Page 67 of Hockey Nanny

“You did it,” she said into my jaw, kissed my cheek once, then again, then a third time. “That last goal was insane.”

Her weight was all front-loaded enthusiasm and I caught her automatically, hands at her waist, still trying to catch my breath. Over her shoulder, I saw Boone and Dawson slow to a stop a few feet away. Boone looked entertained. Dawson looked anything but.

A boulder sank in my gut. I’d known this moment was coming; I just hadn’t expected it to happen before I’d made sense of it.

The locker room was loud when we got back. Music thumped from someone’s speaker. Tape got ripped. Skates hit the floor. Guys shouted over each other while gear came off in pieces and piles.

I was loosening my shoulder pads when Boone slid into the empty space beside me, too close to be nothing, grin already locked in.

“So,” he said, eyes gleaming with mischief. “Is there something you want to tell us?”

I kept my face neutral and worked my pads up off. “About the game?”

Dawson didn’t laugh. He came over to flank me on the other side, arms folded. “They obviously fucked. It’s obvious.”

The room didn’t go quiet, but my little corner of it did.

I met his eyes. There was heat there, but it wasn’t jealousy exactly. It was calculation. Assessment. Like I’d just stepped into his lane without signaling.

And why wouldn’t he be pissed? I’d taken something personal and turned it into competition. That had been the fear all along.The reason I’d stayed clear of Carissa for months. The reason I’d tried to keep my hands to myself.

That plan hadn’t survived the weight bench.

Boone, on the other hand, looked delighted.

He leaned back against his locker and laughed. “Okay, correction— She’s into all three of us. So what, do we draw straws or something?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Dawson snapped. “Enjoy the win. Enjoy Florida.”

Boone wasn’t deterred. “I am enjoying the win. The real win would be if we all got to date her.”

I shoved his shoulder, harder than necessary. “You get hit in the head one too many times out there?”

He rocked back, still smiling. “I’m just saying. Where’s the harm if she likes it? And speaking for myself, she really liked it. How about you, big guy?”

The image came uninvited. Carissa spread wide beneath me. Her breath catching. How she came apart in my hands.

My jaw tightened before I could stop it. I gave Boone nothing else, but that single tell was enough.

He slapped my shoulder, laugh breaking free. “That’s my man.”

Then he turned to Dawson, same look, same question hanging in the air. “What do you say, bro? How’s it looking, all of us taking our shot?”

Dawson didn’t rise to it. The master of guarded neutrality.

He stripped off his gloves, dropped them onto the floor, and finally looked up. “I say you change the subject.”

Then he turned away and went back to undressing, conversation closed.

Boone backed off, humming to himself as he wandered toward the showers. I faced my locker again, hands busy but not really doing anything.

Because what he’d just said lodged somewhere inconvenient. It wasn’t the worst idea. If Carissa was into all three of us, then she’d be open to dating all three of us.

I scoffed and shook the thought from my head. Either I’d lost my mind, or Boone, God help me, was actually making sense.

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