Page 13 of Pucking Your Best Friend

“Good luck, Maddie.”

“Thanks. So, what was the waitress’s name? Jessica or Jane?”

“Jennifer,” he said contritely.

Maddie sighed loudly. “Oh, Matt.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I promise to do better. Land that music producer! See you tonight.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

After they hung up, Matt glanced at the screen and winced, cursing. He’d lost track of time again!

He rushed to the entrance of the Hawks building. Outside he encountered Jack West, one of their centers, a new addition to the Hawks…and the brother of his best friend Dax, even though Matt had only discovered that recently — and the rest of the world was still in the dark about it.

“Oh, thank God,” West said, relieved. “I thought I was the only one who was late. Always better to have company when Gray’s yelling.”

Matt snorted. “That’s the right attitude. Why are you late? You’re usually the model citizen.” His nickname wasSaintfor a reason: Jack never did anything wrong. He hadn’t been in the penalty box all season, while his brother was basically camped out there.

Jack avoided his eyes. “Had…stuff to do.”

“Ah. Informative.”

“If you want info, watch the news. What about you?”

“Stuff to do.”

Jack grinned and pushed the door open. “Well, calling the pretty waitress from yesterdaystuffis pretty harsh. I expect that kind of talk from Dax and maybe Leon, but not from you.”

Matt chuckled softly. “Dax is a different person since he hooked up with Lucy.”

“Oh, come on. He’s a person in love. Not a different one. So, the waitress is to blame for you being late? Man, oh man, you all can’t control yourselves, can you?” he remarked, raising one corner of his mouth.

“Oh, please. Just because they call you Saint doesn’t mean you’re innocent.”

“During the season, yes.”

Right. Jack never started an affair or a relationship while he was playing, even though Matt couldn’t believe he really did without the odd one-night stand. “Seriously, you never have sex during a season?” he felt compelled to ask.

“Never.”

“Really, no exceptions? You know, I never plan to go home with anyone, it just happens.”

Jack snorted and gave him a pitying glance. “That’s because you have no self-discipline. The woman who can shake my resolve has yet to be born.”

Matt rolled his eyes even though he secretly thought that maybe he should look at Jack as a role model. The bastard was having the best season of his life while Matt was currently a bit unfocused. He didn’t know exactly what it was. Nothing had changed except that Dax had been dating Lucy for a few weeks and… Yeah, he had no idea. He was happy for the two of them. That was certainly not the reason. He would just have to scale back his private life a little and concentrate more on the game. He actually had nothing to complain about. His life was perfect. There was nothing he would change about it.

Chapter 3

Maddie felt like her life was a runaway freight train. She was standing on the side of the tracks watching it hurtle toward a bend, unable to stop the accident or look away. All she could say was, “I don’t understand. What do you mean you signed with someone else? I thought you were happy with our offer.”

“I am. I was,” Ms. Geller replied without emotion, leaning forward, her hands folded on the massive solid wood desk that she certainly hadn’t found in the trash like Maddie had hers. “Ms. James, please don’t take it personally. I appreciate the effort you’ve made. I’m certain you’re a capable matchmaker…however, you’ve only been in the market for a year, and you’re small. Your client list is still short and your success rate isn’t yet quantifiable. That doesn’t meet my requirements, I’m afraid. Love Triumphs was simply the safer choice for me. I don’t have much patience and the candidates they presented were more than promising.”

Oh, of course they were! Love Triumphs could offer models and handsome heirs, all of whom had attended private schools and would make a fantastic trophy husband for the rich music producer. However, Maddie knew they would find her a superficial relationship that would satisfy her for the time being but not make her happy in the long run!Love Triumphsspecialized in finding thenext best thing. Maddie was looking for therightthing.

“Ms. Geller, please…”

“That’s all, Ms. James,” she interrupted firmly. “You can go now.”

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