Page 28 of The Cupcake Cottage

“Hey,” he said softly, leaning on his armrest, angling himself over the edge of his chair toward her. “I know we’re at work, but can I kiss you?”

Daisy-Mae nodded, and he shifted closer like he had all the time in the world. Anticipation built inside her like someone was shaking a full bottle of soda. And she was the soda. She forced herself to wait and not to launch herself at him.

His lips gently touched hers and she was pretty confident she wouldn’t be concentrating on work in this office for the rest of the day. He kissed her slowly, deeply.

“You’re so far out of my league,” he murmured, leaning back.

Daisy-Mae took a better look at him. “Me?”

“You.” He leaned over, giving her another kiss.

“I think it’s the other way around.”

He nuzzled her nose, a soft smile in place. “Maybe we can sort it out while we’re on our second date?”

** *

Maverick wanted to stay in Daisy-Mae’s office all day and kiss her. But he had to jump on a plane in an hour for tonight’s game in St. Louis. He really didn’t want to go. For the first time he saw a glimpse of what life could be like outside of the NHL.

He immediately shut those thoughts down. Daisy-Mae, for all her flirting and the wonderful moments they had together, had chosen to date him to help the team. And yes, she had suggested they do some real dating, but pro hockey ate up relationships, and he would be a fool to believe otherwise.

“Still on for supper after desk shopping on Sunday?” he asked.

She nodded, and their second date was confirmed. Good. He needed more time with her. More of those kisses that felt real, and to prove to her that this wasn’t just a publicity thing for him. Truthfully, he’d been worried when their first date hadn’t blown up and trended, or whatever it was supposed to do, that she’d call his image recovery hopeless and quit. Or that she’d have time to think about the frequency in which he’d been recognized on their date—considerably more than usual—and decide that dating him wasn’t the life she wanted.

“What’s your biggest regret?” he asked her suddenly. Boy, he had game, didn’t he? They’d just been kissing and now he was asking her about negative things she probably never wanted to think about.

“Not coming around that desk sooner,” she said. The wicked glint in her gaze was too inviting.

“Next time,” he promised, certain that there would be one. He leaned across the space between their chairs and kissed her again.

“What’s your biggest regret?”

“Won’t tell you.” Man, he was bad at conversations. If you asked a question, expect to have it volleyed back at you.

“Why not?”

Because his biggest regret wasn’t in real estate, missed investment opportunities, or hockey. It was the day he let Myles call dibs on her. They’d both been awed, practically falling all over themselves to speak to her. But since she’d gone to the same school as Myles, it felt natural for him to get dibs.

Stupid.

“Mav?” Her tone was soft.

“Not taking the shot when I should have.”

“Oh.”

“It’s a metaphor.” He shifted, realizing she could quickly pin him, have him confessing, and he didn’t want to reveal his secret obsession yet. He didn’t want her feeling even more obligation to date him or to get freaked out and call it all off. “Speaking of shots, since we didn’t seem to go viral, I guess we need a plan so I don’t find myself drugged by the PR team and wake up married to a lovely stranger in Vegas some weekend.”

She sighed, her shoulders dropping dramatically. “Yeah.”

“I’ll admit I was a bit of a shot blocker.”

“A shot blocker?”

“I need to get used to flaunting our relationship, let people photograph us and all of that. Although, it may never feel right encouraging it.” His lungs restricted at the thought. Putting Daisy-Mae out there where she could get hurt, attacked, or publicly picked apart? It went against his every bone.

“So we need to draw more attention?”

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