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“Biscuit is a Welsh pony. He’s thirteen-point-one hands tall and he’s black,” Evie said as she skipped along the sidewalk, hand-in-hand with Jesse.

Connor smothered a smile.

She’d latched onto Jesse immediately and seemed determined to talk his ear off. He was being surprisingly patient about it.

“Is Biscuit named after a puck?” Jesse asked.

“Yes!” She giggled. “Daddy suggested it and I thought it was sooo funny.”

“It’s pretty funny,” Jesse agreed with a smile, moving his hand a little to make their arms swing.

Connor glanced over at Nolan who gave him a little shrug like he found them amusing too.

Evie had always been a friendly kid. She was a chatterbox and a little bossy—or assertive, as Viv liked to say—but even by Evie’s standards, she’d taken to Jesse quicker than most.

Maura was a lot more reserved than her older sister, so it was hard to tell what she thought, though the fact that she’d let Jesse help with her coat earlier said something. She usually retreated when there were strangers around.

Honestly, Jesse kept surprising Connor in many ways.

He was great with kids and he’d quickly won Viv over. Not completely, but he’d demolished the first layer of her wariness with ease and it had been nice to see her look more relaxed and comfortable with the idea of Jesse living in the house this season.

And, well, Nolan was all about hanging out with his friends, so Connor suspected he didn’t care much about Jesse either way. Though Connor also suspected that if Jesse liked to play video games or was willing to shoot the puck with Nolan, he’d win him over quickly too.

“This is Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house!” Evie said a few minutes later, marching up to the door with Jesse in tow. She immediately opened it, hollering for her grandparents.

“There’s my girl!” a deep voice boomed.

Evie let go of Jesse so her grandfather could pick her up. His naturally stern face was soft when he kissed the top of her head.

“Hi, Grandpa!” she said happily.

“Hi, Peanut. You’re getting so tall! I’m not gonna be able to pick you up like this much anymore if you keep this up. I’m old now.”

Connor chuckled. His father didn’t look old.

Declan O’Shea was still an incredibly imposing figure, a few inches taller than Connor, with broad shoulders and thick arms and thighs. He certainly hadn’t slacked off on his workouts since his retirement, though his red hair and beard were a lot more peppered with white than they used to be.

Declan shifted Evie to his hip and held out a hand. “And you must be Jesse. Welcome to Boston.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Oh no, none of that. Just call me Declan. Everyone does, including my sons.” He winked.

Connor laughed softly. He’d only played pro hockey with his father for half a season but his brothers Finn and Pat had played with him for several years and they still often fell into the habit.

There were a flurry of greetings as Declan said hi to his grandkids and to Connor.

“Oh! You’re here early!” Connor’s mother said, appearing in the doorway. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Connor said, kissing her cheek. “Ma, this is Jesse.”

“Welcome, Jesse!” Catherine O’Shea said warmly. “Although, technically we already met at the wedding.”

“Right, right,” Connor said, willing his ears to not turn red. He’d nearly had a heart attack seeing Jesse sitting at a table with his family at brunch.

He hadn’t been at his best that morning, hungover and a little bit freaked out about the fact that he’d hooked up with a guy, then really freaked out and pissed about the trade. He realized now that he had been too harsh with Jesse about that. Connor was sure Jesse hadn’t had a clue about the trade until the moment he read about it on his phone, and Connor shouldn’t have accused him of being manipulative.

Jesse was a lot of things—immature, a little bratty, an all-around disaster in many ways—but manipulative didn’t seem to be one of them.

Should Connor apologize? Ugh, he probably should.

But, thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about it now, not when everyone was kicking off their shoes and stepping into the house, talking over one another while they made their way downstairs to the rec area where they often congregated.

Connor’s parents’ six-bedroom brick townhouse was less than a ten-minute walk from his place—even when the kids were dragging their heels—and he was grateful to have found something so close. The townhouse had been built in the 1860s. It was the one he and his siblings had grown up in, and it had undergone numerous renovations over the years.

It was clean, bright, and open now, perfect for all of the hosting his parents did.

Connor quickly lost track of his children as they ran off to play with their cousins, and Jesse disappeared down the stairs, captured by Finn, who was already talking his ear off about something.

Poor kid. Well, nothing like a trial by fire when it came to this family.

