His lips twitch up in a sexy smile. It’s probably the whole rumpled sleepy thing with him right now. His hair is sticking up in all directions, and his eyes are still glazed. Waking up next to him … I will not mind doing that the next couple days. We’ll sleep in separate beds at our new apartment, and I’ll miss moments like this.
“You’re the one who told me last night to scoot over next to you because Ellie was going to find out about us.” His smile slowly grows. “I figured you weren’t all the way awake.”
Embarrassment floods through me. “I didwhat?”
“Turns out you’re brilliant even when you’re sleeping,” Jordan finishes. “Saved us after I forgot to lock the door.”
My face is on fire. “Well, I’m the one who’s sorry. For trying to seduce you in my sleep or something.” I bury my face in a pillow.
He chuckles. “I’m not complaining.”
“Jordan!” I cry at his insinuation, straightening and throwing a pillow at him.
“I’m going to take the bathroom really quickly,” he says, smirking. “Then you can have the first shower.”
I shake my head. “You let me have the bathroom first last night.”
“I can take quick showers. You go first.” He flashes me another smile and darts to the bathroom.
I flop back on the bed, and visions of the night before dump into my brain. Well, visions of what could have been. My heart leaps at imagining Jordan leaning over me, lips inches from mine, staring at me in the devoted way he does when we’re in front of people. I press a hand over my chest.
What am I going to do if I’m actually falling for my husband?
The next morning, theBeing Libby Bennetcrew hovers around the arena for my first official day at the offices as the owner of the Denver White Wolves. They don’t come into the meetings, but they’re present.
It makes me think about how much Jordan and I have to act around Ellie and her family, and how that will be an everyday thing once the cameras are in our house more often. It seemed like it would be easy—act like a smitten wife on camera, but just friends off camera.
It doesn’t feel easy now that we’ve been doing it for over twenty-four hours. Is that because it’s hard to be just friends with Jordan, or will it be easier to lie to America on TV than it is to lie to my sister?
All the stuff I did for drama ten years ago never felt like it mattered. I assumed this wouldn’t either. It’s me putting on an act: same Libby Bennet but more sophisticated.
I sweep the thoughts from my brain as I head into my meetings. It’s a worry for another time. We won’t have the cameras at our house until next week.
The meetings with the administrative staff of the team go well. Jordan makes it clear to them that he’s a consultant and I’m the one making decisions. The chief operating officer and the general manager are both obviously impressed with the ideas we come into the meetings with that apply to hiring the new coach. I’m going to be acting as the team president for now, until I’m sure of the team’s success, because I want to be involved in all the decisions. I have something to prove.
“One important consideration in deciding on who we hire is the show.” I grimace empathetically at the admins. They’ve already been dealing with the cameras and the crew today, so it’snot a surprise I’m bringing it up, but I do catch a couple subtle eye rolls.
For the governing board, the attention I was bringing to the franchise through the show was one of the incentives I gave them in my offer to buy the team. For the staff of the team itself, it’s not going to endear me to them, except maybe the admins on the business side of things. The marketing manager probably won’t hate me too much, except that she’ll have to coordinate with the network more than she might want. But they’ve known for a while. I’ll give them time to adjust, and if we still have some staff feeling negative about it, I’ll encourage them to pursue other career options. I have connections throughout the sports world to find them positions that won’t require this of them.
“Whoever we hire,” I go on, “needs to be willing to give access to the cameras. I’ll make sure they’re not invasive, of course. And they definitely won’t be allowed to eavesdrop on our game strategies or anything like that. But I’d rather not spend too much time and effort fighting over it.”
I glance around the room. As I suspected, the chief operating officer, Liam Matthews, nods along. He’s been on board with the show from the beginning. The general manager’s nod is tighter, but he’s agreeing, so that’s good.
“Why don’t you all let me know your top choices from the list we’ve made, and we’ll bring them in for interviews?” I ask.
Names get tossed out, and my assistant, Valerie, types them all on her iPad. Once the admins here have given theirs, I turn to Jordan. “And yours?” I ask.
He smiles, draping an arm across the top of my chair. “Same as yours, Lib.” And somehow the way he says it makes it sound like I’m the one who came up with those choices, not him. I quirk an eyebrow at him, and he winks.
The general manager, two seats down from me, gives a soft chuckle, and I look up at him to see him eyeing us with a kind offatherly pride. Hmm. I hate that I had to marry Jordan to get the governing board to allow me to buy this team, but I’m still going to use that advantage to help me earn people’s trust. If Dan Rogers thinks we’re a cute couple, hopefully that means he’ll be more amenable to my ideas.
We go from the meeting down to the practice facility. Liam wants to show me some of the upgrades I’ve already approved, and we want to watch a little bit of practice as well. The cameras follow us, but like muscle memory, they’ve already become the background for me. I tell myself this means it will be easier than I think when they’re at home with me and Jordan. I also remind myself it won’t be likeBeing the Bennets, where the sole focus is on our family.Being Libby Bennetis about me as a businesswoman. They’ll be here, at the arena, far more than they’ll be in my personal life.
Jordan nudges Liam to move us through the facility tour quickly, and I let him since I know he’s eager to watch practice and get a look at our guys. If he had a few more years’ experience, I’d want to hire him as our new coach. He has the exact excitement for the team that we’re looking for.
We stand outside the boards, observing the team running through drills on the ice. Though Jordan has his hands in his pockets, he watches with bright eyes, and I even catch him leaning along with the skaters a time or two, the same way he does when we watch hockey on TV.
My eyes are on him more than the players, and I have to keep reminding myself that I need to focus—also just like when we watch hockey together.
