Page 161 of Goaltender Interference

Thank God. Connor couldn’t wait to get Jesse home and strip him down, touch and taste every single inch of him.

“Oh, you live together?” Thad asked, glancing between them.

“Yep,” Connor said, turning to go. “Have a great rest of your day.”

He wasn’t sure if he liked Thad Racine or not, but he certainly was gonna beinterestingto have around.

“So what was all that about?” Jesse asked when they were leaving the building. It was a foul day, the clouds heavy and leaden above them and the rain steadily drizzling down. Connor hit the unlock button on his SUV and they glanced at each other, then took off across the open lot without another word, sprinting toward the vehicle.

Inside, Jesse laughed breathlessly, raking wet hair off his forehead. Connor cupped his cheek, pulling him in, tasting rainwater and salt from Jesse’s sweat when he kissed him. It turned hot immediately, Jesse sliding his tongue into Connor’s mouth and grabbing the front of his hoodie to keep him there when he might have pulled away.

Around them, the rain drummed against the window, coming down harder now. It wasn’t until Connor accidentally elbowedthe steering wheel, making the horn honk, that Jesse drew away. “What were you saying a minute ago?”

“Nothing,” Connor murmured, breathless and happy. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Okay.” Jesse tangled their fingers together. “How’d the meeting go?”

“Good,” Connor said. “Gavin’s on board with our relationship and doesn’t anticipate any real trouble with upper management either.”

“Perfect. I think we should go home and celebrate.” Jesse gave him a slow smile.

“Sounds great to me,” Connor admitted, shifting back to put on his seat belt.

And if he drove home a little faster than usual? Well, he didn’t think anyone would blame him.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Connor was surprised when he got a text message from Viv the following day, asking him to meet.

They were heading out on a short road trip soon, so tempting as he was to put it off, he knew he shouldn’t delay. They had a game that evening, so he suggested a time the following night.

Viv agreed, suggesting she could drop the girls off at Pat and Aubrey’s house so she and Connor could meet at a coffee shop on the far side of Boston University’s campus.

At first, he wondered why she’d picked the place since there were plenty of coffee shops and cafes closer to his home or their old house in Back Bay where she still lived.

Connor had been to the coffee shop near campus once or twice, but had no attachment to it.

After a moment, Connor realized that was the whole fucking point. It was a neutral location. It wasn’t either of their private homes and it was close to where they first met. A place they only had good memories of.

So he agreed.

When he mentioned their plans to Nolan, he nodded, squaring his shoulders. “I wanna go too.”

“Nols …” Connor hesitated. “You don’thaveto do this.”

“I know. But I wanna.”

Connor lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. “Doyou?”

“I mean, I’d rather play hockey or hang out with Kyler,” he admitted with a little laugh. “But like, I feel like I should. Not like …obligatedshould? But like it’s the right thing to do. Being—being gay, it’s gonna be hard right?”

And Connor wanted to reassure his son that it wouldn’t, the world was getting better and he wouldn’t have any obstacles in his way because of who he loved but … but Connor couldn’t lie to him. Itwasbetter. Overall, hockey was better than it had been a few years ago. But it wasn’t perfect and neither was the rest of the world and there were still a lot of complicated things Nolan was going to have to navigate.

So Conno nodded. “Yeah, at times it probably will be,” he admitted.

“I feel like I should practice all that now,” Nolan said. “And, like, you’ll be there with me this time, right?”

“Of course. I’ll be there with you any time I can,” Connor assured him, proud of the young man his son was becoming. “Now and in the future. No matter how old you get, how grown you are, I will do everything I can to be there for you if you need me to be.”

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