Page 19 of Daddies on Ice

“Now that we’re all here,” Carl says. “Trisha, welcome to your first day on the job. Looks like it’s going to be baptism by fire for you.”

I glance at Ash who rolls his eyes. Jake leans forward and braces his elbows on his knees, resting his forehead on his palms.

“What’s happened?” I ask.

On the way over, I listened to the sports news channel but didn’t hear anything about the Thunderwolves.

At least not anything I haven’t already heard. The reporters continue to regurgitate the hockey team’s bad press.

Coach Carl shoots a glare at Jake. “Apparently, Jake’s got himself a stalker who claims she’s carrying his baby.”

My eyebrows lift so high they disappear beneath my hair. Jake snaps his gaze in my direction and shakes his head.

“It’s not true,” he protests.

Carl’s expression remains tight. Ash shrugs his shoulders when I look his way.

When I turn to look at Jake, I cock my head to the side, giving him an “I find that hard to believe,” look.

“I swear,” Jake argues, turning his attention to the coach. “As I told you, I remember meeting her…Krista…at a party. I admit, I did consider fu—er…” He shoots a look at me. “Having sex with her, but I didn’t.”

“Why not?” I ask. Jake raises an eyebrow at my question. “I mean, with your reputation, well, it’s hard to believe you would turn down sex.”

“Fair question,” Ash puts in.

Jake shoots Ash a frown then meets my gaze. “It’s true, most of the time. But even I have standards.”

I want to laugh at his indignant tone but manage to keep my expression neutral.

“She was too needy and clingy.” Jake shakes his head in disgust at the memory. “I look for a good time, not a relationship, and that’s exactly what she was looking for. She was more than just apuck bunny, she was planning a future, and I wanted no part of it.”

I study his expression for a long minute, seeing the truth there. He’s not lying.

Or if he is, he’s a very good liar.

His gaze meets mine steadily.

If he is lying, his eyes would likely shift to the side.

He isn’t sweating or showing any other signs of nervousness.

“We need to get ahead of this before the press finds out,” Carl says, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. “With Jake’s reputation, everyone will believe the woman, and God knows we don’t need any more bad press.”

The office grows quiet as three sets of male eyes focus on me, waiting for me to say something brilliant that will magically make this problem go away.

Baptism by fire, indeed.

For a second, my mind freezes.

I can’t find a single coherent thought except for the constant replay of “what am I going to do?”

Panic threatens to consume me and the three male faces blur in and out of focus.

If I can’t handle this, then I’m trying to break into the wrong career. Actually, in the scheme of things, this isn’t so bad and is actually quite common.

It’s nothing new for a woman to try to blame a pregnancy on a famous person.

Whether for money or marriage, or both, it’s an old play.