Page 80 of Shift Change

He rubbed a hand over his face. “Jesus, Nate.”

“What? I’m just saying, if there were a league skills competition for whatever the hell that was, we’d be in the All-Star Game.”

Groaning, he rolled his eyes. “Please, for the love of God, donotstart ranking our performance.”

I waggled my eyebrows. “Oh, come on, Dog. If we’re keeping stats, I think you led in shots on goal.”

He huffed. “I hate you.” The heated glance he gave me suggested otherwise.

I chuckled, my heart giving a stupid little lurch when his fingers brushed mine.

We lay there grinning like idiots, trying—and failing—to act normal, both of us wide open and stunned, scrambling for words to explain something we didn’t know how to talk about.

“Can I kiss you?” I asked.

“You’d better.” His shy smile wrecked me. “I miss your lips.”

Pushing up on an elbow, I leaned in and brushed my mouth over his. I hoped it told him how much he meant to me.

He hummed against my lips and cupped my cheek, pulling me back in for a real kiss. It was sweet and slow, and I supposed it was the kind of kiss you gave someone after letting them see every raw piece of you. After the way we’d torn each other apart and put ourselves back together, this simple, reverent kiss felt like everything.

I was deepening it when the doorbell rang.

“The fuck?”

“Were you expecting someone?” he asked.

The bell rang again.

“No,” I said. “Let’s ignore it because I’d really like a second round.”

Someone started pounding on the front door.

BAM. BAM. BAM. BAM. BAM.

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, sitting up as the knocking turned into full-blown siege warfare. BAM BAM BAM. “Who the fuck is trying to break into our house?”

Chuck pulled a pillow over his head and groaned. “Maybe if we ignore them, they’ll go away.”

The pounding grew even louder.

“Maybe if Imurderthem, they’ll go away.” I launched myself out of bed, yanking a T-shirt over my head and grabbing a pair of workout shorts off a chair. Fuck if I was putting in any effort for whoever this was. I’d open the door, tell them to fuck off, and be back in bed before Chuck had time to go piss.

“Don’t move,” I told him. “Be right back.”

I ran down the hall as the pounding turned into a full-on drumline. By the time I reached the foyer, I expected to find a SWAT team outside. I flung open the door, ready to verbally annihilate whoever thought this was acceptable behavior. The SWAT team would have been preferable to what I found.

Riley yelled like he was trying to be heard in Japan. “What took you so long? We were starting to think you two got permanently lost in each other’s eyes.”

I froze. And blinked. Then froze again.

There were so many of them. Riley, Logan, Packy, Harpy, Richie, Gabe, Brody, Nels… And Abby. Why the fuck was Abby here?

Logan grinned, and I already knew I’d kill him in his sleep one day. “You missed morning skate.”

“It was optional,” I said. “In case you don’t know the word, it means not required.”

He chuckled. “You still missed it, so we thought we’d stop by and make sure you were both alive.”

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