Page 1 of Body Check

PROLOGUE

EARLY AUGUST

Gavin Racine rubbed the back of his neck, staring warily across his desk at Ned Merritt.

Ned was a handsome man in his early seventies, lean and fit, his shock of white hair a startling contrast to dark eyes and skin weathered from too much sun exposure.

Typically, Gavin got along fine with the former hockey player turned insurance executive. Ned was now the principal owner of Guardian Insurance Investment Group, who in turn, owned the Boston Harriers team.

But today, he was testing Gavin’s patience.

“Look, Ned,” Gavin said as pleasantly as he could manage. “I understand you’re fond of Violet Stamford, but thathardlyseems like a good reason to move her brother to the top of the list of candidates for the yoga and Pilates trainer we’re looking for.”

Ned scoffed. “You say that like he’sunqualified. Look at his resume, at least.”

“Ihavelooked,” Gavin assured him. “And yes, he’s qualified. But we have half a dozen other equally qualified candidates. Actually, several of them aremorequalified because they’ve specifically worked with pro hockey teams before. This … Dakota guy hasn’t.”

“He has a relevant university degree, and he owned his own studio until he sold it recently,” Ned argued. “Plus, he’s done personal training with a number of pro athletes, including hockey players.”

“I get that,” Gavin said with a sigh. “Like I said, he’s qualified. I just don’t think he should be our top candidate.”

Ned frowned. “When we brought you on board, it was with the understanding that any drafting, scouting, or hiring you did would be about more than qualifications on paper. We were looking for people who knew how to think out of the box. It’s about building a good team culture here as much as anything.”

“And I’mstillcommitted to that,” Gavin insisted.

He subtly tried to tilt his neck, feeling the tightness along his traps.Fuck, he was going to have a monster headache by the time the day was done.

“Hiring internally is a part of that,” Ned reminded him.

“It is,” Gavin agreed. “I’m simply not sure?—”

But Ned steamrolled over him, continuing to talk. “We have a qualified candidate who has been approved by HRandhas ties to the organization. As you well know, this practice of hiring internally has many benefits.”

“That’s true,” Gavin agreed.

There was no denying it often lessened the learning curve and got the new hire familiar with the organization’s processes and culture faster. It typically improved employee retention and engagement too.

However …

“Don’t the benefits typically apply more to hiringwithinthe organization though?” Gavin said doubtfully. “Rather than hiring the family members of our employees?”

Ned merely smiled. “It can. But one of our other goals is making this organization like a family. Not only the team, but the head office. What better way to do that than by hiringactualfamily members? Violet’s been here for years. She’s been a model employee and everyone here loves her. What more of a recommendation could you ask for?”

Gavin stifled a sigh. “I suppose. Look, give me a little more time to review all of the candidates and?—”

“Gavin,” Ned said, leaning forward, his expression growing more serious again. “When we hired you, you begged for the opportunity to take on the role of both general manager and president of hockey operations like your predecessor. More and more teams around the league are splitting those roles because it’s too much responsibility for one man. If this is too much for you to take on, we’d be happy to find someone to take over the hockey ops position. Take some of the load off your plate.”

A sick feeling washed over Gavin at the idea, and he suddenly realized Ned must have been an intimidating guy to stare at across the faceoff dot. The fucker had probably cheated at those too.

Skillfully maneuvered though, Gavin thought wryly, appreciating the tactics, if not the outcome.

Because Ned had essentially tied Gavin’s hands. Without ever saying it outright, he’d forced Gavin to either agree to hire Dakota Crane or step down from the dual role.

Oh, he’d still be general manager for the team, but it would feel like a demotion to let go of half his duties.

It would feel like afailure.

And Gavin had dealt with more than enough failure in his life. There was no way in hell he was going to accept this one if he had any say in the matter.

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