Page 23 of Her Hat Trick Daddies
I’m ninety percent sure about David.Ninety. But the other ten percent gnaws at me. And if Andy or Shane are involved too, I’ll have to figure out how to tell them. If they prove themselves worthy, maybe, just maybe, they could eventually be a part of Luna’s life. But that’s a bigif.
I won’t let Luna get caught up with anyone who talks shit about me, gets nasty, or tries to wreck my career. I’m her mother. My job is to protect her first, last, always.
So today, I’m starting with this first, awkward conversation about what happened that night three years ago, and then we’ll see where things land. If it’s not David, I’ll survive the humiliation. Better to be red-faced than tied to a man who shares alocker room with the others. Because mixing personal drama with professional boundaries? HR nightmare.
This is on me. I know that. But a tiny voice keeps whispering, it’s their mess too. We all made the choice to sneak away that night. We all got reckless. God, what a disaster. A beautiful, out-of-control disaster with their stupid, perfect bodies—
No.
Focus, Leigh. Get your head out of the gutter.
We’ve been back from San Jose for twenty-four hours, and it’s already business as usual at Ball Arena. The familiar buzz is everywhere—players gearing up, staff locked into routines, management buried in meetings. With the NHL season about to hit full throttle, everything is moving fast.
And if I’m going to catch David, I need to move faster.
I knock lightly on the door jamb of his office, but he’s not here. I wait. Five minutes, then ten. With each passing minute, my nerves tighten.
Where the hell is he?
Cecille passes by, her dark hair swishing like a raven’s wing as she greets me. She stops, her sharp gaze pinning me in place. A frown forms beneath her glossy red lips.
“Leighton, you look… pale.”
Under normal circumstances, I might quip with something sarcastic like, “Thanks, trying on corpse chic to match the mood.”
But these aren’t normal circumstances. Not yet. I won’t know until I meet with David.
So I squeak out, “I’m fine,” then clear my throat and say it again, sounding a little more like myself. “I’m fine. Seen the captain around anywhere?”
“Last time I saw him, he was in the video room.”
“Okay, thanks.”
The video room’s about five doors down. I peek inside and spot him, locked in on game footage, probably studying the Avs’ next opponent. He looks completely absorbed, barely blinking.
This room’s tucked farther away from the rink and the other offices, out near the edge of the arena. With the volume turned down low, it’s almost unnervingly quiet, the only sounds the faint hum of the overhead lights and the soft scratch of a pen against paper.
“David?”
“Yeah?” he answers, voice rough like gravel.
He sounds distracted as he glances over with a squint, but the second his gaze lands on me, something changes. His eyes sweep over me in a slow, deliberate pass, like he’s cataloging every detail. Not just seeing me, but taking me in.
I can’t decide if he’s trying to devour me whole or push me right back out the door. Either way, heat prickles up the back of my neck, and I fight the urge to squirm. God, why does he have to be so damn hot?
I clasp my hands behind my back, grounding myself, locking everything down tight to keep from visibly trembling. Trying not to let the nerves or the way he’s looking at me win.
“Forget about our 10:00 AM meeting?” I ask, aiming for nonchalance, but I can hear the slight shake in my voice.
For a second, his face twists in confusion. Then he blinks, like something clicks. “Right. Sorry about that. Mind if we just meet in here?”
I glance around. The room’s bigger, but it’s private enough with the door closed. Besides, it’s not like I’m in any shape to be picky. My heart’s thudding way too hard already.
“In here is fine.”
“Give me just a sec,” he says, turning back to the monitor.
I linger at the doorway, forcing my breathing to stay steady like we do in yoga.In, out. In, out.Every cell in my body is screaming to bolt, to shove this off another day, another week, forever, but that would only make it worse.
