Page 76 of Grumpy Puck

“Wow,” I say when I finally catchmybreath in the aftermath.“That last one was so good I thought I’d faint.”

“You might be feeling faint from hunger,” he says with a frown.“Stay here.I’ll bring you some breakfast.”

Breakfast in bed?“Sure.”Especially since I don’t think I can move.

He comes back with a tray that has two cups of tea, two bowls of buckwheat porridge, and enough berries to run a smoothie bar for a year.

“Thanks.”I dip my spoon into the bowl and taste the breakfast.“Huh.This goes well with a workout.”In that it tastes healthy and not like something I’d want to eat on a regular basis.

Michael gets in bed next to me, improving the meal considerably.

I didn’t think we’d both be having breakfast in bed today.It’s not something I’ve ever done with a man before, but I love it, and not just because lounging about is the opposite of pushups.In fact, I feel so amazing a twinge of dread intrudes into my thoughts when I recall that we’re planning to meet my family this Friday—which might just be the end of whatever is happening between us.

Which would be a fucking shame.

“This is nice,” Michael says, adding “psychic” to his plethora of gifts.

“Why did that sound like you wanted to say ‘nice, but...’?” I sip the tea, finding it delicious.

“Butwe have to go to work.”

Oh.“Right.You have practice.”And I do too, even if mine involves practicing throwing pies at people’s faces.

With great reluctance, we leave the bed, get dressed, feed my rats, allow Wolfgang to perch on my shoulder, and make the short drive.

As we walk together from the parking lot, Michael grabs my hand—which causes a frenzy with the media people that are waiting for us by the arena entrance.A frenzy that matches the backflips a bunch of horny butterflies are doing in my stomach.

“See you on the ice,” he murmurs and gives me a kiss when we reach the locker room.

“Get a room,” says Dante, who happens to be passing by.

“How about a coffin?”Michael growls back.

Dante blinks.“Why would you get yourselves a coffin?”

Michael glares at him.“It’s your vampire ass that will need a coffin to sleep in if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

Muttering something about it still not making any sense, Dante strides into the locker room while Michael gives me another kiss before following his maybe-friend.

When I get to my dressing room, I see the new suit, so I put it on and glance into the mirror to get into character.“Roar.Mr.Bloom is horny, and hungry.He wants manuka honey all over the big jugs of his Pookie-poo so he can lick it off with his giant, hairy cock.”

Wolfgang narrows his eyes at me in the mirror, like he thinks that wasn’t my best effort.

“This is harder to do now that I don’t refer to myself as Bearman,” I explain.“It just wouldn’t feel right, knowing that Michael wouldn’t like it.”

Meine Liebe, you can do whatever you want and then smooth things over with a shot of fondue cheese.

After the training is over, Michael takes me and Wolfgang out to lunch, where he has to tip the waiters extra to turn a blind eye to the rat at our table.Once we’re back at Michael’s house, we both get on our laptops—with Michael working on something for his foundation and me searching for an opportunity to perform with my rats.

“Do you want to order in, or should I make something?”Michael asks around the time when my eyes get tired from staring at the screen.

“Whatever you prefer,” I tell him.I mean, I loved his cooking, but I don’t want to impose… any more than I already have.

“I’ll make my own version ofsolyanka,” he says.“Which is a type of soup that is hearty enough to be a complete meal.”

“Sounds great.Meanwhile, I’ll go spend some quality time with my rats.”

I walk over to their room.The rats are excited to see both me and Wolfgang, at least if I go by how they eagerly zoom all over the place and how happily they hop around.

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