by Amber Malloy
“Yo, man, you coming?” Marco called from the door.
Hawk did ten more reps and huffed out a breath. On the last count, he finally noticed the place had emptied out. Next were ice warmups.
“I forgot to ask how you were doing since they pulled that little stunt on your drink.”
“Huh?” He snatched his towel off his bag, then wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Yeah, I heard from Tina.” Hawk screwed up his face in question. “The brown-haired Jugs girl.” He cupped his hands in front of his chest. “Anyway, she told me one of the rooks had this bright idea to lace your drink with some muscle-enhancing supplement. It was supposed to give you the runs, but they didn’t know you had diabetes.”
“Are you shitting me?”
Marco held up his hands in a ‘don’t shoot the messenger’ stance. “We’re not talking geniuses, dude. These idiots barely made it out of high school.”
“Those little fucks could have killed me.”
“Yeah, well, do you want to get them back…reverse pinch?”
“Seriously?”
“Why not?” Marco shrugged. “Someone has to teach them a lesson.”
The play called for two guys to crowd the opposition from both sides, which would allow one of them to steal the puck. Northern Royals’ offense worked hard on getting their toddlers out of these types of jams. However, since his teammates were narcissistic assholes, Hawk was up for the challenge.
“If the opportunity presents itself, I’m in.”
“Cool.” Marco threw him a lazy salute before he opened the door to the locker room. Hawk grabbed his water bottle off the floor and squirted a good amount in his mouth.
Nothing in his life seemed to make much sense, but he’d never seen this type of shit coming. In the past he would have stormed into the locker room and beat every single one of those degenerates into a bloody mess. Instead, Hawk reached down and grabbed his bag with a sigh. This adulting crap sucks.
* * * *
Lights flashed around the rink after their fifth goal of the night. The Northern Royals were tied in the third quarter. If it went into overtime, they would be forced into a shootout, which meant whoever scored first won. Chords from Nu Shooz I Can’t Wait filled the stadium.
Hawk glided across the ice, scanning the bleachers to catch a glimpse of the angel in pink. Lexi waved at him from her seat. The beauty stood out from the crowd. Of course, Andre would say it was due to her being the only black person in the whole arena, but Hawk knew better.
Lexi was freaking effervescent.
Until this moment he didn’t even know what that word meant, but the moment he saw her practically glowing in a sea of blue and black jersey-dressed fans everything had become very clear to him.
With less than three minutes left in the play, he kept a good pace with the forward as two guys from the opposing team boxed in Axel. Marco nodded at him from across the ice. Once the forward slid the puck to him, he could then knock it closer to their goal.
Instead, Axel hit the puck to Marco, who in turn passed it to Hawk. He pivoted around the Texas Wigeon’s forward, who was hot on his trail, and skated his ass toward their net to sink the puck into their goal. While the crowd went wild, he sailed by Axel and threw a cool wink in the young’uns’ direction.
* * * *
No one had told Lexi about the unbalanced nature of Black Fridays. First came Thanksgiving, where American families consumed a ton of huge, flightless birds. The meal within itself was enough to trick a human body into a deep lethargic coma until the following Monday. However, millions of people who had scarfed down the equivalent of two Ambiens still found enough time to go shopping—and for hours, no less.
After working double shifts for three days straight, Lexi stumbled around Hawk’s house in a blur. “Puck, make coffee.” Did I put a mug under the machine’s dispenser? If not, she would find a mess in the kitchen.
With her eyes half open, Lexi staggered from the bed and felt her way to the bathroom. This was her last day before she could finally take off. Stepping into Hawk’s massive bath cave, she flipped the water lever to the far right. The sprays hit her from all angles, and Lexi sunk into the massaging beat from the showerheads.
“Argh,” she moaned. Lowering her head, she allowed the water pulse to attack her knotted muscles.
“Now you know why I had a multi-sprayer installed.” Hawk’s gruff voice was slightly more comforting than the pulse from the showerhead.
