“Em, babe. He’s literally one of the most sought after guys right now. Aside from being amazing at football, his family is like super famous, too.”
“Who’s his family?” I asked.
“Wyatt Boone—star hockey player? Literally going into the Hall of Fame even though he’s only thirty-two.” Erin went on to list facts about his brother. I mean, I guess I had heard of his brother's name in passing. Hard not to when I shared a rink with hockey players for practices. They always whispered his name like he was some sort of God.
“How do you know all of this? You don’t even watch sports.”
“What? A girl can’t be interested in different things?” Ishot her a look. “Fine,” she sighed. “Mateo and his brothers are insanely hot. Plus, one of them is married to this gorgeous photographer, and they have twins,” she basically cooed.
“Ahh, so you social media stalk them. Got it.”
“Like you wouldn’t.” She kicked my shin under the table. “Plus Mateo was totally checking you out back there.”
“No, he wasn’t.” I rolled my eyes, glancing at the menu even though I knew what I was getting. We came here often enough that I barely needed the menu anymore.
“Uh, yes he was. He had this whole smolder thing going on as he stared at you.” Erin tried to mimic the look, but it just made her look constipated.
“Even if he was, which he wasn’t,” I quickly said, “I have too much going on to think about some guy. If he’s as famous as you say he is, then I’m the last person he’d want to be with.”
The look Erin sent me could have burned through my skin.
“Emmie, you’re an icon. All-around badass. He’d beluckyto even benearyou.”
I grinned. “I really love when you inflate my ego.”
“Just because you’re focused on your skating doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun, too,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved her off. “What are you going to get?”
I changed the subject, but Erin’s words echoed in my head the rest of lunch.
3
MATEO
“Uncle Maty,” Wrenley yelled across the indoor field, her voice echoing. “Look at me!”
I watched the energetic four-year-old run down the field, holding the giant football in her arms as my teammates ran after her, Wren’s laughter filling the practice field.
While she had a blast zipping around, Jayden was trying to hold onto our blocking dummies as a few other teammates softly pushed them. Kai giggled away, too, as Perry and Jake took turns running around with her on their back.
“They’re going to be exhausted later,” I commented to Wyatt as the two of us slowly walked along the side of the fake grass. It worked well that we had practice inside today so the kids weren’t out in the blazing sun.
“Good. They’ve been up since six this morning,” Wyatt said, smiling as he watched his kids.
“Thanks for coming today. Sorry about all of that.” I gestured to the teammates still on the field.
When my family showed up to the practice field a half hour ago, you would have thought a king were here. The way my team acted upon seeing Wyatt was comical—especiallyPerry. The guy looked like he wanted to pass out when my brother greeted him.
Half the team shoved each other out of the way to ask Wyatt for a picture. Thankfully, my brother was used to it and didn’t bat an eye. Josie was more than happy to take the pictures, even teasing my brother as she did.
He waved me off. “It’s all good, I don’t mind.”
“Just love the attention, don’t you?” I nudged him with my shoulder, grinning.
“I’m not the one plastered on gossip sites,” Wyatt shot back.
“You used to be.” Back in the day when Wyatt first started in the hockey league, he was all over social media with women. Of course all that changed when he met Josie. He still trends regularly, but it has to do with hockey and his relationship with Josie now.
