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“All set?” Jed asked, feeling a little foolish about where his mind had wandered. “I live in the foothills. It’s about forty-five minutes from here.”

“Sounds good.” Remy looked out the window, then drummed his fingers on his leg. “Hey, you’d tell me if you didn’t want to do this, right?”

“I would. Don’t worry about it.” Jed’s stomach might not think this was such a great idea right now, but he’d figure it out.

“Okay. I won’t, then. I was just thinking, Cap’s probably right that it’ll be good for me to get out of the hotel.” Remy caught Jed’s eye and gave him another brief smile.

They drove in silence for a good ten minutes, until Remy said, “I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to find my own place. So can I chip in some way while I’m staying with you? Like, with rent or something?”

Jed shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m guessing you know how much I make, right?”

Remy nodded. Salaries were public, and Jed’s contract with the Blizzards was sizeable enough to get some press.

“So you can believe me when I tell you that I haven’t had a mortgage in a long time.”

“Okay, thank you. I guess there are perks to being a living legend, eh?” Remy’s voice was teasing now, and Jed’s heart beat a little faster.

It was chirping, not flirting, Jed told himself, but for the life of him, he couldn’t think of a response. So he flicked on one of his usual podcasts—the soothing one about wildlife in the Rockies, not the political one he saved for mornings when he didn’t mind getting worked up—and told himself he’d be over whatever this was he was feeling by morning.

When Jed woke up, it took him a few moments to remember that Remy was asleep in one of his extra bedrooms. The house was as quiet as ever. It stayed quiet, too, while Jed had his first cup of coffee and then headed down to the gym he’d built in the lower level of the house just like he did every morning.

He didn’t always run a 5K on the treadmill in addition to stretching and Pilates or yoga, but he could admit that he was a little nervous about how the morning was going to go. Purely because it had been a long time since he’d had someone stay with him, he told himself. He’d felt this way when Pasternak stayed with him, too.

By the time Jed was done with his run, he could hear his blender whirring and footsteps moving around overhead. He forced himself to take the stairs as quickly as he always did, preparing a casual “Hey” for when he reached the top, but to his surprise, Remy wasn’t in the kitchen. Jed rounded the corner and found him standing at the big picture windows in the living room, staring out at the view with a mug in his hand.

Remy was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and athletic shorts that weren’t quite long enough to cover his well-defined thighs, and Jed stopped and took a moment to compose himself. He’d seen Remy in all stages of undress in the locker room, but the sight of all that bare skin lightly dusted with dark hair hit differently in his living room. Really differently.

“G’d morning.” Remy turned away from the window with a relaxed smile on his face and messy hair falling into his eyes. “That bed is amazing. I racked out. And I found the coffee. Hope that’s okay.”

“Of course.” Jed took a step forward and then clenched his fists so that he didn’t do something completely out of line, like brush the hair out of Remy’s face. “Glad you slept well.”

“It’s so much quieter here than at the hotel, too.” Remy gestured at the windows. “When you said you lived in the foothills, I didn’t realize you meant in the woods and everything. The view’s amazing. But I have to ask—why are the deer here so big?”

“The deer?” Jed looked out at the empty snow-covered clearing that sloped into the woods behind his house, which was crisscrossed with tracks.

“Yeah, there was a giant deer out there a minute ago. Do I need to be worried when I go outside?” Remy’s tone was light, but Jed thought he might actually be concerned.

“I’m guessing you saw an elk. They wander through the back sometimes.” Remy still looked uncertain, so Jed couldn’t help adding, “Don’t worry, the grizzlies usually keep them away.”

“Grizzlies, eh?” Remy gave Jed a look that said he might be a city boy who’d never seen an elk before, but he wasn’t completely clueless. Then he cocked his head and scanned Jed up and down. “You get all sorts of bears around here, I guess.”

Well, fuck.

Remy looked like he regretted opening his mouth, but hell. Jed had walked right into that one. The only possible response to a chirp like that was to give Remy one of the stern looks he usually saved for Moreau’s worst jokes. Acting like they were just two guys in a locker room should have made things normal, but Remy flushed and licked his lips nervously, and it dawned on Jed that he had seriously miscalculated when he’d invited Remy to stay.

He was still staring at Remy’s mouth when Remy cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Hey, I also found smoothie stuff, so I made enough for both of us. I left the blender in the fridge for now.”

“Thanks.” Jed blinked and gave himself a mental shake.

“And, um. I know we agreed not to talk about the Mike thing anymore, but I did want to ask one question, if it’s okay? Just so I don’t mess up.”

“Sure.” Jed couldn’t imagine what Remy thought he might mess up about.

“Are you out to the team?”

Ah. That.

“A couple of the guys know that I’m gay.” The words felt stiff and unfamiliar coming out of Jed’s mouth. He hadn’t actually said them in a long time. “Hal and Bakesy know. I’m sure at least some of the others have guessed. I’ve never pretended to be straight. But I don’t date or hook up, so it doesn’t really come up.”