Page 56 of Slap Shot
"So where does this leave us?" Heather asked eventually, echoing her earlier question but with a different meaning now.
"It leaves us figuring out how to be together without letting our jobs or my past or your trust issues get in the way," Oliver said, pressing a soft kiss to her temple.
"Those are some pretty significant obstacles."
"Good thing we're both smarter than average." He paused, his arms tightening around her. "And good thing we love each other enough to fight for this."
Heather smiled against his chest, feeling truly at peace for the first time in weeks. Kai was in custody, Oliver was safe in her arms, and they had finally said the words that had been building between them for so long.
"Come on," she said eventually, though she made no move to get up. "We should probably order some food and pretend to be normal people for a few hours. Charlie's probably wondering what happened to his dinner."
"In a minute," Oliver murmured, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on her bare shoulder. "Right now, I just want to hold the woman I love and remember what it feels like to be this happy."
"I love you too," she whispered into the quiet of his bedroom, sealing the promise they had made to each other with their bodies and their hearts.
Chapter Seventeen
Heather
Heather settled at her desk with her usual coffee, expecting the kind of quiet recovery day that typically followed a major crisis resolution. Her mind kept drifting to last night, Oliver's hands cupping her face, the way his voice had roughened when he'd said he loved her, the flutter in her chest when she'd admitted she loved him back.
I love you too.
The words had felt so natural in the moment, but now, in the harsh fluorescent light of her office, reality was setting in. How exactly were they supposed to navigate this? HR had already warned her about workplace relationships. If Ivy Hodges discovered they were together, not just working together, but actually together, Heather's job would disappear faster than a puck drop.
She pulled up her monitoring systems, running a routine security sweep while her thoughts churned. Maybe they could keep it quiet for a while, figure out their options. Maybe Oliver could request a transfer to another team, though that seemed unlikely in the middle of the season. Maybe she could find another position, though leaving now would look like she was running from the Kai situation.
Her screen flashed an alert that yanked her back to the present. Someone was trying to access restricted files, and the attempts were being blocked by security protocols.
Heather frowned at the access logs. The failed login attempts belonged to Travis Dane, but he was trying to getinto Coach Vicky's confidential personnel files, medical records, performance evaluations, private correspondence with the ownership group. None of which fell under his administrative purview.
She watched the timestamps scroll past. Travis had been at this for over an hour, systematically probing different access points like someone trying to find an unlocked door.
The pattern was telling. These weren't random attempts or accidental clicks. Travis was deliberately hunting for information he wasn't authorized to access, using increasingly sophisticated methods to bypass security barriers.
With Kai's constant external attacks no longer masking him, she could see a disturbing trail, like footprints in fresh snow that had been hidden by a blizzard.
The irony hit her like a slap. She'd spent months watching for external threats, people like her ex David who exploited her trust. But Travis had been right here all along, hiding behind institutional legitimacy and professional courtesy. Her trauma had created the perfect blind spot: she'd been so focused on preventing another David that she'd missed the enemy already inside the walls.
All those times she'd trusted Travis because he was "safe," because he was established, because he represented everything David wasn't. Her hypervigilance about outsiders had made her naive about insiders. The very thing she'd thought would protect her had made her vulnerable in a completely different way.
Heather pulled up Travis's complete access history, looking for patterns. What she found made her stomach drop. For months, Travis had been pushing the boundaries of his administrative privileges, accessing files that were technically available to him but completely outside his job responsibilities.
Player medical records the day before private health information leaked to the media. Contract negotiations hoursbefore salary details appeared on sports blogs. Coach Vicky's private emails downloaded.
Instead of waiting for legitimate access opportunities, Travis was actively trying to break into restricted systems. But he wasn’t as skilled as Kai.
Travis was panicking,Heather realized.Without Kai providing cover, he's exposed.
Her screen flashed red as new alerts flooded her dashboard. The son of a bitch just locked her out. Complete administrative override on her monitoring access. That was a big no-no.
Heather sat staring at her locked-out systems. The smart play would be to escalate to Jack, file formal complaints about Travis's security violations, follow proper channels even if it took weeks to resolve.
But she didn’t want to rock the boat. Not yet. Not when Jack had been so happy about Kai’s arrest and her part in it. Oliver had decided he wouldn’t mention that he had been there too and as far as she knew only the police were aware that he had been involved in the capture.
She needed to get into his office. Into his computer. See what Travis was up to. It was a terrible idea. Breaking into a colleague's office could destroy her career. But sitting there helpless while Travis covered his tracks felt worse.
The executive floor was quiet this afternoon, most senior staff in meetings or off-site appointments. Heather's hands shook as she walked the hallway, trying to project confidence she didn't feel. This wasn't some spy movie. She was about to commit a crime based on gut instinct and circumstantial evidence.
