Page 1 of Crossing the Red Line (Vancouver Dominators)

Ella

I knew I never should have opened the email, I thought as I stared at my screen. How many more times would I have to learn this lesson the hard way?

I let out a sigh and picked up my mug, bringing it to my lips, irritated that the coffee had gone cold. I let out a sigh and got up out of my chair, heading to the coffeemaker, where I poured more hot coffee into my mug and returned to my desk.

I sat back down and stared at the ‘Save the Date’ email, my stomach turning.

There was no way I’d make it through yet another wedding season, watching more of my friends venture down that doomsday path.

A couple of my friends had been married less than a year and they already had issues, and it seemed none of the single ones learned from the ones before.

My best friend was currently dealing with the fact she couldn’t get pregnant while another one faced marriage counselling after finding out her husband of eight months was already cheating on her.

I moved the email into my deal-with-it-later folder.

If there was one thing I’d learned, it was that I was never getting married, especially after seeing how their lives were unfolding.

I turned my focus on only work-related emails.

It was the only way I’d be able to move on with my day without either being sick or having a panic attack.

I quickly skimmed down the list and stopped when I saw an email titled Change to the Children’s Hospital Campaign. I let out a sigh, wondering what could have changed in the last two days that I wasn’t aware of, since I was supposed to be the one who oversaw this.

Ella,

Because of the timing of the Dominator’s games, and that Lucas Clark has been pulled because of a minor knee injury, both Knox Evans and Dylan Hayes will have to attend away games on the dates of the filming of this campaign.

Effective immediately, we have substituted Lucas in their place.

I request you meet with Lucas to bring him up to speed about the charity and about the photo shoot.

Pamela Smith,

Head of Public Relations

Guy Larson,

Owner of the Vancouver Dominators

I should have just responded to the other email instead; I thought as my stomach flipped. Of all the players on the team, why did it have to be Lucas who’d been assigned to this project? Was this some sort of joke the universe was playing on me?

He was the only player on the team that gave me a hard time about working for my father, his boss, the owner of the Vancouver Dominators.

Aurora and Lorelai both said it was because he had a crush on me, but I shoved that comment under the rug almost as fast as I had shoved that email into the folder.

Little did they know, Lucas and I had dated once upon a time, and his behaviour had nothing to do with what they thought it did.

I took a moment, trying to center myself. Then I got up from my desk, grabbed the folder containing all the information about the campaign, and made my way out of the office and down to the lunch area.

I made my way through the halls, wondering if I should just turn around and reply to that email instead of walking headfirst into an inferno. However, I knew it had to be done, and I’d rather rip the bandaid off, instead of prolonging the inevitable.

I stopped outside the lunchroom door, taking in a deep, cleansing breath, once again centering myself.

On the third deep breath, the scent of chicken parmesan hit my nose, making my stomach growl.

I rounded the corner and stepped into the room to see Lucas sitting there, sports section and a plate of food in front of him, ready to dig in.

I let out a sigh and approached the table, folder in hand, avoiding his eyes.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Ella.” He winked. “What’s Guy got you up to today? Spying on us boys, so you can tell Daddy all the horrid things we say in the locker room?” He chuckled.

I frowned. When had Lucas become such an ass? I wondered.

“Look, it wasn’t my fault my father caught word of what happened in the locker room the night you grabbed my ass when I first started,” I said, staring him right in the eye.

Yep, you heard that. He’d thought I’d been lying when I told him about my new position with the team, and to prove it, he’d pushed me up against the locker room wall, looked me directly in the eyes, kissed me, and grabbed my ass.

That had been my welcome to the team, and when my father caught wind of it, he’d asked me if it had been true.

I couldn’t stand there and deny it. The mere memory of it had made me blush when he confronted me, so I’d told him the truth.

Although we’d dated, and we’d been extremely intimate, Lucas had gotten in shit for the lack of respect he’d shown me.

He’d been lucky Daddy took pity on him and hadn’t suspended him, but it had started this reaction every time I had to interact with him.

“Sure, whatever you say,” he murmured, digging into his food.

