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C laire gets her money. And fuck, it is an enormous sum. I think even she was shocked. God knows I sure was.

I’m so proud of her, though, as it’s only been two weeks and she’s already doing so much good with it.

Since she lives with me now—with her own bedroom and private bath as agreed upon, of course—she was able to talk her mom into moving into her old house. She also bought her friend Madison’s carriage house for her.

Poor Madison, though. She’s still trying to process that Claire married me out of the blue. Everyone is kind of shocked. My parents too. But we’re still sticking with the story that we reunited and sparks just flew.

In fact, I’ll be reiterating that same thing today when I meet my teammate Lennox Foley for lunch. I’m ready because I’m sure it’ll come up.

The Bears were really excited when my agent gave them the news that I got hitched. I guess they like it when players are settled down. Less chance for controversy, I’m sure.

In any case, they put out a press release last week that their newest acquisition tied the knot in an impromptu Vegas wedding.

So, yeah, now everyone knows.

I’m almost at the restaurant, and, man, I’m pumped to meet Lennox. Apart from being a new teammate, he’s also the captain of the Bears. He centers the top line and asked if I was up for a lunch to get to know each other a little better before training camp begins, which is in a couple of days.

I like that.

I think it shows he’s a class act, even if he does have a bit of a bad-boy image. I can see why, though. Lennox is a good-looking guy with jet-black hair and deep brown eyes. He has kind of a roguish look about him that the ladies seem to love.

But what he does off the ice is none of my concern. I just want to play good hockey with him.

When I reach the restaurant where we agreed to meet, I look around and find a place to park.

Lennox is out by the entrance and gives me a wave when he sees me hopping out of my Rover.

I wave back and walk over to him.

“Hey, good to meet you,” he says as we shake hands. “Welcome to the team.”

‘Thanks,” I reply. “I’m looking forward to playing here. Sometimes there’s nothing like a good fresh start to get things going.”

“I agree,” he says. “And speaking of getting things going, I’d like to talk to you about something. But first”—he motions to the door—“let’s go inside and grab a table.”

I nod. “Sounds good to me.”

I’m curious to hear what he has on his mind that he wants to talk about with me.

I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

Several minutes later, we’re seated at a private booth, not a table, which is even better. We’re at the back of the restaurant, where it’s relatively quiet. We already ordered and chose the same thing—grilled chicken entrées with sides of sautéed spinach.

Our iced teas arrive, and when the waitress walks away, I pull my glass closer and ask Lennox, “So, what did you want to talk about?”

He takes a quick sip of his drink, then sets the glass down on the table. “I don’t know if you’ve heard yet,” he says, “but the guy who plays on my line at left wing just broke his arm this past weekend mountain climbing. A rock gave way, and even though he was secured, he fell some distance and bashed up his arm pretty good.”

“Holy hell!” I exclaim, genuinely shocked because I hadn’t heard about this. “That sucks. Is he okay otherwise?”

“He is,” Lennox tells me. “But he’s going to be out for a long while. In fact, considering all the surgeries ahead of him, I wouldn’t be surprised if he misses the whole season.”

I wince. “Man, that’s awful.”

“It is, but…” Lennox raises a dark brow. “This is where you come in, my friend.”

I can’t help but feel a building excitement as I venture to ask, “You want me up on your line at left wing?”

He nods. “Yeah, I do. I say let’s try it out. You’re too good for the second line, Easton. I’ve watched footage of you from last season with the Thunder, and you have some great moves.”

“Thanks,” I say.

“Anyway.” He sighs. “Training camp starts this Thursday. If Coach goes for it, and I think he will, let’s give it a go. What do you say?”

Damn, this is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for—a chance to play on the top line of a team.

“I’m in,” I assure him. “Let’s do this.”

“Cool.”

Our entrées arrive, so we pause the conversation so we can dig in. Everything is delicious, and once we’re done, I lean back and stretch.

“That was good,” I state.

“It was,” Lennox agrees.

He then eyes me curiously, prompting me to ask, “What?”

Chuckling, he says, “I heard you got married.”

See, I knew this would come up.

But I’m ready.

Blowing out a breath, I confirm, “Yeah, I did. I met up with a girl I once knew a long time ago. We were great friends back in the day. Anyway, sparks flew, and what can I say?” I shrug. “We just decided to do something wild and spontaneous.”

“I’d say,” Lennox replies. “I also heard you hadn’t even seen each other in years.”

I don’t know how that detail got out, but when you’re in the public eye, it’s amazing how many people come forward with what they know or have heard.

Since there’s no point in lying, I tell him the truth. “Yeah, it had been a minute. But then it turned out that she was out looking for me at the same time I was looking for her. When we came together, just bam .” I hit the table once for emphasis. “Fireworks, man. Fireworks.”

Okay, that’s all mostly true. Maybe not the fireworks part, as it’s not like we ended up in bed. But there was something there. Still is. I felt that attraction to Claire that’s always been there as soon as I saw her that day.

“Damn,” Lennox says, shaking his head. “I hope I find someone like that someday. But for now…” He winks. “I’m content with playing the field.”

I laugh, and now it’s my turn to say, “Yeah, I’ve heard.”

He’s nonplussed. “I’m sure you have, man. I’m sure you have.”

I’m learning that if there’s one thing about this Lennox Foley dude, he’s unapologetic for who he is.

Hey, I like that.

He’s as real as they get.

I have a feeling he and I are going to become good friends.

Now if only our connection translates onto the ice in the same way, we’ll be more than set up to win.

And that is the goal.