Jules shook his head. "Never mind." He ordered a turkey and Swiss, tons of veggies, and no mayo. "How's your first day of work?"

Chelsea ordered a ham and cheddar, hold the veggies, yes to mayo. "Are we changing the subject?"

"Yep."

How was her first day? She'd survived and had even managed to find a Betsey Johnson skirt on sale at Neiman Marcus. But..."Mr. Bressler is difficult."

"I've heard. In just over a month, he's gone through five health care work-ers. You're the sixth."

She hadn't known the exact number, but she wasn't surprised. "I'm not a health care worker. My plan is to dazzle him with my a.s.sistant skills." So far he didn't seem all that dazzled, but Jules didn't need to know that. "By the time I get him back home today, he will wonder how he ever got along without me."

FIVE.

Chelsea scarfed her ham sandwich and made it back to the Spitfire at ten after two. She'd used the extra ten minutes to pull the Mercedes in front of the bar so Mr. Bressler wouldn't have to walk the extra block. Surely he'd be grateful.

The crowd had thinned out, and she waved to Colin as she walked to the VIP lounge. Deep male laughter filled the back of the room, and it wasn't until Chelsea saw Mark that she realized the laughter came from him. Donda sat on the edge of the red sofa, one of her hands resting on his knee as she spoke, gesturing wildly with her other hand. Several empty appetizer plates and gla.s.ses sat on the table in front of them. Chelsea pulled out her BlackBerry and looked at it as if she were consulting a schedule. "We have just enough time to get you to your next appointment," she said. Celebrities loved looking important. Like they were always off to something bigger and better. Most of the time it was a little white lie.

"I just have a few more questions," Donda said.

Chelsea glanced up and looked at Mark. His brows were drawn as if she was speaking a language he didn't recognize. He was probably confused about the little white lie. He'd never had his very own personal a.s.sistant and wasn't familiar with how she worked and what she could do for him. Soon he'd be singing her praises. "I'm double-parked in front, but if you need more time, I can come back."

"I think we're done." He reached for his cane.

"Thanks for meeting me, Mark." Donda rubbed her hand a few inches up his leg, and Chelsea wondered if that was professional behavior for a Sports Ill.u.s.trated reporter. She'd bet not. "If I have any follow-ups, I'll be in touch."

He planted his good hand on the arm of the sofa and stood. He sucked in a breath, then clinched his jaw, and Chelsea wondered when he'd last taken his medication. If it had been that morning, she needed to get him home. Though surely he would have brought something with him. But as they moved through the lounge, his steps were a bit slower and more measured than they'd been an hour ago.

"Take care, sweetheart," Colin called out to her. "Come back when you can stay."

She flashed him a smile. "Bye, Colin. Don't work too hard."

As they stepped outside, Mark asked, "Boyfriend?"

"I've only been in Seattle a little more than a week. Not nearly long enough to find a boyfriend." She shoved her sungla.s.ses on her face and moved to the double-parked Mercedes. "Give me a few more days," she said as she opened his door. Then she glanced at the street traffic and ran around to the driver's side before he could complain about her opening his door. "Make it a week," she added as she slid inside the car.

He looked across the car at her and shut his door. "That long?"

She was sure he was being facetious, but she didn't care. "Finding guys to date isn't a problem. A boyfriend takes more time," she said as she turned off the hazard lights. "There are lots of hot guys like Colin around. Guys who look good in a pair of jeans and a wife-beater. Those guys are fun, but they aren't real boyfriend material." She belted herself in.

"So poor Colin is off your list?"

"Nah. I'd go out with him." She shrugged. "He thinks I'm s.p.u.n.ky."

"That's one word for you." He grabbed his sungla.s.ses from the collar of his T-shirt. "Another word would be 'pit bull.'"

"Yes." She slid the car into drive and pulled away from the Spitfire. "But I'm your pit bull."

"Lucky me." He put on the gla.s.ses and buckled his seat belt.

He said it like he didn't mean it, but he would. She glanced at the GPS and continued northeast. "Have you seen the front page of the Seattle Times sports section?"

He turned and looked out the pa.s.senger window. "'Fraid not."

Which she found a little surprising since he'd been the captain of the Chinooks until six months ago. "Half the page is filled with a photo of a group of guys standing on a yacht somewhere, and someone is pouring beer from the Stanley Cup on women in bikinis."

