Page 24 of Offside and Off-Limits
Sadly for me it turned out that Misty’s idea of no-strings and the rest of the world's idea bore very little similarity to one another.
When I told her I wasn't interested in anything more, she went crying to Daddy, telling him how I'd broken her heart. I fully expected to be traded within the week, but lucky for me, all I got was a rap on the knuckles for being a naughty boy.
I guess Patrick O'Mara didn't want to cut off his nose to spite his face just because his little girl had gotten involved with the wrong member of his team.
That was almost six years ago, and it should have served as a total wake up call for me.
“My advice, Lennox? Leave well alone. Go find some other woman who's got no connection to the team. You want to become the new Cade Lennox? Then you're gonna have to change your ways, by which I mean don't date the team’s social media manager.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Okay. I won't ask her out. I'll become a monk. Happy?”
“It's not a matter of me being happy or not. You came here to turn over a new leaf. So, turn over that leaf.”
I think of Clara’s worried look as she rushed off after that guy Joel accidentally livestreamed our dance. She clearly thought she was in trouble. “She might have lost her job anyway.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Did you see the video of us dancing on the ice?”
“That wasdancing?” he says, and I throw my towel at him.
“She was meant to be just filming it but the guy who took over from her livestreamed it. She didn't look happy when she left.”
“I guess we'll find out tomorrow at practice. Coach told us someone was coming to film.”
“I guess we will.”
There’s a knock at the door.
“That'll be another delivery,” I say as I pad across the room. “The Player Assimilation Liaison that the team gave me to help me settle in ordered a whole bunch of stuff for me. I've had more deliveries here in the past couple days than I did in a month in Manhattan.” I make my way down the hallway and pull the door open, expecting a delivery guy in a uniform.
What I get makes me feel like someone shook up a soda can inside me and popped the lid.
“Well, if it’s not the Triple Threat,” I say as my gaze sweeps over the very woman I've just been told not to get anywhere near. Which makes her even more attractive, if I'm honest.
The lure of the forbidden.
I amsohere for it.
Just like when we did our TikTok dance, Clara’s in a navy pencil skirt and a pair of heels, this time with a long, pale blue winter coat over a white shirt, her blonde hair tied up in a modest bun at the nape of her neck. She looks like a hot librarian, only she's a hot social media manager.
At least I hope she still has the job.
She freezes for a moment before she regains her composure. “I’m sorry, did you say ‘triple threat’?”
“That’s what I’m calling you.” I begin to count them off on my fingers. “Mom, social media manager, and, if you don’t mind me saying, all ’round babe.” I pause, hoping I haven’t overstepped the mark. She doesn’t want to like it, but the glint in her eyes says otherwise.
“Youarestill our social media manager, right?”
“I am.”
“So, the livestream wasn’t an issue?”
“It turns out my boss wasn't at all worried about me being onthe video because it got so many likes, comments, and reposts. In fact, she wants more content with me with…well, with you.”
“Me?”
“She thought we had ‘chemistry,’” she replies, as though saying the word is physically painful for her.
