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This is Doctor Teddy O’Connor. We call him Teddy of the Golden Hands, because he’s fucking magical. He gives the best damn leg massages I’ve ever had.” Langley and a few of the other older guys laugh. “I’m gonna tell Morrow you said that,” Langley teases. Novy shows no fear. “Go ahead. Hell, I’ll tell him myself. I’ll text him right now. That’ll make my fucking night.” He pulls out his phone, and my eyes go wide. Fuck me, I am not getting in the middle of those two again. Back when Morrow was a player, he got a little territorial over how much Novy liked my massages. Ever seen a jaguar hunt a
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“I told you’d I’d give you a leg massage,” I go on. “It’s my first day back, and I’m willing to be a team player. What I won’t do is go and get myself punched in the head by your jealous partner because you can’t control your smart mouth. Now, am I finishing this leg in silence? Or are you limping your old ass to the showers on those rusty, crusty joints you call knees?”
“Mitt lilla lamm, inga fler tårar. Jag är här nu.” She sobs, clinging to him. “Jag är ledsen,” he cries, brushing back her hair. “Lilla lamm, jag är så ledsen.”
“Your secret’s out, Karlsson. You’re a total magpie, and I love it.”
I’ve officially gone crazy. That’s what you call it when you agree to fake marry your colleague just so he can win temporary custody of his injured niece and drag her from her home country, thereby forcing her to experience the horror that is the rectangle pizza in an American public school cafeteria . . . right? We call that crazy?
Yeah, that party really hurt my cred. I dressed up as Merlin from The Sword in the Stone, got sloppy drunk, and woke up the next morning in Sully’s backyard dressed as an astronaut with his damn dog licking my face.
“Fuck, seriously? You want me to just say it right here in front of Swedish C-3PO?”
Henrik, maybe add in something about Teddy being a little too young for you. Maybe a bit too immature.” Okay, ouch. Also, accurate.
no one fucking cheats on me. Especially not my fake husband.
Black and queer in hockey? Just consider us a couple of trailblazers.
“You men, I swear. Never in my thirty years in the League have I dealt with so many personal revelations on one team. I mean, how does this even happen? How are you all gay?” Next to me, Novy snorts. But Jake sits forward in his chair. “Well, not to be too pedantic here, sir, but Caleb is actually queer, and I’m bi. I’m pretty sure Novy is straight, plus Morrow. And Mars is just . . . well, Mars,” he finishes with a shrug. “And retired,” Caleb adds. “And I’ve been told I have major bi-wife energy,” says Langley, sitting in the only other chair. “Also, my wife is bi . . . if that becomes
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Henrik Karlsson is as gay as the day is long. I always knew he and Teddy would get together.’” “Oh, hey.” Novy perks up, raising his hand. “Coach, that’s mine. I wrote that one.” From the corner of the room, Caleb smirks. “Gay as the day is long? Seriously?” Novy chuckles. “What did you write, asshole? Some emo song lyrics?”
“Langley, yours is five pages long. Front and back.” Langley shrugs, going a little pink at the ears. “I felt passionately about it.” “It’s in legalese, Langley! It cites three federal statutes and a ruling from the Supreme Court of Florida.” “All good arguments should be backed up with facts, right?” Coach shakes the papers at him. “There are footnotes!”
It’s like part of me has been lost and looking for this man my whole life. With Henrik, I am found.
“Don’t look so mad,” he says through his fake smile. “You’re supposed to be in love with me, remember?” “I’m Swedish. This is just my face. I look this way when I’m happy too.”
“How will I know if I can give you everything you want, if you won’t let me try?”
“Hen, this has never once been about me feeling uncomfortable around you. You keep using that word. That’s not it at all. Or if it is a feeling of discomfort, it’s rooted in me being completely, irrationally, and irrevocably in love with you.”
“From the moment we met out on that sidewalk six years ago, you crashed into my life, and into my heart, and literally swept me off my fucking feet. I looked up at you and felt like I’d just found the one. It’s crazy, I admit that. But that’s who I am.”
“We can’t go backwards,” I repeat. “Whatever hand of fate led us here, we are here. We’re in this moment. We’re married, sharing custody of a child . . . and you’re in love with me. If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to see if I could learn to love you too.”
“I know you’re scared. You have every reason to doubt me, to want to protect your heart. I’m asking you to give me a chance.”
I don’t care that everyone else thinks we’re crazy. No one can tell me this is a lie. Standing here, holding him, feeling him in my arms? Nothing about Teddy O’Connor is a lie. Even when he can’t say what he means, he shows you in action. All you have to do is pay attention.
“Du är min man,” he growls. Then he’s kissing me.
