Page 39 of How to Puck Your Boss (L.A. Hawks Hockey #3)

“It was a vacation from you that did me good!” she replied angrily.

“I would have been happier with myself if you hadn’t been so terribly unhappy with me!

Do you think I don’t realize that it was reckless and dramatic of me to put on a…

a bloody show? Of course I do! It was scandalous, but I wanted to make a difference, and I had asked you to at least give a speech…

” She let out a gush of frustration. “But even that was too embarrassing for you, wasn’t it?

Too uncomfortable. You could have defended me.

You could have said that the rooster was too extreme, but the message was right.

That it was hypocritical to collect donations for animal welfare and global warming and then serve five hundred chickens at a gala dinner!

There wasn’t a single meatless dish on the menu!

But no, you told everyone that I had been going through a difficult time.

That I…” She pressed her lips together. “Went to therapy for my problems! And it’s okay to go to therapy.

I recommend it to everyone — but shit, it wasn’t the truth!

” For Penny, the incident wasn’t about the rooster, but the moment when she’d overheard her parents portraying their daughter as crazy, stating she had a mental illness instead of standing up for her.

“So?” she cried bitterly, her voice getting louder with each word.

“Why should I have stayed when my own family was so ashamed of me that they felt like they had to cover for my misdeeds to the whole world and make excuses for me over and over again?”

“Penelope, please,” her father said, raising his hands in reassurance.

“Oh, it’s hopeless, Darron,” her mother replied with a sigh. “She’s not taking it seriously. Her temper has always gotten her into trouble. I told you to just give the team to Gareth and call it a day. Penny is incredibly smart, but also a bit reckless, hot-headed, and impulsive, she…”

“Hey!” a male voice suddenly interrupted loudly, making Penny and her mother flinch.

It was Jack. He was no longer standing in the doorway but in the middle of the room, his expression so dark that Penny recoiled in shock.

“Stop speaking about her like that, damn it. She doesn’t deserve that!” he said roughly, pointing his finger at her mother.

Sybil Clark looked like she had just seen a unicorn — and it was surprisingly ugly. “Excuse me?” she asked, shocked.

“Oh, fuck, Jack,” Dax muttered, pulling his brother back by the shoulder. “It’s time to go.”

“No!” he replied gruffly.

Penny swallowed and stepped forward quickly. “Mr. West,” she caught herself. “It’s okay, really…”

“It’s not okay!” he cried in disbelief, pulling away.

“Do you have any idea how smart your daughter is and how hard she works? And how much effort she’s making to finally meet your standards?

” He turned to Penny. “You’ve been busting your ass for months, you know every statistic, and here she is accusing you of not taking it seriously? What the hell?”

“That’s what I was about to ask,” her father replied coolly. “Be careful what you say in front of us, Mr. West.”

Jack laughed hoarsely. “Oh yeah? And what if…”

“Okay, we’re going,” Penny said quickly, pressing her hand over Jack’s mouth.

“He’s sorry. He’s simply passionate about his team, and Gareth and I are part of it now, so…

” The next moment, she pushed Jack violently into the hallway, only succeeding because Dax assisted.

Breathing heavily, she closed the door behind them and glanced up at Jack, shaking her head.

“Calm down!” she whispered sharply, giving Dax a grateful look before pulling Jack by the hand further down the hall.

“I don’t want to calm down!” he replied angrily, but thankfully, in a lowered tone.

“Do any of them even know you? Don’t they know how important it is to you to show them that you deserve a place in their family, and that even though you’ve been told for years by the media and by strangers that you don’t fit in? ”

“No, Jack. I don’t think they know that,” she muttered soberly and pulled him further through the lobby until they were finally out in the fresh air.

“Then you should damn well tell them! They seem to have no idea who you are. Who you are now, not who you might have been in the past.”

His voice had grown louder…and Penny’s heart bigger. Her lips slightly parted as she stared at him. Her eyes stung and the lump in her throat dissolved into a hundred different emotions that swirled uncontrollably through her body.

“What?” Jack asked, irritated. “If you say again that I should just calm down, then…”

She didn’t let him finish. Instead, she stood on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him – deeply. She squeezed her eyes shut so the tears wouldn’t run amok.

“Thank you,” she whispered against his lips before sinking back to the floor. “Really, thank you.”

Stunned, Jack peered down at her. “For what?”

“For saying that. For being on my side. For listening to me when my parents won’t.” And thank you for being so easy to love. Everything seems complicated except my feelings for you .

She didn’t voice her last thoughts aloud. She only said them in her head; it was too early. Much too early. But really? She had started loving him when he had accepted her whiskey. And she didn’t have time to feel bad about it, because it wasn’t bad! It was something fantastic.

She was going to enjoy it while she could.