Beads of water slipped down her face. Lexi opened her eyes to peer at him underneath her wet lashes. He’d played two away games with one day off in between, and Lexi didn’t know how he had the energy to even stand up.
“How don’t you live in here?” she asked.
“Trust me. It’s hard.” Fully dressed, he stepped into the shower. Water from all angles drenched his shoulder-length hair. As Lexi wiped the droplets out of her face, he closed in the space between them, sweetly brushing her lips with a kiss. Pressing her bare chest against his soaked T-shirt, she clung to a solid wall of muscle.
“Going to the bar?” he murmured.
In Lexi’s hard-fought rise into the tech world, she had never been this bone-weary. At the beginning of her career, she’d pulled all-nighters that hurt way less than twelve hours on her feet in a blues bar. Laying her head against his chest, she inhaled his woodsy, spicy scent that had a touch of vanilla and smoky ember.
How the hell does this man always smell so freaking good?
“Simone’s kid got sick again, but this time shared the germy icks with her.”
“Tough break,” he murmured into her wet hair. After her shower, she would have to work gel into her waves to keep them tame, since she didn’t have the energy to do much more than that.
“Let me get cleaned up first.” He leaned down and pecked the tip of her nose with his lips. “Then I’ll join you at the bar.”
“Mmm-hmm, that sounds good,” she admitted.
He traveled his hand slowly over her breast, past her stomach, straight down to her pussy. Hawk strummed the small tuft of pubes right above her clit.
“Got a minute?” he asked, inching his way down to her pussy lips.
“Just one?” she responded.
Hawk tapped her nub with his index finger—a methodic rhythm that forced her to arch into his touch.
“Maybe two… Give me a least two?” He slipped his middle finger into her pussy.
“Ahh-h,” she sighed. Leaning against his chest, Lexi hiked her foot against the wall. “For you, Maze, I’ll allow you a good six.”
“I promise I’ll do the utmost to make the best of it.” He sucked her bottom lip in his mouth and pulled his finger in and out of her wet pussy.
“Come for me, baby.” Inside of her wet hole, Hawk increased his speed, while he lowered his head to suck on her nipple.
“Hmm-m.”
Lexi rocked her hips to the silent beat he made as he held her leg up and used his finger to fuck her. Hopefully, this was his first go of it, before he would use his awesome dick on her.
Pretty sure she would be late for work, she tangled her tongue with his. Screaming into his mouth, Lexi was positive she could come even harder with the next orgasm.
“Okay,” she moaned. “Seven minutes.” Hawk chuckled in her ear as he unleashed his rod from his pants to push into her wet and willing body.
Chapter Twenty-One
Wall-to-wall bodies covered every free inch of Moe’s. Black Friday was no joke. Hawk hadn’t had a single moment to talk to Lexi since he’d stepped into the bar. In the span of two weeks, he’d played four away games and had every intention of sleeping off his muscle aches.
“Three beers on tap, two strawberry daiquiris and a gimlet,” the waitress barked at him.
Moe’s was in the weeds, and after he’d witnessed Lexi’s sleep shower, he didn’t have the heart to leave her short a bartender.
From time to time, he sneaked a few glances in her direction. She
flitted around resembling a very sexy Betty Boop, Toni Braxton, smattered with Dorothy Dandridge fembot.
Around three p.m., the rush finally slowed down long enough for him to take his break in the alley. A niggling thought had messed with his head ever since their date in California. Over fifteen minutes he’d searched the web for her previous job. Something in tech, he recalled. Once he’d found her, then maybe he’d spot a picture of the dude who had grabbed her arm in California. However, he’d come up empty. There was no trace of Lexington Waters anywhere.
Hawk didn’t usually check on the women he dated. Generally, they weren’t around for any length of time or simply couldn’t hold his attention longer than the start of next season. Lexi, on the other hand, had quickly turned into a different story, and he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about it.
Why is this bugging me? Maybe it had been the familiarity. Unable to place the guy’s face without a proper name, his web search had been rendered useless.
