Chapter 13
BIRTHDAY SUITS
Hayes
“And then I scored a goal buck naked.” Stefan plunks his glass down on the wood table with tequila-fueled bravado as he finishes his tale.
It’s nearing eleven, and we’re in a corner booth at The Winning Hand off the Strip. Stefan says it’s his favorite off-the-beaten-path bar in this city and claims no one will recognize his handsome face here—his words.
He’s just told us the story of his wildest dare. One I don’t believe. I shake my head since I know this guy. “Nope. You did not. No fucking way you skated naked at your hometown rink at the end of your first season.”
Brady and Kana are playing pool in the other room. But Dev’s here with us. Ivy too. She’s on my side, shooting the captain an are you sure about that stare. “I’m with New Guy. I don’t buy it,” Ivy says.
Stefan scoffs, holding up his hands like he has nothing to hide? “I don’t back down from a dare.”
“You hardly back down from anything,” I say.
“That is true,” he agrees, looking from me to Ivy with a grin that’s not quite private. Then he picks up his water glass and polishes it off—we switched from Patron to H2O an hour ago.
I’ve got a damn good feeling what Stefan’s up to. Have sensed it for a few days now. I just didn’t want to face it. I’ve kept my head down and pretended like I haven’t noticed his…machinations.
But the moment he said, “Multitudes, Ivy,” on the rooftop, I had a hunch. On the plane ride when he asked what she liked to do in Vegas then threw the question to me, I was certain.
There’s little Stefan loves more than orchestrating a good time.
He arranged our first threesome after we won the Frozen Four his senior and my freshman year.
We were celebrating our win at a party and had both been chatting with the same pretty blonde when Stefan pulled me aside.
I figured he was going to call dibs. But instead, he said, I know we’re both into her, and I have an idea.
His idea turned into the hottest night of my life.
Once I put two and two together on the rooftop, I knew the puppeteer had come out to play again.
But I’ve said nothing for a few days. Mostly because I don’t want to face the reality of this wild desire to have Ivy all to myself, or to ourselves.
Sharing a woman was one thing when Stefan and I were teammates in college, and then when I first started in the pros, but this situation is different.
She works with us. I don’t want to mess things up for her, especially considering what happened to the last mascot.
Every time I think about it, there’s this too tight feeling in my chest. A sense that one wrong move and everything could snap, like elevator cables under too much load.
I should ignore all these feelings, but Ivy’s too tempting. The possibility that she might want both of us is addictive. And dangerous. I need to stay away, yet here I am, my mind swirling with possibilities I should not entertain.
One night in Vegas. No holds barred. Driving her wild. Giving her what I suspect she wants—to be overwhelmed with wicked pleasure.
What’s the harm?
What happens in Vegas…
I force myself to focus on the group and Stefan’s tale of naked skating, not on my dirty fantasies of naked Ivy.
Dev stabs his index finger against the table, meeting Stefan’s gaze head-on. “Let me get this straight. Your Danish buddy says he doubts you have the balls to skate naked and the next thing you’re free-balling on the ice in Copenhagen? Because a friend back home said you wouldn’t?”
“It was a rink, not a lake,” Stefan says offhand.
I shudder at the mental image, just like when he told the story. “Do you have a dick death wish?”
His lips crook up. “My dick and I are very attached, and I take excellent care of him.”
Ivy snort-laughs, then raises her glass of water in the air. “To dick care.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Stefan says.
Ivy considers the topic while country music plays overhead, a tune about a guy who lost his pickup truck. “It’s important because proper dick care leads to pretty dicks.”
Dev spits out his beer. “Dicks aren’t pretty.”
“Maybe you haven’t seen the right dicks.” Briefly she casts her gaze my way, a bit of flirt in her voice.
Is she thinking about the night I met her, when she watched me on the rooftop? That look in her eyes heats my blood.
Ivy takes a drink, then adds, “But dick aesthetics aside, I still think Stefan’s story is highly suspicious.”
The team captain parks his elbows on the table and deals her a hard glare. “Don’t make me show you all the pics.”
He’s playing to win, upping the ante tonight, and I don’t have it in me to stop him. It’s too fun to watch him move chess pieces around.
Normally, I wouldn’t think a naked skating story would be a come-on. But I have a hunch he’s not leading with the goods but with his gusto. That’s his style. Me? I’m subtler. A flirty word. A dirty look. It’s our one-two punch.
Except…nope.
I’m not hitting on her tonight. I’m not pitching her on a threesome, especially with Dev here and with Kana and Brady in the next room. I’m just celebrating.
Ivy sets down her glass, shooting Stefan a dubious look. “Pics? Now I have to call your bluff.”
“Well, I had socks on. I don’t put on skates without socks,” Stefan says, stretching his arms out across the back of the booth. “And yes, I have pics. My buddies took them.” He grabs for his phone in his back pocket.
