She looked down at her black hoodie and smiled before lifting it up, letting her legs fall so he could see the tank underneath which read, “If it weren’t for shopping and pizza, I’d be rich and skinny.”

With a wide grin, he laughed. “I love pizza.”

“It’s basically the best food group.”

“Agreed.” Taking a long pull of his beverage, he looked over at her. “Got a funny shirt for the party tomorrow?”

She shook her head. “No, I will actually be all glammed up, if you can believe it.”

“I can.”

She smiled. “Oh, yeah, you see me at games.”

“I do. I heard you know the game pretty well. How is that? Living in California and all?”

She laughed. “I grew up outside of Omaha. My mom met Rodney’s dad when I was four, and he moved us there. He played, and so I lived at the rink. I was obsessed with the sport, and I was good. But when I went to college, I decided to pursue journalism because I didn’t think a girl could get into the NHL.”

“Baylor Moore proved that wrong.”

“Sure as hell did. She is probably my favorite person to interview.”

“What the hell? I am amazing.”

She shot him a deadpan expression. “Oh, for sure.”

Grinning, he leaned into her. “I’ll be better.”

“You will?”

He paused. “Well, that is, if you can score on me.”

“What?”

“I’m gonna get you on the ice, and we’re gonna play.”

“Please,” she laughed. “I’d kill you.”

He laughed. Hard. And what a sound it was. So low and rumbly. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I know your weakness. All I gotta do is apply some pressure, and you’ll fold like a napkin.”

Heat filled his eyes, and it might have been because of the way she said pressure. Shit. Was she flirting with him? Crap! Moving toward her, he dropped his voice an octave. “You, Brie Soledad, are delusional. I would murder you on the ice.”

Holding his gaze, she leaned against her knee. “Bring it, JoHo.”

“It’s JoJo.”

She grinned just as she realized he was really close to her. Like… Really. Close. If she only moved an inch, her lips would be pressed to his. That would not be happening. Or, shit…was it happening?

“Brie Soledad?”

“Me! That’s me!” she yelled, standing up, her cup flying out of her hand and landing with a loud thud against the concrete floor. But that wasn’t all that happened. Jack and Coke went flying, all over Vaughn. “Oh, shit. I’m so sorry!”

Laughing, he shook his head. “It’s fine. Go see what he has to say while I clean this up.”

Her hands were moving, and she wanted to apologize. But the doctor was looking at her, and she had to make sure Rodney was okay, so she rushed over to him, her eyes wide as she met his gaze. “Hey, Dr. Miller.”

“Hey, Brie,” he said with a laugh, shaking his head. “So Rodney is out. He’s a little groggy but good. We didn’t put him fully under, just gave him something calm him down, and he did really great with that. I’m hopeful this will work, but he’ll be on constant monitoring for the rest of the week. I transferred those files you asked for, too, to NateWay. We’ll talk more in the morning, okay?”

“Okay. Can I see him?”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Thanks,” she said, but before she walked off, she turned to find Vaughn right behind her. “Ah. Crap, you scared me.”

“Yeah, I was trying to listen like a stalker.”

She shook her head with a smile. “Yeah, so Rod’s good.”

“I heard.”

“Yeah, sorry about the Coke.”

“It’s fine, mixes well with my cologne.”

“Eh, I like your cologne the way it is.” Once the words left her mouth, she immediately closed her eyes. “That was not me flirting with you.”

“Of course not,” he teased, and when she opened her eyes, he was giving her the most sarcastic smirk she had ever seen. Lord, this man was trouble. “So I guess I’ll go.”

“Did you wanna see him?” she found herself asking, hooking her thumb toward Rod’s room. “I’m sure he’d want to see you.”

A slow grin started to spread across his face as he began to nod. “I’d really like that. Thanks, Brie.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

He walked past her, and as she turned, watching him, his perfect ass in those semitight gym shorts, Brie knew one thing for sure.

She didn’t hate Vaughn Johansson.

Not even a little bit.

Not even kind of.

Well. Hell.

“My wife…” Shea Adler said, which made everyone look at him as he gazed across the lavish Assassins’ party to where his wife was standing with some of the other players’ wives. “…is looking really hot tonight.”

Vaughn grinned as he took in Elli Adler. Shea was funny when he was drinking. But then, Elli was gorgeous, her auburn hair down her back and in a sparkly gold dress and sky-high heels that shone just as brightly as her dress. Since the theme of the party was all things gold, everyone pretty much matched in their own variations of gold. The whole place was done up to the nines. The arena seats were gone and so was the ice, leaving only a shiny gold floor with big gold chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The tables were decorated so extravagantly that even Vaughn couldn’t help but appreciate them. They had large gold vases with huge white flowers coming out of them and glitter floating in the water around the stems. The food was awesome, the drinks were better, and the company was fantastic. Vaughn decided that his all-gold suit was perfectly suitable for the over-the-top event, though Jensen said he looked like a complete idiot.

Vaughn did not agree.

He thought he looked phenomenal.

Clearing his throat, Erik Titov said, “I don’t know. My wife is looking pretty spectacular.”

They all glanced to Erik’s wife, Piper, in a dress that hugged her in all the right places. All of them nodded in appreciation as Phillip added, “Well, our wives are twins, so that means my wife is hot too.”

“My wife’s legs sparkle,” Tate Odder said, and everyone chuckled. “So… Winning.”