Page 43 of Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny

“Okay, obviously you don’t want to,” he said, his shoulders sagging. “We can still grab dinner. I’ll stay up late and watch film and then try to talk to the guys about it right before practice.”

I knew that’d be a disaster and put him behind the rest of the team, and I didn’t want that—the fact that he was willing to earned him about a bajillion brownie points, too. “How many of the guys?”

“The starting lineup and a few of the others who get a lot of time on the ice.” He rattled off his roommates’ names, mentioned Beck and a handful of others, most of whom I recognized by last name and could even give you positions and numbers.

I’m so going to regret this.“Let’s go watch some game film, then.”

Everyone glanced our way when we walked into the diner. Several hockey players, along with a mix of the promised girlfriends, occupied three tables near the back where a flat-screen TV hung.

“Ox! You made it!”

The guys nodded and bumped fists like they hadn’t just been at practice together.

Then all eyes turned to me.

Ryder put his hand on my back. “You guys know Lindsay?”

I waved to everyone, the awkward sensation turning my head fuzzy, although I tried not to let it show. So I’d flirted with, fervently made out with, and/or slept with several people in the room. Back in the day Beck and I flirted here and there, but the night I’d drunkenly thrown myself at him, he’d called me a cab home instead.

Luckily just the old me has to be embarrassed about that.The current me still felt the heat climbing up my neck.

Then of course there was Hudson. I’d made peace enough with that whole situation and him and Whitney and all, but it didn’t exactly erase the weirdness. Especially since he knew that I’d been in love with him at one point, and so did she, andugh. Weird.

Daniel Kelly, number sixteen, a guy who toggled between center and winger, and I had done the booty call thing several times through the past few years. He was a total player, but nice enough, and he had a way of telling you good-bye afterward that didn’t make you feel like you had to do a walk of shame.

Ryder pulled out the chair next to Megan for me, and I settled into it. He sat on my right and squeezed my knee, I assumed because he could see the apprehension on my face and was trying to put me at ease. I didn’t think I’d ever be at ease in this crowd, but the gesture warmed my heart, so I smiled and covered his hand with mine.

The owner came over and took our order. He didn’t write a thing down, which made me wonder if he had a superhuman memory or if we’d get the wrong food.

Beck stood and inserted a flash drive into the side of the TV. “Okay, let’s see what’s so great about Minnesota this year, and then we’ll figure out how to destroy them.”

The game played out in front of us, everyone making comments here and there. Megan was pretty into it, but occasionally Lyla and Whitney would lean over her and talk to me about other things like classes or this dueling piano bar they liked to go to. They promised to call the next time they went to Howl at the Moon so that I could go along and check it out for myself.

Our food came halfway through the first period. The team onscreen was undeniably good, and they scored several points on the team they were playing.

I moved the ketchup bottle that Ryder kept pushing my way as a joke back toward him and then said, “Watch their second line. Everyone’s so focused on the wingers and the forward, but then that D-man comes through, and…boom. Pass and score.”

Ryder leaned forward, his forearms braced on his knees. “Hey, back that up.”

Beck rewound it and Ryder pointed out what I’d seen.

“Man, I didn’t even see him,” Beck said.

“Lindsay’s the one who noticed,” Ryder said, and then the spotlight landed on me once again.

“I didn’t see it the first time. I just happened to notice him on the outskirts.” Mostly because his last name belonged to one of my exes in high school and I was trying to figure out if he was one and the same, but I wasn’t about to admit that. And I was sure it wasn’t Brian, for the record. The record in my head, anyway.

The guys immediately started breaking down the play and made up a game plan for how to stop it. A few of the guys gave me high fives, like I was part of the team.

Megan raised her fist for a bump. “It was a nice catch.”

Ryder nodded his agreement before kissing my cheek. Then he pressed his lips next to my ear, his signature move for making my thoughts go completely hazy. “There’s something about you analyzing film that’s making me think naughty thoughts.”

I twisted closer and whispered, “I suspect you just think naughty thoughts all the time.”

“About you? Possibly…” The mischievous glint in his eye sent a swirl of desire through me, and when he ran his gaze over me, it spread until my entire body tingled with it.

“Ox, isn’t that that same asshole who was stupid enough to pick a fight with you earlier in the season?” Dane asked. “Number ten from the losing team?”

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