Page 5 of Breaking the Ice

“It’s a shame you missed the funeral,” she said eventually.

It was. He’d have liked to have been here but… “It’s okay,” he assured. “Birdie would understand.”

She didn’t challenge his assertion, she just said, “Yeah.”

Another minute of silent reflection passed before she roused herself. “I’ll go.” She shot him a wan smile. “Give you some alone time with your grandmother.”

Nick nodded. “I’ll see you around. I’m looking after the shop for the next four months till the family make more permanent arrangements.”

She did that blinking thing again as the smile dissolved. “You’regoing to… run the bookshop?”

He laughed – he couldn’t help it. She looked like she’d just stepped in dog poo.

“You?” she repeated, like it was the most absurd thing she’d ever heard.

“Yes. Me. It’ll give me something to do in between physio sessions.”

The chances at his age that he’d be fit for the September training camp and the start of the season were minuscule. He’d done his right knee when he’d been twenty-two and that had required an intense six months of recovery. But the fact he was being written off, that his injury was being talked about ascareer endinghad only put a fire in his belly. He may be thirty-eight, but he was still playing excellent hockey andhewould decide when to hang up his blades – not anyone else.

She, however, was still staring at him aghast. “What?” he asked.

“What the hell doyouknow about running a second-handromancebook shop?”

Nick chuckled at her disparaging tone. Like she didn’t believe he was remotely capable of anything other than whacking a puck across the ice. He tsked. “You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, Samantha Evans.”

If glaring was an Olympic sport, she’d have just taken gold. Hell, if she’d been capable of shooting fire from her eyes, he’d be a flaming human torch right now. “Great,” she muttered under her breath. “Just great.”

Then she stomped off, leaving Nick not entirely sure why she was mad at him but pretty sure that he liked it.

3

There were protestors outside Samantha’s office building when she arrived the next morning, which was about all she needed after yesterday’s bombshell from Nick. She was still stewing overthatannouncement.

Nick Hawke running the bookshop.Herbookshop.

What would Mr. Look-At-My-Stick-Control know about romance novels? What the hell did he know about Rita Summers? How was she going to converse withHawkeyefor hours aboutfictional piratesas she and Birdie had done? How could he possibly understand the sheer bliss of completely losing yourself in the swoon-worthy stories?

The man looked like he’d sprung from one of the goddamn pages and yesterday had been no exception. He’d been all tall and broad and ruggedly sexy with his three-day growth somehow managing to emphasize, rather than hide, that distractingly sexy chin cleft. His scruffily rumpled, long, dark hair was pushed back off his face making him look like Fabio and Henry Cavill’s love child.

Really, was it fair for one guy to monopolize every single desirable physical trait gifted to man? Was it not enough tobe a highly paid jock, to have million-dollar sponsorship deals thrown at you without adding,looks like a screen god?

Christ on a cracker.

Was the entire world going crazy? First Gary, then her eggs, then Birdie. And now Nick. Who playedsports. Inhershop.

The protestors were carrying placards and yelling about the shady business dealings of their newest oil company client. Samantha had objected through the normal channels when PE Finance had been considering their business. It wasn’t like they needed the money and she felt strongly about PE being a good corporate citizen because, by and large, they were. She had garnered some important support within the company, but ultimately, PE had decided to take on the new client. Which was another reason why she wanted to keep moving up, so her voice carried more and more weight in the decision-making process.

She loved working for PE, but it swung older and very muchpenisorientated at the top. They needed some youth and diversity to really put them into the best position going forward – this decision being a good case in point.

A young guy with dreadlocks handed her a pamphlet as she pushed through the ragtag crowd. She read it as the elevator ushered her in efficient silence to her floor, the usual ills staring back at her in bold angry pen strokes. Shady deals to countries with even shadier leaders. Their dealings in misinformation campaigns. Contribution to climate change which was not only killing the planet but everyone on it including helpless babies.

Babies.Samantha’s stomach lurched and she swallowed as her eggs wept.

The elevator pinged open and Samantha made a direct line for the CEO’s corner office for their regular morning meeting.

“Bob,” she greeted as she entered.

“Sammy,” he boomed, waving her over to the window where he was standing.

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