Best Shot (Madison Howlers Book 2) Read online

  Thea frowned as she tried to ignore the way that pricked at her ego. She was rarely quiet. Perhaps that was why Blake was - or at least, might be - Doe’s soulmate, rather than Thea’s. “He clearly has excellent taste,” she said. She meant it. Doe was probably Thea’s favorite person in the world. Being quiet sometimes was part of who she was. It suited her perfectly.

  “Did you learn much about his life outside of hockey?” Thea asked. She’d noticed that Blake hadn’t seemed very eager to talk about his life before he’d moved to Madison. Thea could sympathize. She rarely talked about growing up, except in the most general terms.

  “Not much,” Doe admitted, giving a small shrug. “He has one older brother, his parents support him playing hockey even if it wasn’t what they had expected, he likes porcupines.” That last one was said in a teasing tone. Thea did wonder how that came up.

  “Do you think...” Doe started, distracting Thea from any thoughts of porcupines. There was a nervousness in her voice that Thea hadn’t often heard. “They’re not really the sort of people I’m used to spending time with. Well, kind of. I guess they are men in an industry of men.”

  Thea could understand why Doe was concerned. Even she might feel a little intimidated by trying to make a good impression on guys who were probably used to women adoring them from afar. “You don’t have to manage them, though,” Thea pointed out. Doe was excellent at her job, but Thea knew it took a lot of energy. Hopefully just socializing would be a little easier.

  “There are probably as many different types of hockey players as there are construction workers,” Thea decided. “You’ll get on easily with some of them, and others might take more work. They like Blake, presumably. They’ll want to help make you feel welcome.” Thea offered a grin. “And you’ll have me, to make conversation with anyone particularly stubborn.” Thea prided herself on being able to talk to anyone, even if she was sometimes awkward about it.

  That made Doe laugh. Thea felt pleased that she’d achieved that. Doe was obviously nervous, but Thea knew it didn’t mean she wouldn’t still make a nice impression. Maybe Thea was biased, but as far as she was concerned, Doe always made a good impression.

  “Thanks, Thea,” Doe smiled, pulling Thea into a quick hug. “Alright,” she said taking a step back. “I’m almost ready, just shoes and then we can go watch some hockey!”

  Thea hadn’t known what to expect from a party hosted by the captain of a hockey team. If she’d pictured anything at all, it had been a big, spartan living room with plenty of beer and a gaggle of adoring fans.

  Hugo Nilsson’s house was nothing like that. Thea’s first impression of it was how everything was comfortable . The chairs, the carpets, even the ‘Madison Howlers’ coasters. The space was much bigger than the apartment Thea shared with Doe, but other than that, it had a similar kind of feel.

  Hugo’s girlfriend, Evie, explained a lot of that. They’d lived together for some time, she’d told Doe and Thea almost as soon as she’d scooped them upon their arrival. She was sweet and very friendly. If Thea hadn’t been able to come, she felt Doe would’ve been in good hands with Evie. And Blake. He’d taken care to introduce Doe around to the rest of his team. Thea admired that he made sure to get them together in small groups, and helped find topics they could all talk about.

  Thea did her best to keep the conversation flowing, too. She’d been right, the guys were all different. Henry was clearly new and very eager to find his place among the rest of the team. Connor was outgoing. The way he teased Blake made Thea grin at them both. Remy was… quiet. Thea tried to get him talking about his life in Memphis, but she didn’t have much luck.

  Once she’d done the rounds and talked to everyone, Thea headed to the kitchen to get herself a top-up.

  Blake was already there, pouring himself a drink. Thea felt her stomach swoop, a fluttering of excited butterflies taking up residence. She hadn’t forgotten Blake’s quick wit or the dimples he’d kept flashing her the first time they’d met.

  “Not hiding in the kitchen, are you?” she teased. Obviously, Blake wasn’t. Thea had watched him walk around the party. He’d clearly been comfortable with everyone there.

  If Blake was surprised by Thea's presence, he didn't show it. Instead, he smiled at her. The dimples were there, but only just. It felt a little bit like a challenge to make sure they came out fully.

