Coming ine box set, p.102
Coming in Hot: Rescue Me Box Set, page 102
Danni sighed. “Wow. Well, thank you very much for doing it so quickly. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. We love our Quakes and are happy to help. If you need anything else done, let me know.”
“Thanks, Charlene.” Danni hung up the phone and sat on the edge of the bed.
She’d been so sure that Mixamp was the cause, and slipping it into the Score had been the perfect foil. Of course, it was possible that the samples she had chosen were the good amoung the bad. But it would be an enormous task to test every bottle and jug, every day, and even more formidable to correlate it with a positive drug test.
Her heart sank. It was futile. They’d need to get the police involved, talk to the Anti-Doping Agency about their concerns, have the players’ support, and launch a full-blown investigation. And all that attention would keep the culprits quiet. How ironic.
In the meantime, Trey was out of a job, and she’d be taking the rap for it. Next week, she had to meet with the lawyers for a discovery around her case. Butterflies started in her stomach even thinking about it.
There must be something they could do. She glanced at the clock. Trey would be there in thirty minutes, and they’d have plenty to talk about. For now, she needed to get dressed and finish dinner.
Danni left her hair down and pulled on black jeans and a silk shirt in a deep purple. She quickly did her make-up, creating smoky eyes with a shimmer of plum, and added sparkle with dangling earrings and a necklace. At six forty-five, she was in the kitchen chopping the ingredients for a salad. When the doorbell rang at seven, she slipped the pizza into the oven.
Danni straightened her shirt and tucked her hair behind her ear as she walked to answer the door.
She was pretty sure she greeted Trey with a “hello” and thanked him for the flowers he offered. But all she could recall was the stream of “oh my god he’s gorgeous, love the grey jeans, what a great butt, is that abdomen as ripped as it looks under his black sweater, and can I touch?” that filled her head.
She shook herself as they made their way to the kitchen.
“Something smells great,” Trey said with a smile as he sniffed the air.
“Chocolate chip cookies or homemade pizza?” She took a vase from the kitchen cabinet and filled it with water.
“Both. Homemade pizza?”
“Yup. Made the dough from scratch.”
“Wow. That’s a pretty good trade for bacon and eggs.”
Danni laughed. “Help yourself to a beer from the fridge.” She arranged the flowers and set them on the table.
“Thanks. You want one?”
“Yes, please.”
Trey pulled out two and twisted off the caps. He set hers on the counter beside her and looked around the room. He smiled at the flat screen television that filled an adjacent wall. “This is a great place. When did they make this building into lofts?”
“About four years ago now. They were just finishing the renovations when Sarah and I moved here. Sarah Jain is Mike Wallace’s fiancé.”
Trey nodded. “I’ve heard the name, but I haven’t met her. She’s a family doctor, too?”
Danni nodded. “We share a clinic over on Riverview – in a converted bungalow. We split our time there, and I have the team and Sarah runs a mobile clinic for street youth.”
Trey took a sip of beer. “Sounds busy.”
Danni shrugged. “We’re as busy as we want to be. It helps that we love what we do.”
Trey nodded. “It shows. The players really look to you. They wouldn’t go against your advice. It’s the first team I’ve worked with where the team doctor has so much input. Usually they’re not as invested…or respected.”
Danni let the pleasure from his words wash over her. “It’s mutual. The Quakes are a great team. It’s hard not to get invested. I think the whole town is one hundred percent behind them,” she said with a laugh.
“It’s true. It took some getting used to. Hockey’s a big deal here.”
“Of course. As it should be.” The timer went off. “The pizza is done. I think there’s a Hawks-Cascades game on. Do you want to watch it while we eat?”
“Sure. Is Devan playing?”
“He should be. I don’t get to his games often, but I like to try to catch them on TV.” Danni served up the piping hot pizza and added salad to the plates. She grabbed napkins and forks, and they sat down on the sofa to watch the game.
