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CHAPTER ONE

LEDGER

“ D id you guys get blue balls yet?”

I, along with the rest of the guys, turn in Ella’s direction. Each of us appearing just as shocked as the next. August nearly chokes on his beer but laughs as he watches his wife take her seat at the reception table.

“What did you say?”

She picks up a blue cake pop from her dessert plate and raises it for all of us to see before tossing it in her mouth. Her eyes roll back in her head as she moans over the delightful taste.

“The blue cake balls. Did you have one yet?”

“Oh.” August chuckles. “Nope not yet.”

“Well don’t eat them,” she warns. “They’re poisonous. I’ll take one for the team and eat them all for you.”

“Do they taste like cinnamon rolls, Ella?” I ask. “Is that why you think they’re so good?” Really, she only eats cinnamon rolls when she’s nervous. It’s her tick for lack of a better word, but we all like to tease her about her sweet tooth induced nervous habit.

“Nope. It’s this heavenly almond flavor on the inside.” She sucks the tip of her fingers before grabbing her napkin. “They’re just coated with blue colored chocolate but oh, my God, so good.”

“Oh, my gosh, are we talking about blue balls?” Corrigan asks, taking a seat next to Ella.

Ella’s eyes bulge and she exclaims, “Yes! Aren’t they delicious?”

Corrigan nods. “Legit one of the best balls I’ve ever put in my mouth.”

“Aht-aht-aht-aht-aht.” Bodhi raises his hand, effectively stopping Corrigan. “Let’s not go too far, Lady Roche.”

Corrigan pats Bodhi’s leg. “Don’t worry honey. Your balls will always be at the top of my list.”

“Fucking right they will.”

The rest of us have a good chuckle when Corrigan silently shakes her head and points to the blue cake ball on her plate while she performs a chef’s kiss.

Oliver and Scarlett’s wedding went off without a hitch.

Or maybe I should say it went off with a hitch since the couple did, indeed, get hitched.

It’s been a long time coming, but after a busy hockey season, they had a beautiful ceremony at Generations Hall in New Orleans.

They met there a few years ago when I encouraged Oliver to take my cousin, Scarlett, on her honeymoon after she was left at the altar by her then fiancé.

By some grace of God, Oliver took me up on my deal and ended up falling in love with Scarlett.

Now, today, after their beautiful wedding ceremony, I can brag that I’m finally related to Oliver Magallan.

Not that I haven’t thought of him as a brother since the day we met.

But now we’re officially related. Cousins through marriage, and that makes me happy.

Because Oliver’s sister is married to Milo Landric, who plays for the Chicago Red Tails, their whole team is here too. It’s a huge party hosted by Scarlett’s parents, though I know Oliver helped pay for a good deal of it so they wouldn’t have to.

“Hey!” Layken scurries over to the table lowering herself in a chair next to Griffin who is sitting next to me. “Did you guys try the blue balls yet?”

Corrigan and Ella laugh, and then Ella says, “To die for, am I right?”

“Hell yes. I ate two on the way over here from the dessert table.”

“Did you leave some for the rest of us?” I tease.

“Actually, I brought a little something sweet just for you, Ledge,” Layken tells me, wagging her brows.

“Oh, my very own blue balls, you mean? Because I’m pretty sure I’ve got a case of those for myself, thanks.”

How long has it been since I’ve gotten laid?

The season has been over for a solid month and a half and even before the end of the season I hadn’t gotten laid in months. I just wasn’t up for it for some reason. So yeah, it’s been a long fucking time.

“Nope. But now that you mention it, perhaps what I tell you will perk those blue balls of yours right up.”

“Ooh…” Griffin rubs his hands together, suddenly interested. “Tell me you have some Marlee Remington news without telling me you have Marlee Remington news.”

Layken leans over and kisses Griffin’s cheek. “I do, indeed, have Marlee news. How ever did you know?”

Marlee Remington is the team’s Events and Operations Manager and has been with the organization for the last four or five years.

Since the day we met, I’ve had a massive crush on her.

There’s something undeniably beguiling about her—hard-working, constantly busy, yet approachable, kind, and incredibly down-to-earth.

Her confidence and sharp sense of organization are what keep the team running smoothly.

Despite the pressures of her role, Marlee’s far from the stuffy, uptight type.

She knows how to laugh and finds humor in the chaos.

Conversations with the guys on the team come naturally to her, and to top it all off, she’s absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.

