Page 101 of Hockey Halloween

Xander

There were certain rules about the annual Moms Trip for the Denver Drift that Xander Kanale had to go over each year.

As the team captain, it was his job to remind players to be on their best behavior and cut back on the hockey player stuff when any of the moms were around.

Leave the chirping on the ice. Be polite.

Definitely no pranks. It was also good to show respect to all the moms, even the ones who weren't yours.

Help with suitcases, keep the elevator door open for everyone, and things like that.

All pretty self-explanatory and passed down from captain to captain over the years as the Moms Trips became more popular.

This year would be a little different as Xander’s mom was vacationing in Rome with her sister.

It would also probably be one of his last Moms Trips anyway.

He was getting older and things hurt for days after a big hit during a game.

Those rookies like Chase Masie, who was only twenty years old, could easily out-hustle him if he wasn't working hard enough.

Walking around the hotel late at night after a game helped him stay limber at least and he was usually one of the only people roaming the halls. It was nice to wander around alone some nights.

But tonight he wasn't alone. He noticed her come around the corner, looking like a deer caught in headlights as she took him in so late at night. Then she gave him a small smile and nervously walked over to him.

"Xander." Her voice was a little gravely due to the late night, but it only made her more attractive. "We weren't able to meet yet. I'm Jessica. I'm Chase's mom."

"Yeah, I recognized you from the flight this morning."

He had done more than recognize her on the flight this morning.

He had definitely lingered on her as she walked down the aisle along with the other moms. But the other moms didn't look like her.

Yes, he had realized that as he got older when some of the rookie moms were attractive.

It was only natural considering rookie moms were probably closer in age to Xander as he got older himself.

Jessica, however, was different. He wasn't sure why, but she was the first mom on any of these Moms Trips that made him adjust himself in his seat to hide the hard on she gave him.

But no one could find out, especially since Xander was supposed to be a mentor to her son.

How a woman that sexy could be Chase's mom though was a bit too hard to understand.

He needed to not think about any of that as he wandered the halls in a pair of lightweight athletic shorts and a white t-shirt.

"So, uh. Are you usually up at… whatever time this is?"

She laughed quietly, as if she realized just how late — or early — it really was. "Two thirty-two a.m."

"That's very exact."

She smiled and held her wrist up. "I have an Apple watch."

"Ah, gotcha. What else does that watch tell you?"

Oh, hell. Did he just smile at her as he asked that question? Was Xander flirting with this woman? This was not a good idea. In fact, she wasn't just "this woman" or something. She was Chase's mom.

And yet she seemed to be playing along with this.

"It says I'm being an insomniac and not getting enough sleep." She shook her wrist and put her hands in the pockets of the Denver Drift hoodie, a gift for the moms on the trip. "What about you?"

"I had a few more shifts than I expected tonight. I'm going to be in pain for the next game if I don't stay limber. "

Jessica's eyes got wide at the word "limber" and he wondered what kind of thoughts were going through her head at that moment — or perhaps it was better if he didn't think about those thoughts.

There were things that didn't work well with being a hockey player.

He was married once but got divorced when she couldn't handle all of his traveling.

There were serious relationships that just didn't work, which is why he was into more casual things now.

But Xander was getting close to retirement with probably only a few years left before he would hang up his skates. Casual was fine for now.

Except casual wasn't fine right at this moment, because right at this moment he was staring at his rookie's mom. Casual would be a very bad idea with a rookie's mom, especially one who was on the Moms Trip with the team.

On the other hand, he wouldn't mind the company rather than feeling like a loser wandering around a hotel in the middle of the night by himself.

"Uh, are you going somewhere specific?"

It sounded like such a stupid question as soon as it came out of his mouth, but Jessica didn't seem to mind. She gave him a small smile and shook her head.

"Anywhere but my room."

He smiled back and nodded his head down the hall, wordlessly asking her to follow him. She didn't seem to mind, falling in step next to him in the quiet of the night.

"So why not back to your room? Is your roommate that bad?"

She laughed quietly. "No, I'm friends with Marci from when the boys played in college together last year."

When they played in college together last year. Another reminder that Xander was on a team with two twenty-year-old rookies while the last time Xander played on a college team was fifteen years ago. He could feel his knee ache just thinking about how long ago it had been.

"I just get like this sometimes after Chase plays. He comes home and crashes in bed, but the adrenaline of watching him keeps me up. "

"I know the feeling."

"What does your wife think about it?"

It was an innocent question, and she probably didn't mean anything by it, but there was something about her referring to his non-existent wife that made him feel weird.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to ask you about a sore subject."

He turned and looked at her. "How did you know it was a sore subject?"

She glanced at him and quickly turned away. "The look on your face. It reminded me of when I got divorced from Chase's dad. "

"Sorry about your divorce. I've been there so I know it sucks."

"And sorry about yours."

It had been a decade since he signed the divorce papers and luckily there were no kids involved so it was easy to just pay Kathi and have her go away.

He wondered how much harder it would be with a hockey kid when you would have to coordinate the costs and tournaments and games with someone you divorced.

So instead, he tried to move on to other topics.

They talked about Jessica's visits to Denver and what she liked about the city, Xander's family in Calgary, the restaurant they had dinner at that night.

They got on the elevator and wandered around the lobby of the hotel to scope out the breakfast situation for the morning.

They found the vending machine hidden on the second floor and Xander always carried an emergency dollar bill in his phone case so he bought them some Doritos to share.

There was something about Jessica that just felt easy. It was easy to talk to her and wander the halls in the middle of the night without feeling awkward.

But each step made him feel more and more attracted to her, and he could feel that connection from her as well. The way she felt at ease with him. The way her hand gently reached for the crook of his elbow as they walked. It felt like something a couple would do and he liked that.

What he didn't like was getting to his door.

That door was dangerous. He should just walk through it and say good night to her and that should be the end to their hour of strolling the halls of the Hilton in whatever city they were in that night.

It could be a bit confusing when you were always on the road.

"So this is me," he said quietly.

Jessica looked at the door and then at him and he wondered if that was disappointment that he saw on her face.

"Oh, I didn't realize we were back here.

" She glanced down the hall and then glanced the other direction, almost as if she was confirming that they were the only two people there.

"I'm not really that tired yet, are you? "

He should've said he was tired. He should say he's really tired now and it's time for him to go to bed.

So of course, that's not what he said.

"I could stay up a little bit longer," he said in a way that he hoped to convey what he was trying to imply. "Would you like to maybe come in and we could raid the minibar or something?"

She smiled at him warmly and it made his dick twitch. "Yeah, that would be nice."

Xander could feel his heart begin to race as he almost fumbled with his key card before finally slipping it in the lock.

What the hell was he thinking inviting a rookie's mom into his room? And for what? He was the captain so he got his own room on road trips and would take advantage of that from time to time depending on the women. But this was a bad idea to be inviting a teammate's mom to his room late at night.

And yet right now, Xander didn't care. He knew what he wanted.

Jessica knew what she wanted too. As soon as he heard the door click behind him, Jessica's hands were on his t-shirt, pulling him down so she could kiss him hard. It may every muscle in his body pulse with anticipation and desire and a need to make this woman his own.

And that's how Xander ended up in bed with Chase Masie's mom.