Pucking Sweet: An MMF Workplace Hockey Romance (Jacksonville Rays Book 3)
Pucking Sweet: Chapter 37

It’s after midnight, and I’m stretched out shirtless on my hotel bed, icing my knees. SportsCenter is playing on the TV, recapping the highlights of all tonight’s various games. That’s the good thing about sports: every sport, every day, someone wins, and someone loses.

Well, the Rays lost big-time tonight. Honestly, it was embarrassing. Thank god for Sully and that last-minute goal, or it would’ve been a shutout. After the game, Coach informed us that Mars will be out of the net for the next two games, at least. They’re getting him checked out for a possible groin pull.

I groan, shifting the pack of ice from my left knee over to my right. Groin pulls are no joke. A third-degree pull derailed the start of my NHL career. I lost over half a season of ice time as I rehabbed it.

Knock. Knock.

Someone’s at my door after midnight? I roll to my side, reaching for my phone. If it’s a Ray, they usually text ahead. I don’t have any missed texts or calls.

“Come on, bud. Open the door,” Novy calls.

Fuck. I don’t want to deal with him right now. “I’m asleep,” I bark.

“No, you’re not,” he calls through the door. “You’re watching SportsCenter recaps and icing your damn knees.”

I glance from the ice pack on my knee to the TV. We always roomed together in the Juniors, so the fucker knows all my routines.

“Come on, Cole. Just let me in. I gotta piss.”

Muttering a curse, I toss my ice pack on the bedside table and swing my legs off the bed. I cross over to the door and throw the bolt, pulling the door open. “What?”

He’s leaning against the door wearing a pair of checkered pajama pants and an unzipped Rays hoodie. It’s on inside out. The asshole isn’t wearing any shoes. “For a minute there, I contemplated knocking on that door instead,” he says, gesturing with a thumb over his shoulder. “Sounds like they’re having way more fun.”

I follow the line of his point. It only takes a second to catch on. The walls between the rooms must be thick because I haven’t heard a peep out of my neighbors all night. The doors, not so much. “Oh shit,” I mutter. “Jeez, it sounds like a porn set over there.”

“Yup. Whose room is that?”

“Jake’s,” I reply.

“Shoulda figured. Is that Doc in there with him again?”

“Probably.”

He grins at me. “Wait, you know too?”

“Yeah, I caught them kissing a couple weeks ago. It looked like it was getting carnal, so I made myself scarce.”

He chuckles. “Clever having his sneaky link travel with the team—”

“Wait, shut up.” I raise a hand at him.

“What?”

I point at the door. “There’s a third person in there.”

He glances over his shoulder. “Two girls at once? Nice. Doc didn’t seem like the sharing type but—”

“No, I just heard another guy.”

He raises a brow in surprise. Then, like the nosy assholes we are, we cross over to Jake’s door. I flip my door latch out first to stop it from closing. Then I lean in next to Novy, my hand on his shoulder as we listen in like teenagers.

After a few seconds, he gasps. “It’s Sanny.”

The sound is muffled, but I think I can hear it. Yeah, that definitely sounds like Sanford. I grunt as Novy snags me by the arm, dragging me back across the hall. “Hey, getoff—”

“We need to talk,” he says, shoving me inside my room.

I shut my door, watching him stumble over to the mini bar. “Are you drunk?”

“I was drunk. Now I’m just lightly toasted.” He grabs a six-dollar bottle of FIJI water. Twisting off the cap, he downs half of it. “You got any food?”

“There’s some jerky and peanuts in my backpack. Front pocket.” I make my way over to the bed and sit, gingerly placing the ice pack on my aching knee. Novy rustles around in my bag, tugging out the big bag of granola from the main compartment. I sit up. “I said you could have the peanuts, asshole.”

He digs out a handful of granola and shoves it in his mouth. After a few chews, he groans. “God, this is so fucking good.” He turns to me, holding up the bag. “It’s so sweet and nutty. Did you make this, bud?”

I glare at him. “Poppy made it.”

He blinks twice, swallowing his mouthful. Grabbing the bottle of water, he downs the rest. It’s shockingly curative. His gaze sharpens and he stops swaying like a reed. Glancing down, he plucks at his hoodie. “Is this on inside out?”

“And you have no shoes on.”

He wiggles his toes on the hotel carpet. “I think I left them in my shower.”

I can’t help but smile. “That’s a good place for them.”

He plops himself on the end of my bed. “We need to talk about Poppy.”

I tense, moving the ice pack from my knee up to my elbow. The icy coolness feels good against my aching joints. “I don’t want to talk about her with you.”

“Well, we have to talk about her because I’m not gonna do this.”

“Do what?”

“Lose you.”

I gaze across the bed at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You were here first, Cole. You’re one of the only guys in this whole league who genuinely cares about me. I mean, do you know how many people texted me on my birthday last year?” He holds up two fingers. “That’s right, you and my lawn care service. But they were only offering me a coupon for five dollars off my next mow. Happy fucking birthday to me, right?”

