Page 19 of Meet Your Match
“How about Maven, since that’s her name,” Daddy P cut in, blinking slowly at me like I was a teenage boy who had climbed too high on his nerves. To be fair, I wasactinga bit like one, but I couldn’t help it.
I liked to push Maven’s buttons.
I wondered what would happen if I pushed all the right ones.
Maven tongued her cheek at me with that little input from our goaltender, and then she turned to him, extending her hand. “Thank you. I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Maven King.”
“Will Perry,” he said gruffly with a firm, short shake.
“We call him Daddy P, though,” Jaxson cut in.
Maven’s brows tugged inward. “Why?”
“Well, because he’s a daddy — likeactuallya dad. He has the cutest kid you’ll ever meet.”
“But also because he’s iron-fisted and hands out punishment like a dad,” Carter explained. “And he treats the puck like a boy trying to take his daughter on a date and his daughter is the net. No access granted.”
Maven’s cheeks tinged a bit pink at that, and she smiled at Will. “Daddy P. I like that.”
“We all have nicknames,” Carter said. “It’s kind of annoying, honestly, but inescapable, nonetheless.”
“What do you mean?” Maven asked.
“Well, it just sort of happens in hockey. Sometimes it’s a play on your last name, or sometimes you do one stupid thing and it becomes your identifier for years. Sometimes it’s a name earned from performance, like Daddy P is part for his last name, Perry, but also part P for Pickles.”
“Pickles?” Maven’s nose scrunched up.
“Yeah. Because he’s cool as a cucumber on the ice,” Jaxson said.
Maven laughed, and the sound was so airy and light that I wanted to bottle it up. She seemed to be relaxing the more the guys talked to her, and the bite she loved to nip me with was slowly receding, her teeth no longer bared.
“So, he’s Daddy P,” she said, pointing at Will before her finger moved to Jaxson. “And you are?”
“Brittzy,” he said. “My last name is Brittain. And then Carter here is Fabio.”
“Because of the flow,” Carter said, sliding his hand back through his medium-length brown hair before that same hand ran over his scruff. That made Will snort again and pin him with a glare.
No one had better hair than Daddy P.
“Because his last name is Fabri,” Jaxson interjected. “And because his game with the ladies is absolute shit, so calling him Fabio is ironic.”
That earned Jaxson a wet willy from across the aisle.
“And what about you?” Maven asked, finally turning to look at me. When she did, her honey golden eyes danced a little. “What’s your nickname?”
“Mr. King.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because when we get married, I already know you’re too independent to take my last name, so I guess I’ll have to take yours.”
An incredulous laugh burst from her lips, and she shook her head, folding her arms over her chest again. “You think you’re so cute, don’t you?”
“Like a puppy.”
“More like a dog,” she said just as quickly.
“He’s Vince Cool to the outside world, but with us, he’s Tanny Boy,” Carter said. “Because on our first night out he got wasted on car bombs at O’Briens and kept requesting ‘Danny Boy’ even though the band was playing Southern Rock, not Irish music.”