I guess I’d say she’s average height—probably around five-foot-six, with dark brown hair that falls just past her shoulders when it’s not pulled back in a ponytail. Her eyes are a hypnotic blue-gray, constantly shifting with the light, and I swear I could stare into them for hours.

And her body? Total fire.

She’s not the waifish type—her curves are exactly where they should be, and those tits? I’ve had more than a few dreams about getting lost in them. Marlee is literal perfection.

She’s also the one person in this entire universe who sets my insides on fire. I’ve talked to her many times over the years, but if we’re ever alone my stomach ties in knots and I’m pretty sure I stop breathing until she walks away.

If only I could get the nerve to tell her how I feel.

She brings the middle school boy right out of me.

“I swear to God, Layken, if you’re about to tell me she’s seeing someone else now…”

Layken shakes her head. “Nope. That’s not it.”

“What then? Does she have a twin?”

She snickers. “Ooh double the crush, double the fun, eh, Ledge?”

I let out a breath. “Alright just tell me.”

Layken leans across Griffin so she can be closer to me. Lowering her voice, she says, “I was just asking about her summer and she said she’s thinking very seriously about trying to have a baby.”

Wait.

A baby?

But she’s…

Bodhi leans across the table having heard Layken’s news. “So, she’s seeing someone again? Or did she get back together with the last guy?”

Layken shakes her head. “Neither. She’s thinking about going it alone and having a baby on her own.”

“Why would she do that?” I ask with morbid curiosity.

I have no doubt Marlee Remington will make an excellent mother to any child, but why on earth is she trying to go it alone? Surely she has a line of guys waiting to take her out.

“I think she’s over trying to find the right guy.” Layken shrugs a shoulder as she sits back in her chair. “Her biological clock is ticking, you know?”

“What does that even mean?”

Corrigan joins in. “It means she’s in her thirties and for women past the age of thirty, for some weird reason, the medical people say it’s considered risky to have a baby. There could be complications or abnormalities, things like that.”

“That’s crazy,” I say, frowning. “Thirty isn’t even old.”

Corrigan shakes her head. “Nope, but would you believe pregnancies in women over thirty-five are actually categorized as geriatric pregnancies?”

“Geriatric?” I scoff. “That’s fucked up. Who decided that?”

Having just popped an entire care ball into her mouth, she raises a finger signaling me to wait while she chews and swallows.

“Probably some old man who liked his women young and bouncy and not so experienced. I don’t know.

It just is what it is. But it could also be that once we hit our late thirties or early forties some of us start to experience symptoms of perimenopause and that could create issues for us as well.

I’m not saying women can’t have babies when they’re past forty.

Certainly, lots of women do. It’s just riskier is all. ”

“At any rate,” Layken chimes in, “Marlee’s considering it.

So maybe you should make your move, Ledge.

” She wags her brows. “We’re at a wedding.

It’s beautiful here in New Orleans and everything around us is so romantic.

” She gestures with her head. “It’s the perfect opportunity for you to sweep her off her feet. ”

“And what am I supposed to say, exactly?” I rap my fingers on the table. “Hey Marlee, heard you want to knock yourself up. Care if I join in?”

Ella slaps her hand on the table, her eyes bulging as she glances at Corrigan and Layken. “Oh. My. Gosh. Ledger! You could totally be her baby daddy!”

What?

I rear back. “I’m sorry, what in the holy fuck did you just say?”

“Bro!” she says with a giddy grin. “Be the baby daddy. Donate the juice. Jizz in a cup and serve it up! Whatever you’ve got to do. This could be epic!”

Corrigan giggles beside her. “Oh, my Gosh! That would be adorable! Ledge and Marlee co-parenting! You guys are both hella attractive so your babies would be so stinking cute!”

My brows practically shoot off my face. “You think I’m going to walk over to Marlee Remington and offer her a cup of jizz? What, like it’s the soup of the day?”

Everyone laughs softly. Even Bear who is sitting quietly at the end of the table chatting with Zeke Miller, the Red Tails’ goalie.

“Well, maybe don’t say it like that,” Bear advises. “But she knows you’re a good guy and you’ve never given her reason not to trust you.”

“Yeah.” Ella nods. Her eyes move over what she can see of me from where we’re seated. “And there’s no question you’re hot.”

“Watch it Mrs. Blackstone,” August chides.

She cocks her head and rolls her eyes at her husband. “What? It’s true. We all know it.” She gestures to me with her hand. “Ledger is a gorgeous human being. He’d make pretty babies.”

So, I’m the team pretty-guy, is that it?

There’s silence around the table for about ten seconds and then everyone nods.

“She’s right,” Corrigan says.