Page 6 of Playing the Neutral Zone (Vancouver Dominators #4)

I swallowed hard. It was true. Levi hated being in the public eye.

I knew that from when he first got signed.

I remembered that he immediately refused to speak to any journalist, even going so far as getting his lawyer to remove the publicity clause from his contract.

He told me about it, and even though the clause had stayed in his contract, everyone knew it was a section that was void.

So, I knew how Levi felt about interviews; he didn’t want the fanfare for being a skilled player.

He loved the sport, and he loved playing it, and in his mind, fanfare was something that could ruin it for him.

Then, when Mia came along, it became something else entirely, or so I’d heard from Scottie.

“I want the Ice Insiders to be the first publication to have an interview with him. He is a hell of a player, and I want us to be the first to—”

I tapped my pencil on the table and looked at Carol as she stared back at me.

“Is there a problem?” she questioned.

“No, not at all,” I said, remembering that Levi had told me that had I asked him for the interview, he would have granted me one, so maybe that meant that he’d trust me to run the interview.

“You look like you are going to be sick,” she said.

“No, just been feeling a little off because of the lack of sleep. Just leave it with me and I’ll see what I can do.” I smiled, closing my notebook and shoving it back into my bag.

I got up and walked to the door when Carol cleared her throat.

“Scarlett…”

I turned around. “Yes.”

“You do this for me, you get this interview with Levi this season, no matter how long it takes, and I will make sure that you get that promotion you’re after,” she said.

I studied her expression. Was she bribing me?

“Whatever it takes, Scarlett. You get me that interview, and I promise you the job is yours.”

I was exhausted by the time I pulled my car into my parking space behind the building. I’d barely got any work done after my meeting with Carol because I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about everything that was said.

I climbed out of my car, grabbed my bag from the back seat, then reached in and grabbed the rest of my cup of coffee from an hour ago. With my bag flung over my shoulder, coffee in hand, I walked with my head down as I checked my phone for messages.

I’d just turned the corner when I tripped over something. I flew forward, trying to maintain my balance and keep the coffee in my hand from spilling, when I felt myself bang right into someone and then felt the warm liquid travel down my blouse.

“Ugh, oh god!” I cried as I looked down at the mess of my new white silk blouse.

“Fuck me…why don’t you watch—” I heard a male voice say.

I closed my eyes for a brief second, knowing exactly who belonged to that voice.

I looked up to see Levi staring back at me in anger, coffee down the front of his white dress shirt.

Embarrassment filled my face as I stared at him, feeling bad for making such a mess of the pair of us.

“Dad, we aren’t supposed to say fuck,” I heard a small voice say and looked down to see little Mia staring up at me, her hair and clothes coffee-covered as well. When she turned her eyes back to me, I could see how unimpressed she was that he’d sworn.

“I’m so sorry. I was checking my email,” I cried, pulling my blouse from my skirt and wiping Mia’s face with the front of it so she didn’t get coffee in her eyes.

“No worries, lady. It’s just like being in the shower. Dad sometimes swears then too.” She giggled as her large blue eyes looked up at me.

I glanced up to see Levi glaring at me.

I awkwardly smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t help the fact that we are running late. Nor does it help that we will surely be late now that I’m going to have to take her back upstairs, clean her up, and get her dressed again, along with myself.

I looked down at Mia, who stood there looking up at both of us, a grin on her face.

“It’s okay, Daddy.”

“It’s not okay, Mia,” he grumbled as he stared at me.

“Don’t be mad at the pretty lady, Daddy. It was an accident.”

While Scottie had shown me pictures over the years of Mia, they hadn’t done her justice.

She was the cutest little thing I’d ever seen.

So cute, in fact, that my heart hurt even more now knowing I’d separated myself from Levi intentionally because I thought it would be easier for him to focus on his daughter without me in his life.

I never cared that he had a baby dropped in his lap from some girl who was certain he was the father.

I didn’t care that he’d had a one-night stand while I was in school.

I didn’t care because I loved him, always had, and if I thought about it, still did.

“Okay, look, how about I make it up to you?” I asked.

“How are you going to do that?” he scoffed. “Do you have any more coffee you wish to drop on us before we go get cleaned up and changed?”

I bit my bottom lip, trying not to snap back at him. His comment wasn’t fair. It truly had been an accident.

“Well, I am supposed to have a date tonight, but I will cancel. Since I know you are running late, I could look after Mia while you head to your game? I could get her cleaned up and feed her dinner, maybe take her to see the new Disney movie that’s playing.”

Levi looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. While I hadn’t seen him in a long time, I still wasn’t a stranger, and I’d babysat plenty of kids growing up. He should know he could trust me.

“I don’t think so,” he said, clearing his throat, then looked down at Mia, who was pulling on his arm. “What is it?” he asked.

“Daddy, how does she know my name?” she asked, giving me a curious look.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, placing his hand on her shoulder.

“No, how does she know my name? I don’t know her,” Mia questioned, looking up at me.

I knew Levi would probably hate me, but I knelt down and came eye level with Mia and smiled softly. “I’m a friend of your dad’s, one from a long time ago.”

“How come I’ve never seen you before?”

“Well, I guess that is because I didn’t live here before.”

“Where did you live?”

“In New York. I’ve known your dad for a long time.”

Mia looked up at Levi. “She lives in New York, just like Uncle Scottie,” she said, jumping up and down with excitement.

Levi didn’t entertain anymore of the conversation between Mia and me. Instead, he gripped her shoulder and turned her toward the front door of the building, leaving me bent down on the sidewalk.

“We’ve got to go or I’m going to be late,” he grumbled as he opened the door to the building.

Mia stopped, looked back at me and then up at Levi. “Daddy, why are you being so grumpy? You tell me when I’m grumpy I have to go to my room.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I caught the annoyed look on Levi’s face.

“Mia, I said let’s go,” he said, his voice taking on a firmer tone.

“I don’t want to go,” she said, pulling her hand from his and crossing her arms.

“Mia, I don’t have the time for this. Let’s go.”

“No.” She stomped her foot and looked over at me. “I want to stay with her.” She yelled, running toward me, but Levi caught her before she got to me.

Picking her up, he threw her over his shoulder and opened the door to the building walking inside just as she let out a blood-curdling scream.

“Mia, I’ve had enough,” I heard him growl just as the door of the building closed.

I followed them inside and waited beside them while we waited for the elevator.

“Seriously, Levi, I can look after her. It’s not a problem.”

“I don’t think so. To be honest, you’ve done enough, but thanks for the offer,” he barked, just as the elevator door opened and we both stepped inside. Levi hit the twenty-ninth floor and then looked at me, waiting. “Well?”

“Thirteenth,” I answered, holding my bag in front of me, not saying another word until we got to my floor.

“Night,” I said, stepping out of the elevator.

“Enjoy your date. Say hello to Duncan for me,” Levi muttered as he pressed the button to close the elevator doors.

The sound of Duncan’s name rolling off Levi’s lips took me by surprise. I’d figured Scottie would have told him what had happened, but he’d apparently left that out.

I let out the breath I was holding and made my way down the corridor to my unit. Just when I hadn’t thought it was possible for this day to get any worse, it did.