Page 35 of How to Puck Your Boss (L.A. Hawks Hockey #3)

Chapter Twenty

P enny didn’t care why it had taken them so long to cross the finish line — the only thing that mattered was that they had arrived. She knew Jack had said they were merely dating. But, damn, if they hadn’t jumped straight into a relationship, she didn’t know what else it was.

They never talked about it explicitly, but nothing about the coming weeks felt relaxed or without expectations.

And it was fucking amazing. It was like they had gone from zero to a hundred in three seconds.

They had three dates in the first week, which was quite an accomplishment, considering the Hawks also had three games and twice as many practices.

Plus, if eating ice cream in bed counted as a date, it had been four.

Since they couldn’t be seen by others, they usually had picnics on Jack’s rooftop deck or spent a few hours on the beach in San Diego, which was far enough from LA to go mostly unrecognized.

She stayed up too late. She ate too much junk food.

She worked ten hours a day. Penny was exhausted, but also happier than she had ever been.

It felt like they had both been waiting for that morning after they arrived in LA to give it their all. And they did.

It turned out it was less lonely when you were complicated together. She no longer slept alone. Either she was in Jack’s bed or Jack was in hers, or they snuck into each other’s hotel rooms and ignored every call and every knock.

Many of Jack’s teammates suspected he was either depressed or hyper-focused on his game – that was why he locked himself in his room so often while the others went to strip clubs or all-you-can-eat buffets (ideally both).

Only Dax knew that neither was the case.

Jack had insisted on telling him they were dating simply because he didn’t want to keep another secret from someone important to him.

And considering Jack didn’t have sex during the season, they had a hell of a lot of sex.

Together, he and Penny had made the name Saint obsolete, but since Devil was already taken by his brother, Saint would probably stick to him.

Penny couldn’t remember the last time she had been so relaxed. It might have been when she smoked a peace pipe in the Argentinian jungle and saw everyone as cartoon characters all day. However, this was nothing like that, because she was also truly happy.

And now she was relaxed precisely because she was happy.

The Hawks players were finally accepting her.

Lyle and Gareth were listening to her ideas.

The Hawks were well on their way to the playoffs.

And because it was incredibly easy to be with Jack.

It was as if they sat at the airport bar every day, drinking whiskey together – in a figurative sense now.

They did actually fly regularly, since the Hawks played one away-game series after another.

Still, she felt more comfortable in a strange hotel room with Jack than in her own apartment. That might not just be because of Jack.

“Tell me, does this hotel room seem more comfortable to you than our two apartments put together?” she asked thoughtfully, twisting the belt of the bathrobe between her fingers as she leaned back against the headboard of the bed.

She inspected the room. “I mean, they have curtains here. And a nice carpet. And the paintings aren’t quite so… cold.”

Jack chuckled softly and followed her gaze. “Well, first, your paintings are only cold because your brother has terrible taste and abstract art is crap. You would have to choose some yourself to make it warmer. And second, I have curtains! And a carpet. Pictures, too, if I think about it.”

Amused, she snorted and looked up at him as she pressed her feet against his calves. The morning sunlight fought its way past the curtains to the end of the bed.

They had deliberately missed breakfast and in two hours, Jack had to go to the strategy meeting for that day’s game in the Arizona Kings arena.

However, they had time until then and their time together was precious.

They only had this time if no one was paying enough attention to notice that they were both missing.

Which, according to Dax, was slowly becoming noticeable.

“Your curtains are white. Your carpet is black. Your pictures are white or black. Your kitchen is black. Your walls are white. Your apartment looks like Cruella de Vil lives there!”

He grinned. “Hm. No, if I have to be a Disney villain, then I’d be the evil queen: beautiful and misunderstood.”

Penny let her head sink onto his shoulder with a snort. “I like how you grow humbler with each passing day in our relationship. And what I meant was that your apartment looks like…my apartment.”

“Clean?”

“No, cold.”

“Ouch.”

She laughed. “Come on, your loft is not very inviting. Your roof terrace is nice, but the rest?”

Jack shrugged. “I just don’t go there much. It’s not worth hanging up pictures or photos when I spend seventy percent of my time either on the ice or in hotel rooms.”

“That’s not true.”

“Oh yeah? Then why haven’t you hung up anything personal yet?” he asked, peering down at her with interest.

“Well, I haven’t had the time,” she said vaguely. “And I’ve never known how long I’d be in one place. Why hang up pictures if I have to repack them after a few months?”

“You…don’t know how long you’ll stay in L.A.?” Jack asked hesitantly, reaching for her hand to intertwine his fingers with hers.

“Well, if I don’t get the team, I’ll be jobless and have no money,” she murmured, tugging uncertainly on her lower lip. “Then…I don’t know what my future holds. I’ve traveled so much, my belongings fit in a backpack. I could leave the country at any moment. If I wanted to.”

“And what do you want?” he murmured.

To stay .

The word forced itself into her mind as unexpectedly as it was sudden.

But it was the truth. She felt like she had finally arrived somewhere.

It was nice not to have to meet new people every other day and get used to a new place.

