Page 25 of Here Be Dragons
Shane was here instead. His offseason home was a modern apartment in Cleveland with a guest bedroom for his parents. He didn't have a girlfriend so that was one less thing to complicate his life.
At least it wasn't complicated until he got here. The good news was that these negotiations meant he was getting closer and closer to leaving this ridiculously stupid hotel in the Hamptons. The bad news was that he was getting closer and closer to leaving Ava.
It was just supposed to be a fun little thing. Something to pass the time at night when he had nothing else going on in this wasteland of a fancy hotel. But the last few nights, it didn't seem like just fun. Or rather, it wasn't just fun for him. The sex with Ava was great, there was no denying that. He loved the sex with Ava. But he also liked talking to her. Was he getting soft in his old age? He was barely thirty years old so that couldn't be possible, right? Was he just lonely because his teammates weren't here or because he was stuck spending more time than he wanted with players from other teams in the league?
Or maybe, just maybe, was it because he liked Ava? He liked hearing her talk about negotiations and what she did in college. He liked telling her about his days in minor league hockey or how he analyzes players he has to face during the season.
"Oh, I do the same thing during merger negotiations," she said with excitement. "Have you ever taken a body language class before? That could really help you on the ice." Ava paused, her eyes narrowing a little as she looked at him. "I shouldn't have said that," she confessed. "Don't tell my brother I said that."
Shane couldn't help but laugh at her and run his fingers through her hair, letting the tendrils slip through his fingers. "I won't tell your brother that I like studying body language, particularly yours."
Yeah, he had to give himself credit for that smooth line. He got laid again with that one.
He wished that part of his stupid life here didn't have to end. The teasing and the sex, sure. But there was also just lying in bed with Ava making jokes in between some more enjoyable activities.
So when Dylan said, "your girl," Shane couldn't be blamed if he wished that Dylan was talking to him and not Jordan.
Also, frankly, "your girl" was a little sexist, and Dylan did, in fact, need to knock that crap off. But he was going to cut Dylan some slack. The last few days had been going well for everyone and there were encouraging signs that this would all be over soon. For most of them, this was a good thing. For Dylan? Not so much.
Every deal that was negotiated on another point they had been stuck on meant that Dylan's boss, Jason, was indeed the jackass owner who didn't want the season to start. Some of the guys were giving Dylan crap about it, which was fine at first, but Shane could tell it was starting to wear on him. Then add in the fact that once the season could officially get started again, Dylan would have to go back to California and play for that jackass owner. It sucked for the guy, there was no doubt, and Shane wasn't going to try and make it worse.
They were looking over some paperwork from the owners when there was a knock at the door. And yes, Shane specifically took a chair right by the conference room door for a reason, but if anyone accused him of it, he would deny everything.
He got up and opened the door to see Ava standing on the other side, hair pulled back in a tight ponytail today. Her dress was blue, her shoes were black. She was wearing a red lace bra and panties this morning when he snuck out of her room but probably changed into something else after he left.
"Hello," he said as professionally as possible.
"Good evening," she replied with professional cheer.
"It's not evening yet," Mark said from a spot just behind Shane. "Don't make me think about the fact that you're giving me paperwork right before dinner."
Ava turned and gave the lawyer a friendly smile. "You still want it?"
Shane closed his eyes to regain some composure, thinking about what she said to him this morningbeforeshe left with her red lace underwear.
"You need to leave in five minutes," she teasingly told him this morning. "You still want it?"
Hell, yeah, he still wanted that. He still wanted her warm body and her soft moans and....
"Yeah, I'll take the paperwork," Mark said.
Dammit.He needed to focus. This was a board room, not Ava's hotel room.
Ava turned and gave him a small teasing smile. He could've sworn she was thinking about their morning together too. But neither of them could dwell on that now as she turned and left as if nothing had happened between them.
Shane clicked the door shut and turned to see every player in the room staring at Mark as he flipped through the pages, a smile spreading across his face.
"Well, we've got some good movement on our salary cap issues," he said. "Let me look over this and we'll talk about it tomorrow morning."
"So you think this is good?" Jordan asked.
"It looks good so far." He looked up and smiled at the players. "Maybe a few little tweaks but nothing major."
A few guys in the room smiled and their posture relaxed a bit. The salary cap issue was the last major stumbling block so if they were close to getting a resolution on it, they were close to getting the season started.
Dylan clapped Jordan on the shoulder and smiled. "See? I told you your girl was good."
"She's not my girl," Jordan mumbled.
