Hockey Hottie (Loving the Puckers Book 1)

by Kat Obie

  My dad must have read my mind because he said, "They caught him right away. Weber and Shoresy were able to tackle him, and the rest of the team worked to pin him down and save both Colandra's and Cindy's lives. I'm just glad you weren't there when it happened."

  "Yeah, you and me both. We chose the right time to leave," I said. "You know, you don't need to freak out K so much."

  "Sure I do. I'm not comfortable with him taking your virginity."

  I just giggled, and he shot me a look. "Dad, I haven't been a virgin for a while. K had nothing to do with that."

  "Who the fuck did you sleep with before K?"

  This was exactly the direction I hadn’t wanted to go in, especially since he wouldn’t like the story of my first time. But telling him about that would be easier than explaining how it happened with a couple other exes. So I asked him the pertinent question. "Are you sure you want to know? Can I trust you not to kill him?"

  My dad gave me the stare that told me he wanted to know. He never asked questions he didn't want the answer to. He grunted, "I probably won't kill him."

  I shrugged. That was probably the best I was going to get, but at least so far he’d stayed in English, so I was in better shape than earlier. "Chris Kliver."

  That was when my dad's face went inscrutable and then turned to confusion. Then again, I couldn't blame him. Chris wasn't the obvious choice. He was one of the most flamboyant male figure skaters that I’d ever met, and we never dated. The only thing that made sense was that the two of us were thick as thieves.

  "Isn't he openly gay?"

  "Yup. Came out to everyone basically the next day. He wanted to prove to himself that he was, and I was curious. So, yeah. We gave it a go. It didn't work out. No big deal." It wasn't the most romantic story. Hell, it wasn't romantic at all, but it was that simple.

  "Seriously?"

  "Completely. Please tell me he’s safe; he keeps me laughing and sane."

  “I guess.” He sighed heavily and said, "You know to be safe and use birth control, right?"

  I nodded vigorously. "Of course. Last night there was a condom, and I have the implant. Eye on the prize." While I said that last piece, I was watching K talk to his friends. He seemed to have relaxed a fair amount. I would see him look at me from time to time, but he seemed to look away anytime he thought my dad was watching.

  "You really do like him, don't you?"

  "Yeah . . ." I let my voice trail off. "I know you would never believe it and probably won't ever like it, but he was good to me last night. Literally thought about everything and always, always asked. He's the one who found the masquerade mask. He had a room for us and even had my favorite Gatorade on hand to help me rehydrate."

  "I still don't like knowing he couldn't keep it in long enough to work a zipper and he got you drunk."

  "It wasn't like that at all." I knew I had a dopey smile on my face. "I was literally stuck in that dress, and he actually allowed me to breathe easier again. Like I said, he asked if I wanted him to rip it and I said yes. You shouldn't punish him for me getting drunk. I'm the one who asked for the drinks. He told me to slow down. I thought I could handle it. I knew what I was doing the whole time. Also, don't forget you were the one to set us up."

  "I did set you guys up," my dad muttered. He had a small smile on his face. I knew the conversation was going in the right direction.

  "Also, I know you hated my opinion earlier, but why not make K and Weber co-interim captains? They both deserve it. Weber for thinking fast last night and K because he's the person you turn to when you need a player's opinion and for someone to bounce ideas off. We both know Webs is a little hot under the collar and K isn't. He will keep people loose while always being one of the best guys out on the ice. He sees the game like you do, probably because you trained him, and it’s why you like his opinion. Make one captain for road games and one for home."

  My dad looked at me incredulously. "When did you get to be so smart?"

  "I don't know. I just am?" I said with a shrug. I was glad that things seemed to be working out. “Although, with the hockey stuff, it’s probably because you raised me to be your hockey princess, even if I never played.”

  "Go be with him. Just take it easy on me. It's hard remembering you are all grown up now and you don’t need my protection all the time."

  "I'll still need your protection from time to time, just not from K. If you really thought I would, you’d never have tried to set us up in the first place." I gave my dad a giant hug.

  I then walked over to where K was sitting. He smiled and said, "Everything okay?"

  I nodded, but then I saw a doctor approach my dad, and they talked for a few moments. Then my dad just stood there with his arms folded, waiting for people to be quiet. K did a loud whistle to get everyone's attention. They all shut up.

