Page 47 of Puck of the Irish

“Well, I came extremely close to telling Nat that I fucking loved her, so instead of doing that, I freaked out and got a dog. It seemed perfectly logical at the time, I swear to God.”

They both start busting out laughing as a few more guys make their way to the ice from the locker room. Nat and I are keeping things somewhat quiet for now—most of the team knows, of course, but we aren’t blasting it on social media or anything yet—but the Sin Bin knowallthe details and just how bad I’ve got it already.

Jules continues to pet the dog, and gets a goofy puppy smile in return, tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. He’s a cute fucker, that’s for sure.

I’djuststopped myself from saying the words to Nat before we hung up the phone yesterday afternoon, and I don’t know if it was the enormity of that, the fact that I felt it so damn strongly, the fear of her reaction if I did let it slip, or a combination of all three, but I’d somehow decided that a dog would be the perfect thing to put all of that love into until I was ready to say it to Nat. It made sense at the time somehow, though looking back now, it’s stupid as hell. I can’t say I regret it though.

Jax had come in while I was scrolling through the local animal shelter’s website for adoptable dogs.

“Hey, Mr. Rizzo, how’s it going?”

“Jax I swear to God if you don’t stop calling meMr. Rizzo, we’re going to throw down.” He’d smiled widely, his pearly whites sparkling almost as brightly as the diamond stud in his ear.

“Sorry, old habits. HeyRizzo, how’s it going?”

“Better. And, uh, good. Mostly. I think. Hey do you know anything about dogs?”

“Dogs?” His brow furrowed as he washed his hands in the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m thinking about getting one…”

“Oh, nice. I love dogs, had ‘em all my life. I actually helped train search and rescue dogs with my cousin for a while after high school.”

“Soooo, you’re saying you could be persuaded to add dog trainer to your list of job titles here? For extra compensation, of course,” I’d asked with a grin.

“Mr.—” He’d stopped himself when I shot him a look. “Rizzo,” he corrected with a smile, “you’re already paying me way too much. I’m happy to help with the dog—and actually I know of one who needs a home if you’re interested. A guy in my building is getting stationed overseas and can’t take his golden with him. He’s about six months old and already crate and potty trained and everything. Crazy as hell, but a really good dog.”

One thing led to another, and first thing this morning, I was picking up a dog. I’d fallen in love with the goofy boy the minute I laid eyes on him and he’d immediately jumped into my arms, resting his paws on my shoulders like a child.

“So, uh, yeah, I guess I was having a mini-freak out and decided the dog made more sense than scaring Nat off orsaying the words out loud or fuck if I know, really, but anyway: everyone meet Zamboni.”

He barks and wags his tail even faster. I know there’s no way in hell he actually knows that’s his new name yet, but I’ll pretend that’s a sign that he likes the sound of it and is totally on board with the change. No offense to the guy I got him from, but Buckley was a horrible name.

Zamboni leans his head out over the ice, sniffing, and then reaches out one tentative paw. He scratches experimentally at the ice, and then looks up at me, smiling again. I swear to God he seriously fuckingsmiles. It’s crazy.

“Well come on, buddy. You’re the new unofficial Vipers mascot—better get used to the ice.” I move to step out onto the rink and coax him to follow. He’s a little unsure at first, but then the idiot goes absolutely wild, running and sliding and falling and having the time of his damn life. Everyone laughs and plays with him and I make a mental note to see if Mac and Nat can find a dog-sized Vipers jersey for him. Maybe my social media feed will be filled with Zamboni pics and vids from now on instead of thirst traps. It feels weird to keep doing those when I’m dating someone, though Nat hasn’t said anything about it.

“Ollie is going to flip,” Shep says, leaning back against the wall as we watch Howey and Jules play chase with the dog. We both laugh when Zamboni runs and throws himself down, sliding on his stomach across half the ice before jumping up and doing it over again and again.

“I thought as much. I’ll bring him over tonight if you want.”

“Sounds good, we’ll order pizza.” He turns his head and gives me one of those looks. “So, you almost dropped the L bomb, huh?”

“Shut up,” I grumble.

“Nah, man, it’s great. I’m just still in shock I think. I mean, if you’d asked me a couple of months ago if Anthony Rizzo wouldever be caught dead in a relationship, let alone completely in love and ready to start playing house—don’t even act like you haven’t thought about moving her into your place, I know you fucking have.” He’s right, I have. Yet another thing I’m not bringing up yet because—crazy. “I would have told you that you’d taken one too many hits to the dome.”

“I know. It really is fucking crazy. I one thousand percent thought I’d have freaked out about all of this commitment stuff at least twenty times by now or royally fucked up somehow, but I’m good. Really good. I mean, we shouldn’t be surprised that I’m excelling at this like I excel in everything,” I add with a cocky grin and Shep punches me in the shoulder. I rub the spot but laugh. Despite my initial apprehension about dating, it’s been amazing. There have been zero doubts or regrets. I don’t miss the random hookups at all—even tossed my Slut Cell as Jules calls it into the lake—and having someone to actuallysharemy life with is hitting more harder than I would have thought. My life was fine before, great even, but this is so much better than I could have imagined. I realize now that it wasn’t a matter of being afraid to date, it was waiting for the right person to do it with, and that is one thousand percent Nat.

“I’m really happy for you, man.”

“Thanks, Con,” I say, a little more seriously than before. “Seeing you with Mac…well, it kind of changed the way I look at all this shit, honestly. So, you’re part of the reason I finally grew up and wanted something more than one-night stands and back-room hookups.”

He grins. “Those are fun, but,” he shakes his head and I can see in his eyes how much he fucking loves Mac, “having something more with someone who reallygetsyou like no one else, who loves you for all the good and the bad and everything in between—who loves youthroughthe good and the bad—well, it’s pretty fucking life-altering.”

“Life-altering is right.” He reaches over and grips my shoulder, squeezing tightly. We share a very manly bromance moment, and then I pull out my phone. “Wanna torture the girls with videos of an adorable puppy that they can’t immediately pet?”

Shep laughs and rubs his hands together like a villain.

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