  “You caught me! I'm just terrible at parties,” Blake announced with a dramatic flair. “Will you keep my secret? The guys will never let me live it down if they find out!” Thea wasn't sure how true that was. Remy seemed pretty quiet and Blake's teammates weren't teasing him about it. But then, he was new, so maybe there was a different sort of etiquette.

  “Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin your image with the guys...” Thea teased, holding her empty glass out so that Blake would fill it up for her. “But how do you know you can trust me to keep secrets for you?” she challenged. “I could be a terrible gossip or a hopelessly bad liar.”

  In fact, Thea was neither of those things. Blake had no way to know that. Thea found herself wanting to prove to him that she was trustworthy. “You’d better ask me to tell you a secret, in exchange for yours,” she offered.

  “That is a very good suggestion,” Blake nodded seriously. “But how do you know I’m not a terrible gossip?” he asked teasingly. Thea didn’t, of course, know for sure. Blake didn’t seem like the sort of guy who shared other people’s secrets. “Go on then,” he encouraged. “Tell me your best, but perhaps not the most secretive, secret.”

  Sucking her lower lip between her teeth, Thea considered. She wanted to tell Blake something about herself. She just had to make up her mind as to what. What would he be interested in?

  When it came to her, Thea grinned. “You promise not to tell anyone?” she asked, waiting until Blake responded with a suitably solemn nod. He couldn’t hide that the dimples were back. Thea was determined to make them even more obvious.

  “When I was little, I wanted to be an actor. I thought that would mean I’d get to go and be a space pilot and a treasure hunter, and that I’d get to change whenever I felt like it. My sister had to tell me it’s all just pretend .” She gave a dramatic sigh of her own. “I was so upset that I had a full-on tantrum.”

  Blake did a very good job of giving a dramatic pout at that admission. It wasn’t quite as charming as the dimples were, but Thea would hardly say it made him un attractive. “I don’t know if I can keep that a secret,” he sighed. “It just seems like the sort of thing everyone needs to know.”

  He did then grin, giving Thea an unexpected wink . “I shan’t tell, promise,” he assured. “How did you go from wanting to be a treasure hunter to working in tech support? Or is it just a placeholder until you can take over from Lara Croft. Or Indiana Jones? Is it sexist to go for Lara Croft first?” Blake seemed to genuinely pause there to consider it.

  “A little,” Thea admitted. “I won’t hold it against you.” Especially not when Blake had caught himself, rather than assumed there was nothing wrong in what he said. It made Thea like him even more .

  She smiled. “I did want to be Lara Croft, I just wanted to be Indiana Jones first .” That had less to do with gender than it had to do with the fact that Thea hadn’t grown up playing video games. Her parents had owned Indiana Jones on video.

  “It’s kind of a long story how I got from there to tech support,” she said honestly. “Are you sure you’re interested?” To his credit, Blake did seem interested. He was leaning in, giving Thea his full attention.

  “I am interested,” Blake answered easily. The way he leaned against the kitchen counter implied that he was ready to listen. It was... surprisingly nice. Thea was sure plenty of people would say they were interested even if they weren’t really, but Blake looked so genuine . “Hockey’s the only thing I ever wanted to do,” he offered, “so I don’t have an exciting, career-based story.”

  Once he’d said it, Blake seemed to think about it for a bit before h
e shrugged. “I mean, other than playing in the NHL, you know,” he said with a small grin, clearly recognizing how it was hardly something anyone could say they had achieved.

  The butterflies in Thea’s stomach sped up as she laughed. Blake’s mix of confidence and self-awareness wasn’t something she’d encountered very often. It made him very easy to talk to. “I didn’t say it was a long exciting story,” Thea pointed out. She could feel her face flush when that earned her a low chuckle.

  “Eventually, I stopped being cross that all my favorite films had lied to me and I got interested in how they did it,” she explained. “When we upgraded from videos to DVDs, you couldn’t tear me away from the special features. I learned all about green screens and motion capture, and CGI.” She paused, making sure Blake hadn’t lost stopped listening. People - or at least, people who weren’t geeks about technology - usually glazed over.

