Chapter Nine

Natalie didn’t expect LaCroix to welcome her with a hug or anything, but she had expected her not to be an asshole in front of her boss. Clearly, she’d been wrong. But Natalie wasn’t a freshman anymore. She wasn’t intimidated in the presence of the hockey princess the way she had been when she’d walked into their locker room in college. Back then, she’d been more than happy to be anywhere near Darcy.

Now, she was older, wiser, and still a little pissed off that her best option right now was talking about the Olympics instead of playing in them.

After the tour, if you could even call it that, Natalie and Darcy ended up in another studio. This one had a Ping-Pong table set up in the middle. Natalie walked over to it and picked up one of the paddles and started bouncing the ball on it.

“Wanna play?” she asked, knowing there was no way that Darcy would pass up a chance to compete.

Darcy grabbed a paddle from the other end of the table. “Is this all a game for you?”

“Ping-Pong? Yes. It is literally a game.”

Darcy glared. “You know that’s not what I meant. Are you here because you actually want to be on TV or is this a joke to you?”

Natalie sent the ball to Darcy, catching her momentarily off guard. Darcy returned the ball but it caromed off the table. Natalie picked it up and served again. This time Darcy returned it easily and they fell into the rhythm of a rally.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Darcy frowned. “That’s not what I was asking. This is my job and I want to know if you’re going to swoop in here and fuck around because it doesn’t matter to you.”

Natalie snagged the ball out of the air with one hand. “Jesus, it’s always about you, isn’t it?” She shook her head. “Whether I’m here because I think this is a hilarious joke or because I want to be the next Rachel Maddow doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Oh, in that case. God forbid someone upset the princess. I’m not going to ruin your job, LaCroix. From the looks of it you need me for this just as much as I need you.”

“What?” Darcy asked, clearly sending the ball whizzing back at Natalie a little harder than she meant to.

“This whole thing only works if they get us to be rivals on the screen. They want the whole Canada-USA thing. So, if you’re trying to run me off, you might want to think twice. Because I don’t think they’re going to put you on that screen without me.”

Natalie smashed the ball across the net and past Darcy. The ball smacked against the wall behind Darcy and skittered across the floor.

Darcy dropped her paddle on the table and walked out. Natalie put her paddle down and found a chair off to the side of the room. Fuck. How did she let Darcy get under her skin so quickly? They’d been friends once. They’d been something else, too. Something more. That was a long time ago, so long it felt like a whole other life. But they’d been in the same room for less than two hours and they were already at each other’s throats and smacking Ping-Pong balls at each other.

Maybe this wasn’t going to work so well after all.

Natalie forced herself not to run her hand through her hair. She’d had people fixing it all morning for the screen test and she did not want to have to sit through that again because Darcy bleeping LaCroix—she was trying to cut down on the swearing—was the most frustrating woman on the planet. No, she could keep her shit together, even if Darcy couldn’t.

Raquel walked in as Natalie was picking up the Ping-Pong balls they’d scattered around the room. She had Darcy with her. Darcy had the fierce look of a teenager told to behave by a parent. Natalie suppressed a smile. It was petty as hell, but she loved knowing she’d gotten under Darcy’s skin. Served her right for being such an arrogant asshole.

Raquel pointed to the cameras. “We want the two of you to watch this clip of the segment we did during the last Olympics. Chip learned how to play from one of the Team USA players. Then I want to see you improv a segment around what you’ve learned about playing table tennis.” Natalie gave her a confused look. “I know this isn’t exactly what you’ll be doing if we go forward with the segment, but we don’t happen to have a bobsled track in the building. This is the best we can do.”

Natalie looked at Darcy, who was standing at the other end of the table. “Ready?”

“I’m always ready to kick your ass, Carpenter.”