Instead of heading downstairs, Connor followed his mother into the large kitchen, where she was assembling a few trays to augment when she’d ordered from a caterer.

“Thanks for organizing this, Ma,” he said, leaning against the counter.

She gave him a warm smile. “I was glad you asked.”

He felt a little guilty that he’d been leaning on his parents so heavily since his divorce. When they were married, Viv had taken care of all of the social stuff. He was a grown-ass adult, he should know how to host a party. But his mom had decades of experience and he’d felt stretched so thin, scrambling to be enough for his team and his kids.

“What time is the team getting here?”

She glanced at the clock. “Half an hour. I figured we’d give Jesse a little time to acclimate to the family before we threw the team at him too.”

“Probably smart,” Connor agreed. “We’re a lot.”

Jesse would know how to handle himself with a hockey team. The O’Shea family? That took some practice.

“You know, I think he’ll fit in fine,” his mother said, pushing some boxes of crackers and a bag of chips his way. “He seems very outgoing.”

Connor snorted, dragging over a tray with a bowl of clam dip in the center. There were already some vegetables set out and he opened the bag of chips to add to it. “That’s one way to put it.”

“Do you have your hands full with him already?”

“He’s …” Connor thought about Jesse. Honestly, after the rocky first twenty-four hours of arriving late and getting his car towed, then being late to the PR stuff, he’d done well. However, Connor was deeply skeptical that it would last. “He’s doing better than I expected.”

“Well that’s good, right?”

“It is,” Connor agreed.

He didn’t love the fact that Jesse was pretty much with him 24/7 but otherwise, it was going more smoothly than he would’ve expected.

Honestly, that made Connor nervous. When it came to kids, pets, and goaltenders, silence and good behavior were suspicious.

“How does he like his room?” his mom asked.

“You’d have to ask him but he seemed to like it.”

“And the girls?”

“They love their room,” Connor said with a smile. “They’re nuts about the bunk bed.”

“Good.” She stirred a slow cooker full of barbecue meatballs, the scent rising up and making Connor’s stomach rumble. “How’d Viv take to Jesse when they met?”

“Better than I expected,” Connor admitted. “I don’t know that she’s completely sold, but she’s at least not objecting to him living with us.”

What the fuck he would have done if she’d objected, Connor wasn’t sure. Probably he’d have begged his parents to take Jesse in, then apologized to Gavin and hoped he didn’t lose his captaincy.

But it was nice that now it appeared like he actually had his life together.

“Oh, and the girls want to take Jesse riding,” Jesse added.

“Yeah?” Catherine chuckled. “I think you’ll have to find him something a little taller than Biscuit. Jesse has such long legs.”

Connor went warm under the collar of his Henley, thinking about those long, flexible legs. God, he needed to get laid. Not with Jesse of course, but Connor hadn’t fucked anyone since Jesse and he was starting to feel it.

He’d spent long stretches of his marriage not having sex, so he wasn’t sure why it suddenly felt so urgent. It was like Jesse had ripped the lid off his libido and there was no stuffing Pandora’s mess back into the box. He’d spent way too much time jerking off in the shower and thinking about what else he and Jesse could have gotten up to after the wedding if the trade hadn’t happened.

Annoyed, Connor ripped open a box of crackers and added those to the tray, intently placing every single one just so. There was no fucking way he could look his mother in the eye when he was thinking about screwing his teammate.

Christ alive, what had he gotten himself into?

“Jesse’s very good-looking,” his mother continued. “I can see why he gets in trouble, then out of it again so quickly.”

Connor laughed because it was true and if he wasn’t careful, he’d do the exact same thing.

“Gavin is determined for me to get him on his best behavior.” Connor sighed, his amusement fading when he thought about the work he had ahead of him.

“That sounds challenging,” his mother said.

“Yeah, well, apparently God thinks I haven’t had enough challenges in the past few years,” he muttered. And if he sounded a little bitter about it, well, at least his mother was the only one around to hear it.

The O’Shea family was a fucking riot.

They were loud and gestured a lot with their hands. The Boston accent seemed to get even thicker when they were all together and there were so many fucking kids around.

Jesse greeted Connor’s brothers and their wives and kids, then talked to Declan for a bit about the upcoming season. He was starting to wonder where Connor was when he came down the stairs carrying a tray of appetizers, neatly dodging a kid who was underfoot and trying to trip him up.

