Page 62 of The Chase

Whoa, love? I wasn’t sure if I loved Maxine. The past couple of months with her have been great. Getting her out of her shell, and making her feel confident in the bedroom, had been awesome. I missed her so much when I was on the road. I craved her touch, her scent, and the feeling of her lithe body tucked against mine.

Was I in love?

I didn’t think I’d ever been in love before. Not even with Natalie.

I gave him a light punch on the shoulder. “What about you, Cully?”

He sighed. “I don’t have time for that shit. It’s me and Liam against the world.”

“Right, you have a kid.”

He nodded solemnly. Logan was younger than me, so it was weird that the little rookie was a single dad. “My nephew, but yeah, I only have time for him and hockey.”

“Not even time for a hookup? Come on, Cully, you need to get laid!”

“I’ll bang a bunny once in a blue moon, but Liam comes first, always.”

“Boys!” I yelled out. “Next road trip, Cully needs to get laid!”

Logan glared at me. “I’m fine.”

“Nah, man, you’ll be blocked up and playing like shit if you don’t get it in.”

Riley shook his head at me. “Christ, T, that’s not a thing!”

“Yes, it is!” I argued.

Noah and Benny shook their heads at me, and I gave them all my lopsided smile. Okay, maybe it wasn’t a thing, but Cully was wound too tight. And serious as shit. He needed to relax.

“Leave Cully alone,” Riley said and nodded his head to the other guy. They had been playing on the same line since Jonesy got traded, and Riley was protective of his D pairing.

Logan shook his head and walked off to the showers. That kid was still a bit of a mystery.

“He’s got a lot of shit on his plate,” Noah said to me. “Don’t turn him into you.”

“But I’m so fun!” I joked.

Benny rolled his eyes. “More like a pain in the ass.”

I flipped him the bird as he walked out, and I waited for Noah to finish fixing his hair. Benny didn’t carpool with us because he slept at my sister’s last night, but Noah and I had, since we were meeting the girls at the bar.

When we got to Eileen’s, I jumped out of Noah’s SUV, excited to see my girl again. “Come on, let’s get a drink with our girls!” I urged.

He smiled at me. “I’m glad you found Max. She’s good for you.”

“Me too.”

“But you owe me fifty bucks.”

“Motherfucker, for what?” I protested.

The tall, pasty guy smiled. “You told me you were ‘never gonna fall in love.’ I’m calling bullshit right now.”

“I’m not in love.”

He pinned me with the stare he only used when he was on the face-off. Noah was the nicest dude you knew until you faced off with him on the ice. Canadian stereotype? That was Noah. When too nice Noah Kennedy pinned you with a death glare, you knew something was up.

“No? So you don’t call your girl every night we’re on the road?” he asked and gave me a smug grin. “And you’re not thinking of her every time you aren’t with her? And you don’t smile when she sends you a text asking how your day is?”