Page 51 of Double Pucked

“When did you two play hockey together?” I ask, then snag an olive and pop it in my mouth.

Chase watches the olive slide past my lips with avid interest before he says, “We were on the same team in high school and middle school.”

“And grade school,” Ryker puts in, then adds with a cheeky grin, “Shocking, isn’t it, that we met on the ice.”

Immediately, my brain supplies an image of an outgoing boy and a more reserved one connecting through sport. “I’m picturing the two of you at a rink skating awkwardly, passing a puck back and forth, then saying,Did we just become best friends?”

Chase laughs. “Close, but not quite.”

“Fine, what did I get wrong?”

Ryker leans closer, brushes a strand of still damp hair from my forehead. “We didn’t skate awkwardly, sweetness. Not once.”

They’re so cocky, and I love it.

* * *

After dinner, I try to insist on cleaning up alone since Ryker bought dinner and Chase gave me a home, but they insist they won’t let me do chores solo. They help me, and once the kitchen is clean, we all head down the hall.

Will we go to separate rooms?

But as quickly as that thought arrives, it disappears since Chase nods to his big room—our sex room. “You’re sleeping withus, Trina.”

Well, itisan order, so I followthemand slide into the big bed. Ryker’s right behind me. But even though I’m dead tired, and so damn worn out, there’s one thing we have to discuss.

The ground rules going forward.

My stomach swirls with nerves, but we’ve already vaulted past last night’s ground rules, just like we bypassed separate bedrooms. This will be awkward no matter what, so when Chase dims the lights, I dive in.

“So, we’re doing this for…” I flash back to the start of the evening and to Chase’s words. “The next week while I’m here?”

That came out a little strangled, but at least I said it. There.

Ryker turns to me, his expression thoughtful. “That work for you?”

For a brief moment, I picture nights with them beyond next week. But that won’t happen. That’s not on the table for them, and truly, it’d be foolish of me to imagine anything past the next week. Even if I’ve moved past my ex, that doesn’t mean I need to movetoa couple new guys.

I gulp, then nod.

Chase slides in on the other side of the bed, kissing my shoulder. “I know you’re not looking for anything more. No pressure then from anyone.”

“We’ll just have fun as we work through your list,” Ryker adds.

That’ll take some time. We’re all busy, and I checked out their hockey schedules today. With them being on different teams, and with my shifts at the store—since sometimes I work nights—we won’t always be around at the same time.

“We were very productive tonight. We crossed off one, two, and three,” I say with a sly grin.

Chase lifts a brow, cycling back to the start of our sex seminar, I suspect. “One was double BJs,” he says, like he’s counting off.

In no time, Ryker jumps in, “Two was pussy worship and dick devotion at the same time.”

“And three was fucking and fellating,” Chase concludes, but then taps his chin. “But now I really need to know something—was rubbing our come all over your sweet tits while you played with your pussy on your list? Because that’s some very specific smut.”

“And I am here for any sort of improv work in bed,” Ryker adds.

I just smile. “I went off script for that one.”

But speaking of my list, there is another ground rule that’d be good to establish. Only this is a tougher one to broach. It might cause jealousies, and I don’t want to divide them. I do want to be on the up and up. Still, I feel wobbly and uncertain as I say, “So, um, I hate to bring this up, but what happens if, well, if I’m say, in the shower with Ryker, and well—”

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