Page 22 of Clear Shot

“Sly devil,” Jude LeBlanc says, coming over to shake my hand. “How did we not know you were dating Johan’s sister?”

I shrug. “We were keeping it casual because we knew the gossip mill would run wild.”

“So you opted to marry her?”

“Her visa ran out so we had to decide—long distance relationship or marriage.” It’s strange that the words come out so easily. As if they’re true.

“Good for you. She’s a great lady.”

“I want to know why I wasn’t invited to the party last night,” Felix says as he shakes my hand. His eyes twinkle with mirth since he knows the truth about our situation.

“It wasn’t my party,” I say lightly, shaking his proffered hand. “Johan and Sloane planned it and it was just a few couples. Wereally wanted to keep things casual. If she wants a big wedding next summer, we can do that.”

“Is she moving into your bachelor pad?” Jordan asks me. “Because it’s pretty small.”

“She moved in a few days ago, and we’re too busy right now to think about another move until the off-season.”

That probably isn’t true but they don’t need to know that.

“I’m just trying to figure out how you got from casual dating to married,” Wolf Bodilsen says, cocking his head.

“Like I said, we had to make a choice—either take a step back and do the long-distance thing with her in Slovakia and me here or make it official. And we didn’t want to be apart.”

“So this was about her visa situation.” Wolf looks suspicious, and I don’t want him—or any of the others—to think Hana somehow manipulated me.

“It was my idea,” I say quickly. “She was ready to leave the country. I’m the one who asked her to stay and to marry me.”

“I thought you were never getting married again?” Camden Locke, our starting goalie, says with a grin.

“It’s different when you meet the right woman.” I exchange a glance with Johan and he just smirks, pretending to be engrossed in his equipment.

“Johan—you good with this douche marrying your sister?” Jude calls out.

“He’s my brother now,” Johan replies. “As long as he’s good to her, that’s all I care about.”

“You’re a lot nicer than I would be in your shoes,” Wolf calls out.

There seem to be a lot of questions, which is annoying, but I can’t let them know how uncomfortable they make me because the last thing we need is for the higher-ups on the team to get wind of this. I don’t know how they would react to the news that we only got married so she could stay in the country, andfrankly, I don’t want to find out. I’m also worried about her reputation—no one likes a gold digger and even though that’s not what she is, I can see how people might perceive our situation.

Too many people already know the truth, and though they’ve all promised to keep a lid on the information, things slip out sometimes.

So I have to make it clear that I’m crazy in love with my wife—for both our sakes.

“I hear congratulations are in order.” Our head coach, Anatoli Petrov, comes into the locker room holding out his hand.

“Thank you.” I like our coach a great deal. He’s smart, friendly, and really good at what he does. A former player, he knows the game as well as we do, and he left playing less than five years ago, so he can get on the ice with us when necessary. He’s popular with the team and upper management, and I have a hell of a lot of respect for him.

Which makes lying about my marriage even harder.

“No honeymoon?” he asks quietly.

I shake my head. “We were going to wait until next summer but her visa ran out when the company she worked for went under so we had to do it now.”

“Being newlyweds is fun,” he says thoughtfully. “Make sure you give her some attention, despite how much of your time hockey takes up. Don’t start off on the wrong foot. Trust me—I’ve been there. Different circumstances, but I had family drama that kept me from prioritizing my wife when we were first married, and I almost lost her. Be cognizant of that.”

If he only knew how badly I want to prioritize my new wife—except I don’t know what I’m doing either.

“I’ll do my best,” I say diplomatically. “But she knows what she’s getting into. Her brother has been a pro for a long time.”