Skating on Thin Ice: Seattle Sockeyes (Game On in Seattle Book 1) by Jami Davenport Read Free Book Online Page B

knight rescuing a struggling franchise. Instead he’d be the outsider yanking the team out from under a city and an ownership group with sympathy on their side.
    He was surprised the commissioner had the guts to do this; hopefully it was a purely political move as Ethan had the man’s blessing along with the Sleezers’ signatures.
    He’d considered the sale a done deal, except for the formalities.
    Now he wasn’t so sure.
    This binding contract might be unravelling before his eyes, and Lauren could very well be right in the middle of it all.
    * * * *
    Lauren couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned most of the night. In all her thirty years, a simple touch had never affected her like Ethan’s. He’d grabbed her hand as a gesture to emphasize how much he wanted her on his team, not how much he wanted her in his bed. No matter, her fertile imagination didn’t need more than that to work with. Her brain took his simple gesture and elevated it to a whole new level in her dreams and her imagination.
    When her phone rang at five-thirty AM , she answered it, grateful for an interruption. “Hi, Dad, what’s up?” The early hour didn’t alarm her. Her father often called at all hours to talk about an exciting prospect he’d found in the minors or vent his frustrations with the latest dumb-ass move by the Sleezers.
    Lon Schneider worked as the head scout for the Giants. A former NHL great, he was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, and the mere mention of his name opened doors wherever he went. “Honey, tell me I misunderstood your message about possible new ownership for the team.” Her father had been in Canada scouting some high school kids so he’d been out of the loop. He hated technology and rarely checked mail or answered his cell when he was heads down and sniffing out a diamond on the rink.
    “It’s true. The league has given the Sleezers an ultimatum. No more bailouts. They have to sell the team after the season ends.”
    “And they’re giving some asshole the red carpet treatment because he represents an anonymous billionaire owner?”
    “That’s pretty much the gist of it. I’ve been relegated to hand-holding him.” Lauren walked over to the coffee pot sitting on a stand near the dresser to start a pot of coffee. She tucked the phone under her chin.
    Her father harrumphed, a sure sign he wasn’t happy.
    “Dad, I thought you’d be thrilled. The team could be sold to responsible ownership.”
    “I think the league is creating a bidding war to jack the price up.”
    “Bidding war? With who?” Lauren wasn’t following her father.
    “I’ve been keeping you out of the loop on this. Didn’t want to get your hopes up, but I’ve organized a new ownership team with several deep pockets, all hockey guys, and we’re making a bid for the Giants.”
    “What hockey guys?” Lauren went cold inside, not at all sure how she felt about her father’s announcement.
    “Me, Earl, Mike, John Carver, a few others, all guys from my playing days.”
    And all old school . Great guys but no great imagination or willingness to try new things, just like the current management. “Does the league know you’re interested?”
    “Yeah, we’ve been in constant contact, especially John because he’s the tightest with the commish.” She could tell by her father’s tense tone he was irritated. Why wouldn’t he be? His group had made it known they wanted the Giants yet the league ignored them and brought in Ethan and his group—new blood, not necessarily a bad thing and not necessarily a good thing. Whether or not to support Ethan tore her in two. Adding her father’s group to the mix increased her confusion.
    “So has John approached Straus?”
    “Not formally, but Straus is aware of us. I wanted to see what info you had before we made a formal statement.”
    Figures. Her father assumed she’d choose family loyalty over team loyalty and give him any dirt she might have. The good news was that she didn’t have