Page 18 of Win Big

“Uh, no.” I don’t talk business with Théo when I see him, if I can help it. It’s a little weird living in the same building as the man who controls your career. “He doesn’t come down to the dressing room much, and usually not to discuss blocking shots.”

“Well.” She smiles. “He’d tell you that teams that block the most shots don’t win the most games. He has numbers and everything.”

“Of course he does.” Lacey smiles.

“He also has numbers about how many shots from the point actually go in the net, which leads to the question: is blocking a point shot actually worth it?”

I stare at her. Jesus.

“Also, just because a defenseman blocks a lot of shots doesn’t make him a good D-man.”

“Ouch.” I rub my chin. “Shot received.”

“I wasn’t talking about you specifically,” she adds.

“Really.” I lift an eyebrow.

“Some players have to block a lot of shots because they keep getting caught in their own end.”

“True.” I’m trying not to get defensive, even though she’s pushing buttons.

If she were a guy, I’d tell her to fuck off. But I can’t do that, and it strikes me at that moment how weird it is to be having this discussion with a woman. Not that women can’t know hockey—hey, I’m not that sexist! But you gotta admit, Everly is at an elite level.

As a Wynn, she probably came out of the womb spouting plus-minus stats.

“You could just get out of the way,” she says. “That wouldn’t make you less of a man.”

Heat slides through my veins and my fingers tighten around my beer. “I don’t do it to prove my manhood,” I grate out.

“Sure.” She smiles gently.

Christ. I want to turn her over my lap and spank that cute little ass and then flip her over and kiss that smart mouth until she’s moaning, not goading me. I feel a tug of desire in my groin.

Théo arrives home at that moment, providing a distraction as Lacey gets up to greet him with a heated kiss. “Hey, babe.” He grabs her ass and squeezes, right in front of all of us.

I bow my head to hide my smile

“Nice win,” she says to him, as if he played.

“Yeah.” His gaze lands on me over his wife’s shoulder. “Hey, Wyatt. Good game tonight.”

“Thanks.”

“The way you knocked the puck off Price’s stick in that breakaway was stellar.”

My chest puffs a little. “Thank you.”

Théo releases Lacey and disappears, returning a moment later with a beer. He takes off his suit jacket and slings it over the back of a chair and sits.

“We were talking about the shot he blocked,” Everly tells Théo.

“Yeah, another good move.”

“Tell us your honest opinion about blocking shots,” Everly says with a smirk.

Théo smiles wryly and glances at me. As the general manager of the team, he keeps his opinions about a lot of things to himself. He needs to because the league is so political. “Well.” He takes a gulp of his beer. “I can tell you that unblocked shot-attempts from the right or left points have a two percent shooting percentage. For shots from the point near the middle of the ice, it’s three percent.”

Everly nods while Lacey and Taylor look at Théo as if he were speaking Klingon. Man, this woman really does it for me.

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