Breakout (A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance) by Aven Ellis Read Free Book Online

Greek letters peeking out from his pushed up dress shirt sleeve.
    Talk about sexy as hell.
    Suddenly he turns his head.
    And now his eyes are locked on mine.
    My heart springs back to life, pounding against my ribcage. Niko stares at me for a brief moment, then a huge smile lights up his face. An intense, electric feeling washes over me upon sight of it.
    “You know Xenakis?”
    I manage to tear my eyes away from Niko to the guy sitting to my left, who is looking at me.
    I nod. “Yeah. I edited the open for him, and since I was going to be here tonight, I thought I’d stop by and see him.”
    As soon as I said, “edited the open” the guy’s eyebrows shot up.
    “So that’s why it was different,” he says, flashing me a smile. He extends his hand to me. “I’m Steve, by the way. That was a great open.”
    I step forward and shake his hand. “I’m Lexi. Nice to meet you. And thank you for the kind words.”
    “Hey, Lexi here did our open tonight,” Steve announces.
    “Mystery solved!” another guy yells out. “That’s why it wasn’t the same recycled crap.”
    “Hey, Lexi, great open!” a woman says.
    I smile as a sense of pride washes over me. “Thank you, I was honored to do it.”
    I glance back at Niko, who is watching me. I feel heat in my cheeks, and he turns his attention to the monitors to finish out the final minute.
    “Go to red,” Niko says to his director. “Roll red . . . music . . . Ten . . . nine . . . eight . . . seven . . . six . . . five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . Clear.”
    The commercial is up and rolling for the start of the intermission, and Niko takes off his headset. As people get up to move around, or leave the truck during the break, I make my way toward Niko, who stands to greet me. Oh, he’s so gorgeous in his white dress shirt and gray suit pants.
    And as he gets closer, I notice I’m trembling with nerves.
    “Hey,” Niko says, coming up the row to me halfway, “I’m glad you could make it down here.”
    “I wouldn’t miss it,” I say honestly.
    “Excuse me,” another guy says, moving past us and leaving us as the only two people left in the row.
    “So how’s it going?” I ask.
    Niko rakes a hand through his hair, and those Greek letters on the inside of his arm are visible once again.
    And once again, my pulse burns in response to getting that glimpse of his tattoo on his gorgeous olive skin.
    “I feel a lot better now that I’ve made it to the first intermission,” Niko says, exhaling. Then he cocks an eyebrow at me. “Tony watched me from the back of the truck for most of the first period. And he didn’t have to shove me out of the chair to take over, so that’s good.”
    I smile. Tony is the senior executive producer at Total Access Total Sports in Dallas.
    “So no stress there, with Tony over your shoulder,” I tease.
    “Nah. None. Zero,” Niko answers. “But overall, I think it went well. It’ll take time to get used to a new crew and new environment, for that to all gel together, but I’m ready for it.”
    “I know you are,” I say.
    Niko furrows his brow. “How?”
    “You gave up a lot to come here. You moved to Dallas all the way from Seattle. You’re coming into a challenging situation after the start of the season. Not everyone would want to take all of that on. But you did. So that tells me you’re not only ready, but you are driven to succeed.”
    I pause for a moment, thinking of all the drama that led to Niko getting this job. Basically the previous producer, according to Ryan, was a hotheaded jerk who ended up punching the director. Ryan filled in until an emergency replacement was found, and that was Niko.
    “It happened so fast, and it’s so unbelievable,” Niko says, shaking his head. Then he lowers his voice, so only I can hear him. And as he leans closer to me, that wonderful cedar and spice scent envelopes me, sending a shiver down my spine.
    “Who would have thought the kid from Baltimore’s