Page 65

Story: Frozen Over

“Thanks; it’s a pleasure to be here,” Tom responds before getting right back to eye fucking Kate.

Zach casts his gaze around the room and then turns to Jon. “Where’s Jensen?” He looks down at his watch. “He should be here by now.”

“Right here. Sorry I’m late.” A tall, dark-haired guy comes to stand behind our chairs. He’s handsome, likereallyhandsome.

Is it a prerequisite for signing with the Scorpions that you have to be hot?

“All good, man?” Zach asks, looking up and over his shoulder at his teammate.

Keeping his stare firmly fixed on Kate and Tom, he takes a sip of his drink and then looks at Zach. “Yep. Got caught on a call with my agent.” His eyes flick back to Tom, and I don’t need to be a mind-reader to work out there’s a story there somewhere.

Leaning toward me, Zach rests his hand on my upper thigh, the warmth of his palm radiating throughout my body. “I need to set up for my speech, but what can I get you to drink?”

Thinking back to the champagne we had at Jon and Felicity’s, I still feel slightly light-headed. “Maybe an orange juice?”

Chuckling, he stands from his chair. “You got it, Rocket.”

“Last yearwe raised an incredible amount of money which has already changed the futures of over a hundred kids and their families. Ice hockey should be accessible for everyone, no matter your background or ability.”

Zach casts his eyes out across the crowd as they clap in support. His attention finally lands on me, sitting only ten feet away from the stage. “I want to thank everyone who has turned up tonight, everyone who donates, and finally on a more personal note, I want to thank one of my closest and oldest friends for showing her support and agreeing to be my date to tonight’s event. I have some incredible people in my life, and I’ve never been more grateful for her than I have these past few months.” He raises his glass as everyone mirrors his gesture. “So, let’s get this year’s auction going and raise a record amount.”

Rejoining the table, Zach comes to sit back down next to me. My face still feels hot from his personal speech. “I hope you don’tmind me mentioning you. I just want you to know how stoked I am you’re here with me tonight.”

I place my hand over his on the table, and I watch as a smile pulls at Kate’s lips. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

“Oh shit, man.” Jon breaks our trance as he flicks through pages of the items for tonight’s auction. “You put your first Scorpions jersey up.”

Zach nods. “Yeah, it’s signed too. I have plenty and figured this would fetch a few dollars.”

Jon cocks a brow. “Yeah, I’d say a fewthousand.”

“What have you donated?” Kate turns to Jon.

He leans back in his chair and smiles. “My signed gloves from our Stanley Cup win.”

Felicity screws her nose up. “I bet they smell delightful.”

Jon pulls back in mock hurt. “Everything about me smells incredible, Angel.” He points across to Jensen. “And if you think they smell bad, our boy here wanted to donate his cup. I managed to talk him out of it though. That’s gotta be a public safety hazard.”

“Ew, gross,” Kate responds.

“Hasn’t always been your reaction,” Jensen says from across the table as the rest of us fall silent. He pushes his chair back and goes to leave before turning back once more. “Does anyone want anything from the bar?”

The auction has been underway for the past half hour, and hundreds of thousands have already been raised. Jon’s gloves went for over thirty thousand dollars alone.

“I think people will go crazy for your jersey,” I say turning to Zach.

I can tell he’s relaxed a little since we arrived, surrounded by his friends and with beers flowing. Raising a suggestive brow, he pins me with a heated stare. “Would you go crazy over it?”

I get it. I know the obsession hockey players have with their girls wearing their jerseys. So even though I’m not his girl, I decide to play along with the flirtation. “Oh yeah, definitely. I could even get up on stage and model it for you if you like.”

With his beer to his lips, he almost drops the full glass in his lap. “That’s a very kind offer, Rocket. But you see, the thing is...” He sets his glass back down on the table and turns fully toward me, resting one of his dress shoes on the rung connecting two legs of my chair. “How I want you to model my jersey is almost certainly not appropriate for this event.” The look in his eyes tells me he’s imagining how inappropriate it would be right now. “Besides, there’s no way anyone else here will ever get to see what should be for my eyes only.”

He runs the back of his hand gently down my thigh, igniting my whole body until heat pools at my core. For once in my life, I’m speechless, and by the smug smile pulling at his lips, it’s clear Zach knows just how affected I am by his words.

The woman running the auction then introduces the final item, and her assistant moves around the stage holding Zach’s framed and signed jersey. “I think we can start the bidding at ten thousand dollars.”

Paddles fly up across the entire room until soon the highest bid reaches fifty thousand. “Are there any more bidders in the room?” The auctioneer asks one final time. “This is for a great cause, and it’s a once in a life?—”