Slap Shot by Lily Harlem Read Free Book Online Page B

speak.
    “I know what makes a great event,” I said sternly.
    He chuckled and his head bobbed slightly.
    “It roller-coastered, word of mouth spread and before I knew it I was getting bookings while I was actually at an event.”
    “Wow, that’s impressive.”
    “It kept me busy. I’d only been at it three months when I leased my offices on Tremblant Street and hired Maddie.”
    “And you haven’t looked back since.”
    “No.” I definitely hadn’t looked back to that awful morning when I’d woken with a man sleeping next to me whose name I couldn’t recall and whose face I didn’t recognize. That in itself was bad enough, and thank goodness I’d tested clean at the STD clinic, but the fifty thousand dollars, the stash of white powder and the loaded gun on the bedside table had completely freaked me out. Five minutes later, staggering out of the stinking room, the sweat of a drug dealer slick on my body and my intimate parts sore and swollen, I’d decided there had to be change. I could not live my life that way another day. There had to be more out there for Dana Wilcox.
    “So how did you come into the money? Lotto win?”
    “I told you. I’m not a gambling lady.” I smiled and was rewarded with a return grin that showed off his dimples. “I was down on my luck and, as if fate had been saving herself for me, an elderly uncle who lived up in Calgary went and left me eighty thousand dollars. Turned out he’d met me once when I was about three and always held a soft spot. Poor old devil, I can’t remember him. He was on my mother’s side and she’d had a fallout with her family years ago.”
    “Eighty thousand, a good amount to start fresh.”
    “Well it’s not like the money you’ve made or anything, but it paid the deposit on the house, got me a car, and like I say, meant I could live while I tried out Best Laid Plans.”
    “Cheers,” he said, raising his glass to mine. “Here’s to Best Laid Plans, a wonderful and successful venture.”
    “And here is to old Uncle Toby,” I said. “And the fact he had a soft spot for the naughty three-year-old who once jumped all over his couch and drank his pop.”
    Rick took a sip of his drink. “You want to go jump in my pool?”
    “We’ve just eaten.”
    “You finished half an hour ago and I don’t mean anything strenuous, a paddle and a sit in the spa.”
    I glanced at the water. It was dark now and the spotlights beneath the large fronds of the plants made them glow magically. The water frothed white at the base of the waterfall and in the large round spa. The pale blue pool shimmered and sparkled and above the almost invisible mesh a large, cream moon hung in a velvet sky.
    “I don’t have a swimsuit.”
    “There’s some in there.” Rick nodded at a wooden door set against the main house.
    “What, you keep a stash of swimsuits for unprepared women you invite over?”
    His brow pulled low and his eyes narrowed. “No, not at all, I ordered them from a local store and they arrived this afternoon. For you.”
    My heart did a stupid little flip. “You didn’t.”
    “Why would I lie?”
    “But, but you don’t know my size.”
    He held up his hands, made an hourglass shape and grinned. “Let’s just say it’s a gift. Size four, yeah?”
    What could I say, he was right. “Okay, a quick dip, but only if one of the swimsuits fits.”
    “If not you could always go in naked.”
    I drained the last drop of my wine and stood. “You know that is never going to happen.”
    He stacked the plates and wisely said nothing.
     
    I stripped in the wooden-paneled changing room and picked out a black bikini. It wasn’t too skimpy and the halter-style top was flattering. It fit fine. After folding my clothes I headed back out. Rick was nowhere to be seen.
    Padding barefoot to the pool, I dipped my foot in. The water was lukewarm and my pink-painted toenails shimmered in the pool lights. I took the steps and let the coolness envelop my body, pushed