He didn't respond. Maybe he was in too much pain. She'd broken her tailbone falling off a table once. At the time, she'd had one too many cherry bombs and had been convinced she was some sort of exotic belly dancer. Which was ridiculous since she'd never had a lesson and danced about as well as she sang. The next morning her tailbone had hurt like a son of a b.i.t.c.h and she could hardly move without swearing. So she could kind of relate to Mark's mood. "At first I was a little appalled, but Jules told me that it's okay and even allowed. Everyone on the team gets a day with the cup to do whatever he wants to do with it. Within reason, of course. There are rules. Although I think they're pretty lax." She glanced at the GPS and took a slight right. "But I guess you already know all that."

"Yeah. I already know that."

"So, what day do you want the Stanley Cup? Just let me know and I'll make it happen."

"I don't want the f.u.c.king cup," he said without emotion.

She looked over at the back of his dark head. "You're kidding. Why? Jules says you're a huge part of the reason the team made it into the finals."

"Who the h.e.l.l is Jules?"

"Julian Garcia. He's Mrs. Duffy's a.s.sistant. Kind of like I'm your a.s.sistant. Only Jules knows a lot about hockey and I know squat about the game." She shrugged. "Jules said you deserve more credit for building the team than anyone else." Okay, maybe she'd embellished a wee bit. But blowing smoke up celebrity b.u.t.t was part of her job. In the spirit of smoke blowing, she added, "More credit than Ty Savage."

"I don't want to hear that a.s.shole's name."

Okay. Someone sounded bitter. "Well, you've earned a day with the cup just like the other guys. Probably more because you were the captain and you-"

"I need to stop at a pharmacy on the way home," he interrupted and pointed toward the left. "There's a Bartell Drugs."

She slowed, cut across three lanes, and pulled into the parking lot.

"Jesus Christ! You're going to get us killed."

"You wanted Bartell."

"Yeah, but I thought you'd take a U at the light like a normal person."

"I am a normal person." She parked by the front doors and looked across the car into the mirrored image in his sungla.s.ses. His jaw was clenched like she'd done something wrong. There hadn't been any other cars that close, and everyone knew that a miss was as good as a mile. She was pretty sure she'd learned that rule in drivers' ed cla.s.s. "I thought maybe you need to fill a prescription? Like right now!"

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "I have my prescriptions delivered." He grabbed two twenties and handed them to her.

She guessed that meant she was going in by herself. Which was okay. It would take them longer if he got out. "What do you need? Toothpaste? Deodorant? Preparation H?"

"Box of condoms."

She closed her eyes and mentally pounded her head on the steering wheel. Ten thousand dollars. Ten thousand dollars. "Are you sure you don't want to get those yourself?"

He shook his head and smiled. His straight teeth were unusually white within the shadows of the Mercedes. "As you keep reminding me, you're my a.s.sistant. Lucky you."

Buying condoms was so embarra.s.sing. Worse than maxi pads and only slightly better than the monthly Valtrex prescription she'd had to pick up for a certain young actress with a sitcom on the WB. "What size?"

"Magnum. The ribbed kind."

Magnum? But of course he wore magnums. Being a big p.r.i.c.k and all. For the hundredth time that day, she forced a smile on her face and turned once again to look at him. "Anything else?"

"Some of that warming KY and a vibrating ring. Make sure it's a big one." He raised his hip and stuck the wallet back in his pocket. "I don't want it too tight and cutting off my circulation."

"No. You wouldn't want that." This was about the longest conversation they'd had and it was about circulation to his p.e.n.i.s. She was almost afraid to ask. "Is that it?"

"A bag of Red Vines." He thought for a moment and added, "I guess I better have some Tic Tacs."

Yes, because G.o.d forbid his breath wasn't minty.

By the time Mark made it home, his bones throbbed and his muscles ached. It took him only a few minutes to get rid of his little a.s.sistant. Most likely because she seemed more than happy to go. With any luck, she wouldn't re-turn. If the look on her face when she'd come back from buying condoms was any indication, she was probably looking up help wanted ads on Craigslist and calling for interviews at that very moment. Sending her into Bartell had been d.a.m.n funny. A flash of pure brilliance and quick thinking on the fly.

Mark downed six Vicodin straight from the bottle, grabbed his bag of Red Vines, and headed for what the Realtor had called the leisure room at the back of the house. He picked up the remote to the sixty-inch flat screen and sat in a big leather chaise that Chrissy had found somewhere. Most of the other furniture she'd bought was long gone, but he'd kept the chaise because it fit his body and was comfortable.

