Page 9 of Netting the Goalie

“Is it hard being away from them at the holidays?”

Nodding, his smile slid toward a grimace.“Yeah.But I’ve been traveling for hockey since I was twelve so I’m used to it.”

“That seems really young.”

He shrugged.“Not really.At least not where I come from.”

“I have to admit…I’ve only been to two Redtails games and mostly I sat in a box and talked to my friends.It’s not that I don’t like the game.I do.I just always have something else going on.”

Now, his grin widened.“I can take care of that problem.Let me get you a ticket to our next home game.”

Three

Shane

Holy hell,when this woman smiled, which she did a lot, I had the almost overwhelming instinct to fall to my knees at her feet and repeat, “I’m not worthy.”

No clue why but I knew exactly what I’d do when I was down there.I’d shove those pants down around her ankles, put my hands on her naked thighs and pull her closer.Then I’d put my mouth—

Holy shit.I needed to stop before I had no hope at all of hiding my boner.

“Sure.”Her smile brightened.“I’d like that.Is the team having a good season?”

Grimacing, I shrugged.I’d been having a great year until recently.The past few weeks, though…

Damn it, I’d sucked.And I needed to get her off the topic of hockey.

“Yeah, we’re doing pretty well.So what do you do?”

“I help my aunt run her bridal shop in West Reading.She has all boys and none of them wanted to work in the shop.I’ve been helping her since I was fifteen.Now it’s a full-time job.My uncle retired last year and they like to travel so I’m alone there a lot of the time.”

“You run it all by yourself?”

Her eyebrows raised and I wondered if I’d stuck my foot in my mouth.

“It’s not that big so, yeah.On the weekends another one of my cousins helps out.My dad was one of ten so I’ve got a lot of cousins.I actually love helping brides pick out their dresses.We also do bridesmaids and mothers’ dresses and prom and special occasions.It’s actually really fun.”She leaned in and I bent closer.“Don’t tell my aunt but I’d work for free if I didn’t need to pay my rent.”

“Where do you live?”

“In an apartment in West Reading.”

“Me, too.I live with one of the guys on my team.But he’s home for the holiday.”

Something sparked in her eyes.“So I guess, if we wanted to go back to your place for drinks later…”

I tried not to let my mouth drop open but… Damn, this girl made me feel like I won the fucking lottery.I needed to thank Cary for twisting my arm to come to tonight.

“There’d be no problem with that.”

Her smile made me want to ask her if she wanted to leave now but that’d be rude.Totally worth it but rude.

Besides, she hadn’t exactly said she wanted to go home with me.She could be flirting and not mean it.I honestly didn’t have enough experience with girls to know.

Maybe I should just resign myself to a few hours of foreplay and eventual blue balls.At least I wouldn’t be disappointed.

Luckily, Lori announced that dinner was ready and everyone headed into the kitchen for food.

Small talk got a little easier then, mainly because there were other people around to carry the load.I wasn’t good at making conversation unless they were talking about golf, working out, TF2 or, of course, hockey.

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