Dev laughs, shaking his head. “No one wants to see that much of your naked ass.”
But it’s too late. Stefan scrolls and then slaps down his phone, and…oh shit. That’s some birthday suit on skates. I jerk back, covering my eyes. “Dude.”
Ivy blinks. “Holy shit.”
Dev drops his jaw. “Whoa.”
Stefan smiles smugly. “Thank you.” Picking up his phone, he regards the photos like an art appraiser. “It is a pretty dick, come to think of it.”
I crack up. “That was not a dick compliment. I can’t believe you carry that pic.”
“I can’t believe you showed it to us,” Dev seconds.
“I can’t believe you took the dare,” Ivy puts in, each of us in escalating disbelief.
“Pictures don’t lie,” Stefan says, then shoots me a stern stare. “And since you doubted me, you can pick up the check here. I’m ready for a change of scenery.”
Dev nods, big and long. “When you score an assist in one game and a goal in the other two, you gotta treat the vets, Hayes.”
“No problem.”
I don’t mind footing the bill, especially considering what Dev just called me.
I’ve gone from Hey You to New Guy to my name in one day with him, and he’s the kind of athlete who sets the tone with the team.
I’m glad, too, that I didn’t need my longtime friend to be my cheerleader.
My skills led the way to this first sign of… acceptance.
I rein in a grin so it’s not obvious to everyone that I’m stoked. I reach for my wallet and raise a hand for a server. When a man wearing an apron and sporting a goatee signals from a few booths away that he’ll be right with us, I turn back to the guys across from us.
There’s a gleam in Dev’s eyes I can’t read. He shifts his gaze to Stefan, but Stefan looks away, like he’s deliberately ignoring Dev.
Hmm. Not sure what’s going on with them, if anything. But maybe the liquor’s messing with my head. When the server comes by, I hand him my credit card and tell him we’ll take the check.
“All right. I’ll be right back with that,” the server says and once he leaves, Stefan’s phone buzzes. The Great Dane flashes across the screen.
He instantly switches to serious business owner mode. “I need to take this.”
When he scoots out of the booth and heads off, Dev slides out a few seconds later. “Gotta call my girl.”
They head in opposite directions, leaving Ivy and me to keep the table warm.
She sighs happily then runs a hand through her lush hair.
Turning her face to me again, she’s all glowy, her smile soft and a little tipsy, but not much.
She had two shots to my three. I don’t like drinking more than that.
Don’t like feeling out of control. Also, working out the next day with a hangover is the worst.
“So, is this your Vegas poison?” I ask, circling back to the plane convo. “Hanging out?”
“Maybe it is,” she says.
“Or do you still want to see a show?” I give her a long, lingering look.
She’s wearing jeans that hug her legs and a crocheted sweater with a red tank top under it.
Mostly, though, it’s her mouth and her eyes that I can’t stop gazing at.
Her lips are perfection, and I’m dying to know how they taste.
The remnants of this tequila haze make me want her even more.
She twirls a strand of hair. “What kind of show?”
The thing is—I think she might want to be the show. “An after-hours one,” I say, since this night has loosened some of my resolve. I’m not even sure what I want to have happen. I just don’t want this evening to end.
But rather than answer, she sidesteps. “Do you like it with the Avengers so far?”
I follow her changeup easily. “It’s only been three games, but yes, I do like it so far.” I feel a little vulnerable with that admission but also like I can trust her with it.
“Three games to no nickname.”
“You noticed that.” Her candy-berry scent swirls around my head.
“And I noticed you liked it.”
Heat sparks higher in me. “You have to stop noticing things about me,” I say, feel-good endorphins flowing through me, making me want to wrap her in my arms and kiss the breath out of her and then fuck her senseless.
Those are things I shouldn’t think. And yet, these dangerous ideas have me in a chokehold tonight. My dirty train of thought is only stopped by the goateed server, who I see heading our way now with the bill and some refills on the water.
He sets down the glasses with a cheery grin. “Here you go. And good luck for the rest of your stay.”
When he leaves, I look around for the guys but lose interest in their whereabouts real quick when Ivy stretches, her chest rising and falling, her top pulling across her tits, the outline of a barbell teasing me. My resistance crumbles a little more.
I lean closer. “You have a piercing.”
“Do I?”
“Do you?” I counter.
Before she can answer me, someone clears his throat. “New plan.” It’s Dev, and he’s returned. Brady is next to him, sporting a grin. Kana looks like she’s stifling a laugh. Stefan’s not here though.
I sit up ramrod straight, jerking away from Ivy. “We were just—”
Dev adopts the biggest grin in the world. “So we have this tradition with the new guy, Hayes. You can’t escape it. It’s a rite of passage.” He takes a beat, then, like he has a winning hand, he says, “You need to get married.”