Playmaker

by Jami Davenport

  My father was beaming at me as I took a seat. I knew that look. Something good had happened, possibly as simple as Kaden’s departure and my staying in DC, or something more.

  “Where’s Senator Crandall?” I asked.

  “I cancelled because I have some breaking news for you that’s not widely known yet.”

  “You do? What is it?”

  He glanced sharply around the room. We were the only diners this late on a weeknight. Regardless, he lowered his voice and leaned across the table. “Darrin is dead. Murder-suicide.”

  “What? Who did he murder?” I should feel some remorse but I couldn’t. Not one damn bit.

  “He was murdered.”

  “Then who is the suicide?”

  “This is where it gets sad. Robert. He left a lengthy note.”

  “Robert?” Now this did affect me. I slumped against the back of my chair in absolute shock. “Why? Why would he kill himself?”

  My father rubbed his eyes, looking every bit his age and then some. “It’s a long story, but let me condense it for you. According to the note he left, all the other witnesses are dead, and he killed them.”

  “Darrin?”

  “No, Robert killed them while Darrin was still in prison.”

  I shook my head in disbelief, unable to wrap my head around his words. They didn’t make sense. “Why would a witness murder other witnesses?”

  “In his own words, he was complicit. He was part of Darrin’s illegal dealings, which was the original reason for the murder of Darrin’s mistress. The others were collateral damage, but Robert hadn’t sunk low enough to murder you even though Darrin demanded he do so or be indicted in this mess, of which we only know the tip of the iceberg.”

  This actually made sense now that I thought of it. Robert’s testimony had been the least damaging of all the witnesses. Even though he hadn’t helped Darrin’s case, he hadn’t destroyed it either.

  “Do you know what they’d been dabbling in?” I’d need some time to absorb all of this. As time passed, I knew more would come out about what they’d been doing.

  “It’s an ongoing investigation, so I’m not at liberty to say, but I’ve heard rumors of illegal arms deals and drug trafficking. I feel partially responsible. I introduced Robert to that man, encouraged him to take the job with him. Worst of all, I didn’t believe you. I insisted you lie for him. I’ve compromised my oath to this country and violated my personal ethics. I won’t be running for reelection. This country needs someone better than me to represent my district.”

  “Daddy, you made a mistake because you believed in him.”

  “I should’ve believed in my own daughter more.”

  “I love you, Daddy.”

  “I love you, too, honey.” He reached across the table and squeezed my hands.

  The tears flowed freely down my cheeks, and my father shed a few tears himself. We cried for the time lost together, the broken trust of friends, and we cried for Robert and what he’d become. We also cried out of relief. I was safe. No longer in danger. I wouldn’t need a bodyguard. Looking over my shoulder was a thing of the past.

  I reached for my phone. I couldn’t wait to call Kaden and tell him. I froze, my fingers about to grab the phone. He’d left me behind.

  “Honey, are you okay?” My father regarded me with concern, his brow furrowed and his mouth drawn in a grim line. “I know the news about Robert is—”

  “Robert’s death is tragic, and I’m still in shock, but it’s not that.”

  “What is it? You can tell me.”

  There was a time I would tell my dad anything. We’d debate certain subjects well into the night or problem-solve issues we agreed on. But this time away from him cut those tight bonds. While I still loved and respected him, I didn’t need his approval as I once did.

  “Kaden left.”

  “Oh.”

  I narrowed my eyes and studied him. “You don’t seem all that surprised.”

  “I think he…he felt out of his comfort zone.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  “Somewhat.” When my dad was evasive like this, he’d manipulated a situation to his satisfaction. Usually he did it to others, but I’d seen him manipulate my boyfriends of the past. Only none of them had been Kaden. No one would ever be Kaden.

  “Dad, explain yourself. Did you play a part in the demise of my relationship?” I’d certainly broken it off, but Kaden hadn’t pressed my decision. I’d been willing to try to make it work.

