Hockey Hunk (Loving the Puckers Book 4)

by Kat Obie

  Well, shit, Lily was more on the ball than anyone else. She had a point: I should have had some issues that night if I was so drunk, but I couldn’t back away from the lie now. "I don't know. Okay? I won't lie. Renee is seriously hot, but I know she's off limits. Apparently, drunk me didn’t." It felt good to confess my feelings for Renee for a change because I had tried my damnedest all the years of knowing Webs not to let anyone know that I had a crush on her.

  She eyed the bottle in my hand. "So you brought more tequila to make it up to him?"

  "I didn't know what else to get him.” I knew she would take his side, but she was taking it further than I expected. Weber normally loved tequila, so that made sense as a gift. "It's not like there's a handbook on what to do when you accidentally sleep with your best friend's sister."

  "Yeah, there is. You don't do it in the first place." Her eyes bored a hole in me. It seemed like she hated me.

  It was time to do some pleading so I could get into the house. I had just thought it would be to my best friend. "I know, Lil, but it happened. So now I have to atone."

  She nodded and finally opened the door so I could step in. This might have been a terrible idea in the end.

  I saw that Webs was on the couch although Renee was nowhere to be seen. Webs looked up at me. "We're going to have a little chat before you take Renee."

  I nodded. He was considerably calmer. So calm that I thought Renee might have told him the truth. "Of course."

  He led me to the kitchen, which didn't make me feel super comfortable because of the possibilities if he got angry again.

  I held up the box of tequila. "Seeing Renee reminded me that I owed you a new bottle since that night. I'm sorry."

  "So, you really don't remember anything?"

  "Not after you passed out and we carried you to bed. I would never do anything as stupid as hit on your sister without your permission. You know that, right?"

  "I thought I did." He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. He cracked it open before he continued. "So, Renee is being super cagey. I have no idea what she wants to do next. But if you do her wrong, it's over between us."

  That was obvious, and Weber didn’t need to tell me. I didn't need another punch to my jaw if I had read him wrong. I tried to keep it light although I might have sounded like an asshole. "Is this your way of telling me that it’s okay for me to date your sister now that I got her knocked up and it's a good thing that I brought her some flowers?"

  He hit me on the back of the head and laughed. "Yeah, you can date, but don't ever tell me how you smashed her."

  I laughed. “Deal.” It was good that this prank wouldn’t lead to my death, yet.

  Right at that moment, I caught sight of Renee coming into the room. She looked gorgeous in a green dress and wore high heels that would have made it so easy for me to kiss her lips. I didn’t expect her to get all dressed up. She seemed so no-nonsense when she asked, "Are you done trying to scare him away?"

  Then I scolded myself for wanting to kiss her. While I might have received permission to date her, I wasn't sure that Webs would be so cool with it.

  Her beauty made me all tongue-tied and dumb. "You look good." I lifted up the bouquet of roses and went, "These are for you."

  She accepted the flowers with a tight smile. "Thanks, Matt."

  "So weird to hear you call him by his first name. He's Shoresy," said Weber. It was true. Renee was one of the few people who would call me by my first name from time to time. But she also liked to call her brother Colton instead of Weber or Webs. She liked using first names.

  Webs said, “Go sort out everything.”

  With that, I led Renee out to my Bentley. I just hoped that this dinner didn’t give me blue balls.

  Renee

  After the doorbell rang, I was disappointed I didn't get there first. While Colton had calmed down, I wasn't sure he would remain calm once Matt was back at the house.

  Lily got to the door first and then pulled me aside so the two guys could talk. Thankfully, the guys’ voices were never raised. When I went into the kitchen, their friendship seemed to be good.

  I was impressed that Matt brought roses and had dressed up. He looked downright delectable in the collared shirt and slacks. Luckily, it didn't seem like we had done any damage to his face with those slaps.

  Once we were in his car, he asked, "So, what are you hungry for?"