“Lucas, despite what you might choose to believe, I never said a word. He asked me, and I don’t lie to my father. You know that.” I gritted, giving him an evil glare.

“Whoa, tone it down there. If looks could kill, I’d be dead on the spot.

” He chuckled, shoving another forkful of food into his mouth.

“There was a time you’d never have told your father anything that went on between us, the nights in my car out back of the arena, the night I took you in your father’s kitchen, the night in the locker room after my very first game with the Dominators.

Don’t think for one second, I’ve forgotten any of that. ”

I stared at him, at that smug smile on his face, and jumped as my cell phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and glanced at the screen in time to see my best friend’s name flash on the screen. Rolling my eyes and turning away from Lucas, I answered the call.

“I can’t talk right now,” I barked.

“Don’t give me that. Why haven’t you responded yet?”

I shook my head and looked over my shoulder to see Lucas staring at me with curiosity.

“Well???”

“Layla, I’m at work.”

“Yes, but I need to know if you’ll be at the wedding.”

Irritation flooded me, and I threw the folder on the table and slid into the chair across from Lucas, burying my face into my hands.

“You know I hate weddings.”

“But it’s my wedding and you are my maid of honour.”

I let out a sigh, then quickly glanced at my calendar to see if the date was free. Sure enough, just as I suspected, I had nothing booked for that weekend.

“Fine, I’ll respond the moment I return to the office, okay? Now, I’ve got to go.”

I hung up the phone and placed it down on the table with more force than I’d planned. I could feel Lucas staring at me but refused to look at him. I just wanted him to go away. I wanted everyone to go away and leave me alone to sulk in my misery.

“What’s got you so down?” he questioned, pulling me out of my inner turmoil.

“Why would you care?”

“Despite what some people in this room think of me, I have a caring side, and I don’t like to see pretty girls sad. So, spill it.”

I let out a sigh and picked at the corner of the folder I’d brought in, imagining how this was going to sound to not only my ex-boyfriend but to a guy like him. A guy who could get any girl at the drop of a hat.

“Well, I’m waiting?”

“Remember Layla, my best friend from college?”

“Yes.”

“She is getting married and wants me to be her maid of honor.”

“That is great,” he said, holding out his fork with a piece of breaded chicken smothered in sauce and cheese for me to take, but I shook my head.

“It’s not great.”

“Why isn’t it? You should be happy for her. She found the one.”

“Yeah, it’s great,” I muttered.

“It is. Why would you think otherwise?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Let’s look at it, shall we?

Janet has been married a little more than a year and is on the verge of a breakdown because she can’t get pregnant.

Maxine has been married six months and is already in marriage counselling because she found out that Max is cheating on her.

I don’t even have a decent boyfriend, actually never have had, and here they are getting ready to settle down, and I’m over here ready to give up on love. ” I put my head down on the table.

“Never had a decent boyfriend? Geez, thanks. I didn’t think I was that bad.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from saying something I’d probably regret. Lucas was right, he hadn’t been horrible, he’d just been so focused on hockey and the idea of us.

Or maybe it was I who went along the wayside.

“All good things come in time,” I heard him say.

“Yeah, says the guy who can have whatever girl he wants.”

Lucas chuckled. “Ella, you really have a slanted view of us, don’t you?”

“It’s true. You all have girls throwing themselves at you. Even Dylan and Knox still have women lining up, and they are both going to be tying the knot in the coming months. Clay is just a manwhore…and well, the others on the team are…”

“Just because we have girls throwing themselves at us doesn’t mean we take advantage of that. Besides, those women are so shallow, and while they can be fun, we look for the real side of people. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I even went on an actual date.”

“Whatever…” I said, rolling my eyes.

“It’s the truth. I’ve been single for so long I actually made up a girlfriend just to get my mother to stop asking me if I were seeing someone, and now all she does is bug me to bring her out to see her?”

“Why would you lie to your mother if you don’t remember the last time you dated someone?”

“Because she wouldn’t take the truth as an answer. So, I made one up.”

