Page 57 of Zero Pucks

I realized that was my cue to start the car, so I did, pulling out into the street and following the softly chirping GPS noises back to the rental. It wasn’t far, and my heart had just enough time to get back to a normal beat before we were pulling into the driveway.

And then it kicked off again when I remembered I was about to be alone with him. All night.

“This is it.”

“I’ve been here before,” Tucker said, leaning forward and squinting through the windshield. “Not here, here. Not this rental. A guy I boned a few times lives a few houses down.”

My face flamed, and I felt a white-hot spear of jealousy hit me right in the gut. “Oh?”

“Don’t worry, he’s a douche,” Tucker said like the guy didn’t matter at all. Would that be me when this was all over? Some nerd who fucked him a few times? “He was just an easy lay, and sometimes I have a hard time, you know.” He made a jerking-off motion with his hand.

“Oh. Um.” Seriously, what was I supposed to say to that?

“Anyway, ignore me. Again.” He opened his door, stood up, then stared into the back seat at his chair.

“Want me to get it?”

“No,” he answered slowly. “It’s…I don’t like using it. I rarely do. Only when I have guests who might be a little freaked-out with the way I navigate the house without it.”

He meant me. I was the guest he was worried about. I walked around to his side of the car. “You know that nothing about your body bothers me, right?”

“For now. But it’s different. I know it’s different. I spent years getting over the feeling of shame that comes from existing like this because it’s…well. For people who don’t live it, it’s weird. There’s no other way to put it.” He bit his lip, then sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “When you first start learning to walk on prosthetics, they give you these tiny legs, right? They’re like…I don’t know, a foot tall or something. Maybe less. They’re adjustable, and they don’t have knee or ankle joints or anything like that. They help you practice balance, and they don’t hurt as much as my full legs.”

“Okay,” I said with a frown. I was failing to see the problem.

“I use those when I don’t feel like putting these on.” He tapped his thigh. “I also walk on my hands a lot. Or on my ass. My arms are strong as fuck.”

I laughed helplessly. “I figured that out already.”

His gaze darkened, and he grabbed me by the waist, yanking me against him. “Yeah?”

“Yes. And look, if it’s weird, it’s weird. But I’ll get over it.” Curling my hands around the back of his neck, I squeezed. I wanted to ask him how I was meant to get used to it if he didn’t show me, but that was putting the cart miles before the horse.

This was a hookup, not a marriage proposal.

We’d already done that bit, and it hadn’t worked out the way I planned my first marriage to be.

Tucker let out a breath. “I’ll leave my stuff in the car, but if it’s so weird you don’t want to do butt stuff—or dick stuff. Whatever stuff,” he said, leaning in to knock his forehead against mine, “tell me. I’d rather be a little uncomfortable and keep you horny for this body.”

“Oh my God,” I said. I started to laugh, but it was cut off with a firm, demanding kiss.

I let him devour me for long enough that I was hard all over again, and then I pulled back. “You know your, uh, hookup?”

“Sure…”

“He might be getting a show right about now.”

“Nah. He can’t see.”

“Like, at all?”

“Mhm.” He nodded and kissed my jaw again.

“Oh. You…met him through Jonah?” It was almost too easy to get lost in the feel of his lips on my skin.

He spoke against my neck. “Kind of. They were at a bar drinking to celebrate a victory, and he was there. His name is Grady. He’s a left winger. He used to play with Jonah on the Legends, but they traded his punk bitch ass to the Fury.”

“Sounds like you really don’t like this guy.”

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