  “Let’s say that I convinced him you were safer here.”

  “That’s no longer an issue.”

  He bowed his head in acknowledgment. “I probably told him that you belonged here, not in Seattle. Maybe pushed my agenda a little too hard.”

  “You’re a career politician. You’re used to bending people to your way of thinking. No wonder he wouldn’t consider a long-distance relationship.”

  “I did what I thought was best.”

  “I know.” I still loved my interfering, overprotective father, but things had changed with the deaths of Robert and Darrin. I hadn’t realized how much my decision to stay had been based on fear—fear for my safety, fear of losing my dreams, fear of not realizing my potential. The first one was no longer a problem, but sadly, too many people died in the process.

  I wished I could’ve sat down with Robert and talked with him, somehow prevented this. So many things I should’ve done differently if I hadn’t trusted his advice and had listened to my own heart.

  I was doing the same thing right now. I was listening to everyone else but not listening to my heart.

  “You really love him?” my father asked, startling me out of my deep thoughts.

  “I really do, Dad. The kind of love you and Mom have. The kind that weathers all the storms and rises above all the adversity to become stronger.” Yet I hadn’t weathered this storm well. Not at all.

  “You can do important work from Seattle. You do know that? And you’ll both be relatively young when he’s done playing hockey and able to move about the country. In the meantime, you build up your resume locally, gain respect, and make your own world a better place. DC will be waiting when the two of you are ready to come back.”

  “You’re a wise man, Dad.”

  He smiled at me. “I want you to be happy, and I see the sorrow and pain in your eyes. I cannot imagine my life without your mother by my side. I want the same thing for you.”

  I’d been caught up in the excitement of being in DC among the country’s movers and shakers, the bright minds, the future politicians. I’d relished such interaction. But I would make a difference wherever I went.

  “Go to him.”

  “I am.”

  I stood, kissed my dad on the cheek, and hurried from the hotel.

  I knew what I had to do. The one thing that’d bind Kaden and me together and send a clear message that we were in this together. Both of us. Forever.

  Yes, I knew what I had to do. First, I’d make one stop, then I’d make everything right.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Will you?

  ~~Kaden~~

  * * *

  I lay on the hotel bed, propped up by pillows, my hands behind my head. I was watching Oklahoma, more because it’s what was on when I turned on the television. If the guys knew, they’d be taking away my man card. One bright spot in my bleak future, I wouldn’t be facing a Puck Brother punishment as I was once again a single man.

  I didn’t for a moment believe I’d see Lanie again. She had her rich and powerful friends back, and I was just a hockey player. I gave people a few hours of pleasure or frustration a night and was paid handsomely for it. I did my community service visiting kids in hospitals or serving in a soup kitchen. I didn’t make big changes though. Lanie would be doing that, and I’d be watching from afar, proud as could be.

  Someone rapped on the door, and I ignored them. I wasn’t expecting room service, and I didn’t want to talk to anyone else right now. I was
shitty company, and no one needed to be subjected to my poor-me attitude.

  But the insistent knocker wouldn’t go away. They knocked and knocked and knocked.

  Irritated and ready to take my bad day out on the misfortunate but persistently annoying person on the other side of the door, I yanked it open, ready with a stream of profanity that’d make any veteran hockey player proud.

  No one was there.

  Scowling, I looked up and down the hall and saw no one.

  If this was someone’s idea of a joke, I didn’t find it funny.

  Then I spotted something. A small envelope right at my feet. I’d almost missed it. I scooped it up and blinked, certain I wasn’t seeing what my eyes claimed I was seeing. My name was written in Lanie’s precise handwriting.

  My hand shook as I tore the flap open while attempting to get a handle on my wildly beating heart.

  Meet me in the atrium.

