Page 105 of Pucked and Pregnant

Aiden chuckles. “We love you too.”

“So, this whole getting married thing,” Dimitri starts. “What do you think about picking whoever has the highest scoring average over the Cup series?”

I roll my eyes and shuffle to the side a little to get more comfortable. “Seriously? We’re going to compete over absolutely everything?”

“Well,” Connor offers, “it is a logical way to break the three-way tie.”

“I guess it’s as good as any method,” Aiden agrees.

I lean up on my elbows, looking at all of them in turn with the sternest expression I can muster, given the circumstances.

“Listen here,” I say. “I’m not marrying any of you if you don’t win the Cup. I can’t saddle these children with dads who missedthe chance to win the biggest game of their lives because they were too busy competing over who got to marry their mom.”

Dimitri starts laughing first, hugging me against his chest before pressing a kiss to my temple. I can hear Aiden and Connor starting to chuckle behind me.

“I love you,” Dimitri says.

I look at these three beautiful men staring at me with raw adoration in their eyes, and I melt inside. How could I ever have thought that I could live without them in my life?

There’s a moment or two of silence before Connor slips off the bed. “First one into the shower doesn’t have to do dishes!” he shouts, racing toward the en suite bathroom.

The other two scramble off the bed after him, bumping me in the process. I stare at their cute butts as they roughhouse in the doorway to the bathroom and grin.

This might not be the life that I had planned for myself, but it’s a pretty great surprise.

31

MAX

Iskate nervously around the ice, waiting for the start of game seven of the Stanley Cup finals. I haven’t been this nervous in years.

I swing my arms to try and get some feeling back into them, tension coiling through me as I prepare for one of the most important games of my life.

“You okay?” Connor asks, skating up to me and clapping me on the shoulder.

I roll my shoulders and sigh. “Yeah, I think so,” I reply, clearly hearing the shakiness in my voice.

“We are going to smash these fools,” Aiden says as he skates past then does a backflip, which makes the crowd explode with cheers.

I roll my eyes and check out Dimitri as he skates over to us. He looks as nervous as me, but then again, he’s always jittery before the first puck drop.

Our lineup consists of the best of the best as we’ve made our way toward the Cup Finals. It’s been a long series, and though I may not share Aiden’s confidence in our ability to stomp all overthe competition, I admire his enthusiasm and positivity. I can also appreciate that it’s contagious.

“I’ll be good once we get started,” I tell my friends and teammates.

I watch as they roughhouse a little throughout our warm-up. I really should be more confused about them all dating my sister at the same time, but they’ve always been thick as thieves, and I guess I hadn’t realized just how close they had become with my sister the summer that they hooked up.

No matter how much I might worry about their relationship, I know they’ll be okay. It’s clear that they all adore her.

A lot of women have trouble finding one man to look at them the way these guys look at my sister. Having three smitten with her is quite the feat. I’m grateful she has them.

I glance up at the press box to see my sister seated next to her new cohost, getting settled in to begin her coverage. I’m so glad she’s able to be here to give a play-by-play of this game. This is the pinnacle of everything that I have ever wanted out of my career, but we’ve always been in this together. It would have felt wrong if she hadn’t been well enough to be here today.

“Looks like we’re just about ready to get this party started,” Liv says, and I grin at the sound of her voice.

Her face pops up on the jumbotron as she starts to talk about the figures and facts of the match-up. She looks so beautiful and poised that my heart swells with pride.That’s my little sister,I want to shout to the world as she introduces our team.

“She’s so cool,” Dimitri says, his accent thick as he looks up at Liv on the screen. I’ve noticed that his accent shows up more when he talks about her. He’s even started referring to her with Russian endearments that always make her blush. He won’t tell me what they mean but she knows. It makes me suspicious that they aren’t exactly things you should say in mixed company.

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