  My dad said, "So, good news: both Ricky and Cindy are in recovery. They don't want anyone visiting right now, but you can come back in the morning when they have visiting hours. Sadly, Ricky won't be back this season and he has a long road to recovery ahead of him. That means we will need to use an interim captain for the remainder of the season. So I have decided to make the following changes to the leadership team. Colton Weber acted fast tonight, like he normally does. He will be our road captain. Klaus Lagerfield has been an asset to this team since he got here and always has strong presence of mind without losing his cool. He will be our away captain. When they aren't wearing the C on their jerseys, they will be an alternative captain. I'm also promoting Killer Miller to be assistant captain. Any questions?"

  There weren’t any, so everyone started to congratulate Webs, K and Killer. I just hung at the back and smiled. I was happy for K, even if he never actually thought he was going to get the promotion.

  8

  Klaus

  As we were all clearing out of the hospital, I assumed that Scotty was going to make Alex go home with him. I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before he took her home, so I hung around. When it was just the three of us left, Scotty said, "Congrats, Klaus. I'm going to head home. Make sure Alex gets to her skating session on time, and I'll see you at the captain's meeting at 2 p.m."

  I was stunned, but I said, "Okay."

  I turned to Alex and I wanted to kiss her, but I knew I should probably wait until Scotty couldn't see it. "What the hell did you say to him?"

  She had a small smile and said, "I just talked some sense into him."

  "I think you must have used magic."

  "Nah," she said with a sly smile. I knew that she could talk her dad and me into almost anything. She grabbed my hand and led me back to my car. As we approached it, she said, "Trust me enough to drive so you can sleep?"

  "Yeah." I handed her my keys.

  She got into the driver's seat, and I hopped into the passenger seat. She smiled as she pulled up the seat so she could reach the pedals. I started to drift to sleep right away.

  Before I knew it, I felt some kisses on my left side trying to bring me back to the land of the living. I guided her mouth towards mine by cupping her face. When I was finally done with our kiss, I said, "You can wake me up that way any time you like."

  She had a smug expression on her face. She knew exactly what she was doing. Then again, I’d done the same thing to her not so long ago.

  We walked hand in hand back to the room. While there was a part of me that wanted to get randy, I knew I was too exhausted to make it good for her. When we got to the room, I kicked off my shoes and pulled down my joggers. Just before climbing into bed, I set an alarm for the morning. I smiled as Alex pulled off her socks, leggings, shoes, and bra. She plugged her phone in next to mine and climbed into bed next to me.

  I wrapped her up in my body to give her a great spoon. It was perfect as I held her. The two of us just drifted off to sleep.

  It was easy to wake up with a smile, but I was hard as fuck. I’d never thought I would be able to sleep with her like this, and I wanted to do it every day.
I leaned up to take a look at the time. Before everything happened, I’d planned on the two of us having breakfast in bed. I woke up just in time for it to arrive.

  As I withdrew from the bed, Alex looked up at me with tousled curly red hair that turned me on. "Where are you going?"

  I couldn't help it; I kissed her forehead as I smoothed out her hair. I said, "Don't worry."

  She pulled a face at me and clearly didn't like my answer but decided not to press me. She just watched me walk away from her, so I shook my ass, sending her into a fit of giggles.

  That's when I heard the knock at the door. I looked through the peep hole and saw the hotel staff, so I opened up. The valet wheeled in the cart of food and left after I gave him a tip.

  I was so happy to see there was a tray on the coffee table. I immediately took the decorative vases off of it and then loaded it with a plate of egg white omelette, potatoes, and a fruit cup. I also made sure to put the coffee on it since Alex was super addicted to it. I added a smoothie to the tray. I'd eat my stuff later.

  I brought it in and said, "Happy now?"

  She looked at it all and asked, "Where's your food?" She had a smile on her face, so I knew I did good.

  "On the cart still."

  "Go get it. There's no reason for you not to eat."

  I nodded. I went out and grabbed my plate. It was basically the same thing as hers, but I had an extra side of bacon. I also grabbed my smoothie and carried it back to the bedroom. I settled beside her.

  I kept staring at her until she said, "Stop it, K!"

  "What?"

  "Staring at me with that dopey grin on your face."

  "Sorry. I can't believe you are really here with me this morning. I thought your dad was going to kill me or, at the very least, take you home. But I could get used to this."

  She smiled and pulled me in for a kiss. "Me too."