Grabbing the handle, he opened the back door and went back into the bar. Dodging the harried servers who ran in and out of the kitchen, he shoved the swinging door to the bar. The foot traffic had picked back up tenfold, and the main floor was crammed with people.
“Hey,” he snagged the woman of his filthy dreams by her waist before she could pass him, “the team has this event.”
“Do tell?” Lexi smiled up at him as if she were interested, instead of shoving him off and bitching for messing with her time. Feeling put on the spot, he cleared his throat and resisted the urge to duck his head in embarrassment.
“The team has a convention deal around Christmas, and—”
Lexi’s delicate face twisted into a judgy frown. Since they hadn’t labeled their relationship yet, Hawk suddenly felt the need to tread lightly. “The team does a couple of stops, then we have the rest of the week to chill.”
“Ooookay.”
“Wow, you’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?” He chuckled.
The corners of her lips curled at the ends, blooming into a big, sweet smile. “No,” she said, shaking her head slowly, “I’m not.”
“Lexi, would you like to spend Christmas with me?”
“Sure, sounds fun.” She slapped him on the chest with the back of her hand. “That wasn’t too hard, now was it?” Turning away from him with a wink, she headed into the kitchen while he walked back to the bar.
Hawk would have skipped on his way, but he’d made enough of a fool himself. One of the high tables had totally ear-hustled their whole conversation—the little, gray-haired ladies’ thumbs-up was a big tip off.
Apparently, people craved liquor and blues music during the holidays more than any other time in the year. Thrown back into the rush, he made a ridiculous amount of frou-frou drinks. Lost in the performer’s raspy voice, he quickly poured five crafts in a row. The teen’s mournful melody filled the bar.
“My wife said that vein in your head was bulging, but damn.” Knox shoved his way to the bar and put out his hand. Hawk hadn’t seen him in weeks, so he fist-bumped his friend and went back to slinging the booze. “Thinking hard, big guy.”
“Remy’s not here.”
“If she wasn’t, how would I know you asked Lexi to the National Hockey Convention?”
Hawk threw the bar rag over his shoulder and sighed.
“Do not give me shit about this.” Hawk reached down to grab three bottles from the refrigerator under the bar.
“Man, I think it’s great—”
“But?” Hawk uncorked the bottles, then slid two of them across the bar to the college girl waiting. The last one he set in front of Knox.
“A marketing event is not the best time to spring the hockey wives on her. I mean, you want to keep her around, right?”
“They’re not that bad.”
“From what I’ve heard, they are.” Knox took a hearty swig of his beer. “Now where the hell is my wife?” he asked once he’d swallowed.
“Not here, I would have seen her.”
Lexi had picked that perfect moment to slide into the bar area and nudge him with her elbow. She pointed to a high table in the far corner.
“Ah crap, sorry,” Hawk apologized. A group of dudes surrounded her. Usually he shooed the brave fools, who tested out their courage, away. “I’ll get rid of them.”
Knox grabbed his arm. “That’s a new haircut.”
He took another glimpse at the table. Remy had whacked a few inches off her hair. It framed her face and fell to the nape of her neck.
“Ooookay.” Hawk shook his head. He couldn’t begin to figure out what the hell was going on with these two. Usually his best friend wanted to fight any guy who looked at Remy cross-eyed.
“That’s how she wore it college,” he murmured in a dreamy tone. A fluffy cardigan hid her baby bump. No wonder why the besotted idiots were hypnotized by Knox’s hot wife.
“Good to know. Do you want me to get those morons away from her or nah?”
“Are you crazy?” he squeaked.
“Huh?” Hawk stopped to stare at him, confused by the sudden appearance of red welts that rushed up Knox’s neck.
“He’s right.” Lexi slapped him on the back, then pointed. “You’re going to want to see this.”
As cheap-suit guy leaned toward her with every one of his thirty-two teeth on display, Remy pulled her sweater away. The reaction was instant recoil from the sight of her five-months-preggo stomach. All the regulars laughed at the man’s discomfort.
“Can you do me a favor and watch the kids tonight?” Knox asked in a rush.
