Page 65 of Hat Trick

“You’re welcome.” Riley tugs on the drawstrings again, and I inhale sharply. “Are you warm enough?”

I’m way past warm.

My body is a goddamn inferno.

“Yeah,” I say. Piper waves at me through the doors, and I hold up a hand to tell her I’ll be right there. “I’m great. Fine. Dandy.”

“You told me you were hard to impress. How am I doing?” he asks, and a laugh rattles out of me.

“I’m on my way to being impressed.”

“Good.” He looks up at the moon. His dimple pops, and gosh is he pretty. “Patience is a virtue. I’ll get there one day.”

“I can’t wait to see you try,” I say, and I sure as hell mean it.

TWENTY

LEXI

“I likeroad games more than I like home games.” Piper sits next to me on the charter plane and drops her purse on the floor. “It’s so exciting to play in enemy territory and see new cities.”

“Hearing away crowds boo me is one of my favorite things in the world,” Maverick says as he shuffles past us, a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. “I fucking love chirping with guys who think they’re better than us.”

He talks a big game, but the Florida Ospreys have a good chance at beating us tonight.

We’re nowhere near the team we were at this point last season. Our record is sitting around .500 as we head into the middle of November, while a year ago, we were on top of the league standings and riding a six-game win streak. The good news is the boys have started to adjust to Riley being out of the lineup. Coach changes his first line every game, and I can tell he’s close to figuring out the missing piece that will turn things around.

I’m a loyal gal, a proud Stars employee who hopes to finish out her career with the same club because she loves DC and everyone on the team, but there’s a secret part of me that is so damn happy the boys have been blown out three out of their last five matchups.

It’s for Riley’s sake. I know how much he wishes he was out there with them, and every loss shows him he’s not just a number. He’s someone the boys have chemistry with, someone they trust, and you can’t replicate that kind of compatibility easily in this sport.

“They’re probably booing you because you’re a show-off.” Liam drops a kiss on Piper’s head and makes his way to the back to sit with the guys. “And a pain in my ass.”

“Love you too, Goalie Daddy,” Maverick sings.

“Do you all want to get dinner tonight?” Maven files into the row behind us and yawns. “I could use a glass of wine. Or five.”

“Everything okay?” Piper asks, turning around to look at her. “Do I need to talk to Dallas? He might kick footballs for a living, but I’ll kick his ass.”

“No, my husband is wonderful, though I love how feisty you are for being all of five feet tall,” Maven says. “Coordinating kids’ schedules with school and extracurricular activities and careers in two professional sports leagues is exhausting. And I have help! My dad jumps in when he can, and everyone else in my family is willing to drop what they’re doing and lend a hand if need be. I don’t know how the single mothers do it. Remind me to buy Madeline a really nice Christmas present. She’s a damn superhero for solo parenting for as long as she did.”

“Mothers are incredible. I could never do what you all do,” I say, digging through my bag and pulling out my iPad so I can do some work on the flight. “I’m in for dinner, by the way. How about we buy a bottle of wine, order room service, and have a movie night in one of our rooms?”

“Music to my ears. What about you, Piper. Want to join, or do you andyour husbandhave plans?” Maven asks.

“Please.” Piper snorts. “Liam is too superstitious for me to get more than five minutes with him before a game. He has a very strict pregame ritual.”

“Tell us more.” I grin at her. “Does he bite his shirt in the bedroom too?”

“I am not answering that.” She grabs her eye mask and tugs it down her forehead. “But I’ll say I haven’t been unsatisfied in years.”

“Well deserved after years with a shitty ex-husband.” I wave to the rest of the boys making their way on the plane. Ethan and Grant bring up the rear, stragglers like always, and I crane my neck. I haven’t seen Riley yet, and when I can’t find him, I frown. “Where’s Mitchy?”

“Did you miss me, Armstrong?” his deep voice says, and I jerk my chin to look up at him.

“Eavesdropping, Mitchell?” I toss back, and he grins.

“Hard not to when you’re practically shouting my name to the whole airplane.”

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