"Here’s to hockey!” Alice, the new chef at work, and I decided to go grab a beer after the Fury game. The entire staff of Stag Law was in the luxury suite to watch, and I have to admit it was pretty spectacular to see the game from that perch. I tried not to stare at Ty the entire time, but it’s impossible to take your eye off the guy who has 10 shots at the goal.
My mind keeps wandering, thinking about how fierce Ty looked handling the puck. He played aggressively, and I could definitely see how he ran into trouble for fighting throughout his career. The other team kept trying to bait him, but a slap shot from the blue line straight into the goalie’s five-hole was definitely a better answer than a punch to the jaw and a ride in the penalty box.
“Earth to Juniper! Hello!?”
“Oh man, I’m sorry Alice. I keep thinking about the game.”
She smiles--she looks particularly happy tonight. “Me, too. And I don’t even really like hockey!” Alice tells me about her family, how all of her siblings are so close. I love how warm and friendly she is and I’m glad she reached out to ask me for a drink after the game. She tells me that her sister and brother are in a fight over how high up they store the baseball bat, because her sister doesn't want her nephews to get hold of it. But as they were fighting, the boys got the bat and hit their uncle in the shins. I could listen to her stories about family for hours.
“Your house sounds like such a warm place,” I say, and she nods. “I never had anything like that.” I explain to Alice that it was just me and my dad growing up, but I don’t have the energy to tell her the full story. I know that she lost her mom, though, so I tell her how my dad passed away a few years ago when I was in college. “It’s just me now,” I say, shrugging.
She smiles over her beer and pats my hand. “You and your new Stag Law family! But seriously, just come over sometime. I make way messier food when I’m at home, and I know you’ll work it all off rowing anyway.”
“Speaking of, I have to be on the water pretty early tomorrow. Sure you won't join us?”
Alice laughs. "I have enough going on. But I'll make you a good recovery shake for when you get to work. Deal?" I shake her hand and then we gather up our things and head home.
Lying in bed, I keep seeing scenes from the hockey game. I gripped the arms of my seat in the front row of the box, oblivious to everything around me, staring at Ty’s face as he sped across the ice. The way he took control of the puck and the team around him reminded me of how he took charge that night in the bathroom. How he wouldn’t stop until I was putty in his hands. Remembering, I can’t help but slide my hand down my panties to feel the pulsing heat still thrumming there. I squirm, telling myself I shouldn’t do this, but I can’t escape my longing to feel him again. It doesn’t take much--just a few flicks and I’m falling over the edge at the mere memory of Ty Stag and his magical body.
Monday morning I’m consulting with some other attorneys, divvying up some of the baseball contracts, when I hear a commotion in the hallway. I hear my boss scolding someone and then, there it is. The unmistakable voice of my notorious client, his brother. “Why is Ty here today?” I ask the room at large. They all shrug, but gather up their things as Tim opens the door in a huff.
“Juniper,” he growls, “Can you come into my office?” Shit. He doesn't know. This is about something else. Everything is fine.
I walk in the hall and wait for the Stags to go ahead, but Ty pulls off to the side of the hall. “After you, Ms. Jones.” He exaggerates his eye movements, dragging his gaze up and down my body, and I work very hard to maintain my composure.
"Mr. Stag," I say through gritted teeth, "Is there something I can help you with?"
His grandmother smacks him in the head, and I don’t hold back the laugh that escapes my throat. “Tyrion, don’t be a pig. Apologize right now.”
Tim shoves his brother against the wall. “At least have the grace to look smug about getting called out. I told you to behave yourself here.”
Ty shoves him back, saying, “You’re just crabby because I flirted with your muffin chef.”
“I told you to leave her the hell alone, too!”
I leave the Stag brothers to squabble in the hall and take a seat in Tim’s office. Eventually they all come in, and Tim sits down.
“Juniper, ordinarily you wouldn’t have to be here for Ty to sign his playoff bonus contract, but I wanted to discuss a situation that has come up here with Stag Law.”
Ty grabs the contract, scribbles a signature, and gets up as if to leave, but Tim asks him to stick around. “As you know we manage all aspects of our clients’ legal needs, and--”
“Tim, spare us the boring part. Gram and I have lunch plans.”
Tim frowns. “You’ll hear later, I’m sure, that Jason Murdo was caught in a...situation.”
Ty’s eyebrows shoot up. “The baseball pitcher? What did he do?”
We all sigh, but Tim continues. “I’m going to be spearheading the situation with Murdo until we can resolve everything, and so that means I’m naming Juniper as our point person for all our NHL contracts.”
I feel my jaw drop. “Wow, Tim, that’s a huge gesture of trust from you.”
“I don’t anticipate this taking too long, but until it blows over, you’ll be traveling with the teams for their away games. Donna can set you up with all the details for the travel account.”
“Tim, I negotiated Friday flexibility as part of my salary with Stag Law. I have a regatta coming up and--”
“Juniper, you’ve got clients in the Stanley Cup finals and your company has another client facing prison. This is an extenuating circumstance, and you’ll be awarded comp time, obviously.”
Tim keeps talking and eventually shoos us out of his office so he can head down to the courthouse. I’m feeling stunned and disoriented again as I start walking with Ty and Mrs. Stag toward the elevators, not quite conscious of my actions, until Ty winks at me and says, “Don’t worry, Junebug. I’ll make sure we win each series in 4 games so this won’t take very long.”
I start to protest him calling me that, but the elevator door slides shut and he’s gone.