Pucking Strong: An MM Workplace Hockey Romance (Jacksonville Rays Book 4)

Heart in my throat, I stand just inside the doorway of the changing room. Most of the guys have cleared out. The rest are toweling off from their showers and dressing back in their suits. Novy stands across the room at his stall. He’s all but dressed. Only thing left is to slip on his shirt, button it, and grab his jacket.

My gaze darts left, and I give Henrik a nod. He’s already dressed and ready, his arms crossed as he leans against his stall. Fighting a smile, he nods back. Whatever. He can think this is funny all he wants. For as much as I tease Novy and put him in his place, I’ve never really had to stand up to him. Not about something that mattered.

“Novy,” I call out. “I need to talk to you.”

He pats down his pockets, not turning around. “Uhh … can it wait?”

Oh shit, he already knows.

I step fully into the room. “Novy, this is important.”

His head swivels, his gaze locked on the ground. “Has anyone seen my goddamn keys?”

“Novikov,” Henrik shouts.

All the guys in the room stop their yapping and look to Henrik. Novy is one of the last to turn, his brow raised in question.

“My husband is talking to you,” Henrik says, pointing at me.

Novy turns, giving me his full attention. The man is built like a freaking tree. He’s a few inches taller and several pounds heavier than Henrik. He’s a wall of muscle, with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. It’s what makes him such an excellent enforcer. “What, Ted?”

I clear my throat. “I need you to calmly get your things and come with me. Please.”

“What? Why?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

His eyes narrow. “Why not, Ted?”

I swallow, taking a step back. “Because I don’t want you to hit me.”

He frowns in confusion. “Why the hell would I hit you? Come on, man, knock it off. I can’t find my damn keys.” He turns around, ready to tear his stall apart.

“I have your keys,” I call out.

The silence in the room deepens as he turns back around. “Why do you have my keys?”

“Poppy gave them to me during intermission with strict instructions that I’m to drive you to … the place where she is.”

He quickly does the math, his eyes widening. “Oh shit. Fuck.” He pulls his phone from his pocket, checking it for messages. “When did it happen? When did she leave?” He grabs his dress shirt and tugs it on, leaving the jacket hanging in his stall. Crossing over to me, shirt unbuttoned, he holds out his hand. “Teddy, give me my keys.”

Tipping up my chin, I stand firm. “No.”

His face becomes a mask of rage as he leans away. “No? Teddy, come on, you just said Poppy is in fucking labor. Give me my goddamn keys!”

“Just give him his keys,” one of the guys calls.

“Yeah, man. Before he knocks out all your jibs.”

On instinct, I raise a hand to shield my mouth. Oh god, I love my teeth. They’re straight and cute, and they have the thinnest little gap in the front. “She thought you might react this way. Which is why she instructed me to keep your keys and drive you to the hospital myself.”

He storms forward, getting right in my face. “I don’t need a goddamn babysitter!”

“And I totally respect your position. But I made a promise to—ah—” The shriek that comes out of me as he grabs me is totally involuntary. “Violence will avail you nothing!”

He wraps an arm around me and squeezes like a goddamn boa constrictor. With his free hand, he digs in my pocket, searching for his keys. “Where are they, Ted?”

I flop like a fish out of water. “No—I promised Poppy!”

“Is a promise worth your goddamn life?”

“I’m more afraid of her than I am of you,” I squawk, twisting in his hold as he checks my other pocket. “Just let me drive you, asshole!”

“Gimme um—ouch—”

“Let him go,” a new voice growls.

“Ow, ow—fuck—you’re gonna rip it off,” Novy snarls.

“Let my husband go, or I twist.”

I’m panting, room spinning, as Novy’s iron arm loosens around my middle. I wriggle out of his clutches to see Henrik behind Novy, gripping so tightly to his ear that the tissue is already turning reddish purple.

Novy growls like an angry bear. “Let me go, Karlsson!”

“Knees,” my husband replies.

“Ouch—fuck—let go—”

“On your knees, and it stops.”

Cursing, Novy sinks to his knees. The moment they touch the carpet, Henrik lets him go. Novy’s ear is bright red and shiny. He reaches up and rubs it. “Motherfucker.” He glares at Henrik, eyes narrowing. “Teddy doesn’t even have the keys, does he? He gave them to you.”

Henrik just glares back. “Touch my husband again, and your keys will take up new residence in your colon.”

Around the room, the guys let out chuckles and sounds of “Oohoo” and “Don’t hurt him, Karlsson.”

Taking a deep breath, I right my mussed jacket, smoothing down the front. “Right, well if you’re quite ready, Henrik and I will be more than happy to drive you to the hospital to welcome your newest bundle of joy. Shall we?”

