feel …” All too easily, she imagined her brother’s exasperated headshake.
“What?”
“She is not telling me something. I know my sister and I know when she is lying. Something drove her from professional hockey.”
Mia closed her eyes and swiped at a dumb tear. She wished she could be up front with Vadim. She’d fobbed off those closest to her, using as her excuse that she didn’t want to play for teams where the female players weren’t paid close to a living wage. So she didn’t need the income, but expressing solidarity with the sisterhood was a good cover for the real story.
She had been blackballed from women’s hockey at the professional level. That was what happened when you got on the wrong side of someone powerful in the upper echelons of the sport, all because you threatened to torpedo the dreams of their asshole son. But she was hopeful that a tryout for Team USA would end-run the brass. She would impress the U.S. Olympic Committee with her talent, drive, and skills to succeed on the team going for gold. A good performance there would put her back in the mix in the pros.
Her dreams had been destroyed, but she would rebuild them, one pass of the puck at a time.
She refocused on the conversation. They’d moved on, thank God, and now so should she—wash her sweaty face and greet her future.
“So who are you dating now?”
Mia perked up. Go, bro! She may as well be talking in his ear. This was exactly the type of intel she needed.
“Is it the redhead with the …” Whatever the redhead had wasn’t verbalized, but Mia imagined fembot breasts being mimed by Vad. Insert eyeroll here.
“No, she was a little too … green.”
“A virgin?”
“No, not that bad.” Not that bad? As a virgin? “But she didn’t even know how to …” Whatever the redhead didn’t know was drowned out by Gordie Howe’s yapping. The little monster had spotted her and was only too happy to see her.
She waved at him to calm the hell down, but it was too late.
“Mia, is that you?” Vadim called out.
“Yeah, I just got in!”
“Come say hi to Tommy.”
Hell, no time to make herself presentable. She headed into the living room, her hormones whooshing in delight at the sight of Tommy in a gorgeous suit with a blue tie that matched his eyes.
He smiled at her, looking genuinely pleased to see her. “Hi, Mia, how’s practice going?”
“Great. I’m back in the groove, for sure.”
“She’s working with Foreman,” Vadim said.
“Oh, yeah?”
Was it her imagination or did Tommy’s eye twitch at the mention of Cal? Vadim’s phone rang, which Tommy took as his cue to leave.
“Walk me out, Mia?” Tommy waved at Vadim who wasn’t paying attention, his smile and murmur indicating the call was from Isobel.
Walk me out, Mia? Yes, sir!
Approaching the front door, he lowered his voice. “Vadim’s worried about you. Thinks you might be feeling a lack of confidence in your game.”
It was true, in a sense. In many senses.
“Is this about the pay in the women’s league? Because that’s not really a problem for you, is it?”
No, it wasn’t, but she couldn’t explain that to Tommy. “This path makes the most sense for me right now.”
“Sure, we’ve all got to do what’s best for our own goals. You’re a talented girl, Mia, and I worry about you squandering that talent to make a point.”
Objecting to serfdom was making a point?
“I’m happy to play for my country. Not so happy about earning five cents on the dollar of a male counterpart.”
“I get it. Believe me, I do.” He paused at the door. “Still, you could be talking to franchises right now. I expected you’d give me a call to discuss your career goals.”
“I—I know. I’ve been so busy with training and I don’t want you to feel you have to carve out time for me because of Vadim.”
He squeezed her arm and stared with those gorgeous blue eyes. “I was serious. You have so much potential and I’d love to be part of watching you realize it.”
Her heart lit up in her chest like E-freaking-T. So he was talking to her on a professional level, but this was an excellent start. Business lunches were sexy, right?
Except for the inexperienced redhead problem. If this woman didn’t have the skills to satisfy Tommy, then how the hell would Mia make an impression? She would have to up her game.
“Thanks. I’ll definitely take you up on that.”
7
This was crazy. Batshit nuts.