Page 101 of Goaltender Interference

Connor sucked in a breath.Oh.Oh shit.

He hadn’t acted like this about anyone since … since Viv.

He’d been in college the last time someone had consumed every thought that wasn’t about hockey. The last time he’d carried a happy, glowing feeling wherever he went, high on that person.

He’d chalked it up to the great sex but what if itwasn’tthat?

What if it was more? What if he … what if he was falling for Jesse?

He glanced over at Jesse, who was laughing at something Danny said, eyes bright, skin pink and sweaty from his workout and …fuck.

This wasn’t what Connor wanted at all.

Jesse Fucking Webber. Sarcastic, smart-mouthed Jesse. Jesse the flirt. Jesse, who’d fucked half of Toronto and probably a good portion of North America.

Sure, he’d agreed to exclusivity, but probably only to appease Connor and because the head office had been concerned about his behavior. As soon as the season was up, as soon as they went their separate ways for the summer, what would happen then?

How did Connor really think this would go? That Jesse would decide he wanted to deal with Connor’s difficult relationship with his ex and his kids and everything that came with it?

That Jesse was gonna settle down? That was nuts!

Sure, he got along with Connor’s family. He fit in well with the kids and his parents and siblings and all of their craziness.

But so had Kip Smith.

Their former fourth line center had stayed with Connor for a few months after he joined the team last season. The kidslovedhim. They’d talked about Kippy all the time and had missed him terribly once he’d been traded away.

Yet he’d been nothing but a teammate and a friend to Connor.

Connor’s children liking Jesse didn’t mean a damn thing.

Connorliking Jesse didn’t mean a damn thing. It certainly didn’t mean he and Jesse had a romantic future.

In fact, Connor’s feelings were hellishly inconvenient and gonna cause him all sorts of problems he didn’t need.

“Connor,” Leah said, pulling his attention back. “I had a circuit training planned for you this afternoon but I want to modify it. I need you to get your head back in the game and focus for me, okay? I don’t want you to injure yourself because you’re off somewhere thinking about something else.”

Connor nodded, clearing his throat. “Got it, Coach. Head in the game.”

“Good.”

She ran through the specific moves she wanted him to do, giving him slightly longer recovery times than usual and going a little lighter on the squats.

Through sheer force of will, Connor kept his thoughts firmly planted on the workout. It helped that Jesse had left—probably heading into the other room to do some yoga and Pilates with Dakota.

After Connor was done with his workout and left the gym, Jesse walked out of the yoga studio. They passed in the hallway and Jesse gave him a friendly tap on the thigh when he passed.

“See you later,” he said with a bright grin, clearly unaware of the turmoil in Connor’s head.

“Later,” Connor echoed hoarsely.

Jesse shot him a funny look but kept walking, disappearing out the door.

Connor walked into the studio and over to Dakota, who was supervising a couple of guys’ workouts and said, “So, I, uh, might have overdone it on the bike and my thighs are screaming at me. You think we can focus more on upper body and core work today?”

Dakota grinned. “Yes, but you may regret you said that.”

Connor stifled a groan. So, he was gonna be hurtingeverywhereby the time he was done. Fantastic. He was too old for this shit.

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