Puck Off!

Chapter 10

"Are you serious?" Iryna asked when we made it to the suite. "I can't believe this!"

               I had purposefully not shown her the tickets for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted it to be a surprise, which it now was. But I also didn't know just how good the seats were, so I didn't want to make a big deal out of it if they turned out to be not so good. I didn't have much of an idea of what the suite offered, other than Olivia saying that it was awesome when she passed the tickets over to me at work. But once we made it into the suites, all my fears were dispelled in an instant.

               The entire way up to them, Iryna kept giving me glances as though she thought I was lost, or was heading for the cheaper seats, but now she was all smiles. It was set up with an indoor lounge that currently had stadium staff laying out trays and hot plates of food, mini fridges with all kinds of sodas, water and alcohol, and couches and TVs so you could watch and eat at the same time. If you walked through the lounge, you then got to the seating, which was a dozen seats hanging right over the ice with a spectacular view. Once the game started, we'd have a perfect angle to see all the action.

               "Yeah, completely serious. My company has four tickets to each game. Two for the owner, and then two given away to people they think deserve them. They're offered them to me before, and I always turned them down because I didn't know the game or have anyone to go with, but this time I asked for them. I thought you'd like it," I explained.

               "Like it? This is fucking amazing!" I knew there could be another ten or twelve people in here with us tonight, though I didn't know the exact number, but even still it should be an experience that we'd truly enjoy.

               I tried to keep my relief off my face, because this had been the part of the evening that I was unsure about. Seeing her face light up as she looked out the suite at the ice made my heart leap with joy. "I know we just ate, but there is a lot of food and drinks here that we can have during the game. We'll be sharing the suite with some other people, but that should be okay."

               She just shrugged. "That doesn't matter! I can't wait to see the game from up here!" She was running back and forth now, trying out the seat and determining which one she liked. "I can sit in whichever one I like?"

               "Whichever you like, take your pick," I assured her.

               She dropped her jacket on the seat she was currently in, and I placed mine on the next seat over. I wasn't going to try them all, I trusted her judgement. Once our seats were marked, we went back inside the suite and started checking out the food options. They had some nice variety, if you liked finger food, which was perfect for us since we'd just eaten. But they had a lot of salty snacks, as well as bacon topped potato skins, bruschetta, grilled shrimp skewers, and a whole bunch of desserts ranging from cookies to cupcakes and brownies.

               "Damn, we could have skipped dinner with this spread!" Iryna said, shaking her head in amazement. "You're going to spoil any other game I go to at this rate."

               "I'd still rather watch you play," I admitted without thinking.

               She looked over her shoulder at me with a smile. "That's really sweet. How about you watch me play, but from the suite, and then bring me food."

               "A perfect compromise!"

               A few minutes later, we had our plates filled with tasty treats, and the teams were out on the ice warming up, just like I'd seen at the game I'd first been to with Ella. More people started showing up to the suite, including the owner of my company, Cooper Green, who I'd never met but had seen many times when he was visiting Olivia. Figuring I needed to be polite, I pulled Iryna gently over to him after whispering to her that it was my boss.