Pucking Around (Jacksonville Rays, #1)

by Emily Rath

Surfer Boy is holding a dildo. My dildo. It was a gag gift from Tess, and it’s most certainly a gag that she packed it for me. It has to be, because the dildo is large and purple and shaped like an octopus tentacle.

But then my phone finally rang, and this walking hurricane of a girl swept through the automatic doors, sucking me into her vortex.

“So, if you ever need some sugar,” he murmurs. “You know who to ask.”

So here I stand in the narrow hallway outside the practice arena, sharpening Jake’s blades—my best friend, my guide through the crazy, confusing world of the after.

“You really think I could forget my Seattle Girl? Baby, you’re all I think about.”

I don’t want her fake smiles. I want to earn them.

Jake and Caleb are pretty boys—perfect jaws, cheekbones for days, the floppy jock hair. All-American athletes. But Mars is…wild. He looks like the toughest guy on a hockey team had sex with a Viking and made a super baby.

That message is followed up with a picture of Jake giving ‘fuck me’ eyes. Then a second of him with Caleb in a headlock. I groan. Just slather me with butter and jam because I am so fucking toast.

I admire strength and determination. I admire resiliency. Which means I admire you.”

Ilmari rocks a sexy Viking mafia boss vibe that would melt anyone like butter.

Rachel goes impossibly still in my lap. One might think she was just turned to stone, but I know the truth. Hurricane just went full cobra mode, and she’s about to fucking strike. Her hands tense on my arm, even as she doesn’t let the smile drop from her face. “What was your name again? Apple?” “Aspen—”

Asphalt.

Asteroid.

“Bye, Avocado!” Rachel calls after her, waving like a total bitch.

I may be queer, but I’m more of a blowjobs-in-the-bathroom queer. Secretly-pines-after-his-best-friend-but-will-never-admit-it queer.

Jake’s kisses are like molten lava, melting me from the inside out. The passion I feel for him is white-hot and uncontrollable. Kissing Caleb is electric. My skin crackles with energy as he teases with his tongue, flicking and owning before he bites down on my bottom lip.

He’s looking at me like I’m his reason, and in this moment, I want to be.

“But this isn’t just sex for me, Rachel,” Jake adds, his face solemn. “Hell, at this point, I’ll settle for just breathing your air. I’ll rub your feet on the couch after a long day. I’ll do your laundry. I’ll hold your purse while you shop for trail mix. That’s how crazy I am about you. I have to be me, and this is who I am. This is how I feel. Move in and be with me. With us. Whatever that looks like to you, we’ll figure it out. Just give me more than this nothing. I can’t bear another second of the nothing.”

How’s a guy supposed to compete with a surfing, sun-kissed Edward Cullen?”

Mars Kinnunen, ladies and gentlemen. Devastatingly handsome, rich, talented, environmentally conscious, and self-deprecating to a fault.

“Be extraordinary together, take on the world, only let me come too.”

We are complex, emotional beings that live such full and beautiful lives. To think that one singular person can provide us with everything we need to best live out that life is…well, silly,”

“You would brave any danger for those you love. Climb any mountain, leap from any clifftop. A love like yours is wild and dangerous. You need men who will not seek to harness you or break your spirit. You need men who will protect you. Who will provide a safe space for you to love as freely as your heart will allow. We are those men.”

“Place yourself in our care, and we will never stop fighting for you,” Ilmari says. “We will never stray, never waver. We will seek no exit. Love us and watch how we love you in return. One family. One unit. Unbreakable.”