I look at Dixie. She hasn’t noticed the flirty gesture. She’s just staring back at me with pure joy on her face. “You did it!” she mouths silently.
“Coach Schneider didn’t want me to say anything yet, but the way you played tonight was so impressive and has me so riled up I just couldn’t help but let it slip.” Ryanne laughs, airy and carefree. It’s a pleasant sound but doesn’t make my heart swell like Dixie’s maniacal laugh. “So get your own permanent place, Elijah honey. I’d offer you this place, since I’m only here a couple weekends a year, but I have security cameras everywhere, even the bathrooms, and I check them all the time. I would end up watching you twenty-four seven and my companies would tank.”
“You have cameras in your bathrooms?” Dixie blurts the question out and immediately looks horrified she did.
Ryanne doesn’t seem bothered at all. She just shrugs. “Not pointed at the toilet or anything. Just on the door so if need be my security team knows when someone enters and exits.” She pauses and swirls her wine around and then looks up with devious eyes. “But if he lived here I’d reposition them to face the shower.”
She laughs and doesn’t realize that although we’re all laughing with her, it’s forced. My eyes lock with Dixie’s again, and I hope she can see discomfort in my eyes. Over her shoulder I see Levi standing with Tessa by the massive onyx marble fireplace on the other side of the room. I touch Ryanne’s hand, which is still clinging to my forearm, and smile. “I’m going to go tell your captain, and my brother, about the contract.”
“Of course!” Ryanne smiles and takes her hand off me, thankfully. “He’s going to be so proud, I’m sure.”
“I don’t know about that, but he should be relieved he won’t have to face me on another team. He knows he’d lose.” I smile again and then turn to make my way through the crowd. I can only hope Dixie follows. I want her near me even if I can’t wrap an arm around her like Levi is doing to Tessa right now.
But Ryanne puts a hand on my shoulder again, stopping me from fleeing. “Seriously, stick around after the party and I can give you some real estate advice. I own half this town, not just the hockey team. I know where the best up-and-coming neighborhoods are. I’d love to share my skills with you.”
She did it. She propositioned me. The rumors are true.
I turn around to face her. It’s so hard not to look past her to Dixie. All I want to do is make sure Dixie isn’t freaking out about this. I smile at Ryanne, the biggest, friendliest and most easygoing smile I can muster, but before I can figure out how to turn down sex with the owner of my team, Dixie speaks again.
“Ms. Bateman, I’ve been meaning to speak to you, if you have a moment.”
“Ryanne, Dixie, honey, please.” She sips her drink again and smiles. “And since I have loose lips tonight I might as well tell you how incredibly impressed I am with you, Dixie Braddock.”
“Thank you. I’ve worked very hard for the Thunder,” Dixie says, but there’s something in her voice that says she’s not overjoyed with the compliment.
“I have to tell you, even though I shouldn’t,” Ryanne says, her eyes still on Dixie. “You’re my vote for replacing Ann. So you might as well consider it a done deal.”
Ryanne finishes her drink and places it on the bar before turning back to me. “Elijah, how would you like a tour of the house? Although I have to warn you, it’s so big we might get lost in one of the bedrooms.”
“Ms. Bateman, “ Dixie interrupts again, and I can see a quick sharp flicker of annoyance dance across Ryanne’s features. The tone of Dixie’s voice—firm and cold—sends a shiver down my spine. Even Jasper is riveted to the conversation. “I want to thank you for the years of experience and the truly wonderful team I had a chance to be a part of with the Thunder. However, I’m resigning effective immediately.”
“Holy shit.” The words escape my mouth in an awed whisper. Dixie looks over at me and smiles.
“I’m sorry…did you just quit?”
“Yep,” Dixie says, her voice strong and resolute. “I have a boyfriend who is going to need help finding a place to live. And then after that I think I’m going to find a job where there’s not so many rules and goddamn double standards.”
The beautiful, elegant owner looks completely and utterly baffled. Dixie puts down her glass and walks right up to me. She kisses me on the lips. Nothing obscene, but she’s definitely claiming me, and I have never been so happy in my entire life. “Congratulations on your contract, boyfriend.”
“We have bigger things to celebrate,” I tell her and take her hand in mine. Lacing our fingers together, I look up at Ryanne. “Excuse us.”
I lead us through the house and out the back door into the lush backyard. When I find a private corner I turn to face her. Dixie looks like she just did the ice bucket challenge. She’s shocked by her own behavior, and I get it. She just changed her whole life. I cup her face in my hands. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.” She looks up at me. “She sleeps with the players. It’s fucking true.”
“Yeah. I knew that. I tried to tell you a while ago when you were putting her up on a pedestal,” I explain. “I’m sorry. I know that’s disappointing.”
She sighs and puts her hands on my waist. “I’m disappointed in myself for wasting so much time trying to emulate her. But whatever. It’s done. And I’m yours if you still want me.”
“I’ll always want you,” I promise her.
She smiles. “Even though I might end up a hobo if I can’t get a new job.”
I grin. “I can be your sugar daddy if you need one.”
She laughs. Suddenly Jude is standing beside us with a very pregnant Zoey. “Did you just kiss him? In front of Ryanne? Like directly in front? Like less than two feet away?”
“Hell yeah, I did,” Dixie says confidently. “But don’t worry, it was after I quit.”
