So asking if you want to would be totally inappropriate, huh?
Tate internally groaned as he typed back: You are asking for it.
Asking for what?
You’ll see when I get home, love. It’s been a long week without you.
And it had been. Exiting the team plane, he had come straight to Elli’s office to meet with his agent for their meeting, which meant he hadn’t seen Audrey in six days. Their nightly chats on Skype weren’t enough. He missed her. He needed to have her in his arms. When her text came back, he smiled as he read it.
Seriously. I. Can. Not. Wait.
Just as he was about to text back that he couldn’t wait either, the office door opened and Elli came out with a grin on her face. Tate didn’t know why he always felt impending doom when he had to meet with his boss, but he did. He admired her, thought she was gorgeous, but she scared the shit out of him. Everytime Elli was around, he felt as if Shea Adler would suddenly appear suddenly and gouge out his eyes with the butt of his hockey stick. It was a scary thought, and now he found himself looking at the floor, not at Elli.
“Janet, hold my calls, please,” Elli said to her assistant. “Gentlemen, please come on in.”
Both men nodded, stood up and followed her inside, reseating themselves in front of her desk. Even though Audrey had calmed most of Tate’s nerves, he was still sweating as if he were in a game with a minute left on the clock and the other team had the extra man advantage. He hadn’t been this nervous since his first meeting with Elli nine months ago, but that had gone well, so hopefully this would too.
“Mr. Odder, I want to congratulate you on your streak,” she said. “Very impressive. My uncle and I are thrilled with your performance.”
Tate smiled as he nodded. “Thank you.”
“All right, so we won’t keep you long, Mrs. Adler,” Koey said, getting down to business and handing her a file. “We have four different offers right now. Detroit is offering a salary of eight million a year for five years.”
They are? Tate thought.
He’d had no clue of this, but it sounded nice. The only problem was, Detroit didn’t have Audrey. But maybe she would go with him, leave Nashville, leave her dad, open her cupcake place in Detroit. It was a thought, but of course he had to talk to her about it first.
Looking up, he saw Elli giving Koey an evil-looking grin. Tate had noticed that the two had never really gotten along. From what Erik had told him, Koey had tried flirting with Elli, and when she shot him down, he tried to lowball her. Since then she’d been tough to work with. Erik was considering going with different representation because of it, and with the way Elli was looking at Koey now, Tate found himself thinking that too.
“Now now, Mr. Lefeber,” Elli said, “you’ve been dealing with me for the past year, and I think you know by now that I don’t take kindly to being pressured when we have at least four months before Mr. Odder becomes a free agent. Detroit, California, Florida, and even New York will have to wait, or we can do this now and go into the New Year with our heads on straight, primed to compete in the playoffs. Totally up to you.”
Koey’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “I see you’ve been on the phone?”
Elli nodded too, the same grin on her face. “Yes sir, and I’m not the least bit worried, for you see, I have a very promising deal here, which my uncle and I feel will be perfect for Mr. Odder.”
Tate looked back at Koey, to see him reaching for the file he had given Elli before taking out another one. Opening it, Koey nodded before meeting Tate’s eyes. “Seven million a year for seven years,” he said.