Page 43

Chapter Three

T ate

I close my computer and pick up my ringing phone, glancing at the screen before I say hello.

“Hey, Gannon,” I say, standing.

“I just returned to the office from a meeting with McCabe.”

I snort, stretching my arms overhead.

“Don’t start your shit,” Gannon says.

“Then don’t start a conversation by painting a picture of you in a hockey facility. I can’t help that’s fucking hilarious.”

“You are so easily amused.”

I chuckle and move to the windows overlooking the city. Although I won’t admit it openly to him, Gannon is right. When it comes to this issue, it’s time to be serious.

The Tennessee Raptors hockey team is the biggest thorn in my family’s professional side.

It was Dad’s baby. Despite adding to the Brewer portfolio, taking on other projects and teams, and having kids, the Raptors were his greatest love.

Naturally, when he went to prison a few years ago, and we had to sort through the mess he left behind, the Raptors were a full-blown disaster.

None of us wanted to take it on, so we left it for last.

“McCabe gave me his two weeks’ notice,” Gannon says, dropping the news onto my lap like a barbell.

“What? You’re kidding me.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Someone in his family, maybe a parent, is sick, possibly with cancer.”

I shake my head, admiring my abs in the reflection. This would make a good selfie . “How do you not pay attention when someone shares such personal news with you?”

“Because I don’t care what’s happening in his personal life.” He sighs. “But I do care that the Raptors are without a marketing director. Again.”

“How far was McCabe on the rebrand?”

“The last full update was two weeks ago. He has a great plan and a hundred balls in the air, but I don’t know who will catch them now. I’d just as soon sell the team instead of dealing with it. But no one will buy it for a reasonable price in this state.”

I gaze across the city and mull over the situation.

It would take a lot of stress off Gannon’s plate as the president of Brewer Group, the umbrella company that owns the Raptors, to have it sorted.

I want that for him. He deserves to be able to go home at night to his fantastic wife and beautiful baby girl.

We all deserve to put this last piece of Dad’s legacy to bed. Once and for all.

But the hockey team needs a thorough refresh—spun in a complete one-eighty.

It has to be completely detached from its current reputation with a new logo, mascot, and a whole new vibe .

We have to make it an active participant in the community instead of a talking point whenever the word scandal is brought up in conversation.

“I don’t need this headache,” Gannon groans.

“Help me out. Do you have any suggestions? We can’t just hire someone off the street, and I exhausted my contact list when I hired McCabe.

Ripley gave me one name. Renn had nothing.

Jason is useless in sports, and Bianca sent a shrugging emoji when I asked her. ”

“Oh, so I’m your last call?”

“Don’t take it personally.”

“I take everything personally. How could it not be personal? Think about it—if you call me first or last, it’s a silent display of where I rank in your mind. Did you think of me first, or Jason? That shows how much faith you have in me.”

“Stop with the baby of the family bullshit and help me .”

I sigh for his benefit. “I wouldn’t be so mean to someone I needed—especially if they were my last resort—but whatever.”

Gannon doesn’t say a word. He doesn’t make a sound. Somehow, his irritated silence is louder than anything.

“ Fine, ” I say. “I don’t happen to have any names handy, but let me talk to some people at the event tomorrow night and see what shakes out.”

“Do you know what I really need? I need a brother who likes hockey.”

“What? No. No, no, no. Don’t even put that into the universe, asshole. With our dad, we could have a brother come out of the woodwork at any point. And, with our luck, he’d be a chip off the old block.”

A knock comes from the hallway.

“Hang on a second,” I say.

I grab several bills from my wallet. Then I pull open the door and find an older man in a suit and tie holding a single long-stemmed red rose.

“Good evening, sir,” he says, handing me the flower.

“Good evening.” I slip the cash into his palm. “Thank you for your help. I appreciate you.”

“Anytime, sir. Thank you. Have a wonderful evening.”

That’s the plan.

He flashes me a smile and then scoots toward the elevator.

I let the door swing shut behind me.

The energy I’ve been fighting to keep under control all afternoon and evening surges forward, filling every cell in my body. Kelly’s grin tugs at my heart. The curve of her shoulder as it gently slopes to her neck knots my stomach. The way she turned me down? It fucks with me.

Hard.

“Who was that?” Gannon asks.

“I had something brought to my room,” I say, unable to fight the smile slipping across my lips.

“Where are you this weekend, anyway?”

I place the flower on the desk, then head into the bedroom.

“That’s rude,” I say.

