Page 87 of Three Hockey Hotties

“She spent the night in your room, though, correct?” Benjamin asks.

“The whole night,” Kane says. Then his cocky grin softens. “Sleeping with her in my arms was really nice. She’s just so damn sweet.”

The three grown men standing around the kitchen all sigh softly as we nod together at the sentiment.

“So, she was making some noise about maybe going back to her apartment after breakfast,” Kane tells us.

I straighten, immediately wanting to reject that.

“No,” Benjamin says simply.

I relax slightly. We’re on the same page.

Kane nods. “Yeah, I wanna keep her here this weekend. I know she doesn’t want to move in, but I think the more time we spend here in the beginning, showing her how much fun we can have and that it’s low pressure, the better.” He looks back-and-forth between us. “Am I right?”

There are a lot of things I appreciate about my best friend and a lot of things that frustrate me about him. But one of the best things is that he’s aware that he sometimes needs to double-check if he’s reading other people's emotions correctly.

“I think that makes sense,” Benjamin says. “But if she insists on leaving, we need to let her. And then work on getting her to come back. For dinner or something. Voluntarily.”

“Let’s take her out,” I say. “On a date. We don’t want her to feel like she’s stuck here in the house with us. Like all we want is to keep her here naked.”

“Even if that is kind of what we want?” Kane asks with a grin.

I give him an eye roll. “It isn’t, though. We want her for more than that.”

“Of course. So what should we do? Mini golf? A movie?”

“Not a movie,” Benjamin says. “We need something where we can all talk and get to know each other.”

I already have my phone out, and I’m swiping. I remember hearing about an event in town, but I want to check the details and times.

“What about—” Kane starts.

“Fall festival,” I say, holding my phone up.

Kane straightens on his stool. “Yeah, that’s this weekend. I totally forgot. That thing is fun.”

“You’ve been before?” Benjamin asks.

“Don’t you remember those cream cheese pumpkin muffins I brought you last year?” Kane asks.

“And that pumpkin butter you wouldn’t shut up about,” I say.

Benjamin's eyes actually brighten slightly. “I do. You got those from there?”

“It’s food and drinks and crafts, games for kids, there’s a hayride. It’s just like fall exploded all over,” Kane says.

“Did you do it as a team activity or something?” Benjamin asks.

Kane shrugs. “No man. It had ‘festival’ in the name. That’s all I needed to know.”

I chuckle and meet Benjamin's eyes. He’s grinning.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he agrees.” And I think we need to act very… boyfriend-ish.”

“What does that mean exactly?” I ask.

“Holding her hand, kissing her casually, making her feel special. Being affectionate.”