Pucking Sweet: An MMF Workplace Hockey Romance (Jacksonville Rays Book 3)
Pucking Sweet: Chapter 18

Alcohol hums through my body, loosening the tension in my muscles and making me feel all floaty. Club music thumps as colored lights flash pink, blue, and green. I lean over the bar, palms flat against the polished wood, and finish my story for Tina. I have to yell to be heard. “And then he told me he’ll be seeing me at the wedding, holding my sister’s bouquet, watching as all her—meaning my—dreams come true!”

Tina pauses in the pouring of a third glass of merlot. Her face is a mask of shock and horror. “Shut up. He did not.”

“He did,” I say, taking another sip of my third Jax Ray.

Tina sets the wine bottle down. “These people, man, I swear to fucking god. Well, you are not going to that wedding, Pop. Period.”

I roll my eyes and finish my drink. Tina knows me, perhaps better than anyone. We grew up together. It’s a charming, All-American story of the personal chef’s troubled kid bonding with the lonely middle child of the millionaire political lobbyist. Christina and her mom lived in the apartment above our garage for eleven years.

Our lives were always destined for different paths, but we keep in touch as much as we’re able. I was so glad I was able to get the Rays in here tonight. As part-owner of this club, she gets the good publicity and the packed club, and I get some wholesome press coverage, showing off the fun side of the team.

I’m extra glad she’s here tonight after that lunch today. She knows all my family drama. She was even a witness to some of it—like the time my brother pushed Dick Cheney’s grandson into a pool, and we all thought Mom was going to get in a slap fight with Lynne.

Tina delivers the merlots down to the end of the bar and comes back.

“How can I not go?” I shout, clutching my now-empty glass. “Tina, she’s my sister.”

She grabs a quartet of shot glasses and lines them up, pulling out a bottle of tequila. “Yeah, she’s your spoiled little witch of a sister who slept with your ex for two fucking years and didn’t tell you.”

I sit up a little straighter on my stool, anger coursing through me, making my body feel like it’s vibrating. “Yeah.”

“Yeah,” she echoes, filling the shot glasses.

“Heck yeah.”

“Fuck yeah!”

“I’m not going,” I declare.

“Good.” She slides the shots over to the guy on my left, who passes them around to his friends, leaving her a generous tip.

“I’m serious, Tina. I’m not going to that wedding. Vi will just have to replace someone else to hold her stupid bouquet!”

“Damn fuckin’ straight.” She hurries off to fill a few more drinks, leaving me with my glass of ice and cherries. I pop a few bar peanuts in my mouth, enjoying the salty taste. When she returns, she picks up a rag and begins wiping down some glasses. “So, what was it like to see him again?”

“Tina!” The hipster-looking bartender waves her down. “I could use a little help over here!”

“Give me a minute,” she shouts back.

Meanwhile, I’m shaking my head, popping a few more peanuts in my mouth. “Tina, it was awful. I heard his voice, and I got literal chills.” I run my hands down my forearms, remembering the feeling. “He touched me, and it took everything in me not to flinch.”

“I can imagine,” she says, her pierced lips pursed.

“I can’t believe I ever actually considered marrying him.”

“You dodged a bullet, Pop.”

I look down at the little silver dish of peanuts. “He told me I was gonna die alone.”

Tina slaps down her bar towel. “No.”

“Yeah, apparently I’m insufferable, and I’ll be alone forever.”

Her dark eyes flash with rage. I know if Anderson were here, she’d knee him where it hurts. “That’s ridiculous. Poppy, you’re a catch. Any man would be lucky to have you.”

I just shrug, popping a few more peanuts in my mouth. “Well…”

Tina leans over the bar. “I mean, you’ve moved on, right? Oh please, Poppy, tell me you’ve moved on—”

“Ohmygod,” I cry, leaning away. “Of course I have. Are you serious? Tina, I moved on from that relationship while I was still freaking in it. I was like a zombie by the end. Seriously, I think ‘Thriller’ was playing when I escaped the house and climbed in that getaway car—thanks for the keys, by the way.”

