Traded (Nashville Grizzlies, #1)

by Carly Marie

Seth was holding two bears in one arm and a box from the fill-your-own teddy bear store in the other, leaving his boyfriend to heft both of their practice bags. “You must be Brax?” Seth tried to hold out a hand but struggled with everything he was holding. “Sorry, well, this is for you anyway.” He thrust the box into my hand and kept his hand out. “Nice to meet you.” In less than two minutes’ time, I’d met three players and could already tell the team was closer than Boston had ever been. Hell, they were closer than Boston’s farm team had been. These guys were open and friendly and I immediately felt at ease around them. “Hi. Nice to meet you.” Yuri pointed to the bear in my hand. “Name quickly.” Seth and Trevor both broke out into cackles and Mazdon smirked but took pity on me and filled me in. “Yuri didn’t name his bear, so they took it upon themselves to name it Puck Bunny. Well, Puck Bunny got lost on a bus one time. The story is told—repeatedly—that the entire building thought he’d lost a girl, not a bear, because he kept going around muttering that he’d lost his Puck Bunny and asking if anyone had seen it.” Imagining Yuri, with his thick accent, asking if someone had seen his Puck Bunny was enough to have me laughing as well. Mazdon was still grinning as he nodded. “Yeah. Pretty much. I’m Mazdon, by the way, but everyone calls me Maz. Well, everyone aside from Seth. I’d shake your hand but…” He trailed off as he lifted the bags he was carrying. “Nice to meet you.”