With his thumb on the remote b.u.t.ton, he flipped through the channels without really paying attention. He'd had a doctor's appointment, haircut, and hour-long interview. It wasn't even three yet, but he was exhausted. Before the accident, he used to run five miles and work out with weights, all before hitting the ice for practice. He was thirty-eight years old but he felt like he was seventy-eight.

Dr. Phil flashed across the screen and he paused to watch the good doctor yell at some guy for yelling at his wife. He tore open the bag of licorice and pulled out a few. As far back as he could remember, he'd always loved red licorice. It reminded him of the Sunday matinees at the Heights Theater in Minneapolis. His grandmother had been a huge fan of the movies and had bribed him with Red Vines and root beer. Even though it was something he'd never admit out loud, he'd seen many a chick flick in the late seventies and early eighties. Everything from Kramer vs. Kramer to Sixteen Candles. He and his gran had always gone to the Sunday matinees because he'd usually had hockey games on Sat.u.r.day, and also there was less of a chance that one of his friends would see him walking into a sappy movie on Sunday. His dad had usually been working second and third jobs to support him and his grandmother and to make sure Mark had the best hockey skates and equipment. One of the best days of Mark's life was the day he signed his first multimillion-dollar contract and set up his dad so the old man could retire.

Mark took a bite of his licorice and chewed. He'd never known his mother. She'd run off before his third birthday and had died a few years later in some car accident thousands of miles away in Florida. He had a vague memory of her, more faded than the few cards she'd sent. She'd write to tell him that she loved him more than anything, but he hadn't been fooled. She'd loved drugs more than him. Her husband and her son hadn't been enough for her, and she'd chosen crack cocaine over her family and even over her life, which was one of the reasons he'd never been tempted to do drugs.

Until now. Not that he was addicted. Not yet, but he certainly had a clearer understanding of how easily it could happen. Of how drugs took away the pain and made life tolerable. Of how easy it would be to slip over the edge and become a full-blown addict. But he wasn't there yet.

He'd been fighting pain all day, and as the Vicodin kicked in, he felt his muscles ease. He relaxed and thought of the photo in the sports section his little a.s.sistant had told him about. It sounded like the guys were having a fine old time, and if he'd won the cup with them, he probably would have been there. But he hadn't and he didn't want to drink from the cup and celebrate as if he had. And giving him a day with the cup anyway felt like pity.

Sure, there had been several guys he knew who hadn't played in the cup finals for one reason or another and had still celebrated. Fine. Good for them. Mark just didn't feel the same way. For him, looking and touching and drinking from the cup was a big, shiny reminder of everything he'd lost. Maybe someday he could get past the bitterness, but not today. Tomorrow didn't look good either.

The reporter from Sports Ill.u.s.trated had asked him his plans for the future. He'd told her that he was just taking life one day at a time. Which was true. What he hadn't mentioned was that he didn't see a future. His life was a big blank nothing.

Before the accident, he'd thought of his retirement. Of course he had. He had enough money so that he didn't have to work for the rest of his life, but he hadn't planned on doing nothing. He'd planned on getting hired as an offensive coach somewhere. It was what he knew. Seeing plays in his head before they happened was what he'd been good at. Finding lanes through traffic and scoring goals had been a talent that had made him one of the top ten goal scorers for the past six years and was something he'd helped teach the guys on his team. But to coach offense, or defense for that matter, the coach had to skate. There was no way around it, but Mark could hardly walk a hundred feet without pain.

He ate a few pieces of licorice and tossed the bag on the table next to the chaise. As a Burger King commercial came on the air, Mark closed his eyes, and before Dr. Phil returned, he drifted off into a peaceful, drug-induced nap, the remote still in one hand. As with most of his dreams, he was back at the Key Arena, fighting it out in the corners. As always, he heard the roar of the crowd, the slap of graphite sticks on ice, and the shh of razor-sharp blades. He could smell sweat and leather and the unique scent of the ice. The cold breeze brushed his cheeks and neck as thousands of pairs of eyes watched from the seats. The antic.i.p.ation and excitement in their faces were a blur as he skated past. Adrenaline bit the back of his throat as his heart and legs pounded down ice. He glanced at the puck in the curve of his stick, and when he looked back up, he saw her. A clear face in a blurry sea. Her big blue eyes simply looked back at him. The light bounced off her two-toned hair. He turned his skates to the side and stopped. Everything around him fell away as he continued to stare at her though the Plexiglas.

"Why are you here?" he asked, beyond annoyed that she'd shown up and disrupted the game.

