Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Stefan nods, then points at me. “Yup. And since you’re the new guy, too, you’re coming with us.”
Wait. What? They want me to go with them?
“Captain’s orders,” Dev seconds in a tone that brooks no argument.
“Please come,” the woman next to Brady pipes in. “Then I won’t be the only estrogen there.” After a quick pause, she extends a hand. “I’m Kana. Brady’s wife.”
“Nice to meet you, Kana,” I say, but don’t yet commit to being the additional woman.
I look to Stefan first. He leans against the concrete wall of the corridor, all laid-back and easygoing like he’s just waiting for my yes or my no. But his blue eyes glint with something like…hope? Or maybe that’s opportunity flashing in his irises?
For a few seconds, I’m sure he’s up to something. Like “Captain’s orders” means he wants to give…other orders. The kind he might give in the bedroom.
My stomach swoops, and a low, tender ache deep inside grows more insistent. I feel wobbly. Uncertain. But strangely excited too. I turn my attention to Hayes, hunting for confirmation in his eyes. Are there new guy orders, too, with this big group of hockey players and a wife? But Hayes’s expression is unreadable.
It’s up to me. Yes, I’m trying to avoid trouble of the man variety and that goes double for the double man variety.
I swallow, buying some time to figure out if I want to do this—hang out with two tempting men I work with. I mean, yeah. I really do.
It’s been a good day. I’m amped up from the good news about the writing assignment, and a night out feels like a reward rather than a pre-ward.
Plus, Dev, Brady, and Kana will be there as a buffer.
When in Vegas… “Let’s do it,” I say.
13
BIRTHDAY SUITS
Hayes
“And then I scored a goal buck naked.” Stefan plunks his glass down on the wood table with tequila-fueled bravado as he finishes his tale.
It’s nearing eleven, and we’re in a corner booth at The Winning Hand off the Strip. Stefan says it’s his favorite off-the-beaten-path bar in this city and claims no one will recognize his handsome face here—his words.
He’s just told us the story of his wildest dare. One I don’t believe. I shake my head since I know this guy. “Nope. You did not. No fucking way you skated naked at your hometown rink at the end of your first season.”
Brady and Kana are playing pool in the other room. But Dev’s here with us. Ivy too. She’s on my side, shooting the captain an are you sure about that stare. “I’m with New Guy. I don’t buy it,” Ivy says.
Stefan scoffs, holding up his hands like he has nothing to hide? “I don’t back down from a dare.”
“You hardly back down from anything,” I say.
“That is true,” he agrees, looking from me to Ivy with a grin that’s not quite private. Then he picks up his water glass and polishes it off—we switched from Patron to H2O an hour ago.
I’ve got a damn good feeling what Stefan’s up to. Have sensed it for a few days now. I just didn’t want to face it. I’ve kept my head down and pretended like I haven’t noticed his…machinations.
But the moment he said, “Multitudes, Ivy,” on the rooftop, I had a hunch. On the plane ride when he asked what she liked to do in Vegas then threw the question to me, I was certain.
There’s little Stefan loves more than orchestrating a good time. He arranged our first threesome after we won the Frozen Four his senior and my freshman year. We were celebrating our win at a party and had both been chatting with the same pretty blonde when Stefan pulled me aside. I figured he was going to call dibs. But instead, he said, I know we’re both into her, and I have an idea.
His idea turned into the hottest night of my life.
Once I put two and two together on the rooftop, I knew the puppeteer had come out to play again. But I’ve said nothing for a few days. Mostly because I don’t want to face the reality of this wild desire to have Ivy all to myself, or to ourselves. Sharing a woman was one thing when Stefan and I were teammates in college, and then when I first started in the pros, but this situation is different. She works with us. I don’t want to mess things up for her, especially considering what happened to the last mascot.
Every time I think about it, there’s this too tight feeling in my chest. A sense that one wrong move and everything could snap, like elevator cables under too much load.
I should ignore all these feelings, but Ivy’s too tempting. The possibility that she might want both of us is addictive. And dangerous. I need to stay away, yet here I am, my mind swirling with possibilities I should not entertain.