Danni cheered on her brother, and Trey watched the game through the eye of a coach. Good plays, bad line changes, players out of control, he caught it all. Danni was fascinated at the depth of the strategy Trey recognized as he watched the game. The teams were in a different division from the Quakes, but Trey still compared the stats as he considered the outcome and the effect on their chances of a playoff position.
“This early in the season?” Danni asked.
“It can come down to one or two points.” He finished his third slice of pizza.
“Would you like another?” Danni wiped her mouth with the napkin. “Or another beer?”
“No to both, but thank you. I’m stuffed. That was delicious. Hands down the best pizza I’ve ever eaten.”
“Thank you. Do you have room for chocolate chip cookies?”
“Homemade?”
Danni laughed at the boyish delight in his eyes. “Well, I put them in the oven and baked them. But I had a little help from my good friend Pillsbury.”
“Still. Gourmet pizza chef, doctor, all-star hockey player, cookie baker. Is there anything you can’t do?”
Danni stared at him.
“What?”
“When you first came,” she said slowly, “it felt like you were trying to get rid of me. It seemed like there was no way I could earn your respect. So your compliments…” – mean a lot, touch my soul, take my breath away – “…surprise me.”
Trey looked a bit sheepish. “You were distracting.” He traced a line along the curve of her jaw. “I couldn’t understand how the players could focus when you were around.” His thumb stroked her lip, and he moved imperceptibly closer. “I wanted one hundred percent concentration from them. I could hardly expect it from them, when I couldn’t myself.”
Danni leaned forward and brushed her lips against his. He took control and teased her lips apart. She strained closer and opened to take him deeper. She ran her hands across his shoulders, down his back, and over the muscles of his arms, loving the feel of him, wanting more. His lips were soft against hers and when he swept his tongue across her lower lip, she shivered to her toes.
Trey rested his forehead against hers. “We should talk.”
Danni smiled wryly and chuckled. “There’s a first.”
Trey kissed her forehead and sat back on the sofa with his arm around her shoulders. “For me too.” He cleared his throat. “I had a phone call today from Pepper Hill. They offered me a job.”
Danni looked up at him, a sinking feeling in her heart. “Pepper Hill? In the States? What kind of job?
He nodded. “Head coach. Cal Rench is ready to retire.”
“No way.” She was afraid to ask. “Are you going to take it?”
“They gave me a few days to decide, but I’m leaning that way.” He brushed hair away from Danni’s face. “I can’t sit on the sidelines any longer, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.”
Danni sighed. “The tests on the Score were all negative.”
Trey squeezed her shoulders. “I’m sorry you’re caught up in this, too.”
More than you’ll ever know, Danni thought sadly. “I’m not giving up. We’ll prove we’re not involved.”
“I know. But I don’t know how long that will take. I can’t sit around waiting for it to happen. I miss coaching. And the longer I leave it, the harder it may be to get another job. I’m lucky Pepper Hill wants me.”
Danni avoided looking at him as she blinked away tears. “I know. It sucks. It all sucks.”
“It does.” Trey turned her to face him and looked her in the eye. He smiled gently. “The decision to leave was easier a week ago. Now it’s really hard. But I wanted to tell you before we start something. I may be gone in a week. Maybe two.”
“So soon?”
He shrugged. “The earlier in the season, the better.”
Trey caught her close in a hug and rubbed her back in soothing strokes as her heart ached. It was the injustice. He was being punished and shamed for something he didn’t do. And someone was getting off scot-free. When he left, he’d take a piece of her heart with him. She couldn’t easily transplant to the United States. It’d mean taking a whole new set of exams, starting a practice from scratch again, and giving up her position with the Quakes. It’d be hard. She’d miss Canada and its seasons, working with the hockey players, and the set-up she had with Sarah. But would she miss Trey more? Danni sighed as heaviness settled in her chest. She wanted to cry.
They still had a week. And they still had tonight.
Danni turned and kissed Trey softly on the lips. “Then it sounds like we better make the most of the time we have.”
Trey smiled sadly. “Yeah?”