No wonder he was so good on the ice. He had lots of practice avoiding moving objects.

Jesse sidled over to the wet bar in the finished basement that had been set up like a buffet, pretending to be interested in the food. Okay, so he didn’t have to pretend. Everything looked fucking delicious, but he mostly wanted to talk to Connor.

He looked great today, in snug jeans and a black Henley that did sinful things to his chest, shoulders, and arms. Yum-my. Especially that hint of silver chain around his neck and the auburn chest hair peeking out of the collar of the shirt.

Jesse piled a few things on his plate, then paused to look at one of the trays. “So, what’s that?” he asked, pointing to the bowl of dip.

Connor opened his mouth when a doorbell chimed and he gave Jesse a vague wave. “Clam dip. Gotta get the door though.”

Connor was up the stairs before Jesse could blink, and he wondered if he’d done something to annoy him.

With a shrug, Jesse piled some dip on his plate and tossed on some veggies.

A moment later, there was the sound of loud voices and heavy footsteps. Several guys appeared in the doorway. The team had arrived.

“Webber!” one of them shouted. Jesse grinned when Tanner Clayton threw himself in Jesse’s direction.

Jesse grabbed him with one arm, holding the plate of food up and out of the way so it didn’t get knocked over. “Clay!” he shouted happily. “God, I haven’t seen you in fucking forever .”

They’d played together at the AHL all-star event a few years back. They’d hit it off right away, got drunk, hooked up, won the all-star game together, hooked up a few more times the following season when their teams played, then totally lost touch.

It was cool. Jesse wasn’t mad about it. He hadn’t been anything like in love with Tanner. But Tanner was goofy and fun and holy shit that would be awesome if he was on this team.

“So, you’re a Harrier now?” Jesse asked.

“Yeah! I got traded to Boston last spring. I spent a little time in Concord but I got a sniff at the big-boy roster when some of the guys were out with injuries. I’m hoping to snag a permanent spot here at training camp though.”

“Fuck yeah,” Jesse said, hugging him close with one arm. “That would be sick.”

“So, not to break up the love fest, but I take it you two know each other already?” Connor asked.

“Yeah,” Jesse said happily. “Clay and I are old buds.”

Tanner squeezed Jesse tighter against his side, his eyes sparkling as he glanced over. “With this dude in net, we’re gonna have a season .”

Jesse’s grin widened. “Yeah, keep stroking my ego, Clay. I love that shit.”

Tanner shot him a smirk like he knew that wasn’t all Jesse loved. Damn, Jesse had forgotten how cute he was. He had a mop of brown curly hair, dark brown eyes, and an infectious smile.

Not to mention a mouth like a hoover.

“Well, if you can peel yourself away from Clayton, maybe you wanna meet the rest of the team?” Connor asked, his tone short.

Internally, Jesse cackled when it hit him why Connor was being so pissy. Shiiiit . Connor was jealous. He looked all bristly, like an angry cat with its tail fluffed out.

So Jesse took it slow, laying a smacking kiss on Tanner’s cheek and lingering before he let go with a squeeze of Tanner’s waist. “Sure, introduce me to the rest of your team,” he said, batting his lashes at Connor.

A big guy with chin-length brown hair and a shitload of tattoos held out a hand. “Luke Crawford.”

“Fuck am I glad you’re on my team now,” Jesse said with a laugh as his hand disappeared into Luke’s much larger one. “Great to meet you. Your reputation precedes you.”

Crawford grinned. At the moment, he had all his teeth in, although Jesse knew several of them were fake because he didn’t wear them on the ice.

Jesse wasn’t exaggerating about his reputation either. Crawford might be the most disliked guy in the NHL. He was tough, he wasn’t afraid to drop the gloves, and the chirps he threw were as vicious as his right hooks.

“Glad to have you here, Webber,” Crawford said, slapping him on the back. “It was a bitch going up against you last season but it’ll be great to have you in net for us.”

“Think you can block a few more shots so I don’t have to work as hard as the guy you had before?” Jesse teased.

“Depends, how do you feel about buying me a few beers?”

“That can be arranged.”

“Then we’re good.” They pounded fists and Crawford stepped back.

A blond guy stepped forward, taking Luke’s place. He had big shoulders, dark eyes, and the prettiest lips Jesse had ever seen. He held out a hand. “Graham Pennington.”

