Page 32 of How to Puck Your Boss (L.A. Hawks Hockey #3)

“Then I guess I’m the only one who’s right,” she replied quietly…and threw the last dart. It spun and hit the double twenty. She had won. And yet her heart was heavy.

The players around her clapped and cheered, while Leon cursed. Jack just smiled at her and said quietly, “Congratulations.”

The words sounded wrong, though. She couldn’t win what she really wanted to win. Things weren’t ‘different.’

She smiled shakily and turned to the others. “Sorry, guys,” she said, shrugging. “But I called it. And now I need some fresh air.”

Above all, she needed some distance from Jack. She needed enough distance to stop her skin from tingling, her heart from pounding, and her thoughts from conjuring up hundreds of scenarios that could become reality if she got involved with Jack.

She had a wild imagination, and everything from absolute catastrophe to sheer bliss was there. Smiling at the others, she hurried to the door.

The chill February air hit her, cooling her heated skin, and she breathed a sigh of relief. This was better. More space, more air, more peace.

The peace was deceptive, though; it gave her thoughts too much room to go crazy.

What was she supposed to do?

She liked Jack. She wanted Jack.

But she also liked her job. She wanted to prove to her family that she was good at it, that she wouldn’t cause another scandal, and that they had all been wrong about her.

“God, what should I do?” she whispered, rubbing her face.

The door behind her swung open and someone came up to her. Penny didn’t have to look up to know it was Jack. She felt him, smelled him. Her whole body longed to be near him whenever he was even 10 feet away from her. And maybe…

“We should just give up,” Jack said, breaking the silence.

She glanced up at him in surprise. “Give up what?”

“Fighting it, Penny,” he murmured, his green eyes so serious that a lump formed in her throat.

“It makes me unhappy, it makes you unhappy, so we should just give up. I’m tired of trying to forget you, because I can’t.

And I know it’s a stupid idea to start something with you — but God, I’m afraid it would be even more stupid not to.

We’ll miss out on something if we don’t. ”

She knew exactly what he was talking about because she’d been thinking the same thing for days. And yet, “It could damage both of our careers, Jack,” she whispered.

“I know. Yours more than mine. That’s why I’ll leave the decision to you. But you should know that…” He paused.

“What should I know?” she whispered and looked up at him, into the face she saw every night in her dreams.

Jack cleared his throat. “You should know that I can’t be friends with you if you say no. I…feel too much. For you.” He narrowed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. “More than anyone should feel for a friend. It would be masochistic to try. I want you. All of you. Not just a little. So…yes.”

Penny’s mouth went dry as she continued to stare at him.

Her heart fluttered in her chest…although, actually, she was fighting a battle she had long since lost. She wanted both: the respect of her family and Jack.

And who said she couldn’t have both? They just had to keep it a secret. “Okay,” she whispered.

Jack raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Okay?”

She smiled shakily. “Yeah, okay. I’ll go on a date with you.”

“Really?” He seemed so genuinely surprised that her smile broadened.

“Yeah. I don’t want to…miss out on you. Just because you have the wrong job.”

Jack laughed. “Are you sure you’re not the one with the wrong job?”

“I don’t even know exactly what my job is right now, so no,” she said with a grin. “I just have one condition. We have to be honest with each other. We’ll lie to the world but not to each other, okay?”

Jack opened his mouth…then he hesitated. It was only for a split second, but it worried her.

“Do you have a problem being honest?” she asked, frowning and rocking back on her heels.

Jack opened his mouth again, but before he could speak, the bar door swung open again and Dax walked out.

“Hey, Penny, your wallet…” He paused and stood still. Slowly, he let his gaze wander back and forth between them. “Am I interrupting?” he finally asked sourly.

Jack sighed heavily. “As usual, yes —”

“— No, of course not,” Penny said at the same time.

“Hmm,” Dax replied. “Interesting. Anyway, Penny, you left your wallet on the bar.” He waved her black wallet.

“Oh, crap, I didn’t even notice.” She had been so distracted.

“No problem.” Dax grinned. “But, tell me, is your middle name really Wise ?”

“Oh, dear.” She made a face. “You looked at my ID.”

“Well, I had to make sure that the wallet belonged to you,” he said innocently. “So, it’s true?”

“Wait a minute,” Jack now chimed in, the corners of his mouth bowing upward in amusement. The traitor. “You’re… Penny Wise? Pennywise?”

“Like the horror clown?” Dax added with a grin. “From Stephen King? From It ?”

She sighed heavily. “Yes, I know the book. And yes, my father got to choose the middle name, and my mother was pumped full of too many painkillers to talk him out of it.”

Dax laughed loudly. “God, that’s great. Jack is afraid of clowns.” He slapped him on the shoulder. “He fainted on a ghost train once! I was sitting right next to him. It was hilarious. His eyes rolled back into his hindbrain!”

Penny smiled…while the wheels in her head started turning in confusion.

This story triggered a memory. Wait. She knew it.

She knew that Jack was afraid of clowns.

He had told her on the plane. The day they met.

And she knew about the ghost train, too.

Jack had said that he was fourteen and had been traveling with his brother…

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock.

No.

No, no.

Jack must have mixed it up, right? Must have confused Dax with his brother and…

“Penny?” Jack looked at her, uncertain.

She clenched her teeth, looked from one to the other, studied their faces…well, they did look alike.

It was their chin and the dimples in their cheeks.

“Oh God,” she breathed. How had no one ever noticed?

They looked so damn similar! And Dax hadn’t told anyone he’d caught them together because he…

because he… “You’re brothers,” she said tonelessly, narrowing her eyes and shaking her head.

“But…how? That’s not in your files! That’s… that’s not stated anywhere!”

“What?” Dax’s eyebrows shot up in alarm and he glanced around, visibly nervous, as if he was afraid someone might overhear them. “No. We… What makes you think that?”

And that was all the confirmation she needed.

Shit, she was right.

“I understand. You have a problem with being honest,” she replied harshly, shooting Jack a sharp look. “But as it happens, I have a problem with liars. So…see you.” The next moment, she turned and left.

She didn’t want to be told she was wrong, just as she didn’t want to watch the man she had just opened up to struggle to make excuses.

God, Jack West and Dax Temple were brothers — and she was an idiot.