Danni stood up and reached for Trey’s hand. “Yeah.” She led him up the stairway to her bedroom.
When they reached the top, Trey pulled her close. “Are you sure?”
Danni’s heart melted at the concern in his eyes. “Yes, I’m sure.” She lifted her shirt over her head. “Did I mention how much I like black?”
Trey looked at the dark lace against her pale skin. “I do too.”
Chapter Twenty
On Wednesday afternoon, Sarah poked her head into Danni’s office. “There’s a rumour going around that you got–. Ah, I see the rumour is true.” She walked in and sat down. “Those are beautiful.”
“They are, aren’t they?” Danni hadn’t stopped smiling since the flowers had arrived. A beautiful bouquet of bright fuchsia gerbera daisies mixed with roses in a deep, almost-black purple sat on the edge of her desk.
“And the occasion would be?”
“I’m a distraction.” Danni grinned.
Sarah laughed. “The highest compliment. Who are you currently distracting?”
“Well…ever since this whole doping mess got messier, I’ve been sort of helping Trey.”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “Trey. As in Trey Mason? As in the dick who’s trying to get you fired?”
Danni grimaced. “Yes, well, it turns out he wasn’t exactly trying to get me fired. I was a distraction, and he was trying to keep the team on track.”
Sarah glanced at the flowers. “So I take it that misunderstanding has been cleared up.”
“Yes.”
“And things are good between you two?”
“Yes.” Danni smiled widely.
Sarah looked at the flowers again. Her eyes narrowed. “Those ones look black.”
“Do they? I hadn’t noticed,” Danni said with a grin.
“Oh my god. He knows you like black. You and Trey–”
“Shh. The whole office will hear you.” Danni stood and shut her office door.
“This calls for a girls’ movie night,” Sarah said. “It’s Kelly’s turn. I’ll arrange it. This Saturday.” Danni started to protest, and Sarah waved her hand to silence her. “Don’t even think about it. I know you’re around because Mike’s away. And we call priority over Trey. Saturday night – we’ll want deets.” She stood up to go. “You’re lucky you have a clinic booked now, or I’d want more. Saturday. Seven p.m. No excuses.” Sarah gave a mock stern look and hugged Danni.
Danni sighed and grinned again as she looked at the flowers.
***
The next three days flew by. Danni’s clinics were fully booked, so she had to focus whenever Trey crept into her thoughts, which was a lot. On top of that, the meeting with the lawyers for a discovery was looming.
By Friday, she was couldn’t wait to hit the ice with Trey.
He was already at the rink when she arrived. “Good morning.” He skated over, handed her a coffee, and kissed her thoroughly.
Danni opened her eyes slowly. “It’s a good day already.”
Trey chuckled. “We have dressing room four again.”
“Perfect. I’ll be right out.”
Danni laced up her skates. She picked up her helmet, but then decided against it. She really liked his kisses. She tied her hair back and pulled on a toque. Picking up her gloves and stick, she headed out onto the ice.
Trey watched her skate, appreciating the picture she made. Speed and grace – she hardly touched the ice. He took another sip of coffee and then set it down and skated out to the centre line to shoot pucks at the net. Danni skated toward him and stopped in a spray of snow.
“So, I’m just wondering,” Trey said, eyeing her. “Do you wear black when you skate, too?”
Danni smiled slowly. “It’s all I own.”
“Really?”
“Really.” Danni scraped a puck toward her and then flicked a wrist shot toward the net. It hit the back post with a ping.
Trey swallowed. “I think I’m going to owe you another breakfast.”
They skated for the full fifty minutes, but neither was sorry when the Zamboni doors opened. They’d been brushing up against each other as they passed and didn’t waste an opportunity to reach out and touch whenever they were close.
This time, Trey locked the door to the dressing room behind them. Danni threw her gloves on the bench. When Trey reached for her, she pushed the jacket off his shoulders, and ran her hands under his shirt. His skin was slick. She kissed his neck, tasting the salty skin and loving the heady power of making him squirm.
“Skates,” Trey mumbled.
