Page 21 of Puck King
Alison glared at me and I returned the look. This was going to be the longest six months of my life. But at least I wasn’t going to be distracted from the game. Maybe Everleigh knew what she was doing after all.
Ten
Alison
Hollieand I wove through the monochrome sea of black and gray wool coats as we made our way to the coffee shop.
“Oh good, my favorite barista is working.” Hollie waved to a cute guy with an ironic looking moustache behind the counter. “Why don’t you get a table and I’ll get the coffee.” She didn’t take her eyes off the man in the leather apron with the tattoos on his hands.
Thankful for a minute alone, I slid into one of the booths near the back and pulled out the agreements I had signed the night before. “What the hell have I done?” I whispered as I opened the first folder. There were two agreements. The first was for the physio contract, the one that Hollie knew about; the second was for the fake relationship agreement – the one that no one but me, my soon-to-be fake fiancé, and Everleigh knew existed.
Hollie didn’t question the absurdity of me having a personal assistant. I think that she was too excited about her new employer, King Corporation, to question the details.
A million dollars was a lot of money. It was enough to save my parents’ farm and also start a new life. It was enough that I had signed my name on the agreement without reading the fine print. Now, that print was staring me in the face. I had to swallow my pride and accept the fact that they were using me, an ordinary woman, to prove to the world that Colton King had put his bad boy, model womanizing ways behind him.
Colton’s arrogance had been overwhelming, and his insistence that a relationship between him and me would be unbelievable stung more than I’d like to admit.
“He’s not so great,” I muttered as I flipped past the first few pages of the document. Sure, he was good-looking, in that all-American sexiest man alive kind of way. But he was rude, and from what I could see, the only thing he could do was hold a hockey stick and skate. His daddy had probably bought his education and it was unlikely that he had any intelligent thoughts running through that thick skull of his.
Hollie’s laugh was loud enough to hear over the noise of the hissing cappuccino machines and early morning crowd. I held my breath as I read through the terms of my girlfriend contract. Shit. There were places that we had to be seen together – specific events, and under each was a list of appropriate public displays of affection. I groaned as I read through the list of suggested ‘dates’. They read like a bad rom-com movie, like skating in Central Park. My stomach constricted as I read the words ‘hold hands and laugh together’.
I flipped through the rest of the document and wondered if I’d be able to keep the black coffee in my stomach. The next six months were going to be spent putting on a huge fake smile and – I shuddered as I thought about it – canoodling. I was going to be canoodling all over town with that man. I took a deep breath and slid the paperwork back into the envelope. Colton King wasn’t a man, he was an immature boy, and by the end of the month, I’d be gazing into his eyes and kissing him under the lights of Central Park.
“Here you go.” Hollie handed me a mug.
Her cheeks were pink and her eyes had a new sparkle to them. “Thank you. Who’s your friend?” I hoped that discussing someone’s real-life chemistry would distract me from the fact that I was going to have to invent my own.
“Who, him?” Her eyes flitted to the man behind the counter and the pink intensified in her cheeks. “That’s Travis. He’s just a friend.”
The coffee agreed with me and my body appreciated the hit of caffeine. I had tossed and turned the entire night on Hollie’s sofa, worrying about the role I’d just accepted. While Hollie and I were friends, I was still her boss, so I knew there was a professional line that I had to maintain. “He makes good coffee.” I held my hands around the warm mug.
Hollie sipped hers through the smile she thought she was hiding. There was definitely more to Hollie and Travis – or there was going to be. Someone on the street outside the foggy windows could’ve felt the electricity in the air between them. That kind of electricity was rare, and something that I’d never felt, even with Brian. I was starting to wonder if it was something I’d ever feel.
A commotion on the street interrupted our conversation, and through the windows a crowd was gathering on the sidewalk. “I wonder what’s going on out there?” Hollie mused.
As the door opened, cold air flooded the coffee shop, curling around our feet under the booth. Everyone in the coffee shop suddenly seemed star-struck. There, towering in the doorway, with a sea of paparazzi behind him, stood Colton King. My soon-to-be boyfriend.
“Hey, look.” Hollie smiled. “One of our new patients.” Her eyes traveled up Colton’s body as he stood at the counter. As if he could sense my stare, Colton turned and I gulped as his eyes locked onto mine. My instinct was to avert my gaze, to pretend that I hadn’t been totally watching his every move, but I held the line. From where I was sitting, I could see the steel blue of his eyes. He raised his brows and gave a shrug, the first to break the stare.
Hollie leaned across the table. “He’s huge. He’s way bigger than he looks in the magazines.”
At six foot four, Colton was average for the league, but amongst the sea of average people he stood out like a broad-shouldered monolith.
“Oh my God. Is he coming over here?” Hollie whispered.
I nudged her foot with mine under the table. “He’s just a person. Like all of our other patients. Keep your cool, fangirl.”
Colton looked like he was trying to decide whether to leave, or whether to acknowledge that he had seen me. The crowd of photographers loomed outside the door and he beelined it for our booth. “Slide over,” he growled and set his mug on the table.
“Excuse me?” I didn’t budge.
Hollie looked like she was going to pass out from holding her breath as she looked between me and Colton.
Colton inhaled and seemed like he was taking a minute to calm himself down. “May I join you?”
I wanted to tell him that a coffee shop sighting on day one was not on our itinerary, but couldn’t with Hollie sitting there. “Sure.” I shifted my down jacket and shimmied to the far end of the bench seat. It still wasn’t far enough. The behemoth of a man’s biceps brushed against mine as he settled in beside me. I could feel the heat from his thighs even though they weren’t touching mine.
“I’m Colton.” He extended his hand to shake Hollie’s.
