Page 19 of Let It Be Me
Logan: See you there, buddy.
Looking at the time, I pocket my buzzing phone and swipe my keys off the counter before heading out to my car. I couldhave ordered a car service, but I want the option to leave early. Plugging the address into the GPS, I make the short drive to Hotel Cincinnati. I did some research on the space (closet nerd) and found that this is a relatively new boutique hotel.
What should be a fifteen minute drive to the hotel turns into an almost forty-five minute drive due to the Friday traffic. Whoever decided that the cocktail event needed to happen an hour before the main event, should be arrested.
When I finally pull up to the hotel, the valet comes to greet me. He gives me a ticket when I climb out of my car and make my way inside. This hotel is spectacular and if Momma were here she would fawn over everything. I make a mental note to try and book her a room here for Mother’s Day.
The lobby is littered with patrons in fancy dresses and three-piece suits. Couples not much older than me and couples decades older than me flit from one side of the room to the next and it hits me that I’ve never seen so much money in one space. I’ve never been in the wealthy crowd myself. And despite the money I make from hockey, I’m still that young boy who’d rather be at home with his cats than schmoozing it up with the rich and elite.
I make my way through the crowd with hopes of finding an open-bar. I don’t want to get too loose, but maybe a little liquid courage will lighten me up. Sarah didn’t specify what tonight would entail besides getting more sponsors to open their wallets and support our teams. When I spot several people with champagne flutes and tumblers that must indicate I’m headed in the right direction.
“Riley!” I hear from the right of me, stopping my quest for the bar.
With my height, I tower over some of the guests and seemy guys huddled in the corner waving me over. I scoot past guests as I make my way to my team.
“How long have you been here?” I ask when I reach them.
“About twenty minutes,” Logan tells me and takes a sip of his drink. Of all the guys on the team, I’m closest to Logan. We started at the same time in the league playing in different positions and moving up at the same speed, but never once playing on the same team. When we both got drafted to Columbus it took us about a day to mesh together on the ice and when it came time for the game that made us an unstoppable duo.
The guys fall into small talk while I continue to take in the space. We’ve not even gone into the banquet hall and if it’s anything like the lobby, we’re in for a long night. A wave of auburn hair catching my attention on the other side of the lobby by the bar, my saving grace, and I excuse myself to head over to Sarah. I hear the tail end of her ordering a French 75, the bartender is about to turn away when I interrupt, “I’ll take one of those too.”
I lean one arm against the bar and see Sarah stiffen next to me. While she avoids eye contact, I give myself permission to check her out. Her hair is in what Momma calls a low bun with pieces framing her heart shaped face. The dress she’s wearing is a deep maroon that’s backless and ends right above the curve of her back. I get a sniff of the sweet vanilla scent of her perfume and have to control the inner beast because the scent mixed with her natural body odor does something feral to me. The bartender sets our drinks in front of us and I watch the flex in her bicep as she picks up her glass takes a sip from her drink.
Sarah looks over at me expectantly and I follow suit. Myhead rears back at the flavors hitting my tongue. “Is that gin?”
“Can you not handle it?” She asks as a smile graces her burgundy painted lips.
“Oh, I can handle it,” I play back. “I’m just surprised. I didn’t peg you for a gin girl.”
“There's a lot you don’t know about me.”
I open my mouth to question what she means when someone announces it’s time to head into the banquet hall. I’m not sure what all is about to entail so I down my drink in one swallow and place the empty back on the bar top.
“Are you nervous?” Sarah gently asks.
I blow out a breath and turn, placing my back against the bar. “I’m not the biggest people person. So these events you have me going to are pushing me out of my comfort zone.”
She finishes her drink and places it on the bar next to my empty glass. Sarah places her hand on my arm in a comforting gesture and my eyes laser in on the contact. “For what it’s worth, I think you can charm the pants off just about anyone.”
My eyes move up to hers and I can’t stop the smile from forming. “Like I did with you?”
“There you go ruining a sweet moment between us,” she scolds me with a laugh and then turns serious. “Riley, I know our working relationship is just beginning and we don’t know each other all that well, but I am here for anything you might need.”
I place my hand over top of hers and give it a soft squeeze. “Thank you, Sarah.”
“You’re welcome.”
With a final squeeze to her hand I shove my hands in my pockets and walk off towards the banquet hall. Myretreating form burns from her stare. I will myself not to trip over air and make it into the banquet hall. All I have to do is schmooze enough people and then I’m free to leave. How much time do I have left?
Three hourslater as I’m standing outside at the entrance and I groan out a long exhale while I wait for the valet to bring my car around.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Sarah says as she walks down the short flight of stairs.
My voice gets stuck in my throat when I see the shoes she’s wearing peek out from the thigh high slit of her dress. “For a shy guy like me it was like pulling teeth.”
A soft laugh breaks through the noise from the hotel and I want to ask her to repeat that so I can record it and listen to it over and over.
“What are you about to do?” I ask but shouldn’t as it’s clear she’s trying to keep respectable boundaries clear between us.