  "How about that place we went to when you guys lost in the playoffs?" The grilled cheese place was so good.

  There was a tick to his jaw, so I knew he wasn't in favor of the place. Yet he surprised me by acquiescing. "Sure thing."

  Knowing that tick probably meant something, I probed. "What's wrong with that place?"

  "It's nothing." I gave him a look and he said, "Fine. It's not a place I would choose to go in season. But if that's what you want, that's what you get. You're so seldom in town, and we should go where you like."

  "Are you sure?" I was touched that he was going to take me there solely because I wanted to go. It showed me how caring he truly was.

  "Yup. It's not a problem. I’ll just run some extra cardio and eat extra healthy tomorrow. Besides, one grilled cheese won't kill me."

  It was a short drive after that, and we even found some parking. He had a hand on my lower back. It was like he was my boyfriend instead of my brother's best friend who was taking me out solely to freak out my brother.

  When we sat down at the table, I said, "Thanks again for flying me out to Cleveland. It’s been an interesting day. I have never seen Colton so pissed off. For a moment, I thought he was going to kill you."

  "Yeah. I thought the same thing." He chuckled. "He was pissed off. But did you have to slap me too?"

  "Of course. It was the best lead in. If I had to drop a bomb, I wanted to drop it in style, and you gave me that opening. So, do you think things will be okay with you and Colt?"

  "Yeah. It could be far worse. He didn’t actually attack me the second time. So, we’re on solid ground. I just hope he’ll be cool with the whole idea afterwards.”

  "Yeah. After he kicked you out, he was asking me the questions that I wasn't prepared to answer. We really should have planned it out better." I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "So, how do you want to do this? When are we telling them it's a prank?"

  4

  Matt

  Renee was so hot, and I wanted to have a baby with her.

  I was lost in thought when she kicked my foot. "When are we telling them that this is pretend? How are we doing this?"

  My mouth went dry, and I took a sip of the water. "Um, I don't know. What do you prefer?" It was a cop-out, but this prank takes two to tango. I wanted to hang out with Renee a lot.

  "I think we should say something sooner rather than later. Colton is already ready to kill you."

  "Wanted to kill me. You and Lily defused that bomb. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind going on a date or two more with you."

  Her bottom lip fell open. It looked so kissable, but she was too taken aback. Maybe she hated that idea. I moved along quickly to the end game. While we had hit our main target with the maximum effect, the news hadn’t traveled to the locker room yet. "So maybe we do it a day or two more, especially so that the other prankster finds out about our little scheme."

  "All right. So do I need to come to the locker room too?"

  "Nah. I can handle that part." I smiled. There was no way I would bring her to the locker room. That part was all on me. Although, thinking of places where Renee could go, it would be so much fun to take her back to my place, but Webs would kill me. Then again, he wouldn't like what I was about to suggest either, but he wouldn’t kill me yet. She’d already texted me earlier that Webs had insisted on her staying at his place instead of checking into the hotel. "What do you think about this: you stay mum about our date tonight and I give you a kiss at the doorstep but I won't go in? Then Weber will ask me what’s going on at practice."

  "So, you're go
ing to kiss me?" Her voice was way too skeptical for my liking. An ember of hope kept flickering inside me that we could maybe use this prank to act out my feelings for her.

  Resting my elbows on the table and trying to keep it casual, I said, "If you're okay with it, yes."

  Her simple head bob was everything. I was ready to leave, but Renee took her time savoring every bite. I just wanted to skip to the part where I could taste her lips and pretend at least for a few moments that she was my girlfriend.

  Hoping we could go on a date or two more, I said, "So, are there any other restaurants that you want to go to while you're in town? I'll take you to any of them."

  "I don't need anything more. This was the place I'd been looking forward to the most."

  She’d picked up on the fact that I wasn't happy about coming to Melt right away. In the off-season, I wouldn't have had an issue, because who doesn't love a gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich? But in season, I was strict with my diet. I hated that my stomach felt like it was lined with lead when I ate food like this. But for Renee, I would break my self-imposed rules just to see her smile. "Are you sure?"