  I didn’t need a second invitation. Not bothering with my shoes, I grabbed my room key and sprinted for the elevator. In seconds, I was on the main lobby floor. I walked toward the back of the expansive lobby to the atrium, a two-story glassed-in structure with a jungle of shrubs, trees, and flowers.

  I glanced wildly around but didn’t see her.

  Hope started to fade. She wasn’t really here. I was the victim of someone’s idea of a cruel joke.

  But it was her handwriting…

  Or I’d wanted so badly for it to be her handwriting, I’d imagined it.

  I was a damn fool, a lovesick one.

  I turned down the flagstone path winding through the urban forest. My heart stopped and so did my feet when I saw her sitting on a bench. She glanced up and smiled tentatively.

  I goaded my feet into action and stopped in front of her. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “Celebrating with my boyfriend.” She held up a bottle of wine and two glasses.

  I glanced around, looking for said boyfriend, until it sank in. My gaze snapped back to hers.

  “Me? You’re celebrating with me?”

  “Yes.” She poured a glass of wine, offered it to me, and patted the bench next to her. I took the wine from her hand and sat down. She held up her glass, as did I.

  “To our lives.”

  We clinked glasses, but damned if I knew what she meant.

  “We’re celebrating our lives?”

  She grinned and explained the news she’d received that night, sobering when she spoke of Robert, his betrayal, and his ultimate sacrifice for her. “Robert made a lot of mistakes, but in the end, his sacrifice was what mattered.”

  “Wow, that’s something, but I don’t see how that changes things.” I wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but I was letting her take me on the ride.

  She stared down at her hands and gathered her thoughts. I waited because I was completely under her spell, and I couldn’t walk away.

  “Kaden, I’m sorry.”

  “About what?” I was truly puzzled. She had nothing to be sorry about. Not a damn thing.

  “I had a long talk with my dad tonight. He helped me see how narrowly I’d defined my future. DC isn’t the only place I can do good.”

  Hope soared within me. “Seattle would be another.” I spoke carefully and waited for her answer.

  “It would. When your career is over, I’ll have the credentials for us to embark on our next big adventure.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded.

  “And your dad convinced you of this? He doesn’t like me.”

  “Not yet. But he loves me, and he wants me to have what he has with Mom. Kaden, that special thing between two people… Not everyone is fortunate enough to find that person early in their lives or to recognize what they have before it’s gone. I hope I’m not too late.”

  “You aren’t.” My voice was low and husky, revealing the emotions so close to the surface. “You’ll never be too late. I would’ve waited forever.”

  “And never had sex again?”

  I thought about that. “Nope. Never.”

  She laughed and kissed me. I, being a smart guy, kissed her right back.

  “One more thing,” she said, her eyes lighting up as she dug through her purse.

  “Yeah? One more thing? When do we get to the good stuff?” Hey, I was a guy, and sex was, well, on the top of my favorite-things-to-do list, if I had such a list.

  “Have patience.” She produced a small box and got down on one knee in front of me, taking my hand in hers. I stared down at her, puzzled. What was she doing? My befuddled brain made no sense of the scene playing out before it.

  “What the f—”

  “Just hear me out.” She silenced me with a stern look, and I almost laughed because she didn’t do stern well.

  “I’ve dreamed about this moment, every girl probably does, but I realized ours started out in an unorthodox way, and what better way to cement it than to prove to you that I’m willing to take the leap if you’ll do it by my side.”

  “The leap?” Honestly, I was completely confused and unsure of what the fuck was happening.

  “The leap.” She squeezed my hand and gazed up at me. She flipped the lid of the small box open with her thumb. Inside was what looked like a man’s wedding band.

  What the hell?

  She swallowed and a single tear slid down her cheek. I watched it travel off her chin and drop into the small box. Then my gaze settled back on her, my gloriously beautiful and wonderful woman. This entire thing came together in my mind. Yeah, I was a little slow. I smiled down at her in anticipation.

  She smiled right back. Her smile lit up my soul.

