Page 42 of Love of the Game
“Pretty sure Loki already told you that.”
He had a point. I set my mug down next to him. “Oh, Loki told me that years ago. Thor, too. But I thought I was a little higher on your list.
He shifted on the couch, and rotated so he could push himself up and kiss me. “You are veryhighon my list,” he whispered against my lips.
Holding Drake was so easy, and we fit so well together. “Yeah? You like me more than Thor? Loki? Chocolate pancakes?”
I got another kiss for my answer, then another. It didn’t take very long for Drake to go from snuggling against me to laying on top of me, his hard length pressing into my thigh. “I love you more than chocolate, cats,andcoffee.” He took my mouth again, and I savored his spectacular kisses and his weight pressing me into the couch. “Come upstairs with me, and I’ll show you exactly how much.”
Well, I wasn’t one to say no tothat.
CHAPTER 11
DRAKE
Jon had warned me that the New Year’s Eve game was always a riot, in both good and bad ways, and he’d been exactly right. It was a high-scoring, back-and-forth affair with a shit-ton of penalties, hit, and scrums breaking out at every whistle.
I’d been paired up with Jon and Alfie again, and our line kept scoring on the other team. We’d each put a goal into the net, and I’d added another.
Unfortunately we were tied and five each. This time, when we went out, their biggest D-man, who had to be six-five, went after Alfie, and had sent him flying into the boards. I saw red in that moment, rammed into the guy, and asked him if he wanted to go.
He did, so the gloves came off and we squared up. He had height on me, and weight, but I was angrier than I’d been in a while, and I’d always been shifty in fights. He missed connecting his swings. I didnotand I was able to get in close enough to tangle him up and take him down.
Of course that put both of us in the box for five. Notideal, but our team and fans were yelling and cheering, and Alfie seemed to be okay.
Jon looked—he looked like he wanted to obliterate the other team. I’d never seen him that sharp and dangerous-looking on the ice. There was fire in him on the bench, I watched from the penalty box as he talked with Alfie and Bruda. When they hopped over the boards, along with our biggest D-men, they went to work with spectacular results. Alfie took vengeance, skating around their lumbering D, then passing to Bruda, who sent the puck up to Jon, who wound up and one-timed the puck from the hashmarks straight past the goalie. I was almost surprised the netting didn’t explode from the force when the puck hit.
I’d never seen Jon shoot a puck like that. You could barely hear our goal song over the shouts and yells of the fans. I was on my feet, too.
I got out of the box with a minute thirty-seven left on the clock, and on my shift, worked to keep the score six to five, even with their goalie pulled for the extra man. We didn’t get the insurance empty netter, but we did keep their pucks out of our net and won.
The arena was so loud. Jon got first star that night. I got second, and Alfie got third. The locker room was almost as loud as the arena had been, and we whooped it up, even as Jon and I tried to get cleaned up and shove some food into ourselves so we could get over to the bar.
We managed to make it there just after eleven, and wow, the place was packed. A cheer went up when we walked in.
“Stars!” someone yelled. “The stars are here!”
Lots of pats on the back, including from Red Dog. “You’re tough, kid. Taking on a big guy like that.”
“That hit on Alfie.” I shook my head. “Wasn’t right. Had to send a message.”
Merrick nodded in approval. Jon looked consternated but didn’t say anything, so I filed his expression away. That was something that we needed to discuss.
Ella got us beers, and we made our way around the place, talking with the people we knew. The pool queens fussed over me a little, making sure “that nasty man” hadn’t bruised my “pretty face,” with me assuring them that he hadn’t touched me. When we moved on, I pulled Jon into a little pocket of calm in the sea of chaos. “Hey, you’re not mad at me, are you?”
That got me Jon’s confused look. “Madat you? Why would I be mad at you?”
“For fighting tonight.”
“For fighting? No, no. I mean, I would hate seeing you get hurt in a fight, but honestly, I was about to do the same thing. You got there sooner.” Jon paused. “And probably did a better job anyway.” He shook his head. “I’m still angry at that ass targeting Alfie and the refs only calling the fighting major. That wasclearlyinterference. Pisses me off.” His features smoothed out. “Usually, I can shake that off, you know? Bad calls. But…”
“But it’s Alfie?”
Jon scratched his head. “Yeah. He’s like a little brother, I guess.”
I could see that. “He’s our teammate. That’s why I dropped the gloves.”
That got me a smile from Jon. “You said ‘our.’”
