“Get back on your side, please.”
He’d given her a questioning look, and she’d crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh please! Don’t pretend you don’t know the effect you have on women, Tyler. You’re attractive and it’s late, and I’m emotionally unstable, and this console is necessary for my sanity.”
He’d gawked at her then. Yes, he was aware of the effect he had on some women, but Emma had never acted like them. “You think I’m attractive?”
Emma groaned and planted the side of her face against the headrest. “Yes, Tyler. I find you attractive. Are you happy? Now can you please explain?”
Yes, he’d been happy. He’d been a damn labrador with its tongue lolling out and tail wagging to hear she found him attractive. So attractive, in fact, that in her weakened state, she couldn’t be trusted to bring him up to her apartment.
He could still see Emma in the passenger seat, the greens and reds of the traffic lights passing over her face as they drove silently back to her place from Cowboys. He hadn’t told anyone about Troy’s diagnosis, not even the guys on the team, but now she knew.
“So that’s why you moved here?”He thought she was going to get out the second he pulled up to the curb, but she’d paused, her fingers brushing the door handle.
"Did the panties match the bra?" Darcy called, smirking as he skated past.
Tyler jolted, then swatted his padded ass with his stick. Thankfully, it seemed Darcy had been the only one to notice Emma leaving with Jess and Fly last night. The rest of the guys inside assumed he’d left with the blond from the bar, and Tyler was happy to keep it that way.
His body felt stiff and bruised beneath his gear. Not surprising, since this was his first time out after the game against Hattrick. He’d loosen up once his muscles warmed.
Sean set up cones and they started practice drills. Tyler wove in and out of the cones, and though his lats complained, he sent shot after shot whizzing across the ice toward Boyd in the net, half of them hitting the back of the net with a satisfying thwack. He’d practise pocket shots later when Boyd wasn’t in position. They never shot high in practice.
Darcy circled in a wide arc around the net. “Did you hear that the goalie for Don’s Cherrypickers tore his nutsack saving a goal last weekend? That’s the kind of commitment I’m talking about.”
The image of Emma jumping back and yellingnutsack!in the moonlight hit Tyler full force. He snorted, nearly choking on his spit. Then he remembered her flushed cheeks and his toque on her head. He stumbled and nearly took out a cone.
André shot the puck wide, and Boyd kicked out a leg. “My nutsack is flexible. Too supple to tear.”
Curtis snorted, waiting for his pass. “My wife wants me to get waxed.”
Ryan slapped his stick on the ice. “Isn’t that why you’re married? You can let the weeds grow free?”
"You get Emma home okay?” Fly sprayed shaved ice behind him as he stopped at the end of their practice line. Tyler's heart skipped a beat, and he glanced over at Sean sprinting through the cones.
He nodded once. “She’s working for my dad. We had a work thing to discuss.”
Fly wet his lips. “A work thing. Very specific.”
Tyler exhaled, but Fly nudged him with his elbow.
“Emma’s not a puck bunny, eh?”
“I didn’t think—”
“Just telling you what’s what.” Fly nodded toward the cones. He was up. Tyler turned and dug his blades into the ice.
Fly wouldn’t say anything to Sean, but he’d made himself clear.Don’t piss around.Fly had been a young buck once. He’d played in the NHL for two years before his ACL shredded. He knew this game, on and off the ice.
"Shit, Suraj, where was that in the game?!” Mike’s dark braid hung down the back of his jersey as he playfully knocked him into the boards. Suraj slapped Mike’s helmet.
Gary skated toward the back of the line, recently having returned from his trip to Europe. He looked a bit slow on the ice.
“Too many baguettes?” Tyler teased as he passed. The dude was a monster on defence. Another thing they could’ve used more of with Tyler and Sean bleeding on the bench.
Sean whistled for them to circle up. “First playoff game Friday night. Against Mill Hoodies, as you know. They’ve got Dirty D and he’s a menace, so wingers, keep your heads on swivels.”
Darcy, André, Mike, and Ryan nodded. Tyler didn’t have the same visceral reaction to playing Edmonton as his teammates. He only had to imagine the Mill Hoodies were from Montreal and he was right there with them.
Sean continued, “Their goalie is a dandy, but don’t underestimate him. He’s left-handed, Bowen.” Tyler nodded.Left high pocket. Check.“Butter balm your sack, Boyd, and we should be good.” Snickers sounded around the ice as Boyd rubbed his glove over his groin.