“Nice to meet you, Graham.”

They went through a handful of guys, names and faces blurring together until Jesse was a little overwhelmed. He knew some of them from playing against them over the years, but between the O’Sheas and the team, there were so damn many people to keep track of.

Everyone was talking about the team’s chances and how excited they were to have Jesse in net and he could suddenly feel the weight of all of their expectations.

All of their hopes.

Fuck, Gavin hadn’t been kidding about the level of responsibility Jesse was going to have this season as the starting goaltender.

“Give the poor boy a break,” Catherine said with a laugh as she broke into the conversation, gently steering Jesse toward a comfortable sectional. “Let him have a few minutes to eat before you have him suited up and in the net.”

Jesse cracked a smile, grateful that she’d noticed he was feeling overwhelmed. “Thanks.”

“Of course.” Her expression was soft. “You’re all my boys and if you ever need anything, I’m here for you, okay?”

“Thanks,” he said, feeling an unexpected little lump in his throat, suddenly missing his mom.

His parents would come see some of his games, he knew that, and he’d see them when he was on road trips, but now that they were living in California and he was in Massachusetts, he wouldn’t see them as much.

Catherine patted his shoulder, then turned to go.

“Oh, and thanks for the great bedroom. I heard you did the work to get it ready for me,” Jesse added.

She scoffed, pivoting to face him again. “The decorator did the work. I just made some suggestions because Connor wouldn’t know a throw pillow from a sconce.”

“Sconces are those things you eat with butter and jam, right?” Jesse teased, winking, so she’d know he knew she’d been talking about light fixtures.

“If you asked Connor, yes. Now, can I get you a drink?”

“A beer would be nice,” he said. “But I can?—”

She disappeared, then reappeared a moment later, several bottles dangling from her hands. “Take your pick. I’m sure this lot will take the others from me without too much pushing.”

Jesse picked one at random, then took a seat on the sectional. “Thanks, Mrs. O.”

She shot him a brief grin, then disappeared into the crowd.

Tanner dropped onto the sectional beside Jesse. “So, dude, this is going to be awesome .”

“I know right?” Jesse’s mood lifted at the thought of having an actual friend on the team. Not that he wouldn’t make friends with the guys on the team. His mom had once claimed he could make friends with a lamppost if he put his mind to it, but damn it was nice to not have to start from scratch with everyone .

“So, where are you living?” Tanner asked. “Did they put you up in a hotel? Because I’ve got a place and you could totally crash with me if you want.”

Jesse grimaced, setting his plate on his thigh, then twisting open the beer bottle. He took a long drink before he answered. “So, yeah, I’m kinda on probation.”

Tanner cackled. “For the shit you did after your Cup win?”

“Yep.” Jesse sighed. “And then I got detained at the border on my way over and it made the press. Swear to fucking God, I have the worst damn luck. Racine isn’t happy with me and he’s pretty much stapled me to Connor for the foreseeable future.”

“Connor, huh?” Tanner lifted an eyebrow.

Jesse was tempted to admit what happened this summer but that wasn’t cool to Connor, so he shrugged. “Ehh, yeah. We met this past summer at his brother’s wedding and hung out for a bit.”

“What were you doing at Kelly O’Shea’s wedding?”

Jesse explained about the skills camp Anders Lindholm had and Tanner nodded. “Yeah, makes sense. Shit, that sucks that you’re stuck living with the captain though.”

Jesse frowned. “Why? Don’t you like him?”

“Nah.” Tanner waved it off. “I don’t mean it like that. He’s great. Just having a babysitter all the time sucks. Dude kinda has a stick up his ass, you know?”

“Oh.” Jesse grinned. The stick—so to speak—had been up his ass, not Connor’s, but he did know what Tanner was getting at. “Yeah, he’s a little uptight. But I think I can work with it.”

Tanner grinned back, pounding Jesse’s thigh. Thankfully, the one without the food on it. “Shit, dude, we are going to have so much fun this season.”

“You better make the roster then,” Jesse threw back. “Or it’ll be back to Concord with you.”

The Concord Night Hawks were the Harriers’ AHL team.

“No, dude, I’ve been training super hard this off-season. I’m gonna make it.”

“You better,” Jesse threatened. “Cause with you around man, it’s gonna be fun .”