“What are you doing here?” Dee-Ann asked the big Southern wolf.
“Keeping an eye on Miss Antonella here.”
“Good job when that Novikov is carrying her around like a load of Momma’s laundry.”
“I asked if she needed me to get involved and she said no. You and Ronnie Lee always go on and on about letting females make their own decision—”
“Shut up,” Dee drawled. “Before I find another use for Big Betty.”
“Wait.” Toni looked back and forth between Dee and Ricky. “How do you two know each other?”
“Dee-Ann has always loved me from afar but she knew she could never have me.”
“Betty,” Dee threatened.
“We’re Packmates,” Ricky clarified.
“Huh,” Toni said. “You’re the first member of the Smith Pack I’ve met since Dee-Ann mated with Ric.”
“She’s ashamed of her poor wolf kin, so she hides us from all those rich Van Holtz friends of hers. We’re not invited to Washington for all those fancy dinners and get-togethers they have. Not even her own cousins, Bobby Ray and Sissy Mae, are invited. Off our little Dee-Ann goes, just leavin’ the rest of us behind . . . sad and alone. Ain’t that right, Dee-Ann?”
“What’s sad is that my momma stopped me from burying you in our backyard like I tried to when I was ten. Had a hole dug for you and everything.”
“Lord, you are so your father’s child.”
“And nothing makes me prouder. Ain’t my fault your daddy’s scared of him.”
“My daddy ain’t scared of nothin’. Especially Eggie Ray Smith.”
“Anyway,” Ric cut in to the sibling-like bickering, “you were saying¸ Toni? About Novikov?”
“Actually, this is kind of interesting. Who’s Eggie?”
“Antonella.”
“Okay, okay. I was just curious.” Toni thought a moment. “So, um, I saw on Novikov’s schedule that there’s a team meeting tomorrow afternoon, so the return flight for him and his girlfriend . . . or fiancée . . . or whatever . . . leaves Chicago at eight a.m., and a driver will bring him right to the Sports Center in time for the meeting. Then he can get his workout in after that.”
Ric and Cella looked at each other and Ric asked Toni, “Why?”
“Well, I’m relatively certain if he doesn’t get in some form of workout, he’s going to be impossible to deal with. He reminds me of Dennis. He’s my five-year-old brother,” she told the others. “He has OCD, too, and if he doesn’t get a certain amount of time painting—he’s a painter—he gets completely unruly. You wouldn’t think a five-year-old could do that much damage . . . but he can. And he’s barely fifty pounds. Bo is way bigger, so I readjusted the amount of damage based on the size of the man and guessed it would be substantially worse. I figured you wouldn’t want that.”
“No, no,” Ric clarified. “We wouldn’t. But my question is why did you feel the need to help him?”
“Oh.” Toni thought on that a moment. “Well . . . he looked like he needed help, and I was just sitting there.” She suddenly sighed. “And to be quite honest, I really didn’t want to have to testify against him if he murdered that bobcat.”
“Floyd,” Ric and Cella said at the same time. Floyd wasn’t bad as a receptionist, but the man continued to piss off the persnickety Novikov. Then again, so did Ric—and the universe. Only Novikov’s fiancée, Blayne, managed to avoid Novikov’s wrath, mostly . . . as long as she was on time.
“It just seemed easier to help the man since you guys are clearly busy and I knew once he was done with . . . Floyd?” They nodded. “Yes, Floyd. I knew he’d come looking for you, and I didn’t want to see you without most of your skin, Ric. We do consider you family, after all.”
“Thank you.”
“Look, I’m sorry if I stepped on any toes here. I’m just used to dealing with people like him, and it was nothing for me to help out. I was just sitting there.”
Cella swung her legs off the desk. “He didn’t make you nervous?”
“Bo? No. Not at all.” She smiled. “He’s very funny.”
“Do you mean weird funny?” Ric asked. “Like odd and off-putting?”
“No, Ric. I mean funny. As in humorous.”
“He’s humorous?”
Treating him like a true cousin, Toni rolled her eyes and said, “I’ll let you get back to work.”
“Wait,” Cella pushed. “So you didn’t find Bo Novikov hard to work with?”
Toni laughed. “Hard. Him?” She laughed some more. But when no one joined her, she cleared her throat and said, “Look, based on what I’ve heard from Kyle, Bo Novikov is considered the best at what he does. And there’s a level of commitment and focus that comes with being the best. I understand how that is because I was raised around the best of the best. My ten sisters and brothers and my mom are the best at what they do. So my father and I have, over the years, learned to manage them. For their own good and ours.” She thought a moment and added, “And society’s.”
“And what does that entail?” Ric coaxed. “Managing them?”
“Well . . . you know.” When he just stared at her, she shrugged and said, “The main thing is to understand that because they are the best, their focus is incredibly myopic and that nothing you or I or anyone else says will change that. So instead of trying to change them, you work within the confines of that myopic vision. And while you’re helping them, you’re also protecting them from outside distractions that will just set them off and make your life hell for several hours to several days. I guess I’m saying that managing the best is really just a way to protect myself. Once you understand the man or the woman, the rest is really easy.”
“And you understand Bo Novikov?”
“Yes,” she said confidently. “Actually, he’s super easy because he just lays it out there. One of my brothers doesn’t let you know anything’s wrong until he starts setting fires. When one of my sisters gets upset, her hair starts to fall out. So in order to prevent my brother from going to prison or my sister sobbing hysterically every time she showers, I have to guess when they’re upset. Mr. Novikov is like a breath of fresh air. All that snarling and growling, it makes him incredibly easy to read.” She glanced around the room. “Anything else?”
“Actually, yes,” Cella said, briefly glancing at Ric. “Are you really busy right now?”
“Just waiting for my interview.”
“Great. Then can you do me a huge favor?”
“Sure.”
“We need to delay your interview anyway.”
Clearly disappointed but trying to hide it, Toni said, “That’s fine. What do you need?”
“One of our players has to get on a flight in the next couple of hours. He’s sometimes easily distracted, so would you mind escorting him? Just make sure he gets on the plane. He’s got everything he needs. His tickets, his luggage. Just needs to get on the plane to Alaska. He’s going to a hockey camp for shifter pups and cubs and he’s one of the guest trainers for the next week. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”
“Not at all.”
“Then come back here when you’re done and we can have our little interview. Okay?”
Seeming surprised the interview would still take place today, Toni nodded. “Oh . . . okay.”
Cella added, “You can find the player, Bert, down in the player’s locker room.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Toni smiled at Ric and headed out.
“You going with her, Ricky Lee?” Dee asked Reed.
“Might as well.”
“Good idea since your sister is still looking for you.”
The wolf rolled his eyes and followed Toni down the hall. That’s when Ric looked at Cella.