Only Mine (Honey Mountain #5)(17)

“Says the big, bad Wolf. Clearly, you’re a control freak if you think you’ve chosen a better name for me than my actual parents.”

“Takes one to know one.” I smirked and leaned back in my chair to let the food settle.

“So, do we agree on a truce, then? Moving forward, no more low blows or cheap shots?”

I nodded. But I was far from done after what she’d pulled last night.

Retaliation was part of war.

And the little minx had taken her shot.

It was only fair that I returned the favor.

She reached her hand over the table, and I rolled my eyes before placing my large hand over her small one. A jolt of electricity scorched through my fingertips, but I didn’t let her know I felt a thing. Hell, I’d been hooked up to electrical shocks before and was trained to show no emotion.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Wolf.”

I pulled my hand away. “We’ll see about that, Minx.”

Because this wasn’t over just yet.





seven





Dylan





The last five days had been nonstop. We’d been to New York, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, and Denver. Five cities in seven days. And we were only halfway finished with this round. The meeting with Braxton had been a great start to the trip. Lance Waters had made it clear that he wanted to play for the Lions as he’d grown up there, and that was his team. Both Wolf and I liked him and his father, and we hoped that we could get him added to the roster. The good news was, he was open to playing for the Lions, and we knew he would be a good addition. So, we’d watch his season closely and stay in touch.

In Miami, there’d been another goalie whom we’d met with, Max Wells, who was just a senior in high school. He had the ego of a professional athlete who’d been at it for a lot longer than he had. Clearly, all the success he’d had at such a young age had stripped him of being humble in any way, shape, or form.

He was also the same guy who basically told us that he would go to the highest bidder. He was all about the money, and he didn’t care where he played.

Wolf and I both found him to be uninspiring.

We’d been eating all our meals together, working out together, and traveling together. The working out together was not intentional, really; it’s just that we both enjoyed morning workouts.

It was a lot.

We still argued constantly, but we’d come to some sort of truce, and we’d both held up our end of the bargain. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that he was a little less annoying than he had been five days ago. But we weren’t friends. We kept our conversations to business topics because getting any personal information out of Wolf Wayburn was like pulling teeth… from an alligator, who was trying to kill you.

Tonight, we were in Denver, and we were meeting with Allen Walsh, the agent of one of the best centers in the league, Donovan Brown. Allen was an old friend of Duke Wayburn’s, and he had the reputation of being one of the nicest agents in the league.

Wolf and I had both gotten in a quick workout and gone to our rooms to shower before dinner. I made my way downstairs to the bar area in the lobby, where it was fairly quiet. The bartender smiled, and I pulled up a stool and sat down.

“What can I get you, beautiful?” He leaned over the dark wood bar top, and the exposed tattoos on his forearms caught my interest. Swirls of red flames and skulls meshed together into one beautiful piece of art. He had dark, shaggy hair and a whole lot of swagger.

“I’ll take a glass of Chardonnay, please.”

He brought over a glass of chilled white wine, and he spent the next few minutes talking to me. His name was Teak, and he was charming and funny and easy to look at.

The back of my neck prickled, and I felt his presence before I saw him.

Wolf.

He took a seat on the stool beside me and shot me a menacing look before glaring at Teak.

“Hello, boss,” I groaned. “I see you’re in a fabulous mood, per usual.”

He turned to the bartender and ordered a whiskey straight up before looking back at me. “Must you keep analyzing my mood? And do you pick and choose when you acknowledge that I’m your boss?”

“Well, you love to remind me, so I figured I may as well throw you a bone,” I hissed, just as Allen Walsh appeared at the hostess stand. I’d seen a few photos of him on social media with Donovan, which always helped when meeting people for the first time.

“Can you transfer these drinks to our dinner bill?” Wolf asked after Teak handed him his cocktail.

“Of course. Dylan, I’m off in a few hours if you want to grab a nightcap.” His heated gaze locked with mine, and I was enjoying the moment until the annoying man beside me let one of his rude, condescending laughs escape.

“Seriously?” I grumped and shot him a warning look.

“Our client is here. Get your game face on, and stop flirting, Minx.”

I shook my head with disgust before turning back to face Teak. “I’ll be back. I want to hear about that summer you spent surfing.”

“See you soon, beautiful,” Teak purred.

“Wow. The dude is so original,” Wolf said under his breath as we walked away.

I slammed my shoulder into his as we both beelined toward the hostess stand to greet Allen.