  The two of us settled in to eat our breakfast. I still stared at her a lot, but I tried to be a bit more sly about it. She pushed me any time she caught me staring too much, though.

  Once she was finished eating, she said, "I need to get a shower before practice." I nodded. I watched her as she climbed out of bed. I noticed she’d left some of the potatoes on her plate, so I stabbed them with my fork. She paused and said, "That was an invitation to join me."

  I didn't need to be told twice. She didn't know it, but we were going to have some hot shower sex.

  Alex

  The morning had been fantastic. Klaus had spent the whole time basically making me feel like a queen. I learned how good it was to have sex in the shower. I was left both stated and wanting more.

  We gathered up our belongings and checked out. It was disappointing to check out. It meant our Halloween was over and we would have to go back to our normal routines.

  As K pulled into the rink’s parking lot, he asked, "Do you mind if I stay and watch you for a bit?"

  "Nah. I kinda need you around for a ride home."

  He smiled even wider. He'd been smiling all day. He was in a good mood, especially after he got me laughing by wiggling his butt at me that morning. It still seemed crazy that after being friends for so long, we could grow to so much more overnight. "I just wish we could have more time to ourselves."

  "Me too. Which reminds me: I need to call Petey."

  "Petey?" I squinted, and then things clicked from earlier. "Oh, when you said ‘everyone knows,’ you didn't mean your team. You meant everyone as in our parents’ friends.”

  He nodded but then gave me one more kiss, as if to quell any qualms that I might have had, although I didn’t have any. "On the plus side, his house might be available and then we won't have to rely on hotel rooms."

  I smiled. That sounded nice. He would still live down the street from me since Petey owned the house on the far side of K’s. "Go. Don't be late. I don't need your dad to yell at me again. I'll be in when I'm done talking to Petey," he said as he patted my ass.

  I leaned up to him and gave him one more kiss. "Thanks for the best Halloween ever!"

  "Yeah, it'll be one that I'll never forget. Go on, silly," he said with a smile. I turned my head and shook it, remembering how he’d called me that right before we got truly intimate for the first time. I headed into the rink to start my day’s training, knowing that I had one of the best boyfriends ever.

  Falling Fast

  Loved this story? Read the story where Alex's family falls in love: Falling Fast

  Falling Fast is a fast love, hard times sports romance filled with ‘awww’ moments. Grab it now and curl up with the captain of the team tonight.

  Scott Wheiland wasn’t expecting to find a woman in the men’s locker room. But the captain of the Cleveland Sound hockey team can’t deny the attraction to the cute girl with some serious hockey skills--even if she is a Flyers fan. He’d like to help her with her puck handling skills, among other things…

  Alice Kercheck was just looking to work through some stress when she met Scott Wheiland in the locker room at the rink. And even though she’s been hurt before, she can’t deny her attraction to the handsome hockey player.

  Cheer on Scott and Alice as they navigate life on and off the ice, and skate toward a happily ever after in this sweet and steamy hockey romance.

  Acknowledgments

  So of course I want to thank my family. My sister has such a big heart and is raising an amazing little girl. I love my niece so much and it’s been awesome to have someone to share my love of Gritty and hockey with.

  I have to do a special shout out to my close group of friends. Lisa, you have been amazing person of support and help with everything. Having you to be a person to go turn to for story ideas and editing alone was a huge help and I wouldn’t have a final product without you. Add in all the personal support over the year, you are amazing. To Jill, Mykey and Mark. You guys have been amazing and helpful where I always have someone to talk to and while I may turn to you for different reasons but I do value all the support that you give me. To my friend Doug, it's been great to have a writing friend to verbalize some plot points.

  To my friends in the Level Up Romance Writers Sprints Room. I've learned so much from you guys. I've made some great friends and you helped me to finish this project in a record amount of time just by asking "Did you write words?" every twenty five minutes. Never judgmental but always held accountable. I wouldn't have such wonderful formatting if wasn't for B. Ivy Woods. Thanks to Aidy Award for helping me to get amazing covers. Thanks also to Ellie Pond, Dylann Crush, Danielle Romero, Sarah Urquhart and Selena Ward.

  Last but not least, to the readers. While the book is personal and it has allowed me to process so much, I want people to read the book. To get early feedback and praise from my beta readers has been great. So thank you!

  About the Author

  Kat Obie is a passionate hockey fan. She plays, she watches, she dreams of it so she decided to start writing hockey romances.