Page 50 of In the Danger Zone
“I’m sure they’d love to m-meet you too. B-But I think we should focus on m-me m-meeting your hockey family first.”
I gave her lips a quick peck. “Mm. Forgot about that. I really wish we could ditch this whole dinner thing…”
“As fun as that sounds, I have to m-meet your coach and… and all your teammates.” Her voice suddenly turned all nervous. “And… is he… is… Are yousurehe’s n-not gonna be there?”
“Hey, don’t worry.” My voice was soft as I shook my head at Daisy. She had seemed so relaxed just seconds ago. I hated that just the thought of Asher had her all nervous and worried. “Asher won’t be there. I scared him off. And the other guys aren’t like him. They’re annoying… But they’re not pricks like him. They’re all gonna be nice to you. And if they’re not, I’ll take care of ‘em. I got you.”
“M-My hero,” Daisy said with a little smile, putting the card back down. “Should we go now? I think we’redefinitelypushing it n-now.”
“As much as I wanna stay here and just stare at you in that dress all night, yeah, I think we better go.”
If it was up to me, I would have just had Daisy sit in my lap all night. That sounded like a much better idea. But being a hockey player often meant that I had other commitments. Like boring team dinners.
At least I’d be with Daisy. With my hand on my girl’s, I pulled her away from her room and into the hallway.
We had a date to get to.
Chapter 24
EVAN
The restaurant Murph had picked was pretty nice. It had valet parking and a bright, big space out the front. There were a few people sitting at the tables outside, but since it was gonna be me and all the guys plus a bunch of sponsors, Murph chose to sit us all inside. After letting the valet park my car, I quickly put my hand on Daisy’s as I guided her away from my Lexus and over to the entrance if the restaurant.
“This place is huge,” Daisy said, her curls bouncing as we walked inside.
“It won’t be too hard to find the guys.” I leaned in close to her. “They’re loud as hell. Can’t take ‘em anywhere.”
Daisy let out a pretty laugh as we moved into the restaurant. My eyes darted around the place and it took me just a second to see almost the entire team all the way at the back. Looked like everyone was already there, so we were definitely late.
They were sitting at a ridiculously long marble table with two empty, black leather chairs left. The black walls were covered in rows and rows of bottle of wine, but there was no way Murph was going to let us touch any of that. It’d be nothing but water tonight.
Daisy seemed to spot the guys as well, because she gave my hand a squeeze. Staring down at her, I could see the nerves on her face.
“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” I whispered. “I promise. No one’s gonna treat you badly here.”
“B-But… A-Asher…”
“He’s not here tonight. Like I said, Murph isn’t gonna sit a bruised and battered guy in front of the sponsors. They’d have to explain how hegotthose bruises and they all know it wasn’t from a game.”
“B-But what if they don’t like m-me already?” Her eyes were wide. “B-Because the only reason you got into that fight was b-because of m-me. What if they think I’m, like, the Yoko Ono of hockey or something?”
I frowned at her. “What’s that?”
“What?”
“What’s Yoko Ono?”
“N-Never m-mind,” sighed Daisy. “I guess… We should just go over there, right? I just don’t want them to hate m-me.”
“There’s nothing about you to hate.” Slowly, I rubbed my thumb across the skin of her hand. “I promise, Daisy. There’s not a single part of you that’s worth hating.”
She seemed to relax when I said that. Her grip on my hand loosened as she stared at me with those big eyes. “Thank you.”
“Are you ready? We don’t have to go. If you really want, we can ditch this thing. I’m not making you do this if you’re not comfortable.”
“I don’t wanna ditch it. I wanna m-meet your team m-mates. And your coach. I know they’re all important to you.” Daisy looked at me with a little smile on her face. “I can do this.”
“Yeah, you can.” I pecked her lips, our fingers still laced together as I guided Daisy over to the back part of the restaurant, making our way to the full table. It was packed with the whole team, Murph, and the group of sponsors – along with a few girlfriends. There weren’t too many of those, though. Most of the guys on the team didn’t want commitment. And that had been me until I met Daisy and God, was I glad I did.
