Page 26 of Offside

“I’ve got this, bro. Sit back and have some more wine.”

The room fills with applause, whistles, and chants of, “Let’s go, Vikings,” to encourage me on as Karis beckons me to the stage with a crook of her finger.

That’s all it takes to fill my head with images of her standing naked in a hotel room, seductively summoning me with that bent finger until I stand in front of her and run my hands over her slender body.

I shake my thoughts free and head up to the stage.

I’m not crowd-shy or hesitant in front of an audience like some of my teammates. No, I don’t always like the attention of the media when I’ve played like shit, but up here like this? This is just for fun and to raise money for a good cause.

I step up next to her and cover the mic in her hand with my palm. I bend down so my mouth is next to Karis’s ear, breathing in her fragrant scent, and I whisper my intentions.

“You owe me. I intend to collect later.”

She pulls away and snaps a widened gaze up to mine. I smile innocently and turn my attention to the well-fed and glassy-eyed drunken crowd of hockey-loving people to give them a show so they’ll fork over their money.

“What’ll it be?” I ask, speaking into the mic. “Dinner with me and my signed jersey after a home practice this season? Or…” I shimmy my shoulders and pull slightly at my tie. “A striptease?”

This gets the audience laughing and cheering even louder. Fred, the auctioneer, gets into the act and steps in front of me, waving his hands like he’s trying to stop me from going too far.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is a family event, Ballas!” He laughs and then raises the paddle. “Okay, folks, who’ll start the bidding at $1000 for dinner—fully clothed, I will remind you—with Vikings hockey player Number 18, Ballas ‘The Beast’Keeney?”

I throw an arm over Fred and shake my head at the crowd. “Come on, Fred. Let them have a little fun, eh? Who wants to see me strip nekkid?”

That gets the crowd amped up even further and after a fast-paced and rather hilarious bidding war, when the auctioneer has called the final bid, I’ve helped raise nearly ten grand for the cause. Not bad for an old veteran like me.

I still got it.

Now I just need to figure out how to collect my payback from Karis.

12

Karis

“Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”

My announcement is made to the few guests still at the table right now.

Brett and his wife have gone home to relieve their babysitter, having fulfilled the obligation to the team by attending the event tonight. Lesson learned on knowing your players and their personalities. It never even occurred to me to check and see if a professional hockey player might have severe anxiety and a strong aversion to being the spotlight. I figured that, since they play a sport in front of thousands of fans, the few hundred in tonight’s audience would be a walk in the park.

Ballas had cupped my elbow as he led me down the stairs as we exited the stage, and I asked him why Cannfield hadn’t joined him.

“You should really ask him,” Ballas said in a low, almost reproachful tone. “But next time, you should really ask your PR team some specifics and vet each player more carefully before requiring their participation in front of an audience.”

That comment still stabs at my conscience as I grab the rhinestone-encrusted clutch that had once belonged to my mother from the table and head toward ballroom doors. My intention is to steal a moment away from the crowd to catch my breath and slow my racing heart.

You owe me.

Those whispered words Ballas said to me on stage keep running through my head. It was a secret thrill, etched softly in the recesses of his voice, filtered through Ballas’s lips to my ear. A reminder that his reward would need to be repaid.

Now I need to keep myself from flipping through ideas about Ballas’s plans to collect.

Dammit. Why does he make me run so hot and cold?

One minute I insist he stop flirting with me. The next I’m practically begging him to do it.

Is this a normal reaction to a man I’m supposed to dislike? Or is it simply that he’s a risky option and it makes the temptation sweeter?

I wish I could tamp down this attraction to him. I hate myself for falling so easily under his charms. I’m not even sure it’s charm he gives off.

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