Slap Shot by Lily Harlem Read Free Book Online Page A

loitering around my house over two dozen times in the last four months, and sent me a ton of letters ranging from sweet and needy to downright threatening.”
    I twirled the stem of my glass and watched the gold-tinted liquid swirl up the sides. “Has she ever gotten inside the grounds of your home?”
    His gaze harnessed mine. “No, and if she had I wouldn’t have you here.”
    “So why no niece and nephew visits if there isn’t a problem?”
    “My sisters are wary. I come from an ordinary family, grew up in a small town in South Carolina. They’re more comfortable with the life they know. Fame and fortune is a novelty they want to dip in and out of when the going is good. When it doesn’t suit they stay away.”
    “You okay with that?”
    “More than okay. I would rather they weren’t coming and going if she is outside.” He began to stir the sauce he was making and put the fish back on the heat. “You like bulgur wheat?”
    “Sure.”
    He paused and glugged on his beer.
    “So Laurie Sharp is the reason you didn’t take me to a restaurant?”
    He sighed. “You probably think I’m letting her win but it’s not like that.” He reached across and rested his index finger on the back of my hand. “I just wouldn’t want to risk you, or any woman I’d asked to spend time with me, and I don’t see why I should stop doing that just because of her warped ideas.”
    I stared at his thick wrist, hard tendons over bone and skin fuzzed with dark hairs. A dart of sensation shot up my arm at his gentle touch. “Do you think she’s a physical threat then?”
    “She might be.”
    I tipped my head, my gaze urging him to go on.
    He frowned. “When the police picked her up outside the rink last week she had a gun in her purse.”

Chapter Three
     
    The dinner was fabulous, light and tasty and perfect with the white wine. We sat outside, by the pool, the delicate splashing of the waterfall a constant melody. I didn’t mention Laurie again, I sensed he’d said what he needed to about her and wanted an evening free of the shadow. Instead Rick chatted about his family, most of whom he’d moved down to be near him, and what is was like growing up in the middle of all those siblings, the eldest boy but still fourth in line. His road to hockey stardom had been a rocky one, plagued by a back injury in his twenties. It took a year of intense treatment to get on his game again. But then there was no stopping him and within two years of being taken on by the Vipers he was captain. He’d been in this position for five years now, somewhat of a record.
    “And what about you?” he asked, settling back on the chair and locking his hands behind his head, his elbows spreading wide. “You always wanted to be an event planner?”
    I pushed my plate away. “No, not at all, it just sort of happened.”
    “How?”
    I stared at the waterfall. There was no way I was going to give him the full story. The fact that I’d grown up with losers for parents and happily adopted the status of a runaway at sixteen was not something I was proud of. Neither were the years I’d spent working in a seedy downtown gentlemen’s club, earning a living dancing and spending my wages partying. I was wild during that time, I was out of control. Until one day I’d walked away and never looked back. Thank goodness I had. If I hadn’t, well, it didn’t bear thinking about where I might be now.
    “I came into some money,” I said. “Not loads, but it was enough to allow me six months off to try out a new venture.” I looked back at him, trying to banish memories of spinning around the poles and having money poked into my underwear.
    “And so you decided event planning was the way to go?”
    “Why not? The clients paid up front and there was no initial outlay except for a couple of ads, time and calls. I’m well organized and I know what people need to have a good time.”
    His black brows rose and his lips parted as if he were about to