Page 39 of Yo Ho Ho
She was also a night owl, getting some of her best work done while the rest of the world slept. But as she suspected, she just stared at the blinking cursor on her screen. Rather than waiting an hour before she would finally decide to check the mini fridge for some whiskey, she figured it was better to just do that now and save herself the hassle.
Yep, whiskey was in the fridge. Sure, it was just a mini bottle, but it would do — even if the hotel did charge her $10 for that tiny thing.
Max grabbed her cursed key card and her ice bucket and checked the map on the back of her door to see if the hotel had marked the ice machine on it. There it was, right at the end of the hall like she expected.
"Bingo," she said quietly with a smile.
She double checked to make sure her card was in the pocket of her hoodie and quietly slipped out. A few of the rooms she passed had the sound of hockey coming from the other side of the door, but most of them were quiet. After such a tough game, the players were either already asleep or stewing quietly, wondering what they could've done differently.
The ice machine gave off its typical late-night hum as she stepped up and started filling her bucket.
"Beat me here this time?"
Max's head snapped up to see Logan leaning against the doorway, a teasing smile on his face.
"Something like that," she said quietly.
She watched Logan look back down the hall, making sure no one could hear them before he stepped into the room. "So listen, last night—"
Max held up her hand, wordlessly telling him to stop. He did. So did the ice maker at the same time.
"I just—" She lowered her voice, realizing how loud it was now that the ice maker was quiet. "Maybe we can talk about this when we get back to Detroit? You know, maybe somewhere that isn't the team floor at a hotel?"
He gave her a huge grin and then ducked back out of the room to make sure the hallway was still empty. Then Logan walked over to her, invading her personal space with his warm, rugged body.
"How about a drink?"
Max pulled out the small bottle of whiskey she had tucked in the pocket of her hoodie. "I have a drink."
Logan rolled his eyes. "I mean, like a real drink at a real bar when we get home."
Max stared at him, too weirded out to know what to say. He has asked her in the parking lot at the ice rink if she would get a drink with him. Sure, there were other things he said to her as well. But as she was able to put more distance between her and that parking lot, she had started to think about his invitation. Would it be nice to have a drink with Logan? Definitely. In public where people could see them? Not so much. Logan seemed to catch on to her hesitation.
"We would just be going out as friends," he said. "If anyone sees us, I'm just talking to you about what you want to do next with your career. It's a totally legitimate reason for the two of us to be seen together casually in public."
"So you thought this through?"
"Maybe." He shrugged. "I had a lot of time last night to think about a lot of things."
"Last night?"
"Yes, Max," he said in an exasperated tone. "You fell asleep and you were warm and soft so I stayed a little longer than I should have and I thought about stuff like this."
Max quietly looked at him. She remembered asking him to stay until she fell asleep, but she never considered how long he had stayed. She just knew when she woke up, he was gone. She knew he would be, but it was still a bit disappointing.
"Max, you're over thinking this again, aren't you?"
"Yes," she blurted.
He gave her a teasing smile. "Well, I over thought some of it too," he said quietly. "So come have a drink with me and we can over think it together."
Logan looked down at her with his blue eyes, warm and inviting. He was being serious, wasn't it? It was just an odd sensation to think about going out on a date with Logan Moore — if she could even call it a date. It was drinks. No big deal, right?
I'm just talking to you about what you want to do next with your career.
If a guy was willing to work on a whole plan just to justify going out for a drink with her, maybe she should take him up on the offer. Maybe she needed to be happy.
She looked up at him, his eyes hopeful. Max wondered if she looked the same way.
