Slap Shot (D.C. Stars, #3)

by Chelsea Curto

I think you’re a nice woman, Piper. I value our friendship, but I really don’t need Liam decking me in the face. I’m going to politely decline your advances. I don’t reciprocate your feelings, and I’m sorry.

Riley—focus on the game, not what someone is saying about your girl,” I tell them. “She’s not my girl,” Riley grits out. “You look at her like she’s your girl,” Mav teases.

I’m thirty-one.

“I think this is going to be the start of a beautiful partnership.”

He gives me a wave and flips his hat backward before walking toward us. Jesus Christ. Shit like that should be illegal for men to do in public.

His gray joggers hug his thighs

but I rush forward and grab a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter. Pulling my arm back behind my head, I launch the fruit at the mass of a man as hard as I can. “What the fuck?” The voice that fills the dark kitchen is deep and scratchy and— Oh. I’ve definitely heard it before. Hudson spins around with a cup in his hand, and I’m not too humiliated to register relief that it’s not, in fact, an intruder. “Madeline?”

“I know how to have fun, believe it or not. I don’t always behave.”

“Maverick told me one of the guys on the team is pierced, but he wouldn’t give me a name.” Emmy rolls her eyes. “Damn locker room bro code.”

She jumps to her feet. She grabs her artwork and stands on her toes, trying to reach the spot Hudson designated for her, but she’s too short. He laughs and lifts her up by her middle. He puts her on his shoulder and helps her attach the construction paper with a magnet that looks like a hockey puck. Damn my heart for skipping a beat.

“I fucking hate him.”

“Some chapel. We went out to this club on the Strip, and everyone was wasted. That led us into a limo and Maverick and Emmy getting married, then Piper and Liam did the same after.” “Wait. I went to a club on the Strip that night.” “You did?” “Yeah. I dropped Lucy off at my parents’ then went out with a friend from work. There was dark lighting and loud music. ” “Pretty sure you just described every club to ever exist, Mads.” “There were a lot of people there. VIPs, the bouncer kept saying, so it took us forever to get in. I think the place was called The Library?” “No shit.” I lean closer to her. “That’s where we were.” “You’re fucking with me.” “I swear to god. I’ll show you the credit card charge for my twelve-dollar bottle of water.” “Huh.” Her smile is coy. “Guess we were always destined to cross paths, Bombshell.”

He’s staring at me like he wants to devour me,

“Is my dress okay? It’s the only thing I had and⁠—” “Wow,” he repeats. There’s more emphasis behind it the second time. He moves his hand to his chest. “Shit, Madeline. You’re beautiful. Fucking gorgeous.”

“Wow,” he repeats. There’s more emphasis behind it the second time. He moves his hand to his chest. “Shit, Madeline. You’re beautiful. Fucking gorgeous.”

“Could you make mine with a⁠—” “Splash of milk and a little bit of sugar.” I smile at her. “I remember, knife girl.” “You do?” “I told you I notice things. Your coffee order is one of them.” Madeline blinks, holding a couch pillow close to her chest. “Thank you.”

“Dead serious. Comic Sans and everything,” I say, and she holds up the plain white T-shirt I had printed earlier this week. Fuck Fark is written across the chest, and she covers the curse word so Lucy doesn’t see. “Probably shouldn’t wear it out in public, but if you feel like breaking plates or something, I think it’ll be perfect.” “This is…” She lets out another laugh and fans her face. “I want to frame it.”

“They’re drawings. Of you and her and the dogs. Of you and me at the stove while she watches us make dinner. Of you playing hockey,” Madeline explains as I flip through the pages, and my chest feels impossibly tight.

The admission that not a single woman has caught my eye, because I’ve been thinking about her lately. Nonstop, really. Wanting to touch her. Wanting to taste her. Wanting to wrap my arms around her and kiss her until she’s dizzy and forgets her name.

“Maybe we should kiss,” I tell her, not fully knowing what I’m saying. But those lips… and the corner of her mouth… “To see if it brings us good luck.” “You want to kiss me because you want good luck?” “Yeah. But I also want to kiss you because I’ve been thinking about it for weeks.”

Madeline’s movements are slow, tentative. She glances at the TV then back at me. “What else have you been thinking about?” “You,” I say. “In every way I shouldn’t want you. In every way I can’t have you.”

“Hudson,” she breathes out, and I pull away so I can kiss her neck. So I can suck on the skin above her collarbone, and she whines. “Fuck.” “Should I stop?” I ask. She shakes her head.

