Page 10 of Empty Net

“It’s not a big deal.”

It really isn’t. Or at least, it didn’tfeellike a big deal until I talked to my mother. Now it’s taking everything I have not to overthink her words. Am I really going to become some lonely old woman if I don’t find someone to settle down with soon? I’m only thirty. That’s not old. But what if one year turns to two turns to five and then ten? What then?

I don’t know. All I know is that I don’twantto settle down. I still want fun. I still want no strings attached. Maybe even hot sex with a hot hockey player.

Ah, yes. That sounds likeexactlywhat I need right now.

“Fine, I’ll bite. Who’s single here?”

She bounces on her heels excitedly. “Well, there’s Locke.”

“That’s the guy with the slightly crooked nose, right?”

“To be fair, I think most of these guys have slightly crooked noses from taking pucks and sticks to the face.”

I chuckle. “Fair point.”

While Locke seems like a good guy, I’m not sure he’s my type. He seems too responsible, too family oriented. Sure, this is just for a night, but I don’t want to lead him on.

“Who else?” I ask.

“There’s Keller.”

“Mmm, perpetually pouty and grumpy Keller who is too good-looking for this world.”

“I might be a taken woman, but even I can admit he’s hot. Have you seen his eyes? It’s like looking into a bottle of bourbon or something. And those tattoos? Fucking swoon.”

“Right? But as hot as he is, he’s a little too grumpy for me. That’s more your style than mine.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” she says with a shrug, then continues to scan the room as more and more people pile in.

I know there are at least one or two other single guys on the team now that they’ve gotten divorced, but that’s baggage I don’t want to deal with. I want someone easy, someone chill. Someone more my speed who isn’t looking for anything more than what this is.

“Oh!” Auden exclaims, champagne splashing out of her glass. “Fox!”

“Fox?”

“Yeah. He’s single. He’s in the club, so he has to be, right?”

Ah, right. The “club.” The Serpents Singles, the group Hutch and his single teammates formed some time ago. I don’t know the particulars of it, just that it includes Hutch, Lawson, Hayes, Keller, Locke, and Fox, and three of them have already fallen victim to the love bug. Why they’re still part of a so-called singles club, I don’t know. But it’s kind of cute, all these guys using an excuse like that to be friends when all they’re really looking for is companionship.

Boys are weird.

But Fox…Fox is an option I can get behind. He’s definitely my type, and seeing him earlier tonight in that tux… Well, I’d like to see him out of it, too.

“You don’t still have a crush on him, do you?”

I rear my head back because this is certainly news to me. “Who the hell said I had a crush on him?”

“Rory.”

“Rory said what?”

The woman in question struts up to us, and I have to do a double take because seeing Rory out of her usual animal-hair-covered scrubs is always a shock, but seeing her look likethis? Well, color me surprised.

She’s wearing a floor-length black dress with just enough sparkle to it that it catches in the light. Her makeup is dark—I’m astounded she’s wearing any at all—and her long, dark hair is curled loosely around her shoulders. She’s a fucking knockout and looks nothing like the Rory I know and love.

“Stop looking at me like that or I swear I’m going to punch your tit.”

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