Jesus, that’s depressing.

“Well, you don’t make it easy for the guys to know you,” I say. “I mean, you say we’re close, but I’ve never even seen the new place where you’re living.”

“You’re not missing anything, trust me. It’s a four-bedroom beach house with exactly three pieces of furniture: a bed, a couch, and a TV.”

“Why don’t you hire a decorator? A lot of the guys do.”

He just shrugs. “No point. I don’t care enough to decorate.”

“So, you’re just going to live in a big empty house with nothing but a bed and a couch? Won’t you be here for, like, six years?”

“If they keep me. They could trade me away if they really wanted to. There’s always a back door, an emergency valve.”

“Perfect philosophy for a guy who’s always on the run,” I muse.

He glares at me. “Yeah, well, I’ve had a lot of shit worth running from in my life, Cole.”

I adjust the ice pack on my elbow. “Have you ever found anything worth running to?”

He looks quickly away. “No.”

I sigh, leaning back. “You’re lying.”

“Well, I can’t just come out and fucking say it, can I? I told you, Coley. I don’t wanna lose you. I’d rather know that the only two people I care about are together than know my selfishness drove all three of us apart. So, I’m gonna help you win her over.”

“You don’t have to do this—”

“I want to,” he presses. “I want you both to be happy.”

I raise a brow at him. “Even if it costs you your own happiness?”

He just shrugs again. “I’ve never been happy. Why start now?”

“Nov—”

“Wait, scratch that.” He holds up a hand, deep in thought for a moment. Then he smiles and snaps his fingers. “When Canada went all the way to the gold medal stand in the 2014 Olympics. I watched every game and cried like a baby. I was happy then.”

My mind hums as I take in all this new information. I’ve always liked Novy. He’s fun and funny, and he has a great nose for sniffing out cool restaurants. He’s also a damn hard worker. He’ll be the first guy in the gym and the last off the ice. It’s been nice to play on the same team again.

But I won’t deny it shocked the hell out of me when he told me I was his emergency contact. For all the time we’ve spent together, it’s always been at work or with the other guys. Does he really have no one else? I can’t imagine not having my mom and my sisters in my life to look out for me and be ready to take that call if it came.

Well, for better or worse, I’m in Novy’s life now. So long as we’re both Rays, I’m his person. This bullshit with Poppy aside, I’m the one who’s gonna step in and give a damn about him. My gaze softens a little as I take him in, looking so pathetic in his inside out hoodie. “What did you have in mind, Nov?”

He digs his hand back into the bag of granola. “Well, for starters, I think you need to play harder to get.”

I grind my teeth. “I don’t want to play hard to get. I want her to fucking come and get me.”

He nods, swallowing the granola. “Yeah, and you can think that, and you can say it to me all you want. But you don’t say that to anyone else—especially her.”

I wave a hand in frustration. “Why can’t I tell her that I want her more than anything? Why can’t I tell her that she’s all I fucking think about?”

He groans, zipping the granola bag shut. “God, you are too Leo to function.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means you’re scaring her off, bud. She’s not ready to hear you talk about love and babies and weddings in Aruba.”

“How do you know?”

“Because she told me.”

I sit up, jostling my ice pack. “When the fuck did you talk to her?”

“At the benefit. You know, the one you volunteered us both to attend and then boycotted?”

Yeah, that was a shitty day. Speaking of emergency contacts, I got a call from someone at the hospital in Orlando saying my mom slipped and fell, cracked her head pretty good. They discharged her with a mild concussion, but she needed someone to monitor her overnight. What was I supposed to do, not help my own mother?

“I told you I had a family emergency.”

Novy snorts. “Yeah, which sounds like a flimsy fucking excuse. Pop didn’t buy it.”

“What do you mean she didn’t buy it?”

“She ran off all upset,” he replies. “I had to chase her down. It was a whole thing. But look—she wore this red dress and looked like Jessica Rabbit.” He pulls his phone out and flashes me a picture.

“Fuck me,” I mutter.

“Right?” He slips his phone back in his pocket. “If your excuse was legit, you should tell her. She thinks you don’t want her anymore.”

I sigh, adjusting the ice pack on my elbow. “Well, if she’s not ready for confessions of love, then what is she ready for?”

“She’s ready to come and get it—and by that, I mean your dick.” He points to my crotch.

“Nov—”

“Hey, I am not wrong about this. Underneath the business suits, she’s like a tiny blonde sex cheetah. Stop trying to wife her up and just let her get to know you. Dial back the Leo and date the girl. We’re talking flowers, favorite foods, naked massages.” He lists each thing out on his fingers. “And make sure she knows there are no strings attached. Just casual fun.”

“Casual fun? You want me to treat her like a bunny?”

“Honestly, maybe,” he says with a laugh. “She may not be ready to marry you, but she’s definitely ready to keep riding your train, if you know what I mean.”

“The wallpaper knows what you mean,” I mutter.

