Page 75 of The Christmas You Crash

Okay. So maybe he’s not an ass.

“You’re seriously cute when you’re pissed off and jealous, though. Made me hard.” He presses his hips forward, and the firm length of him pokes into my hip.

Indignation battles with lust inside me. Focusing on the indignation means I have a smaller chance of combusting into a pool of arousal in the middle of my peers. So, I choose indignation. “I amnotcute when I’m mad. What the hell, Ryder?”

The damned man simply laughs. He throws his head back, and the deep, melodic sound I’m coming to love pours out of him. More eyes turn our way, but he doesn’t notice. Once he’s gotten himself under control, Ryder focuses on me. He’s not put out by my irrational prickliness. Not at all.

Something tight and scared inside me begins to unfurl.

“Sorry, Oscar, but you are. You’re cute when you’re mad, you’re adorable when you’re jealous for no reason, and you’re hot as hell when you yell at me.” He leans in to whisper in my ear, so only I can hear. “Makes me think of all the times you’vescreamed my name with my cock buried deep inside your tight little pussy.”

Despite the frigid temperature and the wind blowing all around us, my insides turn molten and gooey.

“You can’t get rid of me, baby. I don’t scare easily.” Plush lips feather across my frozen cheeks, making them tingle. “But if it makes you feel better, go ahead and give me your worst. I can take it.”

thirty-six

RYDER

“Rookie! You’re here.”Logan Byrne slaps me on the back as I enter the weight room. “Does that mean you got good news from the doc today?”

A few of our teammates gather around. They’re all good guys, and they’ve been checking up on me while I’ve been out with my injury. Everyone is eager for me to get back on the ice. It’s been amazing, actually. They’re starting to feel like family. I’d forgotten what it was like to have other people worried about you, and I don’t hate it. Not at all.

Flexing my injured hand, I grin. “They have me doing some physical therapy, but they said I should be cleared in a week and a half.”

It’s a bit earlier than they’d recommend in a perfect world, but there’s so much on the line right now. I pushed them into clearing me sooner with the promise that I’d keep my damned gloves on when I’m skating. And I will. I have no desire to risk further injury. But I also don’t want to risk my place on this team. From the first week playing with them, I knew I wantedto be a Rogue long term. Now, with Lexi in the mix, that has become more important than ever.

Logan grins and claps me on the back again. “That’s great news. Have you told Lexi yet?”

Shit.As soon as her name leaves his mouth, I scan the room for Coach. Logan notices my tense expression and grimaces.

“Sorry, man. I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay,” I tell him. “But we should probably give her a code name or something. I hate keeping secrets, but I want to be able to talk about her.”

Sebastian Navarro nods. “That’s a good idea. What should we call her? Do you have a nickname for her or something?”

Chuckling, I shake my head. “She’d be pissed if you guys started calling her by the nickname I gave her.”

“Oh?” Navarro chuckles. “Now you have to tell us what it is.”

“Yeah,” Griffin Wright pipes up. “Spill the beans, Handsome.”

Handsome.It’s the stupid name the guys gave me the first time I showed up in a game-day suit and the female fans went crazy online. It’s ridiculous, but once more than one guy latches on to a nickname, it sticks. Plus, it’s close enough to my last name that it doesn’t bother me much.

Running my good hand through my hair, I blow out a breath. “You guys have to swear not to call her by this. She’ll have my balls if you do.”

Griffin starts to say something stupid, but Maddox cuts him off. “No one will call her it.”

The rest of the guys nod, so I tell them. “I call her OTG.”

Confusion pinches their faces. Navarro cocks his head to the side and asks, “OTG?”

“Yeah,” I say, grinning now. She’s going to be so pissed if she finds out I told them this. Oh well, there’s no getting out ofit now. “Stands for Oscar the Grouch. Sometimes I just call her Oscar.”

My explanation is met with a beat of silence before the room erupts into laughter.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Logan continues to laugh through his words. “You call her Oscar the Grouch, and she still sleeps with you?”

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