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?—”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65 (Reading here)
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119