Free Head Games by Cassandra Carr

practicing tomorrow. She usually has tomorrow off anyway, so I say we ask her out for tomorrow night.”
    “Good idea. Do you have her cell number?”
    “Yeah, she gave it to me at the hospital in case I needed anything.” Leo winked and Scott had to laugh. Sometimes his best friend drove him nuts, but overall, he really was a good guy. Leo pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and dialed. Turning on the speakerphone, they both waited for her to answer, Scott leaning forward in anticipation. “Hey darlin’,” Leo drawled.
    “Hi. How’s your head?”
    “Good as new, I think. I’m going in to see the doc this morning. Hopefully he’ll clear me to start practicing again.”
    “Oh, that’s great!” She genuinely sounded excited for Leo, and Scott felt a rush of warmth invade his body that had nothing to do with sex.
    “That’s not why we called, though.”
    “We?”
    “Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. You’re on speaker. Scott’s here.”
    “Hi, Scott! Tough couple of games, huh?”
    Scott laughed. “Yeah, it wasn’t a whole lotta fun. I’ve got bruises on my bruises.”
    “But you played really well. You should be proud of that.”
    “I am,” he answered, as another spark of heat rushed through him.
    “So why did you call?”
    Leo motioned for Scott to go on. “We want to take you out tomorrow night, get to know you a little better outside the restaurant. It would be nice to be able to talk to you while you’re not working.”
    “Ha! That never even occurred to me, but you’re right. I guess I work so much that it seems like home to me.”
    “Then you’ll have dinner with us?”
    “Um, sure.” Scott had to physically prevent himself from doing a fist pump, settling instead for a brief pounding on his thigh. “Where are we going?”
    Leo shot him a panicked look, and Scott kept talking. “Don’t you worry about that. Just wear something pretty.”
    “I have one question before I agree to do this.”
    “What’s that?”
    “You guys aren’t going to…well…make it obvious it’s a date, are you?”
    “Are we gonna make out with you at the table? No. We promise to behave.” Leo mouthed “speak for yourself” and Scott waved him away with an impatient slash of his hand. “Where should we pick you up? Home? The bistro?”
    “Home. I don’t set foot in the restaurant on my day off unless I have to.” She gave them the address and they said their good-byes. Leo stuck the phone back in his pocket and they exchanged high fives.
    “All right,” Scott said, rubbing his hands together. “Now that we’ve got her on board, where are we going to take her? It might not be easy to get a reservation somewhere good this close to the date.”
    Leo grinned. “Sometimes being an Intimidator has its advantages.” He grabbed his laptop and began poking at the keys.
    “Jeez, were you this slow at typing before you took that puck to the head? Gimme that.” Scott turned the laptop toward himself. “What are you trying to do?”
    “Look up the number for the Buffalo Chophouse, and I was doing just fine at it, asshole.”
    “Whatever.” The number came up, and Scott gave it to Leo.
    The phone must’ve been answered promptly, because before Scott knew it, Leo had put on his “smooth talker” voice. “Good morning. This is Leo Laporte.” After a short pause, he said, “Yes, my head is feeling much better, thank you for asking. Hey, I was wondering if you could do me a favor? I’d like to bring an old friend of mine to a nice restaurant tomorrow night. There would be a total of three of us. Do you think you could squeeze us into a corner somewhere?” Scott pretended to gag, but Leo shushed him. “Awesome, you’re the best! What’s your name? Sheila? I’ll send over an autographed team pic. Thank you so much for your kind assistance.” He hung up the phone and smirked at Scott. “Like putty in my hands, my friend.”
    “Yeah, yeah.” Scott rose, his heart lighter than it had been in days.