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“I don’t like this,” Leon said sullenly, glancing between Matt and Maddie with his eyes narrowed. “Is today Bring Your Girlfriend to the Bar day? If I’d known, I would have brought yesterday’s waitress.”

“You can bring whoever you want from now on,” Lucy said lightly, “if you can tell me the name of the waitress from yesterday.”

Leon opened his mouth, tilted his head thoughtfully…then grimaced. “I don’t like this game!”

“The name tag,” Maddie heard Matt mutter. “You just have to look at the name tag the next morning.”

Maddie stared at him in disbelief. “Hello? Can you stop giving Leon tips on how to be a bigger asshole?”

“It was your idea back then,” he said, looking so terribly and sweetly perplexed that Maddie couldn’t bring herself to be angry with him.

That was annoying sometimes, because now that she had gotten used to arguing more frequently, Matt was always finding ways to distract her from her anger and, thus, taking away her ammunition. How was she ever going to learn?

“I know it was my idea,” she said loudly, “but Leon is not you. He breaks hearts more often than Jack breaks his self-imposed celibacy.”

“A lot more,” Leon confirmed seriously.

Jack snorted. “It’s not celibacy!”

“In my mind, you’re wearing a chastity belt,” Maddie said innocently.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Matt grin broadly and then he put an arm around her shoulders. “Now in all our heads. Thanks, Maddie.”

“Hey, stop that. Jack doesn’t have to sleep with anyone,” Fox interjected. The team captain must be a middle child, the way he was constantly mediating between the players.

“Thank you.” Jack toasted him. “And I don’t like that whoring around seems to be the identity of every hockey player now.” He narrowed his eyes at Leon. “You know, sometimes it’s worth it to just pull yourself together and not be an asshole.”

Leon groaned loudly. “The Saint has spoken. Where are the fanfares and who’s handing out the halos today?”

Maddie just smiled. Jack truly was an incredibly friendly and good-looking guy.

Definitely more suitable for eternal love than a hot affair.

He always seemed controlled and composed.

Maddie had never seen him angry and his cheekbones would look good in any photo.

If he was given a push and signed up at Match Me! ...

“Stop that,” Matt whispered in her ear.

She flinched. “What?”

“Looking at my teammates like you are planning their Disney wedding.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “I’m not,” she lied hastily. “Jack West is simply a handsome man. I am allowed to look.”

Matt stared at her gloomily.

She grinned and patted his cheek. “I would never ask him to carry bulky waste into the apartment for me. Only you can do that.”

Matt grumbled dissatisfied.

“Okay, can we finally talk about why we’re all here?” Leon asked, staring seriously at Lucy. “Just tell us, James.”

Oh, here we go again. Her sister truly didn’t have an easy job.

“No,” she replied simply.

“Luuucy,” Matt said slowly and took a sip of his beer. “We’ll find out in a few weeks anyway! Tell us.”

“No,” she countered, shrugging apologetically and then she whispered to Maddie, “These hockey players are truly worse than any gossip columnist. What were we thinking getting involved with them?”

“They’re hot,” Maddie reminded her dutifully.

“Oh, yeah. Right. I forgot.”

“You owe it to me to tell me!” Leon said warningly, as someone put Heard it through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye on the jukebox. How fitting.

“Why, exactly?” Lucy asked with a snort.

“Because you never gave me a chance back then, you jumped straight into bed with Dax,” the young player complained, aggressively stirring his drink with a straw.

Maddie laughed. “Does every woman owe it to you to give you a chance?”

“Yes,” he said harshly. “I’m also angry with you.”

Her laughter grew louder.

“It’s not true,” Dax said. “It took some convincing to get her into bed, Leon. She didn’t jump straight into bed with me.”

“Dax!” Lucy replied, shocked.

“What? It’s true.”

“Oh God,” she groaned. “Just leave me alone, okay? I can’t and won’t say anything about who Clark is leaving the team to! There’s definitely going to be a press conference in a few weeks.”

“Oh, it’s his son,” Matt stated firmly, waving his hand. He had been saying that every night these days. “Obviously, it’s his son. He’s in the building all the time.”

