“That’s because of the repel ent.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your man repel ent.”
She blinked. “My what?”
Shiloh’s mouth fel open. “I thought you knew. I thought you did it on purpose.”
“Did what on purpose?”
“Put on the man repel ent. You know, sprayed yourself with ‘stay away’ vibe. If my friends and I are out, and we don’t want to be bothered, we put out the vibe.”
“I have a vibe?” She put a hand on her chest.
Shiloh shook her head, and the light caught in the sparkly headband she favored. “No! Geez, sorry.” She walked farther into the room. “Forget it. Forget I said anything.”
“That’s like saying my face looks like a dog’s butt, then tel ing me to forget you said it.”
“Your face doesn’t look like a dog’s butt. You have a real y pretty face and a smoking body—and I mean that in a total y nonlesbian way.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Which is why I thought you put on the repel ent. To purposely scare men away. We al do it sometimes.”
She scared men away? Seriously? When had that happened? She’d thought she wasn’t dating by choice. Not because men found her repel ent, but come to think of it, she hadn’t been asked out in a real y long time.
“I’m soooooo sorry, Autumn. Are you mad?”
“No.” She wasn’t mad. Just a little shocked and a whole lot confused. She couldn’t even recal the last time a man had even flirted with her. Shiloh gave a weak smile, then asked in an obvious attempt to change the subject and fil the awkward silence, “So, what’s your brother doing tonight?”
She reached for an empty binder and pul ed the rings apart. “Out somewhere.” She’d have to ask Vince if she had a bad vibe. He’d tel her the truth, maybe. “Why?”
“I thought I might cal him.”
“You know he’s a dog?” She reached inside a desk drawer and pul ed out a planning packet. She looked up, and added, “Right?”
“Sure.” Shiloh shrugged. “I don’t want to marry him. Just maybe have dinner.”
Uh-huh. Vince didn’t do dinner. “Shi—” She should warn her assistant. She liked Shiloh, and Vince wasn’t relationship material. He had issues.
“Yeah?”
Shiloh was a nice woman, and Autumn didn’t want to lose her as an assistant, even if she did think she sprayed man repel ent on herself, but who was she to give anyone advice? “Nothing. Have a good night.”
“See ya Monday,” Shiloh said over her shoulder as she walked away.
“Lock the door on the way out.” She placed a business card in the binder sleeve, a packet inside, and snapped the rings shut. She hadn’t had a date in a real y long time. She’d thought it was because she was just too busy. That she wasn’t ready. That it was her choice. Was there more to it? Did she real y give off some sort of vibe?
No. Yes. Maybe. She reached inside another desk drawer and pul ed out a remote. God, I don’t know. She turned on the television across the room and clicked around until she found the Chinooks’ game. She watched for a few moments, hoping to see Conner’s face in the crowd. She was a single mother. A smal -business owner. A very busy woman. Way too busy for a relationship just then, but that didn’t mean she wanted to repel men.
“The puck is shot up ice by LeClaire, who tries to pass to Holstrom, ” the hockey commentator announced just before the whistle blew. “Five and a quarter left in the second period, and icing is called. ” The camera zoomed in on Sam’s jersey. On the Chinook swatting a puck with its tail, then the lens panned up to his face beneath the white helmet resting above his brows. His blue gaze looked up at the scoreboard. The Dal as Stars were up by a goal.
“That man right there is a huge part of the Chinooks’ cup-winning defense,” the commentator continued. “He’s always one of the biggest, most intimidating guys on the ice. ”
A second commentator laughed. “If you see LeClaire coming, it’s best to get out of the way. With his team down by one, he’ll be looking to put the big hurt on someone.”
Sam skated into a face-off circle to the left of his own goal. He put his stick on the ice and waited, his steely blues focused on the opponent across from him. The puck dropped, and he fought for domination, battling it out. He shot the puck up ice, but it was stopped by a Dal as player who had the audacity to skate along the boards toward the Chinooks’ goal. The “big hurt” Sam put on him lifted his skates a foot off the ice and rattled the Plexiglas. A Star slammed into Sam, who turned and threw a punch. Several players from both teams piled on, and Autumn couldn’t tel if they were hitting each other or holding each other back. Gloves and sticks hit the ice, and two referees final y blew their whistles and skated into the middle of the scrum. Sam pointed to the left and argued with the ref, but in the end, he straightened his white jersey, picked up his gloves and stick from the ice, and skated to the penalty box. His eyes narrowed, but a smile twisted one corner of his lips. He wasn’t at al sorry.
Of course, Sam was rarely sorry about anything.
She remembered the first time she’d looked up into those blue eyes. She’d been so incredibly naïve, and he’d been so impossibly handsome. She’d been alone in Vegas. Al alone in Sin City. She’d been a smal -town girl, and Vegas had been foreign and like nothing she had ever experienced. Maybe if she hadn’t been alone, she wouldn’t have been so vulnerable to Sam’s evil ways.