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‘Thank you for coming in, Astrid,’ the GM said, his voice much more obliging now and Blake couldn’t blame the guy. He was pleased, too. She was a welcome distraction, her presence exhilarating for all the right reasons.

‘Thank you for having me,’ she said, her eyes darting to Blake once more, her words taking on a whole new meaning as he grinned.

‘You must be Aiden, or…’

She wet her bottom lip, the quickest flick of her tongue as he stepped forward. Was she nervous? Or was it mutual appreciation?

‘I can be whoever you want?—’

‘No,’ came his brother’s self-assured drawl. ‘I’m Aiden.’

‘Dammit, bro!’ He looked over her head to take in his twin’s untimely arrival. ‘Give a guy a chance.’

Because if she liked him, she’d sure as shit like A. Everyone liked A.

She gave a laugh, the colour deepening in her cheeks as she turned from him to his brother, tucking her notebook to her chest so that she could offer out her hand. And why the hell should he get the handshake first?

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’

She did the rounds, from Aiden to Coach, to the GM, Stella and then… as her hand slipped inside Blake’s, her notebook started to drop in the other and she dipped as he did, his hand saving it from hitting the deck.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured, straightening back up, her hand still in his, warm and welcoming, her eyes too, and something inside him took off. Was that… butterflies ?

He didn’t do butterflies unless he was pre-game and even then, they were promptly quashed before they cost him the ice. But these were hot, and frenzied, and growing by the second.

‘It’s good to meet you, Blake.’

‘You too.’

God , was that his voice? Gruff. Weak. Fuck, get a grip!

He could sense Aiden’s cocked brow, his observant brother not missing a beat, and he promptly released her hand and tucked his own into his pocket as it thrummed to a tune he didn’t recognise. The tune of her touch.

God , he needed a drink. The tune of her touch, what kind of nonsense was that?

The day had taken its toll if a simple handshake from a woman had him losing his head. So much for wanting to get better acquainted. He needed his own space, stat.

‘I’ll leave you to whatever this is,’ he said, making for the door.

‘Not so fast, Blake,’ the GM said, interlacing his fingers on the desk and stopping him in his tracks.

‘What now?’

He flicked her a look as she tensed. Don’t worry, I’ll come back for you , he wanted to say.

She was probably a marketing rep if she was here to talk with Aiden.

And he was more than happy to leave them to get the job done and then, when he had his head on straight, he could seek her out for a reintroduction. Minus an audience.

‘Astrid is here to see you. You and your brother.’

‘She’s what ?’

‘Why don’t we all take a seat and Stella can explain?’ Coach said, gesturing to the vacant chairs opposite. Three. Why hadn’t he noticed there was an extra chair today?

And why was he seemingly the only one surprised at her presence?

‘Someone wanna tell me what’s going on?’

He slipped her the side eye as he took his seat once again, positioning her between him and his brother and feeling every nerve prickle to life, awareness of her proximity and a rising sense of unease a confusing cocktail in his bloodstream.

‘Astrid here is an award-winning journalist,’ Stella said.

‘A journalist, you say.’ Yeah, he could see that. The inquisitive gaze behind the glasses. The notepad and pen at the ready. The way she already had him wanting to get up close and personal. ‘Good for you. Though I fail to see what this has to do with me.’

‘It has everything to do with you since you’re the reason she’s here,’ Stella explained.

‘Her feature articles demand quite the attention. Her words have the power to transform people’s views in a mere page or two.

The way she breaks down an individual and pieces them back together in a way that the public can understand and indeed empathise with really is quite something. ’

‘Thank you,’ Astrid said, her smile seeing off another of his brain cells.

Aiden was smiling too.

Hell, everyone was smiling bar him.

Hang on . They couldn’t be saying what he thought they were saying.

‘No offence, but I wouldn’t know,’ he said warily. ‘I don’t have much time for reading.’

‘Astrid wrote the profile piece on Marcus Tanner last year,’ Stella continued. ‘Used his life story to turn what was hatred and fear into something akin to reverence. It was impressive to say the least.’

Blake huffed. Marcus ‘Mad Dog’ Tanner was a headcase who played for the NFL. He couldn’t care less what the glorified ball thrower did with his time, or what people thought of him. But that wasn’t the point, was it? They were talking about him. Blake. He was Mad Dog Marcus in this context.

