Page 84 of Puck Me Secretly

“She’s not the innocent she pretends to be.”

My mind was still trying to comprehend that Katrina hooked up with Calder. “What are you talking about?”

“The fox has been in the chicken coop.”

“Can you please speak English?”

“She’s sleeping with a married man. Hot and heavy. Her marriage broke up over it.”

My heart zinged with joy over the fact she was not sleeping with Max. “Who?”

“Baxter.”

My mouth dropped open. “The head coach? Baxter Nicols?”

Calder shrugged, already bored with this conversation. “Yup.”

My mind raced. “But I met his wife.”

“He wants to leave her.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“The fox is up in arms because he hasn’t left his wife yet. He was supposed to get a promotion, but he didn’t so he refuses to leave his wife until that happens.”

“Promotion? What promotion? He’s already the head coach!”

“No clue.” He shrugged and shut his eyes. “Wake me when we get home.”

My mind raced as I tried to process what Calder has told me. What promotion was he talking about? I couldn’t even comprehend that Katrina and Baxter were sleeping together. So why was she always making such a big play for Max? I thought back to the media fiasco that had transpired. I had thought she had called the media soshe could be seen as his girlfriend. Now it appeared she had tried to set Max up. Was she doing that to help Baxter?

Calder snored beside me. The driver pulled up to my family home. Without waking him or saying goodbye, I let myself out of the vehicle. I wondered if Max knew about Baxter and Katrina? I decided, even though I didn’t like to spread gossip, it warranted talking to Max about. Perhaps he could shed light on Katrina’s motivation. If anything, he needed to be on his guard with her.

CHAPTER 31

I stood in my office,at the window, watching the practice below. I should be at my desk working, but I couldn’t seem to pull myself away from watching Max skate. A week had passed since the gala and I hadn’t seen Max other than from watching him in practice.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass.

Why couldn’t I get Max Logan out of my brain?

No matter how hard I worked to avoid him, I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

A knock on my door pulled me back to reality.

“Rory?” Dad and a young woman stood in the doorway. “Rory, this is Andrea. She’s from Digital Dream.”

My mind was blank. “I’m sorry, did we have an appointment?”

Dad cleared his throat. “Andrea tells me that you are doing the final sign off for the outfits for one of our players?”

“For what?” I asked in confusion.

Andrea’s expression was perplexed. “I’m sorry. They told me that this was a formality.”

I sat down on the couch and motioned for her to join me. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

“We are putting together a photo calendar of Canadian hockey players from the NHL. All proceeds go to a charity that supports women in need. Katrina reached out to us and asked if Max Logan could be part of the calendar and naturally we were thrilled.”

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