Page 22 of Mr. Charming

Her face turns red, and I’m actually scared for Bud’s balls for a second.

But it seems she’s found a way to school her nonverbal cues when she’s mad, because with a blank face, she says, “Actually, I think I’ll grab a coffee.”

“I figure you’re our stars.” He looks at all of us. “You’re who’s going to bring in the fans.”

My gaze diverts to Tedi, whose hand is shaking as she pours coffee from the carafe. She’s trying to center herself, and it’s taking all my restraint to keep my ass in this chair. She picks up a creamer, and it drops to the table. She huffs and picks it up again, fidgeting with the foil on the top.

“That’s a lot on our plate if we’re doing the brunt of the social media,” Conor says.

“If you want us to be fresh on the ice to win games, we can’t spend all our time on camera and doing photoshoots,” Rowan chimes in.

“My kid isn’t going to be a part of any of it,” Henry says.

As Bud tries to calm them, I rise from my chair, silently cursing myself the entire time. I step up to her side and take the creamer from her hands. She wrestles it back, so I stay at her side as her fingers steady, and she peels back the foil, then dumps the creamer into her coffee.

“We’re going to have a dinner. Get to know one another better,” Bud says.

Tedi and I turn around so fast, her coffee spills all over my shirt. Fuck, that’s hot. I grab the edge of my shirt and pluck the fabric away from my skin.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says.

If it was only her and me, I’d strip it off just to show her what she’s missing out on. Fuck it, why am I second-guessing my instincts? I pull off my T-shirt, and her eyes widen at my abs.

I might be old according to the league, but there’s nothing old about my defined chest and abs.

She clears her throat and shifts her attention back to the table.

“What are you doing?” Conor says with a scowl. “Put your shirt back on.”

“The coffee was hot,” I say, and my three friends roll their eyes.

“There’s no reason I can’t get to know the players here,” Tedi says, abandoning her coffee and turning her back to me.

“It’s a distraction when they should be practicing, just like Rowan mentioned. So, let’s do a dinner. You guys bring your girls.” He looks at Tedi. “I’m sure you have a boyfriend, bring him. We’ll make it a casual thing. Once you know one another, Tedi can have a better vision for what’s going to work.”

“I actually have a vision already,” Tedi says.

“Well, it will only help it then.” He picks up his plate with the bagel. “I’m really excited about this. Once Candice makes the reservations, she’ll let you know.” He stops by me. “Tweetie.” He laughs. “Let me know if you’ll have a plus one. Surely you can scrounge up a girl to come, but only one, okay?” He pats me on the shoulder, laughing as he walks out.

The only thing that could make this dinner more awkward is if I brought a date, so that’s not happening.

After he leaves, Tedi huffs and closes her eyes.

“We’re not that bad. We’ll make dinner fun,” Conor says. “And Eloise was upset she didn’t get to meet you the other day.”

“Yeah, Ruby had good things to say about you, which is a small miracle in itself,” Rowan adds.

Tedi stares at the door.

“Can you excuse us, guys?” I say.

They all get up from their chairs, talking about Bud in not the kindest terms and how he’s going to be screwed when our line isn’t on top, which we all know can be one injury away.

They say goodbye to Tedi, and she tries to follow them out, but I lightly grasp her upper arm. “Hold up.”

She doesn’t turn toward me.

“I know this isn’t the way you work, but from my experience with Bud, he’ll give up on this in a week when some new shiny idea pops in his head.”

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