Well, fuck that.

‘So, you can imagine how pleased we were when Astrid approached us with the idea of a profile piece on the Titan Twins,’ Stella said, confirming his fears, suffocating him from the outside in as the idea took a vice-like grip around his throat.

‘A deep dive into your past, to paint a rosier present. It’s the perfect solution to our current predicament. ’

Christ , was that how she’d pitched it? Astrid. All to gain access and drill him for the thrill of her readership. Because she didn’t know him from Adam, she had no reason to save his ass, only promote her own.

‘And a way for you to secure your future with the Titans,’ the GM added. ‘She’ll become your shadow for the next few weeks, longer if need be. Until she gets what she needs to write the article that we need.’

Blake was shaking his head. ‘Now isn’t the time to have some hot chick poking around.

We’re supposed to have our head in the game, not…

’ He flicked her a look and wished he hadn’t.

Damn, she really was hot. And fuck, he was scraping the barrel for excuses not to go along with this.

To give away anything but admitting the truth. He didn’t want to talk.

‘A shame you didn’t think that way when you got into that fight,’ Stella said. ‘You’re lucky charges weren’t pressed, because then we’d be having a very different conversation.’

He’d heard those words once before. A very very long time ago, and he had no interest in revisiting that day… not in his head and certainly not in any ‘ deep dive ’ chat with Foxy the Hot Reporter.

‘Indeed. But everyone loves an underdog,’ the GM said, his smile smug. ‘They just need reminding that’s you.’

‘An underdog ?’

‘Why not? An article about the legendary Titan Twins, their journey from the streets to stardom, ought to do it.’

‘We weren’t on the streets,’ he heard himself say as an icy shiver ran down his spine.

‘I was speaking metaphorically. It’ll be down to Stella’s team and of course, Astrid, to come up with the right angle.’

‘Sure, I have plenty of ideas, but…’ Astrid glanced his way, her tender tone abrasive as it raked along the open wound. ‘I wouldn’t go with anything that made you uncomfortable. I’ll involve you every step of the way. Make sure you’re happy before we go to print.’

‘Happy?’ he choked out. ‘You’ll be lucky to get that far, because I ain’t talking.’

‘You don’t have a choice,’ the GM said. ‘This is how you fix a train wreck of a season PR-wise and if you’re lucky, still get to start when we hit the playoffs. Because we will get to the playoffs; whether you’re a part of them remains to be seen.’

‘Are you fucking serious?’

The entire room tensed. Apart from the GM who was holding his own remarkably well. Probably because of the desk between them. And he paid the bills.

‘If we have to trade you, Blake, we will. Before the NHL takes the choice out of our hands and renders you worthless.’

‘But it won’t come to that because you’re going to play nice with Astrid. You and’ – Stella looked to Aiden, her smile imploring him to assist – ‘your brother.’

‘And while you’re doing that off the ice,’ Coach said, readjusting his Titans’ training jacket, ‘we can get our heads back in the game and focus on what we should’ve been all along, wiping the ice with the opposition.’

Stella grimaced. ‘How about we just call it winning ? Wiping the ice with the opposition one too many times is why we’re in this position in the first place.’

Coach suppressed an eye roll. ‘Winning it is.’

Blake stared at them in disbelief. Could they hear themselves? He looked to Aiden. Please God , let his brother have the good sense to tell them all where to go. The team couldn’t afford to piss them both off. They didn’t need this distraction. Hell, he didn’t.

His brother held his gaze before turning to Astrid. ‘You have our word, anything you need, you only have to ask. Isn’t that right, Blake?’

Anything? Was the man crazy? Because any profile piece would mean digging into their childhood. Their father. Their misery.

And now everyone was looking at him.

‘Fuck this.’

He shoved out of his seat and walked. He could already hear Aiden smoothing over his exit. Playing nice. And he punched the wall with a growl, not breaking stride.

Over his dead body was he going to let a journo into his life.

And he’d thought talking to a shrink would be bad…

Talking to a woman with a licence to publish his demons to the world…

Not gonna happen. Not now. Not ever.