Page 46 of Dirty Pucking Player

I sit up and shake my head. “Actually, I’m not sure. He got suspended for what happened in the Whales game. So, he can’t practice or come to the games.”

“For how long?”

“Eight games. He won’t be back until the middle of our road trip in two weeks. Right before the Stingrays.”

Which feels like an eternity…

“Well, that’s good. They’re your biggest rivals, aren’t they?”

“One of them, and they’re right behind us in the division, so we need to beat them.”

We need to be as many games ahead as possible going into these last few weeks of the regular season to ensure we secure a playoff spot.

“Well”—Jill pauses like she’s considering something—“if he’s not playing for the next couple weeks, maybe you can find another way to occupy his time.”

I bark out a laugh and push to my feet. “You’re supposed to be talking me out of this, not encouraging me.”

She scoffs. “If you wanted somebody to talk you out of this, you called the wrong girl. This is exactly what you need to loosen the hell up.”

“But—”

“But what?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose and try to figure out a way to explain this to her. There are a lot of reasons this is an awful idea, but I just keep coming back to one. “What if it turns into something more?”

“What do you mean? Are you developing feelings for this guy?”

“I don’t know.”

And that’s the honest answer.

Bash is nothing but contradictions. An amazing player but out of control. Annoying but entertaining. Charming but also a dick at times. He’s not the type of guy you get involved with if you’re looking for I love yous and happily ever afters.

I sigh and pace. “Bash is a player in every sense of the word. He’s the guy you go to for a good time.”

“Isn’t that all you’re looking for? A good time? I mean, you’re not looking for marriage and babies, are you?”

“Right now? No. It would be really shitty timing to even think about that. Not with my career where it is. But I’m already thirty-two. If I put it off too much longer, all my eggs are going to be shriveled up and crusty.”

Her laughter floats over the line. “I just got a really uncomfortable visual of your fallopian tubes.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Hey, you brought it up.”

I wander over to the window that overlooks my backyard. Instead of the lush green lawn and trees I grew up with, I’m stuck staring at rocks and palm trees. The desert will take getting used to. Even after over six months living here, I still long for the scent of rain and the changing fall colors.

Or maybe I only want to go home because it’s my safe place. Where I can get a hug from Dad and forget what’s happening with Bash and the stress of the approaching playoffs.

“I don’t know what I want, Jill, but it just seems like I’m risking a hell of a lot for this guy if it’s just a fling. I could find someone to have meaningless sex with pretty much anywhere. Do you know what I mean?”

“I do, hon, but you also need to live a little bit. You’ve been so focused on your career for the last fifteen years that you haven’t done much living outside hockey.”

“What about Sean?”

“Sean was a douche. You were with that guy way too long, and I never liked him.”

Something she informed me of many times during the years I was with him. I thought they just didn’t mesh, but she saw something beneath the surface I couldn’t. She sensed he was no good when all I saw were hearts and roses…and his warm, dark eyes and sexy grin.

---