  Blake’s gentle eyes were still fixed on her, giving Thea a flush of pleasure. “I started playing video games, too,” she admitted. “The fact I could push a few buttons and Lara Croft would pull herself up on a ledge was pretty life-changing.” Thea tried to downplay it, but it was true. “That’s basically why I decided to major in computer engineering. I wanted to be the person making the technology behind films and games.”

  Thea could have carried on talking, probably for hours. She forced herself to stop. That was the polite thing to do, giving Blake a chance to get a word in and change the subject. “Tech support is just what I do to pay the bills,” she finished.

  Blake nodded like he understood Thea’s point. She couldn’t imagine that as a professional hockey player he had to worry about bills. Still, Thea appreciated that he didn’t jump in straight away with assurances of how she’d definitely make it. Instead, Blake seemed to genuinely think about the topic as he took a sip of his drink.

  “I’m guessing it’s a pretty competitive field?” Blake commented. “Now that I can relate to,” he added with a small grin. It was, of course, true that hockey was extremely competitive. “Are you a competitive sort of person?”

  Thea grinned. “Oh yes,” she agreed instantly. “You don’t grow up with three older sisters without being competitive.” As the youngest, it had been hard for Thea to win at anything. Maybe that was why she’d ended up developing such different interests, so that there’d be something she could be best at.

  “Three older sisters seems like a lot. I only have one older brother and sometimes I think he’s too many siblings,” Blake said jokingly.

  “I guess the Howlers is kind of the opposite of that?” Thea asked. “Instead of all women competing against each other, it’s all men competing as a team.” Thea had never been encouraged to play team sports - or any sports, really. She struggled to imagine what it was like. “Do you find other things to be competitive about?” she asked, curious.

  Blake shook his head, as if considering Thea’s question. “We play a lot of videogames in the downtime. I can’t say I’m very good at it,” he shrugged. It was refreshing to hear a guy actually admit that he wasn’t good at video games. “And there’s always friendly competition - who scores the most goals, who makes the most assists...”

  “ Friendly competition,” Thea echoed, shaking her head like she couldn’t understand the concept. It certainly wasn’t something she’d had with her sisters. “How does that work? If you’re trying your best to get the most assists, don’t you feel disappointed if someone else does better?”

  “Is it really such a weird concept?” Blake asked sounding a little surprised. “We’re a team, so yeah, it’s nice to get the most assists, but if someone else gets them then we’re still scoring, you know?” There he shrugged, like the explanation just made sense to him. “Team comes above individual achievement, that’s just how things are.”

  Thea glanced down, taking a sip of her drink. “I’ve never been part of a team,” she admitted. “I guess I did group projects, at school. Even then, I was mostly concerned about my own grade.” Or, as had often been the case, not concerned.

  She looked up, feeling a warmth wash over her as she studied Blake’s expression. He didn’t look as though he was shocked or judging her. “Doe and I are a team,” she decided. “We look after our apartment together. I stay home when anyone needs to come to fix anything, but she deals with the spiders so I don’t freak out.”

  Now that earned her a smile, one which dimpled Blake’s cheeks in that way that had originally led Thea to nickname him ‘Dimples’. “That’s very sweet,” he announced. “I’m sure Doe loves being a team with you. Even if she’s in charge of spider disposal,” Blake teased.

  “What, and you’re not scared of anything?” Thea challenged. “Everyone gets one free pass for something that creeps them out.” Thea hadn’t met many men who would admit to being scared. She had a feeling Blake might be different.

  The pause that followed made Thea wonder if maybe she was wrong and Blake didn’t want to tell her. Finally, he spoke up. “I don’t like flying,” he said with a small shrug. “I never have. Actually being in the air is okay, but the take-off makes me...” There Blake mostly shrugged. “I obviously have to fly for games sometimes and to go home, but I don’t love it.”

  After a moment’s pause, he gave Thea a small grin. “I have no objections to spiders, though. Unless they fly planes.”