“Hud? You okay?” “Did I wake you up?” “Yeah.” Maverick yawns. “Emmy and I passed out around nine. What’s going on?” “I did something, and I’m not sure if what I did was wrong.” “Hang on.” There’s the rustle of sheets on the other side of the line and murmured words. “Sorry. Didn’t want to disturb Em. Talk to me, Huddy.” “I, ah, kissed Madeline at midnight and⁠—” “Whoa. What? You did?” “Yeah. Except… she ran away from me?” I pinch the bridge of my nose and sit on my bed. I make sure to keep my voice low. The walls are thin, and I don’t want Madeline to overhear me. “I kissed her, and she ran away from me.”

“She’s… she’s become my favorite person in the world, and I’m confused because I don’t do stuff like this.”

“Wow.” Maverick chuckles. “You’re down bad, aren’t you?” “Yeah.” I put a pillow over my face and groan. “I might be.”

And I haven’t stopped thinking about it. I close my eyes, and I see him. I take a shower, and I feel his hands on my body.

Hudson spins his hat backward and

His hip bumps mine. “Don’t hide from me anymore, okay? I want to see you.”

I yawn and close my eyes, heading to the brink of unconsciousness myself until the sound of a low buzz fills my room. I prop myself up on an elbow and glance around.

I should be ashamed. I should go to church on Sunday and repent for my transgressions. But I don’t want to.

“Fuck me, I guess,” Liam grunts. “It’s like I’m not even here.”

pictured the toy as his fingers as I circled my clit, and when I fell apart on the silicone—over the span of three separate orgasms—it was a feat not to yell out his name. Watching him stretch is giving me a new visual: us on a bed. Him holding himself above me as he slowly rocks his hips, burying himself inside me. The hint of a smirk

Home.

“Go on, Golden Girl.” “Golden Girl?” “Yeah.” He gestures around the kitchen, not blinking at the catastrophe surrounding us. “You’re the brightest thing in this room. The brightest thing in every room.”

Her lips pull up into a grin. She lifts her chin, a dare there, before she says, “Fuck it,” and crashes her mouth against mine.

“In the kitchen?” Emmy asks. “My god. I knew that boy had game. It’s always the quiet ones.”

I present to you the honor of being the best dick of my life.”

“Goddammit.” Piper groans. “Is there ever a moment when you’re not so freaking charming and sweet?”

“Yeah. Better than any of the other women in the arena. You’re the only one I want wearing it.”

Did you show him the pictures we took with Gus and Millie today? she asks, and I’m quick to pull my phone from my pocket. I scroll through the photos I snapped of her with the dogs earlier in the afternoon, the ones of the three of them looking at the camera while wearing matching HAYES jerseys, and I hold it up to the glass so Hudson can see.

“I’ve got my girls in the crowd wearing my jersey, Galloway.”

They can look at her all they want, but she’s coming home with me.

“Weren’t you saying this should be easy since girls can do it?” “Father Lord, I repent for my sins.” Grant closes his eyes and clasps his palms together. “I vow to never make a joke like that again if you can take away the pain.”

“You have some strong legs,” I point out. “Maybe I can put them around your head when we get home,” she tosses back nonchalantly, and I blush.

“Because I spent an hour staring at your ass.” I curl my fingers in the waistband of her leggings, shoving them down her thighs. “And you have a mighty fine ass.”

What if I want it to be messy?” “Then make a mess of me, Maddie,” he says with a low voice from the depths of his chest. “Please.”

“Brussels sprouts? Dammit.” “You don’t like brussels sprouts?” “No. The last two times you put them on my plate, I’ve hidden them under a scoop of mashed potatoes to make you think I ate them.” “Oh my god.” I sit up and look down at him. He’s grinning at me, a lazy, unhurried beam that hits behind my ribs. “You sneaky little asshole. Why didn’t you tell me?” “Because you and Lucy like them. I fake it so you can still eat them.” “We can have them when you’re not here, knucklehead.” I grab a pillow and hit him on the side of the head. “My job is to make sure you’re eating a balanced meal, and I can’t do that when you’re hiding your vegetables from me like a child, Hudson Hayes.”

“Listen to me, Madeline. If anyone ever says some shit like that to you again, I want you to come find me so I can give them a piece of my mind, okay? And if any of the players say it? I will have their asses shipped out to Alaska real fucking quick.” Madeline chews on her bottom lip. She wrings her hands together, almost unsteady on her feet. “You mean that, don’t you?” “Of course I mean it. I’d go to war for your daughter. For you, too.”

“Because y’all are mine.” I tuck a loose piece of hair behind her ear. “And I protect what’s mine.”

“Okay.” He nods, his mouth moving to my throat. “I accept the changes, but only if you accept I’m going to take care of you and Lucy financially. That includes buying you whatever you need, whatever you want, whenever you need it.”