She smiled-the full-lipped tilt of her mouth that he recognized after one day of being around her-but she didn't answer. He skated closer to the wall and his stick dropped from his hands. "What do you want?"

"To give you what you need."

There were so many things he needed. So many. Starting with the need to feel something other than constant nagging pain and the void in his life.

"Lucky you," she whispered.

Mark's eyes flew open and he gasped for breath. He sat up too fast, and the remote fell to the floor. His head spun as he glanced at the clock on the bottom left of his television screen. He'd been asleep for an hour. Jesus, she'd intruded in his life. Now she'd infiltrated his dreams. Of all the faceless people in his dreams, why was her face clear?

He reached down and grabbed his cane resting on the floor. Thank G.o.d the dream hadn't been s.e.xual. He didn't even want to think about getting it up for his a.s.sistant. Not even in a dream.

The splint on his hand itched, and he tore it off. Tossing the Velcro and alu-minum aside, he slowly stood and made his way from the room. Why her? It wasn't that the little a.s.sistant wasn't cute. She was plenty cute, and G.o.d knew she had a body that could stop traffic, but she was just so d.a.m.n annoying. The rubber tip of his cane thumped across the stone floor and his flip-flops slapped the heels of his feet. Rested and his pain somewhat dulled, he walked with relative ease.

In the kitchen, the Bartell sack with the condoms, KY, and vibrating ring lay atop the granite island. He didn't know what the h.e.l.l he was going to do with that stuff. It wasn't like he was going to use it anytime soon. He opened a drawer and shoved it inside.

He didn't know what he was going to do with his a.s.sistant either. Too bad he couldn't shove her in a drawer and lock her inside. He thought of her driving his new Mercedes like she owned the road. He thought of her face when she'd first slid into the leather driver's seat. She'd looked like she'd been about to o.r.g.a.s.m. Under different circ.u.mstances, he might have pulled her into his lap. Under different circ.u.mstances, he might have thought the way she'd caressed his leather was about the hottest thing he'd ever seen. Under current circ.u.mstances, it had been just one more thing to irritate him.

More than likely, the woman would be back tomorrow. His optimism of a while ago faded. For reasons that he couldn't begin to understand, she seemed to actually want to be his a.s.sistant. Maybe she was a little off in the head. No, she was definitely off in the head because why else would she buy condoms and KY when she clearly didn't want to?

Chelsea would put up with a lot for ten thousand dollars. "He made me buy him condoms," she told the back of her sister's dark head. "And warming KY."

Bo looked over her shoulder and reached for a half gallon of milk. "Well, he's a hockey player," she said, as if that explained and excused it. "And he always did have a lot of different girlfriends. At least he's using protection."

"And a vibrating ring."

"What's that?"

"A c.o.c.k ring that vibrates."

Bo glanced about the dairy aisle at Safeway to make sure no one could overhear them before she set the milk in the cart. "They make those?"

"Apparently, and in case you ever need one, there are three different kinds available at Bartell drugstore. The duo, the magnum, and the intense pleasure. The duo has two pleasure b.u.t.tons, one on each side. The magnum is self-explanatory, and the intense pleasure vibrates faster for-you know, intense pleasure."

"You read each package?"

"It's my job." Although, really, she'd read out of curiosity more than anything else. It wasn't like she was a vibrating ring expert.

"Have you ever..." Bo lowered her voice and glanced around one more time. "...used one?"

"No." But if she ever got a boyfriend she might. Buying those condoms today reminded her that it had been seven months since her last relationship.

And because Bo was as nosy as her twin, she asked, "Which did you buy Mark?"

"He made me buy the magnum because he was concerned about cutting off his circulation."

Bo's brows rose up her forehead. "Magnum? That's scary."

Chelsea pushed the cart farther down the produce case. "You've seen one?"

"Not in person." Bo shook her head. "Just in the p.o.r.n movies David used to watch," she said, referring to a past boyfriend. "Do you think he's really a magnum or he just wanted to shock you?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to think about it. It's too disturbing."

"That's true," her sister agreed. "You have to work for him tomorrow, and that's the last thing you want to be thinking about when you walk into his house." They moved a few more feet down the dairy aisle, and Bo glanced at her list. "I know Mark isn't really mobile, but making you buy him condoms and stuff was really uncalled for."

"I thought so, but I've had to do worse."

Bo put her hand on the cart and stopped it next to the b.u.t.ter. Concern etched her brow. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but what?"