To Anna!” Lucy called out, raising her champagne glass. “For passing her exams and landing her dream job…”
“Oh God, Anna, why are you starting with the Hawks, of all people?” Dax interrupted his girlfriend, running both hands through his hair. “You’re so smart! Why do you want to work with stupid hockey players?”
Anna laughed loudly and took a sip from her glass. “I grew up with stupid hockey players. I don’t know anything else!” shereplied, defending herself. “And life as a team doctor is relaxing compared to an emergency room or trauma surgery.”
“But you’ll be on the road all the time! You deserve a quiet life.”
“But I don’t want a quiet life,” she said, irritated. “I want action! A few surprises. A few challenges. Meeting new people.” But above all, she wanted to be part of something, to stop staring out the windows of the world, watching idly, as she had done throughout her childhood and youth. She wanted to be in the middle of it all. She knew that Jack and Dax had intentionally shielded her from every argument with her parents. They still kept every problem they had from her, so as not to burden her. They wanted to make her life easier. She had had enough! She didn’t want a life where she was spared all the time. She wanted a…lively life. And that was exactly what she would get with the Hawks. She would be responsible for solving problems, not her brothers.
Dax frowned. “Action?” he echoed. “Are you sure you’re not just saying that to upset us? You do that sometimes. Make impulsive decisions to provoke us, to show that you’re an adult.”
She snorted in amusement. “Is it nice in your solar system, where everything revolves around you, Dax?”
Her brother sighed heavily. “Come on, Anna. Why do you needaction? That sounds dangerous. Not to mention sexy. I don’t like it.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to fight a dragon or screw a matador! Well…maybe. Really, I just want to have new experiences!”
“But…”
“Stop whining, Dax,” Lucy said. “It’s great that…”
“Anna, it’s not too late to turn down the job,” Jack interrupted, folding his hands on the table and looking at her seriously. “I don’t know if you realize it, but the hours areinsanely stressful. And hockey players don’t like being told what to do and what not to do. Besides, you’re going to have to touch a lot of half-naked men, and you’re just a little too young for that. When you turn forty or something, you could…”
“Of course it’s too late,” Penny replied angrily, smacking her boyfriend on the arm. “It would look unprofessional if she turned down a job on such short notice.”
“Unprofessional? Like sleeping with your team’s best player?” Jack reminded her, stunned. “Which you’ve been doing for the last few months.”
The owner of the L.A. Hawks pursed her lips. “Certainly I won’t be tonight, if you keep saying such stupid things.”
Anna snorted. She was in such a good mood that not even her brothers’ Neanderthal behavior could dampen her spirits. It made her too damn happy that they werebothconcerned about her well-being. Yes, true, the concern was unfounded, silly, ridiculous, and altogether intrusive. So knew what made Dax “Devil” Temple and Jack “Saint” West tick: The two were simply stuck in time — Anna, however, wasn’t! Not anymore. Tomorrow she would start her new job and all her dreams would finally come true. She and her brothers were a family again. After ten years of hard work, she was a full-fledged doctor with her dream job. She would earn her own money, finally start her life. Be independent.
“See what you’ve done, Anna?” Dax said, shaking his head. “Your big brother might not get laid tonight because of you. So none of this is working. If you could just listen to us and quit…”
“Dax,” Lucy hissed, looking around. “We’re in a restaurant, not the locker room. Could you at least lower your voice when you say things likeget laid? I don’t want to see a single headline before the playoffs start next week! Those two have caused me enough problems.”
She gestured to Jack and Penny, who were sitting across from them.
Penny blushed while Jack put his hand on the back of her neck and stroked it soothingly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. The media hype has died down.”
That was true. Anna hadn’t seen any paparazzi hanging around her door for a week. They had probably finally given up because none of the siblings had given a more detailed statement about their family situation. It turned out Lucas had gotten worked up for nothing — and it had been downright rude of him to ghost her after Jack’s confession. They could have continued having sex for the last five weeks! Sure, it would be unprofessional to keep doing dirty things with each other now that she was a team employee, but…her life had been unnecessarily orgasm-free for the last few weeks!
Thinking about him, she lowered the champagne glass and glanced at the phone in her lap. There was still one little thing missing from her perfect new beginning: an answer from goalie Lucas Moreau.
Can we talk again before I start as assistant doctor with the Hawks on Monday?
Anna stared at her own words, which had two blue check marks signalingread. He had read the message and ignored it.
Lucas had always replied. Then again, until Jack’s press conference five weeks ago, her messages had always been of a different nature. The wordtalkhad never appeared in them, for instance.
Sighing softly, Anna looked up. He wouldn’t reply. He was emphatically against stupid talking. That was his motto in life. And talk seemed to include everything fromHello, how are you?toYou should get that mole on your back checked out bya dermatologist!He had always replied toHellowith a raised eyebrow and dismissed the latter with a sigh, even if the next time she saw him naked, the mole had been gone. Hey, maybe he owed her his life!
Anna scooped up a spoonful of ice cream and shoved it into her mouth with relish. She wasn’t going to let a stubborn ex-lover ruin her evening. It was perfectly fine that he had ended it. She hadn’t expected anything else. The timing was good. The exams and the constant stress were behind her. She didn’t need any distraction. No more offsetting sex. She had finally achieved her goal.
Still, her palms sweat when she realized she would most likely see Lucas tomorrow, and she wished that their arrangement…had ended on a friendlier basis.
No matter. The goalie would probably just ignore her, like her message.
“What we actually wanted to say,” Jack said, raising his voice, interrupting Lucy, who had been going on at length about everything that had been necessary to reduce the scandal surrounding Penny and Jack to a minimum. “We are impressed with you, Anna.”