Yes, she had enjoyed life in South America, but she had never settled down.

She’d never been able to put down roots.

Until now, she had thought she didn’t need to.

But it was nice to feel like she belonged, not like an outsider or an intruder.

It was nice to eat lunch in the office with Lucy and in the evening, cheer on the players or sit on the couch with Jack.

It was nice to have stability. And managing a hockey team left no time for boredom.

Every day brought a new challenge, so she never dragged herself through the workday.

Plus, she liked the players. She liked being allowed to be rude, the abundance of statistics, the entire job – something else she honestly hadn’t expected.

So, yes, she would like to stay. Because of the Hawks…and because of Jack. But she couldn’t tell him that. It was too soon. She couldn’t move that fast.

So, she yawned and said instead, “I want to stay in this bed forever.”

Jack laughed, put an arm behind her head, and pulled her closer to his body. He was warm and half-naked, just the way she liked him.

“Oh, but with an expensive whiskey in one hand and cheap chips in the other,” she added. “Though I might develop a drinking problem.”

“Hm, and it would be a shame to waste the whiskey, because I think we’d spill it,” Jack murmured, burying his face in the crook of her neck to kiss the spot where her pulse was beating, which immediately quickened.

She giggled as his stubble tickled her skin and tilted her head so he could kiss her elsewhere. “I don’t mind. I don’t mind dirty sheets or doing the laundry,” she replied lightly.

She felt Jack smile against her collarbone before kissing her jaw and then her lips gently.

“You like expensive whiskey, but you have no problem doing the laundry,” he said, shaking his head and running his free hand through her hair.

“You know I always thought you were contradictory…but I was wrong. You’re just a whole person. ”

“Whole?” she repeated quietly, squeezing his fingers between hers. “What makes me whole?”

“You don’t hold back any side of yourself. You’re honest. I think that’s what people confuse with crazy . Most people have an obvious side and a hidden side. But you…you show everything. And they can’t handle that. It makes you incredibly brave.”

She laughed softly. She liked that he believed that, even if it wasn’t true. “I’m not brave, just a terrible liar.”

“No,” he said seriously. “That’s not what it is. You haven’t changed. Even though the whole world demanded it of you. That’s…brave. And strong. Stronger than I was.”

“That’s bullshit. You had a much harder start than I did.

You had no one to care about you. The odds were against you.

And look where you’ve ended up now. You have a team that loves you.

Siblings that love you. A job you love. That’s more than most accomplish.

You should be proud. You made yourself whole while I’ve always been whole, just a little bruised. ”

“No," he murmured thoughtfully. “I’m the Saint and the delinquent youth. I’m a brother and not a brother at the same time. I have a father who doesn’t know who I am and therefore isn’t a father.

And I’m too much of a hockey player and too little of anything else.

I’m two halves that don’t fit together.”

Penny looked at him somberly and shook her head.

“No. You’re two halves that both belong to me .

And just because nobody knows that Dax and Anna are your siblings doesn’t make you any less of a family.

And who can say what too much hockey is?

You can talk about whatever you want! You can be whoever you want.

How can all the puzzle pieces that make you not belong together if they make you the person you are?

” She stroked his cheek with her thumb. “I don’t think you should become anyone else, because then this would be half as much fun. ”

She grinned, pulled his head toward her, and kissed him – slowly, because they had all the time in the world.

Her hand was in his hair, her leg between his, and a contented sigh on her lips as Jack returned the kiss.

He opened his mouth over hers and pushed the bathrobe down her bare shoulder before he pushed a hand in it and…

…there was a knock on the door.

“Jack? Open up,” came a deep, impatient voice.

Penny bolted upright and glanced anxiously at the door. “Who is that?” she whispered.

“Jack, you missed breakfast and coach’s announcement! Open up.”

“Go away, Moreau!” Jack replied, annoyed.

Oh. Lucas Moreau, their goalie. She’d never heard him string together so many words at once, in the last few weeks.

“Can’t. I’m supposed to get you.”

“Get me? To go where?” Jack called, irritated.

“I’ll tell you if you open the damn door!”

Jack groaned softly and rubbed his face. “It doesn’t look like he’s leaving,” he muttered. “Go hide in the bathroom.”

She opened her mouth in disbelief. “What? No!”

“Yes. And leave the light off.”

“No! Then it’s dark and stuffy.”

“I know. I had to hide in your bathroom, remember?”

“Yes, but you are you and I am me.”

He snorted. “I thought you liked equality!”

“Yes, but not if it means I have to hide in a damp bathroom.”

There was another knock on the door. “West? Open up.”

Jack looked at her with a groan. “Penny…”

“Fine!” she said angrily, jumping out of bed and pulling the robe tighter around her shoulders. “But you owe me for this,” she hissed, waggling her index finger at him.

His broad grin hit her right in the stomach. “Oh, I’ll think of something to satisfy you,” he said promisingly before nodding toward the bathroom.

“Yeah, yeah, fine.” The next moment, she scurried into the small, tiled room and closed the door. Then, she sank to her knees and pressed her eye to the keyhole. It’s not like she was going to let herself miss anything.