Page 147 of Risking the Pucking Defense
“Let’s keep walking,” I suggest, hoping that the words might come easier if I’m moving.
“My family…” I say after a few minutes. “They’re pretty big hitters in the PR world. And my brother, well, he was the next generation.”
“So are you,” Hayden says, not missing a beat.
“Yeah, see…things in my life, my family, those we associated with, it didn’t quite work like that. My father, grandfather, and those who came before them didn’t see women as equals.”
“That’s bullshit,” Hayden scoffs. “You’re just as capable as they are. Look at you now. Look what you’ve achieved.”
His confidence in me makes all of this a little easier, and I give him a weak smile.
“They didn’t see it that way. Spencer already had his future set. He would take his place in the family business and eventually take over. And after he died, I desperately wanted to keep his legacy alive and step into his place. I had my place at college, and I was willing to work as well. Anything to get the experience I needed. I’d spent my life around the business; I already knew so much.”
“But?” Hayden questions when I fall silent.
“But I’m a woman, and in my family’s world, women don’t go on to become CEOs of multimillion-dollar companies. They’re wives and mothers.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” Hayden mutters.
“There isn’t anything to say. After Spencer died, I was so broken, I didn’t have the strength to fight them. I thought that maybe they’d come around. If I could do well at college, prove myself when I was at work, they’d change their minds, see my worth. But it never happened.”
“Shit, Hails. No wonder you left.”
If only the story were that simple.
“Yeah,” I muse, stopping myself from going into what happened next.
Despite knowing that I wasn’t in any kind of place to fight it, I still hate that I didn’t even try. But the woman I am now is very different from the girl I was back then.
I was fighting too hard to prove myself in an utterly pointless situation. They were never going to see me for what I could have been. I’d already been put in a box, and there was no way out. Well, not until I found the strength to bash through the walls and run away as fast as I could.
“Thank you,” Hayden whispers. “I know that wasn’t easy for you.”
“I don’t talk about it. I’ve never had anyone to talk to about it,” I confess. “Back then, no one cared enough to listen. And since moving here, I’ve ensured I didn’t have anyone for fear of history repeating itself.”
“No one here is going to treat you like that. Every guy on the team respects the fuck out of you, Hails. They don’t give a shit that you’re a woman. All they see is someone who is shit hot at her job, commands respect, and refuses to bend even for the biggest, most powerful hockey player.”
“I wasn’t like that before. I was a pushover who couldn’t stand up for herself.”
“Well, maybe things do happen for a reason. If it weren’t for the past, maybe neither of us would be here right now, and I can’t imagine what my life would be like without you in it.”
“You’re a real smooth talker, you know that?” I tease.
“I just say what I feel,” he says shyly.
“I guess I could learn a little something from you, huh?”
“Don’t get me wrong, baby. I’m not like this with everyone. It’s just you…you…I don’t know. It’s not a secret that I’ve wanted you for a while now, and I’m fucking terrified that you’re going to realize what you’re doing right now and go running in the other direction. I’m just…I’m trying to be honest about how I feel about you, about what you mean to me. And more than anything, I want you to see just how amazing you are, because despite being a major hard-ass, I’m not sure you see it.”
I shake my head. “You’re something else, Hayden Monroe.”
“All I want to be is yours.”
42
HAYDEN
“Oh, wow,” I breathe as we turn a corner, revealing an incredible waterfall before us. “That’s…pretty incredible.”
