you up with. Once I get home, I will take over, but it really will depend on how practice is, if we have any media stuff, meetings, etc,” he tells me. It sounds manageable enough. “Now, obviously, when I am out of town, you will be with Bella twenty-four seven. When you travel with us, I will have the team handle hotel arrangements for you two, and you’ll still be on your normal schedule, unless I have a day off, then I will hang out with her.”

“Okay, all of that sounds good to me. What about the NDA stuff?”

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