Page 14 of Time to Shine

Casey hopped to his feet suddenly. “Well, I should get changed too. See you at dinner. You know where it is?”

“I’ll find it.” Landon assumed he could just follow everyone else.

“Cool. Hopefully the food is decent. And if it sucks we can eat at the bar later.”

Landon was ninety-eight percent sure he wouldn’t be going to the bar, but he nodded and watched Casey slip his feet back into his sandals.

“Later, Stacks.”

And then he was gone, leaving Landon alone to wonder what the hell any of that had been about.

Chapter Five

Casey loved road trips.

A lot of the guys groaned about them—Casey’s dad had complained about them all the time—but Casey usually enjoyed himself on the road. He liked visiting different cities, trying new restaurants and bars, meeting new people. He liked spotting the Calgary fans in every arena they went to. He liked days off in cities that were a little more exciting—or warmer—than Calgary in the winter. He liked nights out, and he liked hotel sex.

But most of all, he liked that he was never alone.

He didn’t have a roommate anymore; that had ended after his second season. Most guys were psyched to get their own rooms, and Casey could definitely appreciate that the privacy was nice for some things, but most of the time he was lonely and bored.

Which was why he spent as little time alone in his room as possible. He visited his teammates’ rooms, he organized outings, he invited people he’d just met back to his room for sex.

People like the woman who was in his hotel room right now. She was sitting on the edge of his bed, her back to him, finger-combining the mess that Casey had made of her long, strawberry-blond hair.

“You should stay,” Casey said, meaning it. Tess was fun. The sex had been great, and they’d laughed a lot. A perfect night, really.

“No way,” she said with her adorable Georgia accent. “I’m not doing a walk of shame in the morning in front of all your teammates.”

Her tone was teasing, but Casey knew she meant it. She’d told him she was new to St. Louis, starting a job. Casey couldn’t remember what the job was because he hadn’t really understood it when she’d explained it to him. Jobs like mailman and baker he could understand. Jobs like “data quality specialist” and “logistics and integration manager” were mysteries to him. But he genuinely listened to people when they talked about themselves, even if he didn’t always understand what they were saying.

“I don’t like that saying,” Casey said. “Walk of shame. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Not if you had a good time.” He propped himself up on an elbow. “You had a good time, right?”

She glanced at him over her shoulder and smiled. “I did.”

“Because I can probably do better. Sometimes I need a practice run, y’know? Second time will rock your world. And the third time—”

“Oh my god.” She laughed and tossed a pillow at him. “I can’t stay. I was only supposed to have one drink at the bar tonight and go straight home. I have work in the morning.”

“Boooo.”

She leaned over, then kissed him. He sighed happily and deepened the kiss, hoping it might convince her to stay. Her arguments were valid, though. Being on time for a job you’d only started recently, and had moved to a whole new city for, was probably more important than another round of sex with a hockey player.

She broke the kiss, smiled a little sadly at him, and said, “You’re cute. Sorry I have to go. Maybe next time you’re in St. Louis you can DM me.”

“For sure,” Casey said, though he knew that would be next season sometime. It was still a nice offer.

She gathered her clothes from the floor and carried them to the bathroom. Casey fell back against the pillows and smiled at the ceiling. Road trips were awesome.

He hoped the guys he’d gone out with had all had good nights too. It had been a small group: only Gio, Westy, and Petey had gone. Landon hadn’t come out. Casey had been disappointed, though he’d only been half expecting him to go. After dinner, Landon had claimed he was tired. Casey had texted him before they left for the bar, one more attempt at an invite, but Landon had replied with Staying in. Thx.

Casey had enjoyed talking to him, earlier in Landon’s room. Maybe Landon had hated it. A lot of people found Casey annoying. He knew it. Except there had been that laugh. Or that sound that was close to a laugh. Casey needed to hear it again, to make sure it was as cute as he remembered.

Tess emerged from the bathroom, wearing the tight black pants and bright blue top that had caught Casey’s eye in the bar. He hopped out of bed and went to grab his phone from the dresser across the room. “I’ll get you a cab.”

“Thanks,” she said, then laughed. “It’s always so weird after, when you’re just, y’know, naked.”

Casey looked down at himself. He was extremely used to being naked around other people for lots of reasons, but he decided to cover his crotch with one hand to be polite.

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