Page 32 of Dirty Puck

“Meet you there,” I said to Bishop before snagging Bree’s arm and pulling her in close. I bent in to whisper, “I’m paying, so you, Benny, and Miss Claudia get whatever you want. Understand? None of thischeapest thing on the menubullshit that women try to pull.”

Her face turned serious for a moment before she said, “Well, then I can promise you’ll get sex from the deal.” She smiled. I didn’t.

“That’s not funny. I don’t expect sex for dinners. When I fuck you, it’s because we both want to fuck, not because you think you owe me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” She shrugged. “I was just trying to be cheeky.”

While I had her there, I pulled her into a not-chaste kiss, keeping her pressed against me until she melted and I knew I had her. “Listen, I know this is difficult for you, so used to doing it all, but fake or not, you’re with me right now and I take care of you. It’s nothing that a real boyfriend wouldn’t do.”

Bree landed a kiss to my cheek, then turned to head toward Benny and Miss Claudia. But in true Bree fashion, she tossed a sassy “You are so getting laid tonight” over her shoulder.

I threw my head back and laughed—again.

It was becoming a regular thing, this laughing around her. The more time I spent with Bree, the more often it happened.

We got to the truck as Bishop and Jaycee were backing out of their spot and waved them off before I helped Miss Claudia into the back. Bree lifted Benny into his side and I’d never popped the locks.Note to self: remember to lock the fucking truck.With Bree on the brain, a man could forget a whole lot of shit, but the last thing I needed was for my ride to get jacked or to have some psycho stalker fan hide inside waiting for me. It’d happened to other players and I couldn’t risk Bree’s or Benny’s safety.

When we got to the restaurant, I quickly realized we were in for more than a simple dinner with a couple of teammates and their families. It was a Copperhead off-hours reunion, given the cars, trucks and SUVs of Bonner, Jones, Antonov, and Winstead. I didn’t know how Bree was going to react to this. She always had a friendly smile for the team and they all adored her, but we’d arranged this dinner between us and the Bishops.

“Heads-up, babe.” I pointed out each of the players’ cars. “Apparently, the dinner has grown. Bonner, Jones, Antonov, and Winstead. I had no idea about them being here.”

“Will you be okay showing up here with me and Benny? Will it make you uncomfortable?”

Me, uncomfortable? My only thoughts were of her and how she’d feel being thrust into this instead of taking the slower approach liked I’d planned. It was only a little more than a week ago that she’d been flirting with Antonov and Winstead in the locker room.

“I’m good. We’re dating now, remember? I just wanted you to know that Bishop must’ve invited the guys.”

When we walked in, the hostess’s eyes lit up right before she ushered us to a room off the back where they held parties. Okay, so it didn’t suck to have a room to ourselves. Bree and Benny stopped at my side while Miss Claudia hung back a little.

Jaycee waved. “Over here,” she called out. “We can talk more.”

“Ready?” I asked Bree and she nodded.

“’Sup?” Bonner greeted us.

“No—” Antonov fake-shouted. “Tell me, beautiful Bree, that you haven’t betrayed our love by choosing the grumpy goalie.”

“Not grumpy now,” I said before Bree could respond. “I’ve got Bree on my arm. If only you’d been man enough to win her.”

The room erupted with a chorus of “Ooh” and “Low blow,” with Bonner balling up his napkin from his lap, tossing it at Antonov’s head.

By their lack of questions, given she wouldn’t say a word to me last night at the bar, Bishop must’ve given them the lowdown before we arrived. Damn if I didn’t appreciate that. Somehow I’d missed the class on sharing my life with my teammates.

“I thought you were going to say ‘in my bed’ and got scared,” Bree said low.

“No. I did that once and won’t do it again. That was an asshole move and it hurt you. Not here to hurt you, Bree.” She smiled, so it must’ve been the right thing to say. I pulled out her chair and helped Benny up into the booster seat that Jaycee had to have asked for when she’d gotten one for LJ. He sat between Bree and Miss Claudia, and I took the seat next to her. It put me a little far from Bree but made for the best setup in this situation.

“If you haven’t met her, this is Chesney Fox.” Jaycee introduced the cute blonde sitting next to Winstead. I shot her a chin lift. We’d met before. Family Day.

“Hey, Chesney, how’re you doing?”

She smiled. “I’m good.” Her eyes said something completely different. Winstead was a rookie defenseman. He had skills and when you mixed skills with a club that wonthree Stanley Cups, sometimes that equaled a player too big for his britches. All the flirting he’d done with Bree, I wondered if he’d taken it further with anyone else.

Not my monkey. Not my circus. Still, I felt bad for her.

“Hi, Chesney,” Bree responded. “I’m Bree. This is my boy, Benny, and this”—she pointed around Benny to the older woman— “is Miss Claudia. She’s my surrogate grandmother.”

That made Miss Claudia sit up a little straighter in her seat. Even when you knew how someone felt about you, sometimes it was just nice to hear it.

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