Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95173 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Getting up from my desk, I walk over to the window and look out at the boats in the water. “So is that a yes?”
“What?” I turn and see Tracy sitting there, tapping her pen.
“You went off in your head again.” She shakes her head and laughs. “The SPCA is throwing a huge event, and they would love the support of Walk ’N’ Licks.”
“Send me the email, and I’ll look it over,” I tell her. As she makes a note, my cell beeps in my pocket at the same time the phone rings.
“Hello, GM,” I say, laughing. “To what do I owe the honors?”
“Very funny,” Matthew says. “You still busting my balls over that title.”
“I don’t think it’s busting balls if that’s your title.” I laugh.
“Yeah, yeah,” he says, and I have to say he has his work locked down tight. Two years ago, he hung up his skates as the captain of the team and is now the GM for the team. He’s making smart moves although his latest had me scratching my head. “I was wondering if you were back in town.”
“Got in last night,” I say. “Why?”
“I’m having a year-end party at my house for my kids and their friends, and I invited Viktor,” he says.
“I have to check,” I tell him, knowing I won’t be going to that. Too many people with kids running around everywhere. I like kids; I mean, I like other people’s kids when I don’t have to talk to them or be next to them. Which is strange, considering my mother has eight siblings, and my grandmother has twenty grandchildren, including me, and twenty-seven great-grandchildren. Christmas is a madhouse. Now on my father’s side, there are five of them and only nine grandchildren. The great-grandchildren numbers aren’t as grand, since everyone is too busy with work. My brother and I are the only ones from both sides who don’t have any kids. We are twelve months apart and mostly look like twins. He sits behind a desk all day making sure everything for my business runs smoothly, so he isn’t as athletically built as I am. He also hates hockey and barely knows how to skate. Both of us have black hair so dark that it looks purple in the sun sometimes, and our eyes are dark green, but they look almost black at times. He doesn’t have a beard whereas I’m too lazy to shave, and the ladies actually love it, so I keep it.
“Okay, I’ll take that as a no.” He laughs. “But I will see you tomorrow at the rink.”
“Bright and early,” I tell him. “Anything I should know?”
“Well, you haven’t been cut, so no.” He laughs, and I just shake my head when he disconnects.
“What else did you have planned?” Tracy says, and I look up at her. She is beautiful, and the perfect kind of girl I go for. The only problem is she works for me, and I’ll never ever cross that line.
“Nothing. I have a workout in thirty minutes,” I tell her, looking at the calendar on my phone. “I have Saturday afternoon free,” I tell her. “Schedule the meetings for that day.” She nods and gets up, grabbing her bag and putting her stuff in it.
“I’ll be around if you need me,” she says and smiles as she walks out of the room. I listen to her heels click on the floor as she walks down the marble hallway toward the door, then hear a soft click when she leaves. I make my way out of the office and grab my pre-workout shake prepared by my chef. All I have to do is put it in the blender. I walk past the library and dining room toward the kitchen at the end of the hall. Opening the fridge, I take out the shake and put it in the blender. Once it’s finished, I turn around and walk out of the sliding door onto the terrace. I got this apartment five years ago when I got traded to New York. Besides the perfect location, the corner two-story penthouse has a wraparound terrace on both levels. I drink the shake while I look out at the calmness of the water. It’s still warm for New York, but in just a couple of weeks, the leaves will be changing, and fall will be here. And with that, the hockey season begins.
I think to how it all started, how at ten I asked my father if I could play hockey instead of indoor soccer. His face was filled with surprise, and I expected him to say no because we really didn’t sit down and watch hockey. We were more soccer people. World Cup fever would hit, and as much as my father had pride in his country of Greece, we all wore the Italian jersey with pride.