Unrivaled (Hockey Ever After #3)

by Ashlyn Kane

“Max is always fun to play against.” Even if that wasn’t what Grady looked forward to most.

“Okay, wait, wait, wait.” Farouk sat down on his other side. “Am I jumping to the right conclusions here? Your special friend you sent a shirtless selfie to the other day is your archrival?” “Oh my God.” Grady lifted his head. “I’m not a supervillain.”

Looks like im gonna miss that date in april. reschedule?

But Max didn’t have time to be sad about it because, when he entered the lobby, he found not his chauffeur from last night, but Dante Baltierra in a T-shirt, board shorts, and sandals. Well, one sandal. The other foot was in a walking boot. Max blinked at him. “It’s sixty degrees outside.” “In February!” Baltierra agreed.

“Oh, yeah, that reminds me,” said Baltierra from the front seat. “You can use my nickname around the team, but try not to around the kid. It gets awkward when strangers think she’s talking about my testicles.” “Tetticles!” Reyna agreed loudly.

“Fresh Fish!” he bellowed to the locker room. “Beware the Fish!” the rest of the team yelled back, stomping their feet. Oh God, Max had joined a cult.

But when he got out of the shower, Baller was waiting for him, his booted foot propped up on the locker room bench next to him. He had a battered romance novel in one hand and appeared deeply engrossed.

Grady ignored it. His heart thudded in his chest. “Hi,” he said stupidly. Max said, “I love you too.”

Of course that was when Grady’s words came back. “I love you.” He spoke the words between kisses, against Max’s mouth.

He was eye level with Grady’s tattoo, dancing his fingertips over the ink. Despite the fact that it was obviously a joke, it was beautiful. Max was going to leave a hickey on it next time. “But first—did you deliberately get this on this hip so it would line up with Larry when we fuck doggy style?” “I can neither confirm nor deny,” Grady rumbled, which meant he absolutely had.