Page 62 of One Pucking Destiny

He releases his hold on my hands and wraps hisarms around me. I melt into the hug; I’d forgotten how good it feels to be in his presence.

We stand like this, locked in an embrace for an excessive amount of time, yet not nearly long enough.

“Nothing has changed for me, Bash.” I sigh against his chest.

His strong arms squeeze me in closer. “That’s fine. You wanna do a ‘casual hookup, one-stand, no emotions allowed, we’re nothing when it’s over’ weekend?” he asks. His subtle mockery of everything I’ve used to describe us isn’t lost on me.

More than I want to adhere to my self-imposed rules, I want him to stay. “Sure.”

“Shower first? Dinner second?” The questions, innocent enough, carry a warning of what is to come.

It’s been two months since I’ve been naked with Bash, and I can hardly wait.

“Definitely.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY-THREE

BASH

Ari twirls the pasta I picked up from a local Italian restaurant around her fork. She’s wearing a baggy pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Her hair is wrapped atop her head in a messy bun. She doesn’t wear a speck of makeup, and she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

“I actually miss those guys.” She smiles before plopping the forkful of noodles into her mouth.

We sit atop her bed cross-legged, containers of pasta between us as I regale her of all the Crane hockey shenanigans. Our schedule for the past couple of months has been blissfully brutal, allotting me lots of material to entertain Ari.

“Something crazy happened last week. I waswarned that if I told anyone, I would be murdered.” I chuckle.

Ari’s eyes go wide. “Oh my God. Tell me.”

“Do you know Penny?”

“I met her once when I stopped by the offices to see my mom.”

I nod. “Okay, well, she and Gunner hate each other. Right? Like so much so that it’s uncomfortable sometimes.”

“Do you like Penny?” she asks. “I didn’t get a good read on her.”

“Oh yeah, she’s great. She has a low tolerance for stupidity, and as you know, we’re never in a short supply of that, so she’s often annoyed with us. But she’s a good person and really cares about us.”

Ari nods, listening.

“So anyway, at the beginning of last month, she and Gunner got stranded in Vancouver together after one of our games. There was a huge storm, and they didn’t make the plane home before the storm rolled in. They were stuck there together for three days before the runway was cleared enough for the Cranes to send a plane to retrieve them. Anyway, when they came back, something felt off. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but they were different around each other. There wasn’t the normal palpable hate between them. You know?”

“You think they did it?” Ari leans in, drawn to the juicy gossip.

“Probably. It hadn’t crossed my mind at first because I was so used to them hating each other. Right? So then last week we were helping build a dog kennel for a new animal rescue through our Cranes Care non-profit—the whole team was there. I ran out of screws, so I went to the supply closet to get some. Only, when I opened the door, I saw Gunner and Penny going at it like animals.”

“What? They were doing it?” Ari gasps and laughs.

“Yeah, right up against the shelves.”

“Oh my gosh! What did they do when you walked in?”

“Well, they looked at me in shock. So I quickly shut the door and, of course, ran outside to tell the guys.”

“Bash.” She hits my arm. “Maybe they didn’t want people to know.”

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