Page 78 of Puck You Very Much

Lucy sighed and rubbed her face. “I don’t know how you do it, Maddie. Seriously. Being there for him like that. Driving there every week.”

Mirthlessly, her sister laughed. “I’m the only one who’s consistently around, Lucy. Rachel is in Chicago and you’re always on the go, so who else would do it?”

Lucy wrapped the straw around her finger and nodded. “I’m sorry you’re taking the brunt of the stress.”

Maddie waved her hand. “It’s fine,” she said firmly, then added more quietly, “Don’t give up on Dad, okay? Don’t stop going over there and talking to him. Even if you’re distracted by your sexy hockey player and are spending the whole day snuggling and languishing in his bed.”

She rolled her eyes. “We have sex. We don’t cuddle.”

Maddie raised an eyebrow.

“Well…we do a little.”

But it was perfectly harmless.

“Tell me again how I’m your favorite player. What was that again? I have the best backhand in the league?”

Lucy snorted, sent her fist gently into Dax’s chest, and then placed her head back on it. “You can forget about that. Your ego is big enough. Nobody needs to strokethatanymore.”

“Ah, but you’re not nobody, you’re special, remember? So I need to hear it from you,” he assured her, wrapping one of her locks of hair around his index finger. “Preferably as slowly and in as much detail as possible, because I’m a stupid hockey player and slow on the uptake.”

She laughed and cast an amused glance down at his deadly serious face. “You’re smarter than you have any right to be. God, I can’t believe I just stroked your ego.” Her eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re good.”

He grinned and lifted her chin to kiss her gently. “I know, thank you.”

She rolled her eyes but snuggled closer into his embrace, his arm around her shoulders, her arm around his middle, and her feet between his legs.

She had always cursed her height—or rather her shortness. But as it turned out, it had some advantages. For instance, she could lie comfortably on Dax’s chest and still warm her cold feet against him. Dax winced every time she pressed her ice blocks against his calves, but after a lot of swearing, he allowed it. After all, he was born to live near ice. He was tough.

“And the press says you have no social skills,” she said, shaking her head as she traced circles on his ribcage. “Yet you’re a master manipulator. That’s what they should be writing about. Not about you and Jack and who has the better stats.”

“Ah, they all know Jack will win,” he replied lightly. “He always has the numbers. They’re simply writing that to torment me because I was an asshole to most of them.”

He said it without judgment or anger in his voice, but she knew it annoyed him, and that the competition with Jack would always annoy him. She just didn’t know why. And she wanted to ask him, wanted to know what had happened between him and Jack. But only girlfriends asked things like that, not meaningless affairs, right?

However, meaningless affairs could at least talk the guy who had been giving them orgasms for weeks out of comparing himself to his brother.

She rolled onto his chest, her arms folded so she could look him straight in the face, and ran her index finger along the edges of his cheeks and jaw.

It was difficult not to touch him outside the safety of their apartments or hotel rooms. She was addicted to the feel of his skin under hers, the rough stubble under her fingertips, his chest against hers, his lips on her neck, his fingers in her palms, and the way he greeted her every morning as if he had to make sure she was still there. And every time he did, she felt his touch like a sweet prick in her chest, like a…promise.

“You know statistics don’t capture everything, Dax,” she whispered, smiling. “And I think it’s absolutely stupid to compare yourself to Jack. You’re better in some areas, worse in others. You’re such different players.”

“We have the exact same technique, Lucy.”

“I’m not talking about technique,” she stated forcefully. “You’re the team glue, Dax. Everyone looks up to you. Nobody wants to lose your favor. Fox may be the dad of the team, but you’re the cool brother who makes them feel special. Always. They need you to maintain their confidence. Jack, on the other hand, is the furnace that lights a fire under their butts. They’re both important jobs; neither better than the other. You’re not going to gain anything by worrying about it. It’ll never give you the satisfaction you’re looking for. But, if it helps you…” Grinning, she leaned forward and sank her hands into his hair, “I don’t find Jack attractive at all. I would never have broken my rule for him. So, at least for me, there’s no competition.”

A lazy smile spread across Dax’s face. “Well, considering you weren’t trying to stroke my ego, you’re doing a damn good job of it,” he said, impressed, and ran his fingertips down her bare spine.

She laughed. “Oops. Then I take it back.”

“Ah, too late, I’m afraid. I’ve already stored them away forever.” He tapped his temple. “You can’t bear it when people are angry or sad, can you?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“I blame your father.”

Yeah, she blamed him too. “He was different. With Mom. Never angry or sad, honestly.”

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