So, yeah…team pictures today and party tonight, but tomorrow is when it gets exciting. Training camp starts and I’m itching to get back on the ice. It’s swamping my mind with pleasure endorphins, far more appealing to me than the two hotties I just left in the bedroom. Don’t get me wrong. I love women and love fucking them. But they take a backseat to hockey…my one true love.

Always have, always will.

Chapter 1

Garrett

The team party is in full swing by the time I arrive, which is always late, and Coach Pretore and his wife, Suzie, have gone all out. I find them in the kitchen of their seven-thousand-square-foot home, holding court near an ice sculpture set inside a huge crystal bowl teeming with peeled shrimp.

Coach gives me a hearty handshake and a thump on the back. “Good to see you, kid.”

I give him a smile and then bend down to kiss Suzie on the cheek. “Great to see you both. You throw a mean party,” I tell them as I snap two shrimp up.

“Use a plate,” Suzie chides me, and thrusts one into my hands. “So how has your summer been, Garrett?”

“It’s been great, but I’m ready to get back at it. Can’t wait for camp to start tomorrow.”

“Enjoy yourself tonight,” Coach Pretore says, “but not too much. I’m going to work you hard tomorrow.”

“Bring it on,” I say with a grin as I pop the shrimp in my mouth. Setting the empty plate down on the russet-colored granite, I give my hands a quick wash in their sink, then head through their house to the backyard, where I know most everyone is hanging.

I’m stopped no less than five times on the way out back to give and receive high fives and back slaps, as well as one hard smack on my ass from Zack Grantham, our second-line left winger.

Rubbing my stinging butt cheek with one hand, I give him a playful punch on his shoulder with the other.

“What’s up, dude?” he asks as he wraps his arm around the waist of his girlfriend, Gina. He pulls her into the side of his body, and I watch with interest as she wraps her arms around his back and stomach, cuddling in tight. They are about as close as two people can get. They’re not married and have no plans to be, as far as I know, but fuck, they are committed to each other. I think they’ve been together going on close to seven years now, and they have a little boy, Benjamin, who I think may be close to three. He’s fucking adorable.

“Not much. Ready to get back on the ice,” I tell him.

“No shit,” Zack agrees. “It’s been a great summer off, but I’m starting to get bored.”

“So bored,” Gina adds in with a laugh. “He’s driving me nuts at home. Trying to fix stuff that doesn’t need fixing. I’m ready for him to get back on the ice too.”

Nodding, I ask, “Where’s the rug rat?”

Zack jerks his head over his shoulder to the double doors that lead out onto the back deck. “Outside, playing with Andre and Mely’s kids. We took him to Disney last week and he won’t quit talking about Mickey. I think he has the other kids riled up now.”

Laughing, I clap him on the shoulder. “I’m foreseeing some of the other players having to take their kids next summer.”

“Exactly,” Gina says impishly.

“Hey, are Alex and Sutton here yet?” I ask genially. I have the dirtiest joke I just heard last night—compliments of Donna or Debbie, not sure which—and I have to tell Alex. And it has to be done in front of Sutton, so I can watch her blush prettily, then snarl at me to clean up my act. I love torturing her.

“Yeah…got here not long ago. They’re out back, I think,” Zack says as he leans in to kiss Gina on the head. They are always touching and kissing, which is an intimate concept I don’t understand outside of the confines of my one-night stands.

I make my goodbyes and step out onto the deck. The North Carolina air is warm and muggy, and fireflies float all around in the early-evening dusk. Suzie has strung brightly colored lanterns all around the deck, where a few more of my teammates and their significant others hang out. I call out hellos and trot down the steps into the backyard.

I head directly to the open-walled tent that houses a keg of beer set up beside a table, which is laden with even more food. Our backup goalie, Paul Mattara, is pouring himself a beer, so I grab a cup and hold it out for him. “Fill me up when you’re done.”

He looks up and gives me a grin as he tops off his own cup and takes mine. “Good summer?”

“The best. Carolina beaches and hot women,” I tell him as I look around for Alex and Sutton.

“If Karen weren’t standing just five feet away,” he says in a whisper as he leans toward me, “I’d demand deets on the hot women.”

“Man…you got your own hot woman,” I tell him as I accept the beer he poured. “You don’t need my details.”

“True enough,” he says, and then walks off to join his wife.

I take a sip and glance around the backyard. Many people I recognize, as I’ve gotten to know my teammates’ families over the course of last season. Some I don’t recognize, and I’m sure they are other members of the organization I haven’t met, or even friends of some of the other guests.

My eyes scan around, looking for Alex and Sutton, my dirty joke practically burning on the tip of my tongue to get out.

And that’s when I see her.

Holy fuck, is she gorgeous.

Tall and willowy, with long hair in the most unusual shade of caramel I’ve ever seen. I can’t tell what color her eyes are from this distance. She’s standing by herself, delicately sipping a glass of wine, and before I know it…my feet are moving and my body is following, in her direction.