Chapter 27
Camden
Ifly across the ice, my legs on fire.
Del passes the puck to me, and I dart around Sam and head for the net.
Blomdahl gets into position, his helmet bobbing back and forth as he tracks the puck on the ice.
I shoot, but he catches it with his glove.
I let out a groan. “Nice save,” I holler. I push up my helmet and guzzle water.
“Thanks.” Blomdahl takes a swig from his water bottle, then sprays it all over his face.
“Anyone else sweating wine?” Theo asks, panting.
Sam nods. “Yup. This drill is kicking my ass.”
We all got home from Napa last night and decided to meet up for a workout this afternoon.
“I don’t know how much longer I can last,” Theo says.
Del rolls his eyes. “We’ve been playing for twenty minutes.”
Theo drains the last of the water in his bottle, then coughs.
“You’re like this every off-season,” Del mutters. “You skip any and all workouts for a month, then when you finally get back into it, you’re dragging.”
Theo flashes a smug smile. “So I like unwinding and having a good time. Sue me.”
The rest of the guys and I chuckle. We start playing again and finish out the hour we have booked at the practice rink. By the time we’re finished and changing out of our gear, we’re all drenched in sweat.
“Feels good to get back on the ice,” I say.
“Spoken like the youngest guy here,” Sam says.
I grin. “I can’t help that at my spry age, I’m lasting longer than you old guys.”
“We’re in our late twenties. Not ancient,” Blomdahl says.
“Theo’s an old man at almost thirty-one,” I joke. He tosses his sweaty glove in my face.
“Good thing Ryker didn’t hear you say that,” Sam says to me. “He’s pushing thirty-six. He would have cold-cocked you.”
I laugh harder.
“I’m surprised he didn’t join us,” Blomdahl says.
“He was going to, but Madeline got sick, so he’s taking care of her,” Theo says. “Anyone feel like getting a beer?”
Del glares at him. “You were just complaining about drinking too much wine, and now you want beer?”
Theo flashes a smug smile and shrugs. “It’s off-season. Live a little.”
Sam and Blomdahl say they’ll join Theo for a drink.
“How about you, Connors?” Theo asks.
I shake my head. “I’ve got plans with Ellie.”
He nudges me. “Aww look at the former manwhore getting all romantic and wanting to spend the evening with his wife,” he teases.
Nerves fire off inside of me when I think about what I’m about to do with Ellie.
My head is still spinning from our conversation yesterday in our hotel room in Napa, when she essentially asked me to be her sex teacher.
A weird energy swoops through me. I feel excited and nervous at the same time. Really nervous. Which is different for me. I’m not the kind of guy who gets nervous about hooking up with a woman.
I know how douchy that sounds, but it’s true. I wasn’t even all that nervous when I lost my virginity to a puck bunny after winning my high school hockey championship.
But this is more than just hooking up. It’s helping my best friend overcome her nerves so she can be more comfortable and learn to enjoy sex.
I think about what she told me about her ex. How he just tried to shove his dick inside of her without any warmup or foreplay or doing anything to make her feel comfortable and aroused.
I grit my teeth, pissed off just thinking about it. What kind of a selfish asshole was this guy?
I’m not perfect. Far from it, especially when you consider my aversion to commitment. When I hook up with a woman and tell her that I’m only interested in sex and nothing more, a few of them have gotten upset.
But one thing I always do? Make sure I fuck their brains out.
I may not be husband material, but I make sure to rock their world in the bedroom.
And that’s my mission with Ellie. To help her feel comfortable with her body and her sexuality. To help her get excited about sex so that when this sham marriage of ours ends, she’ll feel confident in her next relationship.
“So what are you two newlyweds doing tonight?” Sam asks me.
“Cooking dinner and watching a movie,” I say, feeling slightly guilty that I’m lying to my teammates, who are also my closest friends. But there’s no way I’m going to tell them what I’m really up to.
When I walk into the kitchen, I smile at what I see. Ellie tosses a treat to the small terrier-chihuahua mutt she’s watching for the next couple of days.
The dog hops up in the air. “Good girl, Tinkerbell.” Ellie tosses her another treat, then looks at me. “Hey.”
“Hey.” I nod at the bottle of pink champagne on the counter. “Celebrating something?”
“Oh, that.” She bites her bottom lip. “That’s for us. To get ready for…later.” She hesitates for a second. “Oh god, is that lame? That I bought us champagne to drink before we fool around?”
I chuckle. “Not lame at all. Whatever you want to do to make yourself comfortable is good with me.”
She nods once and takes a breath. “I think I’d like a glass of pink champagne.”
“Coming right up.”
I set my gear bag down and head to the cabinet on the far side of the kitchen, where I keep my beer glasses and wine glasses.
Tinkerbell trots over to me, and I lean down and give her a pet before grabbing two flutes from the cupboard. I pour us both some champagne and hand Ellie a glass.
“Should we toast?” she asks.
I grin. “Sure. You do the honors.”
Her eyebrows furrow like she’s thinking hard. “To friends helping friends.”
I chuckle. “Love it.”
We tap our glasses together, then I take a long sip.
“I should shower,” I say when I finish my glass.
She hiccups. “Okay. Then when you’re done, we could…um…”
I grin at how cute she is when she’s nervous.
I step forward and cup her cheek in my hand. I hold her gaze. “Hey. I’m nervous too, but it’ll be okay. This is gonna be fun.”
I kiss her cheek and walk off. Twenty minutes later, when I walk back out into the living room, Ellie is on the couch with a sleeping Tinkerbell curled on her lap.
She looks up at me before gently scooting Tinkerbell onto the couch. She stands up, and I grab her hand in mine, then lead her down the hall.