Page 62 of One Pucking Heart

BECKETT

This is a bye week unlike any other, and I can’t say I hate it, and it’s all courtesy of my wife. She found this stunning property in Texas, of all places. There were some initial grumbles, and admittedly, I was one of the ones complaining. In the past, our one week off in January, our bye week, has been spent at an exotic destination and in a luxury mansion. There’s been a revolving door of women, tons of alcohol, lots of sex, and loads of fun.

Truthfully, except for the revolving door of women, all those things, at least for me, are still true. Elena came up with the idea to treat the entire Crane organization and their families to a luxury vacation, all expenses paid—also courtesy of my rich-ass wife. Everyone came from the entire team and their loved ones to the accounting, PR, and human resources staff and their families. Remarkably, she even got my parents here.

She presented it as a weeklong celebration of our marriage since we never had a reception.

We’ve accomplished a lot in the last three months. My boys and I have maintained a winning season and are on target to make it to the playoffs. Elena and I bought a gorgeous house a few blocks from Cade and Iris and my parents, where we’re going to raise our family.

Her father’s mansion has been cleaned out and is being renovated. Elena is turning it into a home for pregnant and single moms to stay. The home will be stocked with food, toiletries, a room of professional attire that can be worn to interviews, a room full of children’s clothing in all sizes, a computer lab with an instructor where several online courses, including one to help women earn their high school diploma, and lots of play areas for the kids that are fully staffed with childcare. The place she ran from in order to keep her child is now going to shelter those needing help to build a better life for theirs. It’s a beautiful vision, and I’m so proud of her.

She’s hired a handful of wonderful people to run the charities and businesses of Cortez Industries for her. She doesn’t have plans to step down as the team doctor for the Cranes. She loves her job and wants to keep it. Selfishly, I’m glad. The only thing I love more than hockey is my wife, so getting to spend every day with both is a perfect life.

We decided not to redo the wedding. In all fairness, our Vegas one was perfect and something we’ll always remember. So when she suggested turning bye week into a vacation celebrating us, I couldn’t say no. Though I think it had less to do with us and was more an excuse to treat everyone we love to a special week.

This place has everything. The property has three mansions, one which is occupied by the players and is more lively. One is reserved for families with children. And the third is secretly called the old people’s pad, which is reserved for everyone’s parents. There are five pools, a golf course, a mini-golf course, a bumper car pad, a tennis and basketball court, and stables where we can ride horses. There’s a huge kid’s play area by the house where the families are staying that has every contraption a playground could have, including an area with a bunch of inflatable bouncy houses.

In the middle of it all is a common area, a huge patio with seating, tables, a fireplace, and a bar. It’s covered by a roof held up by beams leaving the place open to the outdoors. Next to the patio is the largest pool on the estate. During the day, we all go there to grill out, play cards, and be together.

At night, the guys can retreat to the team’s mansion and partake in any shenanigans they see fit.

“I’m calling it.” Bash throws the remainder of his chips into the center of the table and smirks in Ariana’s direction. “Alright, show us what you’ve got.”

Ari smiles and lays out her hand. “Four kings! Beat that, Cookie!”

“Dammit.” Bash throws his cards down. He grumbles, “Monster,” under his breath.

Dreven sighs and tosses his hand onto the table as well.

“What about you, stepdad?” Ariana teases.

I slide my straight flush into a pile and place it face down on the table, my hand over the top of it. “You won it all. Congrats.”

She raises her hands in the air and shrieks, celebrating the massive pot of money she won. Things between Ari and me have been great lately, and I don’t want to rock the boat. As competitive as I am, I want Elena’s daughter to like me more than I want to win a game of poker.

“Yeah, I’m heading in,” Dreven states, pushing away from the table.

“Me too,” I say.

I stand just as Bash reaches for my cards. “Let me see your cards.”

Jerking my hand out, I mix the cards around with some others on the table. “I had a three-of-a-kind. Uh, nines.”

“You’re lying.” He scoffs.

I shrug. “I guess we’ll never know. Good game.”

I find Elena sitting in a lounge chair, reading a book on her Kindle. She’s wearing a lacy cover-up over her bathing suit. Votive candles on the table beside her give her skin a warm glow. She is absolutely beautiful. At three months pregnant, she really isn’t showing yet. But just knowing that she’s carrying our baby makes her hotter than ever. “You ready to go in?”

She looks up and smiles. “Do you want to drive around for a bit? Kiss under the full moon?”

My lips tug up at the sides. “Well, I’ll never turn that down an invitation like that.”

I extend a hand and pull her up.

A line of golf carts is parked past the main guesthouse. The estate is big, so they’ve come in handy getting from place to place. We make our way to the one without a top. The owners of this place apologized, saying the last renters flipped the cart and broke its top off. They’ve ordered a replacement, but it’s on back order, so they couldn’t fix it before our stay. But the topless golf cart is our favorite. It allows us to stargaze on our rides at night.

“Do you want to drive?” I ask.

---