  It was such an unexpected image, a spider flying a plane, that Thea had to laugh. “Good to know,” she said. “I think, if a spider was big enough to fly a plane, I’d actually be okay with it. I mean, having eight limbs has got to be an advantage over only four, don’t you think? You’d be in very safe… hands?”

  “No, thank you,” Blake shook his head, genuinely looking a bit scandalized at the prospect of having a spider fly a plane he might be in. “I think I’d just... drive places. Or walk. I’d walk to places rather than going on a plane flown by a spider. I can’t believe you’d be okay with that!” He said managing to sound accusing like Thea was somehow betraying him. Blake’s ability to be randomly dramatic was... kind of ridiculous.

  Thea liked it, though. In a strange way, it was like Blake was taking her seriously, even when her ideas were as patently ridiculous as giant spider pilots. Very few people were able to follow Thea’s mind when it got creative like that.

  “Have you ever done a long-distance drive?” Thea asked. “I drove from Connecticut to Madison exactly one time . It was awful. I thought it would be all exciting, starting for college as an independent person, that kind of thing.” She shook her head. “It was just boring . Even with music on, I can’t sit by myself for fifteen hours.” It was not an experience Thea planned to repeat. “I kept stopping for snacks, just so I’d have people to talk to. I very nearly bought some guy’s self-recorded reggae album.”

  The way that made Blake give a sudden bark of laughter made Thea grin at him. “I can’t say that has ever happened to me. I’m not sure that has ever happened to anyone but you,” Blake informed her with a grin. He did return to her question, giving it a thought. That was definitely something that Thea had noticed about Blake, he seemed to take the time to pause and think before he spoke.

  “Connor and I went on a road trip during the off-season a few years back, but it was less than fifteen hours per drive,” Blake commented. At Thea’s somewhat quizzical look, Blake added, “Connor’s my best friend, he plays for Howlers, too.” When Thea nodded, Blake carried on.

  “I think I’m probably better at being on my own than you. You seem very... extroverted. A people person,” Blake said giving Thea a grin.

  Coming from some people, Thea would’ve been offended. Blake managed to make it sound like being different wasn’t the same as being wrong . Thea appreciated that. It wasn’t a skill every guy had. It made Thea feel like it was safe to tell him things.

  “I find people interesting,” Thea agreed. “It makes me kind of the odd woman out at work, sometimes. A lot of the guys get so wrapped up in the tech side of things that they for
get there’s a people part of the job.” Even though tech support was far from Thea’s career ambition, she knew she was good at it.

  She leaned closer, giving Blake’s arm a push with one finger. This close, he smelled really good. Thea could feel her heart skip a beat. “You don’t seem like an introvert, though,” she pointed out. “Maybe something in the middle?”

  “I can be introverted and able to talk to people,” Blake pointed out before giving a small shrug. “When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time being taught how to talk to people. My parents always felt it was an important skill to learn, you know? So it’s not that I love spending time with people all the time, it’s just that I know how to do it.”

  There was a pause after that. It implied to Thea that perhaps Blake hadn’t quite expected to say as much as he had. He shuffled slightly, tapping his fingers against his glass. “What do you find interesting about people?”

  Thea caught her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, and then looked up at Blake. He looked so kind and so interested. “Honestly?” she asked. “I find it interesting that you think of yourself as an introvert, but you also chose a career where being part of a team comes before your own ambition.” She wanted to ask more questions, to understand . Blake was a little bit of a mystery. Thea wanted him to open up to her.

  “Is that particularly strange?” Blake asked with a small frown. “I love hockey. That comes before being extroverted or introverted. Can I be hockey-verted? I feel pretty hockey-verted.” Somehow the fact that he didn’t even sound like he was joking just made the question all the more amusing.

  “It’s not strange ,” Thea corrected. “It’s interesting.” There was a difference. At least, Thea thought so. “If you hated working with people, do you think you could still love hockey?” Maybe Thea was presuming too much. She wanted Blake to understand where she was coming from.