Page 83 of Pucking My Grumpy Accidental Husband
She looks up at me with those hazel eyes that are finally more green than gold again. “I can’t believe you just turned down a night of VIP tables and Michelin-star food to come home with me.”
“Baby, there’s only one place I want to be. And it’s right here with you.”
"That's incredibly cheesy."
"And incredibly true."
She laughs for the first time all day, and the sound makes everything—the confrontation with Harrison, turning down Boston, the uncertainty about tomorrow—completely worth it.
CHAPTER 19
TESSA
The team lawyer's office smells like expensive leather and impending doom, which is basically my entire existence right now. I'm sitting across from Miranda Stark reviewing a stack of documents that could either save my career or provide excellent kindling for a bonfire of my professional dreams.
"The key is demonstrating that your performance exceeded expectations while maintaining professional boundaries," Miranda says, sliding another folder across the mahogany table. "These performance metrics speak for themselves."
"Right," I mutter, staring at charts that show player satisfaction scores, team chemistry improvements, and other numbers that prove I'm good at my job. "Too bad Harrison thinks sleeping with athletes is my actual specialty."
"Which brings us to the discrimination angle." Miranda's smile could cut glass. "Harrison's treatment of you versus male staff members who have violated company policy creates a clear pattern of gender bias."
"What kind of violations?”
"Three male staffers have violated company policy in the last two years. None were terminated. One was caught consulting privately for athletes outside the organization — a direct breach of contract. Another was disciplined for gambling on league games. A third was investigated for leaking confidential player information to an agent. All three kept their jobs. You? Harrison’s dragging in front of the board.”
I grip my coffee cup to steady my hands. “So when men break the rules, it’s a quiet slap on the wrist. When I do, it’s a public execution.”
"Exactly. Though we'll phrase it more diplomatically in front of the board."
Martinez knocks on the door, entering with that grim expression he's been wearing since this whole mess started. "Ladies. How are we looking?"
"Like we're about to destroy Harrison's credibility with facts and witnesses," Miranda replies. "The players are ready?"
"Jamie and Luca are chomping at the bit. Half the team wanted to testify, but we figured two representatives would be enough." Martinez settles into a chair that groans under his weight. "They're pissed, Tessa. Really pissed."
"At me?"
"At Harrison. At the situation. At the fact that our best mental performance coach in years might get fired because some dinosaur can't handle the twenty-first century."
Before I can respond, my phone buzzes with a text from Dax:
Ready to burn this place down?
Already planning the victory celebration.
Good. Because I have some ideas about how we could celebrate.
Privately.
Heat floods my cheeks, and I have to set my phone down because just seeing his name on my screen still makes heat bloom under my skin. God, what this man has done to me.
Three months ago, I was convinced I was better off alone, that needing someone was just another word for weakness. But Dax—my gentle giant with storm-gray eyes and hands that can deliver bone-crushing hits on ice but touch me like I'm made of spun glass—has completely rewired my understanding of what it means to be strong.
He turned down his childhood dream, the captaincy of the Boston Bruins, for us. For me. And the crazy part isn't that he did it—it's that he did it without hesitation, like choosing me over everything he'd ever wanted was the easiest decision he'd ever made. I used to think I could survive anything as long as I could breathe, but now I'm terrified because I'm not sure I remember how to breathe without him. He's become my oxygen, my gravity, the thing that keeps me tethered to earth when everything else feels like it's spinning out of control.
I quickly put my phone away before Miranda notices my sudden inability to form coherent thoughts.
"The board meeting starts in an hour," Martinez checks his watch. "Harrison's been in damage control mode all morning. Word is he's bringing his own legal representation."