“What? Why is that rude?”

“You order me to these random places to do your bidding against my will, then you act like it’s so unimportant that you don’t even need to remember where you sent me.” I shake my head. “If it’s not important, for the love of God, Gannon—let me stop traveling so damn much.”

He groans. “Not this again, Tate. I don’t have time to listen to you whine right now.”

Fucker.

“You’re lucky because I don’t have time to whine right now,” I say, standing in the middle of the bedroom.

What time should I head downstairs? “Although, make no mistake, I will complain to everyone who will listen once I’m back in the office on Monday.

Because it’s complete bullshit that our family-owned airline couldn’t find a plane to take me on family business. ”

“Take that up with Jason. I don’t have shit to do with Brewer Air.”

“I will. But, for now, I have other, more important—more interesting—things on my plate.”

Gannon groans. Again. “Do I even want to know?”

“I’m pretty sure I met my wife today.”

Silence.

“Gannon?” I ask, wondering if the call was dropped or if he finally got fed up with me and hung up.

“I’m sorry. Did you say you met your wife?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but crazier things have happened. I mean, it took a matcha latte to bring you and Carys together. But?—”

“Tate?”

“Yeah?”

“Get to the point.”

I smile as her name coalesces on my tongue. “Her name is Kelly Kapowski.”

Gannon’s laugh is loud, forcing me to pull the phone from my face.

“What’s so funny?” I ask.

“ Her name is Kelly Kapowski ?”

“Yeah …”

“ Tate .” Gannon does something I’ve never heard him do. He cackles . “Tate, really?”

My brows pull together. “What?”

The humor is still thick in his voice. “Let me get this straight. You met Kelly Kapowski, and now you think you’ll marry her? Have you been drinking?”

His amusement is annoying, but I don’t dwell on it. As my eldest brother, he’s made it his mission in life to either flat-out ignore me or to heckle me in the most frustrating way possible. He’s barely more tolerable now that he’s married to my best friend.

“No, I haven’t been drinking,” I say, slipping off my shoes. “We met on the plane and connected. We had a moment. I can’t explain it.”

“I bet you did.”

“You know what? I don’t like your tone.”

He chokes back another laugh.

“Why is this so funny? Renn got accidentally married in Vegas. Jason married his secretary. You married my best friend. And you somehow think that meeting your soulmate on a plane is wild?” I ask. “It sounds like a pretty normal way to meet a woman, if you ask me.”

“You know what? Valid point.”

“Thank you.” I step into the en suite. “Where is Carys? I need her.”

“ My wife is home, and let me reiterate to you for the thousandth time that I don’t like you saying you need her.”

I ignore him and give the room a quick once-over. After my shower, it’s not too messy, but the vanity could use some work. I gather my toiletries and shove them back into my Dopp kit. Then I wipe the counter down with a washcloth. Much better . Still, the suite is missing something …

“Well, for the thousandth time , she was my best friend before she was your wife.”

“Whatever,” he mumbles. “I have a meeting in ten. Give Carys a call. And Tate?”

“Yeah?”

“Ask Kelly if she knows Slater.”

“What—”

Gannon’s laughter fills the line just before he ends the call.

I roll my eyes as I press Carys’s name. As the phone rings, I straighten the pillows on the bed and toss my candy bar wrapper in the bathroom trash.

I grab my cologne on the way out and give the pillows a little squirt in case Kelly makes it back to my room tonight.

Women usually love a bed that smells like me.

“Hi,” Carys says brightly. “Sorry for all the rings. I couldn’t find my phone.”

“You, Carys Brewer, have done the impossible,” I say, cutting to the chase.

“Oh really? What did I do?”

I open the closet, pull a few things, and lay them on the bed.

“You’ve started to rub off on your husband,” I say, surveying my selections. “The fucker almost has a personality.”

“Be nice, Tate.”

“I’m always nice. But this isn’t about Gannon. I need a favor.”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“I need your help choosing something to wear tonight.”

“At least it’s not helping you choose a shirtless picture for Social, I guess.”

I roll my eyes. “You are literally the only woman in the world who finds it painful to look at my shirtless pictures.”

“Because I know the real you, I’ve seen a million shirtless photos of your abs, and most importantly, I’m married to your much hotter, much sexier brother.”

I make a face as I hit the video call button, and she answers immediately.

“What do I wear tonight?” I ask, flipping the screen so she can see my choices on the bed.

“You called me on the way to the airport.”

“So?”

“So how did you get a date in Columbus that fast?”