  She gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "Yup, Shoresy."

  "Why don’t you just call me Matt?" Few people would call me Matt. Everyone called me by my last name. But when I told people to call me by my first name, it was because they were special to me and I wanted them to connect with me on the most personal level possible.

  "Yeah. Are you sure? Even your closest friends call you Shoresy. At least with Colton, I've heard people call him by something other than Weber or Webs."

  "Yeah. I know Lily loves to call him Colton." I laughed. I was pretty sure there were kids on the team that would have a hard time ID-ing me by the name Matt. "I just figured, since you're carrying my kid and all, you should at least know my first name."

  That got her laughing.

  Renee

  The evening had been perfect. The food and the conversation were fantastic. It had been one of the few times I got to hang out with Shoresy one on one, since usually we would hang out with my brother. I loved his humor, although, half the time he didn't even know he was being funny.

  It was nice to have been told that I should just call him Matt. While I’d used his first name before, it was always weird and even my brother would look at me confused. It also implied that there was a deeper level of connection.

  As Shoresy was dropping me back at Colton's place, I was a little anxious. Here was this walking piece of sex candy who wanted to kiss me just to prank my brother and stir up shit. I would be lying if I said I’d never thought about what it would be like to kiss his lips, but I never thought this would be the way it would happen.

  While Colton had never been protective of me or interfered with my dating life, he was livid when he heard that Shoresy might have knocked me up. I just didn't know how he would react to him kissing me.

  As we pulled into Colton's place, Shoresy said, "You sure you're okay if I kiss you? It's better if you say nothing and he asks me at the rink about the date, but I don’t want to make it hard on you either."

  I grabbed his hand that was resting on the drive shift. "We talked about this at dinner. It's all good. I won't say much. Don't worry."

  "I guess it's showtime." He pushed some of his hair out of his face and then came around the side of the Bentley SUV. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was nervous about the kiss too.

  He surprised me by opening the door and helping me out of the seat. His warm hand was on the small of my back as we walked to the door. It didn't feel like an act at all. Instead, it felt like a real first date. At the top step, I turned.

  His bowed head came towards mine. The moment our lips touched, sparks went off. My mouth opened, and he slipped his tongue inside. My hands wrapped around his neck. My pelvis tilted towards his, and I could feel his wood.

  It was a more passionate kiss than usual first date kisses, but I wasn't complaining. When we pulled back, he had a smirk on his face as if he knew that he did good. I loved the look of satisfaction on his face. "I'll see you tomorrow after practice."

  "All right, it's a date."

  I fitted the key that Colt gave me into the lock but paused to watch my sexy hockey player walk back to his silver SUV. The door swung open. Of course, there was my brother with an unreadable expression on his face. "I take it I didn't open the door fast enough for your liking."

  "Something like that." He was terse. Normally, he would explode if he was angry. The terseness meant he was struggling to understand what was going on. He might actually be okay with the idea of me and Matt dating if we were both into the relationship. He just wasn’t ready to accept the idea, let alone show it.

  "Come on, Colt. I thought you always said I should find a guy like one of your friends."

  "Yeah, I meant someone like Klaus. He would worship you, spoil you and whatnot."

  "And what, Shoresy won't?" He’d pissed me off with the comment that Klaus was good enough but Shoresey wasn't. I met Klaus briefly over Christmas, but I barely knew the guy. We'd hung out with Shoresy on every visit I'd made to Cleveland since they got drafted together.

  "You know that's not even his real name and he's gone through some of the bunnies, right?"

  I laughed. Was that really his problem? That Shoresy had some one-night stands and quick sex? It wasn’t like Colton hadn’t done the same thing before Lily. Hell, the whole idea was that this was an accidental pregnancy from a one-night stand. "Yes, and you even heard me call him Matt earlier this evening. I'm not naive. So what’s the real issue here, Colton? Are you afraid I’ll fall for him or that he will break my heart? ‘Cause a baby is already coming.”