  “Will you marry me, Kaden, and make me the happiest woman on earth?” she said simply.

  I blinked several times. I’d always thought I’d be the one proposing, but my lady was a modern woman, and I could be a modern guy. Besides, this seemed right and natural. This was how it needed to be.

  “Yes. I’ll marry you.”

  She put the ring on my finger, and it fit perfectly, just like she did in my heart.

  “I’ll get you one tomorrow,” I promised.

  “You better believe it. A big diamond. The biggest diamond around.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  “I want a lot. I want you forever. I want that picket fence. I want to save the world with you. I want a husband who’s won the Cup. And one more thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  She stood and held her hand out to me. I rose to my feet, wondering what she had in mind next.

  “I want to get to the good stuff.”

  Epilogue

  ~~Delaney~~

  * * *

  A few months later, just before training camp, Kaden and I eloped to Madrona Island. In attendance were Easton and Caro, Geneva and Axel, and Steele. Cin also attended. We’d become good friends and worked on many charitable and social issues together. My parents couldn’t make it. Dad was in session, and my mother was on a European trip. Kaden’s parents also had to decline, but we’d see them at Christmas.

  We hadn’t planned to elope, but we both realized a huge wedding was a pain in the ass and an even bigger expense. We donated the money we would’ve spent on the wedding to homeless veterans in Seattle.

  Eva performed the ceremony. It was short and sweet. Kaden and I wrote our own vows. Steele stood up for him, Cin for me. The two of them glared at each other throughout the ceremony, adding comic relief to a serious occasion. I was good with that. Of course, they didn’t know that’s what they were doing.

  The sparks between those two rivalled the other couples present, only they weren’t a couple—yet.

  After the wedding, we had dinner on the lawn of the inn for our guests and us, cedar-planked salmon cooked in the traditional native Pacific Northwest style, fresh organic veggies and greens, and a chocolate cake for dessert.

  Kaden squeezed my hand under the table, guiding it toward his crotch and an impressive hard-on. “Getting married tu
rns me on,” he whispered in my ear.

  If I had any shame, I’d jerk my hand away immediately, but I let it linger, stroking him with my fingers. He groaned, drawing a few curious stares from our guests, who were engaged in a lively discussion of who was the best pool player of the bunch. Cin, much to my surprise, bet a hundred-dollar bill she could beat anyone at the table. Not that I cared. I was too busy milking my man’s cock during my wedding reception. After giving it a final stroke, I removed my hand before he came right in front of our guests. Probably not a good look for our wedding.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he suggested, but I wasn’t ready to go yet and shook my head. Anticipation made the sex that much better, and I was making him anticipate.

  “Just because we’re married, don’t expect me to be easy,” I said in a low, sultry voice.

  “Oh, baby, you’re everything but easy, except easy to love.”

  I froze when his hand crept up my thigh, grateful the long tablecloths hid our dalliances. I shot him a chastising glare, and he grinned back at me. He ran his finger along the crotch of my lace panties.

  “Stop it.”

  “Not until I get what I want. You can’t tease me like that and expect me not to reciprocate.”

  “Where’s the cake?” I flagged Mandy down and indicated we’d have the cake now. She gave me a sly smile and nodded, hurrying off.

  Steele stood and struck his fork against a wineglass. “How about a toast to the bride and groom.”

  I pushed Kaden’s hand off my lap and shot to my feet, pulling down my dress as I did so.

  “Spoilsport,” Kaden mumbled.

  “You’ll be richly rewarded. Have patience.”

  His blue eyes lit up. “I’m counting on it.”

  Everyone stood and raised their glasses, waiting for the toast. All eyes turned to Steele, but he just stood there, as if tongue-tied. From what I’d seen of Kaden’s quiet teammate, he didn’t appreciate being the center of attention.

  He dug in his pockets, as if looking for something, while we watched him. Easton chuckled and Caro elbowed him, causing him to let out a subdued yelp.