Page 27 of Puck, Marry, Thrill

“Jamie,” he began softly, feeling something melt inside of him. “Pick one, and let me handle it.”

“Kenneth…”

“Don’t make me guess,” he chuckled softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Lime green?”

“Ew, no…” she retorted and hesitated, meeting his eyes.

“What?”

“Hug,” she blurted out – and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly almost like she needed someone or something to ground her to make any of this believable. She was insecure when it came to her, but if it was him or Zachary? The woman was invincible and would conquer worlds without hesitation.

“I just need something cheap to get around,” she whispered shyly.

“My wife isn’t going to drive a jalopy,” he breathed softly, smoothing her hair. “I can let Zachary choose or…” and he felt her stiffen. “Do you want a truck like mine? You mentioned you liked trucks instead of Hot Wheels. Do you want something like that?”

He pulled back, looking at her nervous expression, and smiled.

“What color?” he whispered knowingly.

“Whatever your team colors are…”

“You take care of me… and I will take care of you,” he promised once again before kissing her on the cheek. An hour later, they left the dealership with two big, fully-loaded pickup trucks – his and hers GMC Denali 3500s. Jamie’s was a deep blue with tan interior. When he handed her the keys, complete with a flashy yet girly keychain, she was near tears again.

It rocked his very foundation to see how different she was from Candi, and maybe she was right about things. She had told him to ‘wipe his mental slate’ because thiswasnew, and he was doing just that.

He was trusting her, giving her every bit of faith within him, and putting himself out there once again, but this time it was different. Instead of worrying that something was going to go wrong, he found himself looking forward to what was going to happen next because it would be something that went right.

Everything was going right and frankly, it was about time.

“Guys, we’ve got another teammate who just arrived…” and Kenneth looked up – and took off toward the other side of the rink, laughing and smiling as he dropped his stick.

“Boucher!”

“Hey man…” Keith Boucher said in shock – a smile splitting his face. “They told me you’d signed.”

“Heck yeah, I did,” Kenneth grinned, hugging the man. “How are you?”

“Same,” Keith said warily – and Kenneth nodded, letting it drop. Keith and Kenneth were both on the same team when they entered the NHL but they had lost track of each other years ago. They had been friends; he’d seen him a few times on the ice, but that wasn’t the same, but now – now they were on the same team again.

“Dang, I’m so glad to have you here,” Kenneth grinned, clasping his hand. “Maybe you can tune out Acton’s snotty voice…”

“I heard that,” Acton called out.

“Never said you were deaf,” Kenneth tossed over his shoulder, making the skinny man before him laugh. “C’mon and suit up. You are gonna love this. When’d you get married?”

“This morning – and you?”

“A week or so ago,” Kenneth admitted; several men nearby burst out laughing knowingly. They weren’t alone in this desperate ploy, and word was spreading fast about the new team – and how particular they were about who they signed. He already knew of one person who’d taken to social media angry, bashing them because their agent was shot down immediately from even presenting a contract.

No troublemakers…

That made Kenneth look at his friend, Boucher, again. The man had a reputation, a smear on his name, which meant that he either played well enough to overlook it, took less money, or they had already started fishing around to see if things were actually as they had been presented online.

In fact, he was surprising Jamie with the keys to the house and they were moving in this weekend. Their things had arrived, and he’d had them put into storage – which frustrated Jamie. He was handling everything, coordinating everything, and honestly – it was a little funny to find out that his little bride who put her cold feet on him was a control freak.

She needed a hobby and something to fill her time… and then heard those magical words. The coach was talking to someone in a suit who just arrived in the building to watch them practice.

“Get someone to set up social media accounts,” the man in the suit instructed. “Get someone aggressive, happy, outgoing, and tech-savvy. I want the internet flooded with pictures, videos, and posts of…”

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