“I don’t know,” Fox chimed in. “I heard his daughter is a real genius. Has a lot of degrees.”

“Well, I’ve heard his daughter is crazy,” Leon said.

Jack snorted. “Where did you hear that?”

“From a serious company called the internet,” he said lightly.

“I googled her and she was arrested a few times for rescuing animals from labs. And right now, she’s in Brazil or somewhere down there.

Doing something in the jungle. I don’t think she could lead a hockey team.

It’d be crazy to give her the team. And old Clark isn’t crazy. ”

Maddie lowered her gaze. Yes, he was; Lucy had let her in on it. She knew what his plan was and…the next few days would be stressful for Matt. For Lucy. For all the players. But especially for Clark’s children.

“Oh man,” Jack muttered, rubbing his eyebrows. “Then I hope it’s the son.”

Dax snorted in amusement. “Of course, Mr. Control is afraid of crazy.”

Everyone laughed and gave him amused looks. Everyone except Matt, who, to Maddie’s chagrin, examined her expression with his eyes narrowed.

“Maddie, why do you look so funny?”

“I look normal,” she replied hastily and turned her face away.

“Shit! You know something.”

She widened her eyes innocently. “Me? No! How?”

“You know!” Dax joined in, looking at Lucy in disbelief. “You tell your sister, but not your boyfriend?”

“She’s not on the team! And she can keep her mouth shut,” she said, hastily defending herself.

Maddie nodded firmly. “Exactly.”

“Oh, boo!” Leon exclaimed while Matt leaned almost imperceptibly toward her.

“You can tell me, can’t you?” he mumbled in her ear.

She looked at him apologetically. “No.”

“But I’m your dream man!” he replied incredulously. “I should have special privileges.”

“Lucy, just tell us.” Leon rigorously ignored him, his voice so loud that everyone flinched.

“Okay, you and I will go to the bar and have a serious talk about the acceptable volume used to talk to a lady,” Fox said with a sigh and rose abruptly.

“You’re not my dad, Fox!” Leon said, rolling his eyes.

“No, but I could call your mother,” he replied tonelessly.

Leon abruptly stood. “A drink at the bar sounds good!”

Laughing, they watched the two of them leave. As soon as they were out of earshot, Dax started, “Okay, now that we’re alone…”

Lucy silenced him with a roll of her eyes.

Hm. Interesting. She wondered if she could do that with Matt, too.

“Fine, fine,” he said, annoyed. “Don’t tell us. Let’s talk about Christmas instead. So, should we all celebrate together?”

Everyone agreed, only Jack remained silent. His gaze focused on his non-alcoholic beer.

“Jack?” Dax asked.

His brother sighed heavily. “I can’t. I’m in New York, unfortunately. When I was sold a few months ago, I forgot some paperwork that needs to be fixed.”

“What?” Dax stared at him, mouth gaping. “This would be our first Christmas together in a damn decade.”

Jack nodded. “I know,” he said, sounding oddly tired. “I’m really sorry. I can’t…put it off.”

Dax sighed and waved him off. “Fine. Whatever,” he said gruffly. “Everyone else coming?”

They nodded and Maddie felt Matt gently kiss her temple.

“I already have a present,” he whispered in her ear.

She glanced up at him, interested. “You do?”

“Yes.”

“Could it be I’m doing the laundry coupons?"

“Don’t be silly.”

She grinned. “New handcuffs?”

“Do we need more than three pairs?”

“Hm. You’re doing another interview with ESPN for me, explaining that it wasn’t unethical of me to get involved with you — since I also have a profile on Match Me! ? So they’ll finally leave us alone and stop calling me all the time?”

“Forget it. Your business is doing better than ever, thanks to our little scandal. And ESPN will calm down on its own over time.”

“Then…a pony?”

He frowned. “Would you like a pony?”

“No. So, what is it?”

“I won’t tell you,” he said indignantly. “It’s a surprise.”

She grinned and kissed him gently. “Okay. I’m looking forward to it.”

She had found the ring a few days ago, anyway…

THE END

Thank you so much for reading Pucking Your Best Friend! Keep reading for a sneak peek at the third book in the series, How to Puck Your Boss.