  “I don’t know. It’s just weird thinking you might like my best friend. We’ve hung out together in the past, and I never picked up on the vibe that either of you were into each other.”

  Well, I knew for sure that I’d hidden those feelings in the past, and after that kiss with Matt, I was pretty sure he was hiding feelings too. Damn that kiss. It was way too short and way too good.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, we had enough feelings to have some fun one night, and tonight we just talked about the future. But I’m tired. Are you sure that I'm not going to kill your vibe with Lily by staying here the next few days?"

  He pulled me into a hug. "Of course, it's fine that you stay. I just hate the reason why you came here. I should have never gone to bed early that night."

  I laughed. "You didn't really have a choice—you passed out on the sofa. It's just good that we could get you up to your bed that night."

  "Ugh. At least that was the last time I got that drunk."

  I smiled. "Yeah. I expected a drunken call or two not too long ago when you and Lil were off." He was gutted when Lily briefly broke things off while she got adjusted to NHL life.

  "Well, I didn't trust myself, so I didn’t drink away my sorrows. If I did drink at all, Shoresy was given my phone at the beginning of the night so I wouldn’t call Lil."

  "What the hell? He's good enough to have access to your phone but not for your sister?"

  He sank down onto the couch and shook his head. "It's not like that." I just stared at him. Who was he trying to fool? He took an exaggerated breath and said, "Okay, you're right. But it's weird to think of the two of you together."

  "Yeah, but it was really nice tonight," I said with a smile. It was good to know that I was almost done with this prank, but then I wondered if that meant the end of things with Matt. I didn’t want it to be.

  "So, where did you guys go?"

  "We went to Melt," I said with a smile on my face. I’d really enjoyed the grilled cheese sandwich with a pierogi and sauerkraut.

  "Oh shit," Colton went quickly. “There goes that one theory.”

  "What?" Don’t tell me Colton already suspects he’s being set up for April Fool’s. I just hoped that if I didn’t ask what he meant by the one theory, he would forget.

  "Shoresy e
ats at like three places in Cleveland during the season. He must really like you." He rubbed his hair.

  "Yeah, I got the idea that he wasn't super thrilled with going there, but he said it was fine. Then later he asked if there was anywhere else I wanted to go while I was in town. Are you sure he only eats at like three places?"

  "Think about it, sis. We've only been to a few places when you came for a game. That end-of-season commiseration session at Melt was something he only does because our season is over."

  "I thought it was because you always ate at the rink with the team. I would never have thought he was worried about nutrition, since I've always seen him drink beer."

  He smirked. "Yeah. He doesn't believe the nutritionist on that one. Don't ask me to explain that. I can't. But I’ll let you get some sleep.”

  With that, I quickly went upstairs and collapsed onto the guest bed. Then I went over every moment of the date, trying to figure out if it was just a con or if there were real feelings at play.

  5

  Matt

  Kissing Renee was a mistake. The only way for me to get any sleep was to whack off thinking of her to the point of exhaustion, and even then, my dreams were filled with her. I wondered what it would be like to explore more than her mouth.

  At least I had another date with her tonight. I just needed to impress her and maybe have her come home with me.

  As I was heading to the locker room, I was rammed from behind into the wall. I wasn't surprised to see it was Weber. "Hey, I thought we squashed off our beef."

  Klaus was walking by. "What beef?" He looked so confused in that moment, and it was a wee bit glorious to catch him like that. He was usually on top of things.

  "He slept with my sister, and then he kissed her!'

  Oh, that was rich. Of all the things he'd picked up on, it was the last bit that upset him most. Which even to me made no sense. "So, you are hung up on the fact that I kissed her? I would think that you’d be more upset that I slept with her, especially after the bomb she dropped on both of us yesterday."