Page 18 of Slapped Into Love

“He’s persistent; you’ve got to give him that,” Alec chuckled as he stepped into thebencharea.

“And fearless,” Jason added. “Since he knows how much it pisses Ryan off when he flirts with Tamara right in frontofhim.”

“You’ve got to give props to a guy who’s seen Ryan demolish players on the ice and still isn’t intimidated enough to back off hiswoman.”

I glared at Alec over my shoulder. “You might want to watch your ass during practice or else I might decide to work out some of my angeronyou.”

“Cut Alec some slack,” Jason suggested. “He doesn’t get it because he doesn’t have a woman ofhisown.”

“The day I get that riled up over some chick is the day hellfreezesover.”

Jason and I burst out in laughter at Alec’s declaration, and we were still at it when Tamara skated over to us with Mike following rightbehindher.

“What’s so funny?” sheasked.

“Just Alec being totally clueless,” I responded, pulling her close and dropping a quick, hard kiss on her lips. When I lifted my head, I locked gazes with Mike and flashed him a satisfied grin as I reached down to palm the ass he’d been eyeing all morning when she stepped into the bench area. He just shook his head and scooted past us with a head nod totheguys.

“We’d better finish getting ready.” Jason tugged on Alec’s arm, and they left us alone on thebench.

“I’m going to miss hanging out with you guys while the Zamboni clears the ice between my training session and your practice,” Tamarasighed.

“I’m sorry you have to switchrinks.”

She waved off my concern. “I was lucky to be able to stay here as long as I did. But with the playoffs starting this weekend, I totally get it. The ice needs to be pristine for those games so nobody can complain when you kick their ass and knock them out of therunning.”

“Damn straight.” I tugged her close. “There’s one good thing about you switching toanotherrink.”

“What?” Shocked brown eyes flew up to searchmyface.

“I won’t have to watch that asshole try to flirt with you right in frontofme.”

“Mike isn’t that bad,” she laughed. “He mostly does it to get a rise outofyou.”

“Mostly isn’t good enough,” I growled, claiming her lips again. “The guy needs to get it through his thick skull that you’re mine. No flirting allowed. Not for anyreason.”

Concerned brown eyes scanned my face. “You know you don’t have anything to be worried about, right? There’s only one guy I’m interested in, andthat’syou.”

“I know,” I sighed. “It’s the only reason I haven’t settled the matter with myfists.”

“If I can refrain from getting into a cat fight with any of the puck bunnies, you can keep your hands in your hockey gloves where they belong, slugger,” shelaughed.

“A cat fight, huh?” I waggled my browsather.

She brushed her lips against mine, and whispered, “Cat fights are out of the question. But if you score me some goals during the playoffs, I might let you have just about anything else you canthinkof.”

I hadn’t needed the extra motivation to play my best during playoffs, but I sure as shit wasn’t going to turn down Tamara’soffer.

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