My irritation disappears.
I don’t want the guys coming to watch me play hockey for “the new team,” as my cousins call the Climax Cannons. Hockey isn’t my passion the way football is for Colton and Dylan, and I don’t need any cheering fans. My cousins mean well—the best, really—and they know my true feelings about hockey, but they always think coming to watch me play will help somehow. Maybe they just think I can use the support.
“Sure,” I get out. “Sounds good, Bray. You’re on target with my schedule—we’ve got a home game next week. You’ll all stay at my house?”
He chuckles. “Yeah. Good thing it’s just the three of us, or we might not all fit in one of our houses anymore. Our group is getting unruly.”
I grin. “Pretty sure we’d all fit in either Colt or Dyl’s Malibu houses.”
“No doubt.”
Colton is the star tight end for the California Cougars, and Dylan is the starting quarterback. The Cougars didn’t win the Super Bowl this year, but they did a hell of a job trying to defend their trophy, and Dylan won his first-ever league MVP award. Add that to the Super Bowl MVP that he won last year, and the guy’s rolling in success. Nobody works harder or is more humble. But his level of fame and the pressure to always be on are things I’ve never craved. And that’s a reality my father just won’t hear.
“Text me when you land,” I say.
“Of course. So what’s happening on the women front? Anyone new?”
“My answer’s the same as it’s been for a year and a half, man. No.” I haven’t been able to risk someone getting attached to me the way Amy did, trapping me and making me feel guilty as shit for ending things. I loved Amy when we were teenagers, in the way kids love for the first time. Then I grew up and moved away from Louisiana.
But Amy just held on tighter. She was so sure we’d get married once college ended even though I’d never promised her anything along those lines.
When I finally broke things off for good, she acted like it hadn’t really happened. It took me months to get her to see the truth. I never want to go through that again with anyone, and so I don’t get close to women. Casual dating actually isn’t my style, but my style was forced to adjust after my breakup.
Then I met Savannah. She’s serious and shy and everything I’m not. She’s also the kindest, most genuinely caring person I’ve ever met, and the kicker? I’m insanely attracted to her.
Every time I’m around her, I fight a hard-on. And she doesn’t have a clue what she does to me. No amount of gentle flirting on my part has gotten her to loosen up. I’ve had to hustle for every work-related coffee and every little chat in her office.
And I love it. I never have to work this hard for anything.
But my friendship with Savannah is something I’ve kept to myself. After Amy, my sex life has consisted of casual hook-ups, one-night stands and…nothing more.
My cousins know this. They also want to fix this. They’re constantly on the look-out, and if they meet Savannah, they’ll catch on right away.
So I don’t say anything to Brayden, and I sure as fuck don’t plan for any of my cousins to meet Savannah. I don’t want them getting too close to whatever she and I are building. It feels sacred in a way even I can’t understand, and I don’t want anyone getting in the middle of it.
Chapter Six
Helmet in hand, I step out of the locker room and head for the rink. Time for practice.
“Hey, brother.”
I’d know that voice anywhere. I do a slow turn on purpose, my gaze landing on Declan leaning against the wall a few feet away.
His gray eyes light up as I grin.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I say as he grabs me in a hug.
My only sibling and ten years older, Declan was always a hundred steps ahead of me. He’s a big-league hockey star, thirteen years in the pros, and he lives in Colorado. And I could never live up to my father’s expectations to be just like my big brother.
Declan never put that kind of pressure on me, but I was always closer to my cousins than I was to him. He was so much older, and out of the house by the time I turned eight. But after college, he and I started talking more, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know him as an adult.
“We played in Winnipeg last night, and I took a separate flight here to see you. I have to take the red-eye to Denver.” He runs a hand through his dark hair, his dark stubble accentuating his square jaw.
“You need a haircut,” I joke with him. “And a shave.”
“I need to retire,” he says without a trace of humor.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” I lower my voice as my teammates walk around us.