“What the hell, man?” Hawk threw the towel onto the bar with a groan. He was completely ready to call it a night. “I just did a triple. You know that.” Beyond tired, he could barely keep his eyes open.
Turning away from Hawk, Knox faced Lexi. “What do you say…two sweet baby girls, some wine and a lakeview scene.”
“If it’s so great, why don’t you just stay home?” Lexi asked.
“Well, I uh…”
“Tell her,” Hawk urged.
“Do I have to say it?” Knox pouted, which was completely pathetic for a grown-ass man with his sports pedigree.
“Yes,” they said in unison.
“There’s no way in hell I’m getting laid if we stay home.”
“Because?” Hawk pushed, mildly amused at Knox’s dilemma.
“Don’t do this, man.” He hung his head low and shook it.
“Because—”
“They’re spoiled—and it’s my fault,” Knox confessed. “Rotten to the point they would drive Nanny McPhee straight to the insane asylum. Only Hawk or Dahl can watch them without my neighbors calling DCFS, SWAT and the National Guard simultaneously.”
“Seriously?” Lexi chuckled. “When you put it like that…the answer’s no.”
Hawk laughed hard for the very first time in days, and it felt light…fucking great in fact. A gut-buster at the expense of Knox was the best medicine.
“Fine.” Hawk petered off. “I’ll call Moe to close, and we’ll head over there in an hour.”
“Whoa.” He swiped his hand across his brow. “I thought I’d have to beg. Thanks, bro.” Knox practically pushed his way to the front door. “Tell my lady I’m waiting in the car.”
“Crazy nut…” Leaning away from the thick crowd, he turned his big body to face her. “I’ll watch the kids if you want to go home and get some sleep.”
“And experience the worst case of FOMO? No thank you,” Lexi told him. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dressed head to toe in tutus and tiaras, they sat on the floor in front of the kiddie table. Hawk cradled Sadie, Knox’s youngest daughter, in his arms, while Lexi held Nyla in her lap. Apparently the three-year-old had a battery charger hooked in her back. She had zoomed from one place to the next the moment they had arrived.
Thankfully, her dad had been available. An hour before the last performer had taken the stage, Mo
e had strutted into the bar. Since he would be jamming out with his old crew until closing time, they had felt comfortable enough to take off for their babysitting shift.
From the moment they’d stepped foot into the most beautiful lakefront home she’d ever seen, two little terrors had taken them hostage. No doubt, the cutest ones she had ever laid eyes on, but tiny terrors, nevertheless.
“After this, we’ll color your feet, Uncle Hawk.” The toddler stretched her munchkin body across the kiddie table.
As the little girl chattered endlessly, she painted Hawk’s fingernails the most obnoxious rainbow colors imaginable.
“We probably should have started with my feet,” he grumbled. Sloppy to a comedic level, Nyla moved over to his left hand.
“No, because last time we never made it to your hands, and…” Lexi peeked over, and to her surprise, the kid had fallen asleep mid-manicure.
“Wow, that was fast.”
“Yep. She kept those eyes open longer than usual.” He drew his hand from underneath the sleeping baby and stood up with more grace than she could have mustered. “Don’t move.”
Hawk worked his way around to her side of the table and gently retrieved Nyla off her lap. After crossing the room with both kids in his arms, he laid them down in a pink princess tent.
“Not your first time doing that, I take it.” Lexi smirked. He came back to her and held out his hand. She placed her palm into his, and with no effort he pulled her out of the toddler chair.
“At the orphanage, all the older kids had to help with the babies, so I’m actually better at this than Knox.” He guided her to the playroom door, flipping off the overhead light. Before they slipped out of the room, a pretty glow of stars and hearts circled around the ceiling. Lexi heavily considered quitting the bar to become Remy and Knox’s nanny. Hanging out with kids all day seemed a hell of a lot better than dealing with drunks and the all-around mess that had become her life.
“Have you ever looked for your biological parents?” she asked. Hawk held her hand while they headed down the hallway that opened to the living room. The view out of the panoramic window took her breath away. Every part of the house felt regal and spacious.