He guided her to sit down and then raised her foot to unlace her skate. Danni lifted her sweatshirt over her head and arched her back, watching his eyes darken. The black lace barely held her breasts.
Trey ran his hand slowly up the inside of her leg. Danni held her breath when he reached her thigh. He trailed his hand back down, pulled off her skate and set it aside. He did the same with the other skate, and by the time her skates were off, she was trembling.
When Trey sat to remove his own skates, Danni stood up and slipped out of her pants. Trey’s gaze swept over the black lace, and as Danni turned to tease him with a view of the back, he kicked off his skates and removed his shirt in one quick move. He pulled Danni close and, with her back against him, raced his hands over the swell of her breasts and down across the quivering muscles of her abdomen. When his hand reached the top of the lace at her hips, Danni arched and reached back to touch him. His fingers pushed the lace aside. Danni squirmed and twisted, making a move to turn around, but Trey spanned her waist with one hand and held her firm. The fingers of his other hand danced lower, and she pressed against him, barely breathing. She wanted this. She wanted him. She opened her heart, leaned against him when her muscles went lax, and trusted him to hold her.
“Trey,” she whispered, her voice husky, her body all sensation.
He ran his tongue along her neck, shifted the hand from her waist to cup her breast and brushed his thumb across her taut nipple. His other hand stroked the soft folds between her legs.
Danni groaned, tensed, and let go. Tremors rocked her body.
When she could breath again, she turned around, languid and relaxed, and wrapped her arms around Trey’s neck. “Holy cow.” She pressed her lips to his.
Trey chuckled and ran his hands down the silken smooth skin of her back, only pausing to flick open the clasp of her bra. “Your skin is like velvet. I could spend all day exploring and tasting.”
Danni kissed him and nipped at his lower lip. “You have too many clothes on.” She pushed at the waistline of his pants. Trey stepped back and stripped. Danni watched, mesmerized. She removed her bra, and Trey helped her with the thong.
Danni splayed her hands over Trey’s chest and nudged him to sit down, straddling his waist as he did. She reached between them, wrapped her hand around him, hard and ready. She caressed the length, teased the sensitive tip, and then guided him inside her. He swirled his tongue across her nipple. Danni moaned, arched, and started to move. Deep thrusts, shallow pressure, skin on skin that was sensuous and powerful. Their hearts beating as one. Danni looked into Trey’s eyes, and her breath caught at the emotion. It was an intense connection, and she had to look away. Sensation took over, and she tightened around him in waves. He slowed and stilled, with tremors of his own.
She collapsed against him, spent. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. When he kissed her forehead tenderly, her heart melted. “Did I mention that arenas are my favourite places?”
Trey chuckled. “My new favourite, too, when you’re in it.”
Trey ran his hand lightly across her back and she shivered.
“Are you cold?” He picked her up and carried her toward the showers.
“No, but I like the idea of shower sex.”
Trey kissed her. “I like the way you think.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Danni pulled into the arena that night wishing Trey could be there with her. She’d spent most of the day with him. That was the good part. He’d made her breakfast and spoiled her in bed. And not just with food.
They had talked about the drug scandal. That was the bad part. They weren’t any further ahead. They had no proof and were running out of ideas and time.
Trey had spoken to Rudy to see if an investigation had been launched, and the answer was disappointing. The Anti-Doping Agency was primarily responsible for testing and identifying drug users. The hockey league determined the consequences. They weren’t as concerned about how it happened; their main mandate was to decide the consequence when the ADA gave them a positive result. So unless they could convince the Players’ Association or the players themselves to get involved, how it happened wouldn’t come under a microscope, at least not yet. So far, whoever was behind it was clever enough to target different players. Players had one or two positive tests, but none yet had three – the trigger for a formal charge, a full investigation, and a major suspension. Until a player had three positive tests, there wasn’t any reason to hire a lawyer or delve any deeper. It was still at a nuisance-level for them and hadn’t reached the red-alarm level that it actually was for her and Trey. The culprit was clever.