“Well, the sex was working, right?” He looks my way, waiting for my response. “Oh god, please tell me the sex was working. Because if you tell me she was just okay, I’m gonna push you out that goddamn window, and wife her up myself. Our sex was fucking volcanic—”

“I don’t want to hear about your sex.”

Lie. I’m getting hard trying not to picture it. It’s a total mindfuck.

“But it was good, right?”

I lean back against the headboard again. “It was good, Nov. God, it was so fucking good. I can’t stop thinking about it. I am so completely fucked.”

“That bad, huh?”

I toss my ice pack onto the bedside table. “Worse. Fantasizing about her for two years was already torture enough. Now that I’ve tasted the real thing? I want more, even as I know I’ll never get enough. But then I had to go and shove that stupid ultimatum in her face.” I groan, burying my face in my hands.

Novy’s quiet for a moment. “Yeah, why did you do that?”

Dropping my hands, I glare at him. “Because I had to. She can’t just date us both, right? Unlike Jake and Sanny, I don’t share.”

He nods. “Yeah, totally get that. Neither do I, but I’ve also never been in this position before.”

“What position is that?”

“The position where the only woman I’ve ever wanted to spend more than one night with wants me, but she also wants the only man who wishes me a ‘Happy Birthday.’”

The mood in this hotel room shifts. Suddenly, it’s like a goddamn confessional. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, well, just listen across the hall.” He waves his hand at the door. “It can be done, Cole. You know, with the right people. Are you really that opposed to sharing her with me? I mean, if it’s what she wanted,” he adds quickly. “Like, if she made it clear it would make her happy, would you still never even consider?”

“I don’t share,” I say again.

He nods, shifting off the bed. “Yeah. Got it. Fuck you too.”

“Nov,” I call at his back.

He glances over his shoulder.

“When I say I don’t share, I mean to say I’ve never shared.”

Slowly, his face breaks into a grin. “Well, neither have I.”

“That cannot possibly be fucking true.”

He chuckles. “I know, right? But I’m telling the truth.”

Are we actually having this conversation? I’d be lying if I said my fucked-up head wasn’t already taking me there in my dreams. I’ve been picturing them together for the last few weeks. While my first reaction was to growl and rage and feel like a possessive fucking caveman, there’s no denying I was turned on.

Now, Lukas Novikov is standing in my hotel room with no shoes on, hoodie inside out, strongly hinting that he’d like to be in the room while I casually fuck our PR director, all of us pretending I don’t want to put a ring on her finger. He says she’s not ready for forever. Based on the radio silence from her this week, I’m inclined to believe him.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe I need to recalibrate my approach.

And if I had to share her with someone, Lukas would at least be entertaining. And it’s not like I haven’t already seen him naked a thousand times, so there’d be no surprises…

“I don’t want to hurt Poppy,” I say.

“Good. I don’t want to hurt Poppy either.”

“We don’t even know if this is what she wants,” I go on. “Maybe she just wants to date us separately. I mean, could you handle that? Could you know I’m with her when you’re not? Know I’m touching her and laughing with her and fucking her behind your back?”

He’s quiet for a moment. “Honestly? Yeah, I think I could.”

“Why?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be behind my back, would it? And you’re a good guy, Cole. She could do a heck of a lot worse than date a guy like you.” His smile turns to a grin. “She could date an asshole like me.” Fumbling with his hoodie, he tries to zip it up while it’s still inside out. “Fuck, I’m so tired.”

“Well, you can’t sleep in here. Sharing my girl is crazy enough. I’m not sharing my pillows.” Slipping off the bed, I follow him to the door.

He gets it open, and we both pause. Across the hall, muffled sex noises are still humming beyond Jake’s closed door. Novy grins. “Sharing sounds rather lively, doesn’t it?”

I sigh, giving him a push. “Goodnight, Nov. Don’t walk into traffic in your bare feet, yeah?”

“This isn’t over,” he says as he walks away. “I have no intention of letting either of you go.”

On that note, I shut my door, muffling the sounds coming from Jake’s room.

To own the truth, I’ve had my suspicions about those three for weeks. Jake and Rachel have been obvious from the start, even before I caught them kissing. And the guys have always joked about Jake and Sanny and their “domestic life partner” situation. Is she with them both? Are they finally with each other?

I’ll admit, I know nothing about threesomes. It’s never interested me. I always thought I was too jealous to share my partner. Even now, if I think of Poppy with some random guy, I see fucking red. But at some point in all this, when I pictured her with Novy, my curiosity started outweighing my jealousy.

God, are we crazy for even considering this?

I bolt my door, locking myself inside the hotel room. I’m exhausted from the game, but I’m wired too, alive with sudden and surprising possibility. Alone in my bed, I turn out all the lights, lie back, and let my imagination run wild. For the first time in weeks, I don’t try to keep those mental doors shut. I walk right through them.

I come in record time, my warm release filling my fist with Poppy’s sweet name like a prayer on my lips…and Novy’s hands on my hips.