Novy gets slowly to his feet, shaking his head in disgust. “Betrayed by my favorite PT. Lemme guess, she promised you a goddamn fruit basket?”

I smirk, holding his furious gaze. “Yeah, and your anaconda attack just added three tickets to Disney on Ice. So, thank you for being so predictable. Now, get your shit. We’re leaving.”

Novy makes us park at the hospital, demanding we leave his truck in the lot.

“How are we supposed to get home?” I call as he snatches his keys from my hand and takes off running across the lot, dressed in half a suit.

“I don’t give a fuck,” he calls over his shoulder.

I cross my arms with a huff. “Well, this is what I get for letting Poppy corner me at a buffet table. I am never doing her another favor again. I don’t care how much she flips her hair.”

Chuckling, Henrik drapes an arm around my shoulders. “He’ll be alright. Once the baby is born, he’ll forget how he even got here. All that will matter is that he’s with his family.”

I glance around this dark hospital parking lot. “I guess we have to call a car to come pick us up. Both our cars are still back at the arena.”

He takes out his phone, already pulling up the app. But then his shoulders stiffen. “Wait—where is Karro?”

I wince. “Uhh … yeah. So, I figured we should probably keep her out of the way of the great, fire-breathing Novikov.”

“Where is she?”

“I let her go have a sleepover with Emma Langley.” Turning to him, I brace my hands on his shoulders. “And I’m sorry, okay? I know I should have asked you first. You have final say on all matters Karro, and this was her first sleepover, and I know that’s big. But I feel like you have to trust me with at least a few things when it comes to her care. It doesn’t have to all be on you, Hen. And Tess is totally reliable—”

“Teddy … Teddy,” he says over me, gripping my arms with both hands.

I take a breath, waiting.

“I’m not mad. You have every right to help make decisions about Karro’s care. And if you trust Tess Langley, then so do I.”

“You’re really not mad?”

“I’m not mad,” he repeats, his mouth tipping with a smile. “You know what I am?”

I lean away. “Uhh … hungry? Tired, probably. That was a crazy game. I—”noveldrama

His eyes flash with secret meaning, which has my stomach flipping.

“Oh. Wait, seriously?”

Stepping closer, he wraps an arm around me. “Know what I was thinking earlier? Watching you hold your own against Novikov?”

I fight a blush, remembering the way I squealed and flopped like a fish. I was raised by three sisters. They taught me to fight with words, not fists. “I don’t know if I’d call it holding my own …”

His hands smooth across my back as he turns me, pressing me up against the side of Novy’s truck. Leaning in, he kisses my jaw, his beard soft and bristling. I roll my neck, giving him more room. His kisses are soft, seeking, but then his fingers dig into my locs and he jerks my head back. “He had his hands on you,” he growls in my ear. “And I wanted to rip them off.”

“Henrik—”

His teeth scrape over my skin, drawing a sound like a whimper from my throat. “No one touches you but me, mitt hjärta. Say it.”

“No one,” I pant, moving my hips against him, desperate for some friction.

He drops a hand between us, cupping my dick, and I wanna die. Oh god, he’s never been so deliberate before. His hold on me is firm as he presses in, practically lifting me off the ground. His other hand stays twisted up in my hair. I’m on my toes, pressed against the side of this damn truck, with Henrik holding my cash and fucking prizes like a dragon clutching his treasure.

“Baby, please.”

“What do you want?” He kisses along my neck, nipping and nuzzling my ear. “Speak. Tell me what you want from me.”

“I want more.”

“What more?” He squeezes my crotch tighter, and I think I might just come. Is there such a thing as a seismic orgasm? Because this isn’t biology anymore—it’s geology. Like how compression makes diamonds.

Fuck, I can’t even think.

I cling to his shoulders. “Henrik, baby, please. I want more. I want you. I want—god, I want everything. Anything you’ll give me.”

His hold on me relaxes a little. “I’ve never been with a man before.”

I turn my face to his, my nose brushing his cheek. “I know. But you’re already so good at everything we’ve tried. And you can’t fake chemistry like this,” I add, pressing my hand over his heart. “What we have? How this feels? Do you know how fucking rare this is? Not to get too cheesy, but in the immortal words of Kiss, I was made for lovin’ you, baby.”

He chuckles, leaning away with a shake his head.

“What?”

He cups my cheek, smoothing his thumb over my freckles. He likes to do that, following the line of my cheekbone. “Du är så vacker.”

I grin, feeling nervous. “What does that mean?”

Leaning in, he kisses me. “It means, I’m taking you home now.”

I perk up. “Yeah? And then what?”

“And then I’m taking off all your clothes,” he says against my lips. “And I’m putting you in my bathtub.”