Stone grins. “Winning game, goal scorers, shit talk.”
More cheers.
“And since none of you paid to hear me talk,” he nods toward the end of the table, “let’s start with the man who apparently decided the LA defense needed to see what we were made of.”
The crowd laughs.
“To the LA Lancers.” Koa stands waiting just long enough for the booing to start. “Thank you for politely skating out of my way.”
The bar erupts in laughter.
He raises his drink again. “And to Bears fans, our barn and this place grows louder every time we knock another team down. Keep that shit up.”
Stone gestures to the other end of the table. “And the man who finished the job.”
Giulietti stands next. He doesn’t rush it, just lifts his beer and looks around the bar. “You know what I noticed tonight?” he says.
Someone yells, “What?”
“LA thought they were coming into our house.”
The crowd starts booing again.
Giulietti shrugs. “They forgot one small detail. Ice in Brooklyn doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to you.”
The cheer is louder this time.
“And to Dingy,” Giulietti adds with a crooked grin. “Thanks for standing exactly where I needed you to be when that puck slid past you.”
The bar explodes.
Stone lifts his drink again. “To another win.”
“To the Bears!” someone shouts, and the echo comes. “To the Bears!”
After a polite amount of time, Aleks stands, “You going home?”
“Yes.”
He nods. “Good, let’s roll.”
I walk through the front door, the house is quiet and the lights are low. Lucy’s backpack leaning against the wall and it’s so quiet I’m pretty sure I hear the shower upstairs, so I head that way.
I stop at the bottom of the stairs when I see her coming down, hair is still damp, and she’s wearing one of my hoodies and a pair of sweats.
She looks tired, but in a sexy way.
“You won,” she says softly.
“We did,” I say, stepping back. “You came and brought Lucy.”
She smiles a little. “Erin leaves tomorrow and wanted to see a game.”
We stand there for a second just looking at each other, before she closes the distance and kisses me, unrushed, soft, the kind that says, this isn’t going to turn into her naked under or over me. Which is oddly okay with me.
She breaks the kiss, “I found something.”
My hand moves automatically to her stomach as I squat down and press my lips to it, and stand. “What did you find out?”
