Page 49 of Pucking the Team

Two hours later, the sun had slipped below the horizon and the cicadas were belting out their music. The pizzas, piles of garlic bread, and salads had long since been demolished, and I was sitting listening to tales of bravery, drama, and victory on the ice. Each guy seemed to try and impress me more with each story told.

“It’s a wild game,” I said. “I never would have thought it.” I remembered back to the game I’d witnessed in Cardiff. “When is your next one?”

“We have six weeks of practice,” Dylan said, his eyes sparkling through the darkness. “And then a game in Chicago, a warm-up, preseason.”

“And you said you practice every day.”

“Yep.” He took a slug of beer.

“Tomorrow?”

“Yep, no rest for the wicked.” The right side of his mouth tilted in a decidedly carnal smile.

My stomach did a little flip, and my pussy clenched, remembering how he’d driven us both to hard fast orgasms. Perhaps we had been wicked to fall into bed so quickly, but who cared, I’d needed it and I felt a whole lot better for it.

“I can…” I pulled in a breath, trying to get rid of images of Dylan naked when I was sitting opposite and beside practically naked Evans brothers.

“You can what?” Eduardo asked.

“I can cook.” I gestured to the empty boxes. “I’ll cook for you all tomorrow night. Earn my keep.”

“You can cook?” Eduardo leaned forward, his eyes wide. “What do you cook,ma choue?”

“Whatever you want.” I held up a hand. “I love to eat so I learned to cook when I was at uni.”

“Uni? Is that college?” Ben asked.

“Yes, I guess so.”

“What did you study?” Ben appeared very curious, as did the others.

“English literature. Not just a pretty face, you know.” I shrugged.

“Good for you,” Dylan said.

“You wanted a plan B,” Eduardo said. “I understand that.”

“Yes, looks fade, and back then, I had no idea if the modelling was going to take off.”

“But it did.” Theo said, “and in a big way.”

“I guess that aspect of my life is a great success, my love life, not so much.”

“Had you been with Steven long?”

“Not quite a year.” My jaw tensed, and so did my shoulders. “We were crazy about each other, or so I thought, so it made sense to get married. Why wait?”

“And he was in a rush because he thought it could add to his bank balance. Boost his image and exposure.”

I squeezed the bridge of my nose. His ulterior motives hurt, they really did. “And I can’t understand why he needed to do that. He’s so in demand he’s turning down jobs that could make him four figures in an afternoon.”

“Some people crave fame.” Dylan reached across the table and rested his hand over mine. “And when that’s their hunger, their drug, they become twisted, desperate, cruel to get it.”

“Cruel, yes, that’s what his affair with Cheryl was. He should have ended it with me and then hooked up with her.”

“He sure should have.” Dylan nodded seriously.

I looked from his face to Theo’s then Eduardo’s and then Ben’s. Each of their attention was set firmly on me. They were all so kind, so easy to talk to, so damn sexy.