‘That’s really not necessary.’ Charlotte gave a shudder. She knew all she needed to know about Hunter Torrance. Probably more than most due to her teenage obsession and enough for her to want to keep a little distance between them.
‘Hey, we’re both on the same team, right?’
‘Not by choice,’ she muttered under her breath.
It was no wonder the powers that be had kept this snippet of information from her until it was too late to do anything about it. She’d been surprised they’d found a replacement physiotherapist willing to see out the last few games of the season and hadn’t asked any questions, simply glad to have help getting the team back to fighting strength for the play-off qualifiers. Now she knew the good news had come with a catch.
‘Well, I’ll do my best not to get in your way. Actually, I wasn’t even expecting you to be here today. I thought team doctors practically only made appearances on match days with the slew of outside commitments and specialist clinics you all usually have to boost your salaries. I know this is a different league from the NHL in terms of rules, technical terms, profile and especially finances. Or are you the official welcome committee?’
She knew he was deliberately being facetious as he took a little payback for the hard time she’d given him so far. His sneer earned him her narrow-eyed stare, which usually had the power to wither a man at fifty paces, but the bad boy of the tabloids took it all in his stride. What was a dirty look in the grand scheme of things when she supposed his whole past would probably be raked over again in the national press when they got wind of his return?
‘Clearly, I didn’t get the memo we’d have a VIP joining us otherwise I would have dusted off my pom-poms.’
Hunter opened his mouth to say something then seemed to think better of it and simply shook his head. It was probably a good idea. She wasn’t in the mood for innuendo-based banter in the workplace, even if she had left the door wide open for it.
‘In answer to your question, I’m here for the play-off matches. I schedule my sports and musculoskeletal clinics around my time here so I don’t miss anything.’ It wasn’t easy but she used her personal leave to make sure she was here for the most important dates on the hockey calendar.
‘I’m sure there aren’t many who have such commitment.’ He seemed impressed that she took her role here seriously but that only made her blood boil a fraction more. If he’d ever been as dedicated as she was to the game he would understand the sacrifices she made. Experience had taught her Hunter wasn’t the team player the Demons needed.
‘This is my team. I want to see them win and I’ll do what I can to help realise that dream, but we do have our work cut out for us at the minute. Carter has a meniscus tear, Jensen has bursitis, Dempsey a groin strain, and Anderson, our star player, needs a serious attitude adjustment.’ She listed those battling injury who were already causing concern for the upcoming matches. He needed to understand the workload was substantial and this job wasn’t simply a position with a title.
‘I’m sure we can manage between us. After all, that’s what I’m here for. Not to make your life more difficult or to cause trouble. Those days are long gone. What do you say we start over with a clean slate and work together to get this team back on its feet?’ He held out his hand in truce, asking that she forgive whatever sins he might’ve committed in her eyes.
Perhaps she was overstepping the mark here when she wasn’t in any position of authority but she’d thought someone should have the Demons’ best interests at heart when Gray’s judgement seemed clouded by sentiment, or sympathy, or something that had no business in his team decisions. Still, the deed was done now and as a professional she knew better than to let her personal feelings get in the way of doing her job.
‘Fine.’ She hesitantly reached out towards him and shook on the new partnership. Her hand tingled where Hunter’s gripped it so confidently and it wasn’t simply because of the sheer size and power of him, making her fingers seem doll-like compared to his. There was also the moment of fantasy and reality colliding in that touch. Hunter Torrance was actually in her life now.
She inhaled the fresh, citrus scent of his aftershave so deeply she made herself dizzy. An entirely primal reaction that probably would’ve happened whether she’d known who he was or not.
For most single women he’d be the perfect package. If tall, dark, handsome and Canadian did it for you. Which it did. Why else would she be sniffing him as if he were made of chocolate and she wanted a taste? He was wrong for her on so many levels so she’d simply have to resist licking his face.
She’d done her best to fit in here as one of the crew, and making doe eyes at the new recruit wasn’t very professional, it was asking for trouble. And it had definitely found her in the shape of a six-foot-four, two-hundred-pound ex-hockey-player.
Okay, so she still had stats memorised, it didn’t mean anything other than she’d once been a girl with way too much time on her hands. An unhappy girl from a suddenly broken home who’d sat in her room like some fairy-tale princess in a tower, waiting for her knight in shining armour to come and rescue her. Except her hockey-playing knight had turned out to be an immature mess who had stolen the chance of that championship title from her beloved Demons and fuelled the theory all men had the ability to inflict mortal wounds to the heart. Not so much galloping off into the sunset as a life sentence distrusting anyone who dared come too close.
She knew her hostility towards him would seem uncalled for, petty even. That didn’t stop her from hoping his past might catch up with him and send him back to the land of snow and ice. He’d shown he wasn’t a man to be relied on when his team needed him. Surely she wouldn’t be the only one to hold a grudge?
In his short time here he’d insulted and fought with many, had damaged the reputation of the club and generally been a pain in the backside to all those around him. Not everyone would be glad to see him return and she was kind of hoping those with a legitimate reason to give him a hard time would, to save her blushes and her position on staff.
Gray, the coward, had apparently left it to her to break the news to the others. It had taken all of her inner strength not to protest, You were on that team he decimated, you should know better than anyone why I think he’s a liability.
She hadn’t because she did her best to keep her passion for the game and her job separate. There was no fair reason he shouldn’t be here if he had all the relevant experience needed for this job.
‘Guys? Can we have a quick word?’
The team trooped off the ice and lined up, waiting for the news. Charlotte swallowed hard. There was definitely no going back now.
‘We just wanted to tell you there’s a new addition to the medical staff. Hunter Torrance will be your new physiotherapist for the rest of the season.’ She didn’t sugar-coat it. They could come to their own conclusions about what this meant. Her only job had been to relay the message and she’d done that as quickly and as bluntly as she could so this was over soon and she could go home to lick her wounds.
‘What?’
‘The Hunter Torrance?’
‘You’re kidding!’
There was a stand-off moment as they stood looking blankly at each other, no one knowing what to do with that information, including Hunter. He was frozen beside her, probably trying to decide on the fight-or-flight method of defence. She knew which one she’d prefer and would happily book him a one-way ticket back to Canada.
The first stick hit the ground with a heavy thud, then another, and another, until he’d received a round of applause hockey-style.
Floret, the captain, stepped forward and shook Hunter’s hand first. ‘Good to have you on board.’
Charlotte figured the move was because he was a fellow countryman but he was soon followed by the rest of the multinational squad.
‘You’re