Down and Dirty (Hot Jocks #5)(14)

I eye the thick stack of thank-you notes on my desk, wondering if I should resort to snail mail to get in touch with him. What would I write? Thank you so much for your donation of this enormous diamond ring. Now, can we freaking talk about this?

My mini freak-out is delayed by a familiar cheerful voice coming from just outside my office door.

“Welcome back, Aubree.”

David Stone, the director of the organization, is standing in my doorway, shooting me a big warm smile. If he weren’t my boss and also the single most likable guy on the planet, I’d probably shoo him away in an effort to skip the small talk and get some work done. But he’s both of those things, so I push my stack of thank-you cards aside.

“How was Vegas?” he asks, staying put until I wave him inside. The guy is almost too polite.

“It was . . . Vegas. Nothing big to report,” I lie. If possible, I’d like to keep the whole drunken-marriage-to-a-player info as far away from the office as I can. News like that has a way of getting out, but the longer I can put it off, the better.

“There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about.” David eyes the plush blue chair across from my desk. “Mind if I take a seat?”

I nod, sitting up a little straighter as he settles in across from me. “What’s up?”

Instead of an answer, I get another question. “Have you ever been to Vancouver?”

I shake my head. “I’ve never even left the country. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve been in talks with a youth hockey organization there,” he says. “Great program. Or at least, it was. Their executive director recently passed away, and things have been pretty scattered for them ever since. It’s been a year now, and they still haven’t been able to get it sorted. Anyway, they reached out to us about absorbing their programs, along with their donors. They do incredibly similar work to us, with one major difference.” He pauses for dramatic effect, then adds, “It’s entirely for girls.”

My eyes widen in interest. “Really? That’s incredible.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” David says, a confident grin stretching across his face. “Which is why I think you’re the perfect person to lead the expansion.”

My breath catches in my throat. “Lead? What do you mean?”

“Be in charge, take the reins, steer the ship!” His smile is huge.

I gnaw on the inside of my cheek, resisting the urge to ask David if he recently bought a thesaurus. “Why me?”

His tone becomes more serious. “I know how passionate you are about underprivileged kids, and sports, and you’ve been with us for coming up on a decade now. You know this organization backward and forward. This could be your perfect next step.”

I fumble for the right words, but my brain is a mess of questions. The only sentence I can formulate is an incomplete one, and it comes out slow and uncertain. “But . . . Vancouver?”

David nods firmly. “You’d have to relocate. But it’s only a three-and-a-half-hour drive away. And we’d cover your cost of moving.”

My gaze flickers from David to the walls of my office, trying to soak in all the memories I’ve made here over the past eight years.

“It sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime,” I say honestly, “but I’ll have to think about it.” It’s a non-answer, but it’s all I can manage right now.

“I need you for this, Aubree,” he says, his expressive eyes imploring mine.

David Stone is a difficult man to say no to, and he knows it. He’s like a golden retriever in khakis. Everyone loves the guy—me included. After all, he taught me everything I know. Plus, he’s kind and trustworthy, and a great boss.

“There’s no one else I trust,” he adds.

“It sounds amazing,” I hear myself saying as blood thunders in my ears.

But what about Landon?

But nothing, the sassy part of my brain snaps.

It was a drunken Vegas mistake.

Wasn’t it?

It doesn’t matter that the night we spent together was fun. It does matter that he’s so damn attractive it makes my stomach hurt. Marrying Landon in some quickie ceremony was the stupidest thing I could have done.

So, why does his presence in my life feel like the only thing I have to look forward to right now? I mean, the idea of spending more time in his intoxicatingly masculine presence is much more enticing than, well . . . anything else.

But I don’t dare tell my boss. I can’t.

I respect David, I really do, but leaving a city I love and all the friendships I’ve built to move to a foreign country? The idea of it leaves me reeling.

It’s only Canada, I tell the part of my brain that’s spinning. It’s only a few hours away.

When I realize David’s still talking, I drag my attention back to him.

“Expanding the mission, impacting the lives of female athletes in the making . . . we can’t afford not take this shot.”

I nod.

“And I need my best employee on this expansion. I won’t be there for daily supervision or oversight. You’d be in charge of getting the whole operation off the ground—managing the thing top to bottom.”

“It’s a tremendous opportunity.”

He smiles warmly. “I’m glad you think so. It will also come with a nice promotion too. A change in title and a pay increase commensurate with your new responsibilities. It’s always been my dream to push further to do more and impact more lives. And now we have a chance to do that.”