“That’s ridiculous. What are you going to do when she demands to meet her?”

“I was using work as the reason why I could get home, but now with the knee injury and she knows I’m not playing, she won’t take the work excuse much longer either. I’m screwed.”

“Lucas, that is horrible. You should be ashamed of yourself, using work as an excuse to not see your own mother.”

Lucas gave me a sexy grin. “It’s not because I don’t want to see her, but because I have no one to take with me. Like I said earlier, I’m painfully single, just like you.”

It was then my phone rang again, and when I looked at the screen, I rolled my eyes and let out a huff.

“What?” I said through clenched teeth as I answered the call.

“Will you be bringing anyone?” I heard Layla ask.

“Doubt it. I’d probably have to pay someone to go with me,” I barked. “Talk later.” I quickly hung up, putting my phone down, meeting Lucas’s eyes.

“You know, they say stress is horrible for a person, especially outside stress that is interfering with the workplace.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, which makes me think you could benefit from a vacation,” he said.

I frowned. “A vacation?”

“Yeah, you should take some time to talk to your father, see if he can’t give you a little time off.”

“No, thanks. I’m not sucking up to Daddy because I’m having a hard time.”

“Okay then,” Lucas said, digging back into his meal. With the fork halfway to his mouth, his eyes lit up, and he looked up at me. “Okay, what if it were a free vacation? On the weekend?”

I studied Lucas’s eyes, trying to see where he was going with this, and when he gave me that stupid, sexy, shit-eating grin he normally had, I put it all together.

“You aren’t serious?” I questioned.

“Sure am. An all-expenses paid trip out to Vegas for the long weekend. All you need to do is pretend to be my ever-so-loving girlfriend, again, in front of my mother for a few days. It will give you the time you need to sort yourself out, deal with all this stuff you’re carrying, and let loose and have some fun. What do you say?”

I looked around the room, wondering if one of the other players had put him up to this.

“What about my father?” I questioned.

“I won’t mention it if you won’t.” Lucas shrugged.

I thought for a moment. The photoshoot for the campaign wasn’t for another couple of weeks, and this would give me the time I needed to go over things with him. Plus, he might be right; it might help me unwind and relax if I got out of the city and away from everything.

“You said all expenses paid?” I questioned.

“Yep, everything: flight, food, accommodation, all covered.”

“And all I need to do is pretend to be your ever so loving girlfriend? Again?”

“That is all.”

“I don’t know, Lucas. Won’t this be opening up a can of whoop ass with your mother? I mean, I’m sure she is going to remember me.”

“Of course she’s going to remember you. She wanted us to get married and have babies, which she still throws in my face every now and again. It will at least quiet her up for a while. Give me the mental break I need from the constant harping of finding someone.”

I didn’t know if I should agree or not, but I also knew Lucas hated the type of spotlight I was going to be putting him into, and I needed him to do this campaign, so if I were going to do this for him, he had to agree to do this for me.

“I’ll do it, but only on two conditions.”

Lucas looked over at me. “Two conditions?”

“Yes, two,” I said, not faltering at all.

He let out a sigh, dug his fork into his food, and then muttered, “Okay, name it.”

Lucas must have been desperate to get his mother off his back. He never succumbed this quickly.

“That you be my date for my friend’s wedding this summer?”

“And the other?” he questioned.

“That you take part in this campaign, since I’ve been told you are replacing Dylan and Knox because you are out on injury,” I countered.

Lucas hated doing any type of publicity, which was why when I saw the email, I knew I’d have my work cut out for me.

There was no way I could do another wedding solo, and if he said no, then I’d just curl up in my condo, have a good cry, then put on my big girl panties and deal with not only forcing him to do the campaign, but suffering through the wedding just like I’d done the past two.

At first, he said nothing while he shoved a few bites of food into his mouth. It was as if he were enjoying watching me squirm, which he probably was. After a few minutes, he finally looked over at me.

“Alright, Larson, you got it. Just let me know what I need to do and I’ll do it,” he said, extending his hand across the table for me to shake.