Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 121734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
The next body that crushed me in a hug was…I wasn’t even sure, but they were big and beefy and smelled like alcohol and sweat. He stepped back and—it was Meester?
His grin was sloppy and he shook his head. “You’re not allowed to go anywhere else. You can’t work for any other team anymore. K?” He crushed me back to him before Tyler cleared his throat pointedly. Meester stepped away, shooting him a rueful glance. “We still need you.” His gaze returned to me. “And this man obviously needs you. Lost his shit when you left the locker room, and his play sucked ass. We’ll get them on Friday. Don’t worry. I’m more than ready to be assertive. I mean, I’m not playing, and I was terrible today, but I’ll be ready for Friday from the bench. I’ll open the door like no other backup goalie ever has.” His eyes grew misty. “You helped me with that.”
“Okay. That’s enough from you, buddy.” Sunny came next, and he extricated me from Meester.
Tyler gave him a look of thanks.
Sunny nodded to him and gave me a tender hug. “It’s good seeing you back, and everything Meester said, except the goalie-specific things. Ditto from me.” He jerked his head in Tyler’s direction. “We do kinda need you to keep this one grounded. He’s our ace player.”
“Aces,” Meester whispered next to us, a wasted smile on his face.
“Move. Move. Everyone, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!”
Sunny was shoved aside. They tried moving Meester, but he wasn’t having it. He barely batted an eyelash, so the person darted around the side, and Eric launched himself at me for the second time tonight.
“We already loved on you at your hot boss’s suite, but you have left us alone too long with all these hockey players.” He scowled, but he started laughing and it gave way to a blinding smile. “Thank you so much. That’s been the best holiday gift ever. Also,” he whispered into my ear, “Please tell me Jesse Ray swings both ways. Is he a secret bi-baby? Can I get his number?”
Paul had accompanied him, and he now shook his head at Eric, though he also gave Jesse a heated once-over. Feeling the attention, Jesse frowned, giving Tyler a questioning look before offering me a small wave.
Tyler leaned in. “Some of my old teammates are here. I’m going to go say hi. You good?”
Eric was still hugging me, and now Meester was jabbing at his shoulder. “You gotta share. No keepsies, dude. Little dude. Little pretty dude?”
Eric stiffened. “Little pretty dude?”
Meester got him with a lopsided grin. “You know.” He patted him on the head. “You’re, like, compact size.”
“I am not compact size,” Eric growled, and he let me go to step up to Meester. “Take that back.”
Meester stared down at him, confused. “What’d I say?”
Someone tugged me to the side, where more players waited to hug me.
“Don’t do that again. Just. Don’t,” Bruge said.
When he released me, Jesse was next. “Do I want to know what the looks were for?”
I shook my head. “No. Probably not unless you’re open to men. If so, I think there are some willing to help you experiment.”
Paul flashed me a knowing grin and winked at Jesse. “You just name the place.”
I clocked the shiver that went through Jesse. “Uh…” He swallowed. “I—I’ve never, I mean—girls. I like girls. Women. I—what’s going on?”
Paul laughed, banking some of the heat in his gaze before nudging Jesse out of the way. “Move aside, hot stuff.”
Eric and Meester were still bickering on the other side of me.
Paul hugged me. “You look like you’ve had a night.”
He stepped back, and my fingers curled into his shoulders for a moment before letting him go. Paul was much more reserved than Eric, I was finding out. I was getting to know them, and it wasn’t uncomfortable. I released a ball of nerves that had been in my stomach since we entered Halbrechts. “I have, but it’s been a good night.” A really good night.
A few more of the players came over. Brick had already left, but I’d see him and the rest of them on Friday or for Thanksgiving. I needed to talk to Tyler about that, because we had a couple different invitations.
Or. Wait—was I just assuming I’d be going to Thanksgiving with Tyler? No, Skylar had asked me.
Old worries tugged at me, pulling me into uncertainty. Tyler was across the room, talking with Nolan Everwood and some other players from New York. As if feeling my attention, his gaze shifted, finding mine. His eyes darkened, and he tilted his head to the side, lifting his eyebrows in question.
Was I all right?
I couldn’t answer.
I closed my eyes, because I wanted to pull away. Right now. All these people were too much. They were saying such nice things to me, but suddenly I wasn’t comfortable. I’d grown up in the shadows, and now I was in the spotlight, and I was making assumptions about the future, and I—he loves me.