“You’re welcome.” But she’s not distracted by my humor. “And you know that’s not what I meant—”

“Tina!”

She growls and spins around. “Darius, if you can’t man the bar without me for two fucking minutes, I’m gonna fire you and hire a waiter robot, and I’m gonna dress it just like you in those stupid fucking glasses, and I’ll call it Better Darius!”

He grumbles but turns away.

I sink back on my stool, sliding my empty glass over to her. “I can’t keep distracting you while you’re working.”

She grabs my wrist. “No, Pop, hold on a sec.” I lift my face to look at her. Always a mistake. Christina Renoux can read me like a book. “You’ve moved on, right? By that, I mean you’ve been with other people since Anderson…right?”

Oh, goodness. Am I about to cry in this club? I shake my head, pulling away from her.

She sighs, letting me go. “Oh, Poppy. Why?”

I blink back my tears. “I guess he just made me feel so awful by the end, like it was a chore to love me, and like I wasn’t any good at it anyway.” I tuck my hair back behind my ears. “I’ve just been, you know, handling it myself.”

“Oh, Pop.”

I look up to see tears rimming Tina’s eyes and a surge of frustration races through me. “Don’t you ‘Oh, Pop’ me!”

“For three years, Poppy? You’ve been feeling this way, and you didn’t tell me?”

I slap both my hands down on the bar and lean forward. “Yes, okay? I’m sad and lonely and damaged, and I’m running out of new ways to give myself pleasure. Happy, Miss Nosey?”

“I swear, I am gonna kill that guy.”

“Don’t bother. He’s marrying my sister. Vi will be torture enough for three lifetimes.”

We both smile, then we’re laughing. It takes us a minute to recover.

“Alright, new game plan.” She grabs a shot glass and fills it with tequila. “You’re gonna take this, you’re gonna down it, and then you’re gonna go out there and replace something pretty to dance up on.” She points over my shoulder out to the dance floor.

“Tina, no—”

“Yes. Time to clean off those cobwebs, girl.”

“Tina!”

“You are gonna have sex with a man. Tonight.”

I look down at the little shot of tequila, heart racing. “Tina, you’re crazy. This is a work function. My players are here. I can’t do this now—”

“Do you wanna die alone?”

I go still as stone. Oh, she did not just go there. Slowly, I lift my gaze to glare at her.

She raises a pierced brow. “Too soon?”

I just shake my head. “You’re a real bitch, you know that?”

She grins. It flexes her cheek piercings, making the little diamonds glint in the strobe lights. “Just think of me as your shoulder devil. Now, drink the shot, Poppy.”

Something new is buzzing in my chest. Oh god, is this excitement? Am I really doing this? No, this is crazy. I am not having sex with a stranger tonight. Period.

Oh, yes, I am.

Tina’s right. It’s time to move on for real. I’m done living in the past. I’m done hiding and being scared. “Fuck it.” I snatch up the shot glass.

“Down the hatch!”

I shoot the tequila, slapping the glass down with a gasp. “Ooh, it burns!” I slide the glass over to her. “I’m doing this.”

“You’re doing him.” She points over my shoulder.

I turn around to see a pretty blond guy chatting nearby with a few friends. He has a millennial feel, like he may be corporate level, but at a firm where they believe in “open walls” and “fostering a hive mind.” He’s not really my type, but does that matter for a one-night stand? He’s pretty and he’s here and, if he’s willing, for one night only I’m saying yes.

Screw it. I am saying hell yes.

I swivel back around, nervous excitement surging through me. Grinning at Tina, I slide my clutch across the bar. “Hold my purse,” I shout.

“Go get ’em, tiger!”

Hopping off the barstool, I quickly adjust my dress, checking to make sure everything is where it should be. God, I haven’t approached a man like this since college. Do I even remember what to do? I flick my hair behind me and roll my shoulders. No thinking. No second-guessing. Tonight, I’m just doing.

I turn for one last nod of approval from Tina. “Right, I’m gonna go get my body slammed.”

She cackles as I turn away. “That’s my girl. Go knock his socks off. And don’t forget to use a condom!”