Oh fuck, what did we just do? I glance over my shoulder to see everyone in the PT suite staring at us. Yeah, I definitely just climbed onto my half-naked husband’s lap and rode his thigh while he choked me with his tongue. In front of a live audience. That just happened. That was our first kiss.
“I’ll not share you, Teddy. You are my husband, or you’re nothing.”
“Say you’re mine too. Maybe with another, I could have shared. But not you, Henrik. Never you. You’re mine, or you’re nothing.”
“Whatever else I am, I’m yours.”
“Keep your money, mitt hjärta. I am not afraid of your ire. Besides, a print of jeune homme triste dans un train would look wonderful next to Karolina’s retrospective on rainbow unicorns.” He leaves me there, clicking off one of the lamps as he walks away. Did that gorgeous professional hockey player just weave English, French, and Swedish into a clever comeback about Dadaism? Well, if I wasn’t already in love with my not-so-fake husband, I am now.
Okay, fine. We’re a little late, and it’s all my fault. And, yes, I know how much Henrik hates being late. Like, hate hates it. But he’s married to me now, so he’ll have to just deal with it.
“What happened for you to change?” The corner of his mouth tips with a smile. “Rachel. Then Jake. Eventually Caleb. Now the children we share. I am forever changed by the people in my life who made changing feel not only possible, but desirable.”
Jake is the beating heart of our family. I knew I needed him in my life long before he ever knew he needed me. I would follow him to the ends of this earth.
“Your marriage. The rumor is that it’s fake . . . as much as I’m privy to team rumors, retired as I am.” I scoff, dragging a hand through my hair. “You’re married to the head of PT, the head of equipment management, and the team captain. And you’ve been the President of the WAGs for four years. I doubt there’s a person alive who hears more Rays gossip than you.”
Another step has me backing away from him. “In my official capacity as President of the WAGs, if I know you intend to break his heart, I’m required by my oath of office to kick your ass.” “No—” My hip hits the sink and I raise both hands in surrender. “Fuck—Mars, stop.” “We can take this outside right now.” He points over his shoulder towards the door. “Caleb will hold your arms for me—” “No,” I all but shout. He holds his glare for another long moment before finally nodding. “Good. Then go back out there and salvage the rest of this miserable evening.”
Novy takes his shot. “Celebrating what? Don’t get me wrong, I’m always down for shots. Just tell me why. Is it Arbor Day or something?”
in that darkness,” Henrik goes on, “Teddy was the light. He guided me back to life, back to living. The rings we wear became a tether. So long as I have him, I can keep fighting.”
This is for Teddy O’Connor, my husband, min kärlek, mitt allt . . . and the best-looking man in any room!”
“Helan går, Sjung hopp faderallan lallan lej Helan går, Sjung hopp faderallan lej.” Then comes the tongue twister that has us all gasping for breath: “Och den som inte helan tar, Han heller inte halvan får. Helan gååååår!!!!”
this last week has taught me to hope like I’ve never really hoped before. And that’s saying a lot, because I’m a delusional double Pisces.
Now, I love that man more than my own life, but he’s not great in a crisis. If he has things his way, he’ll storm into that hospital, parking his truck in the dang lobby. He is not to be given those keys, do you hear me? You’re the only one on staff I can trust not to give in to his demands.”
If a broken nose encourages him to play fair, I’ll break his nose every day of the week.
“What do you need from me?” “Help! Hold him back if he tries to hit me. Or, you know, get between us and take the hit for me.” My fingers pause on my middle button. “You want me to fight Novy because his partner is in labor?” “God—no—I want you to stop him from fighting me.”
you should know that most wedding vows come with a ‘for better or worse’ clause. Well, this is the ‘for worse’ part.” He shakes the keys at me. “You can protect your teammates out on the ice all you want. Off it, you have to protect me.”
“Novy is a grown man,” I say with a shrug. “Surely he’ll see reason.” “He’s Lukas Novikov! Did you see him out there? You punched a man once, Henrik.” He holds up a single finger to emphasize his point. “Novy tackled a man to the ice, straddled him, and wailed on him for a full sixty seconds before three grown men had to pull him off. If he’ll do that to protect a teammate, what do you think he’ll do to get to Poppy St. James?”
I smile as he hurries away. If I weren’t already married to Teddy, this outburst would definitely convince me to give it a try.
“Touch my husband again, and your keys will take up new residence in your colon.”
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.”
“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 . . .”
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.”
This feels like a timeless moment. You get so few of them in life. Moments when every part of you is set to record. It’s not just something you see with your eyes or feel with your hands. Your soul takes a picture too.
“Du är min nu,” I say with a smile. “Du betyder allt för mig.”
“Keep looking at me like that, and I’m gonna have an eyegasm.” “A what?” “You know, it’s like an orgasm, but I’m getting off because your eyes are on me.”
