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“I won a fair number of those.”

“Really?” He raised a red eyebrow in surprise. “That’s not how I remember it.”

“You want to try it right now?” I was setting myself up to fail. I was already loopy from seeing this man. The pressure in my cup was proof of that.

“You’re on.” He must have put his skates on in the locker room or lobby, because he immediately hopped over the boards. We skated towards Trevor, who was taking shots on the far side of the rink.

“Trev,” I called out, “let Alex borrow your gloves and come drop a puck for us.” He grabbed one off the ice and skated up to us at the center dot. “Trevor, this is Alex Goodman. He played for County.”

“Nice to meet you.” Trevor gave Alex a fist bump before handing over his gloves. “So, um, what exactly are you guys doing?”

“Proving to your brother that I can still beat him in a face- off,” Alex said.

“Ahhh. Best two out of three then, just to make it fair,” Trevor said.

“I’m game for that.” I took position on one side of the dot. Stick on the ice, hunched over, ready to strike.

“Sounds good.” Alex got into a similar position as soon as he was gloved up.

“This is just the face off, so whoever gets the puck off the dot wins,” Trevor said. “You two stay where you are after that and I’ll reset.”

Trevor held the puck over the dot. I kept my eyes on his hand, and away from Alex’s gaze. I felt Alex looking at me, but I had eyes only for the puck. Trevor’s hand twitched and then he opened it to drop the puck.

As it fell, I put my stick under Alex’s and lifted it off the ice. The puck landed flat and I swept my stick back, sending the puck behind me. “One down, one to go,” I said.

“I figure I had to give you one.” Alex’s eyes sparkled, which seemed impossible under the harsh rink lights.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

I sounded calm and cool, but the butterflies were going. I’d focused so much on work since I’d graduated in the spring that I hadn’t really dated. I hadn’t even had a good hookup, so I was horny as hell. Alex brought it all to the surface. If Trevor wasn’t here, I’d probably tackle Alex and hope he wouldn’t try to beat the crap out of me for making that kind of play.

We set up again over the dot. Both anticipating, sticks banging against each other in the hopes of being in the right place when Trevor made the drop.

“It’s mine this time.” Alex spoke just above a whisper—a damn sexy whisper. I wanted to hear him say more in that voice.

I reacted too slow when the puck dropped a second later. I was too caught up wondering what my name would sound like if he said it with that husky, low whisper. Alex easily won, knocking the puck to the side.

“Told ya,” he said as we stood up.

“Okay, guys, third one decides it.” Trevor looked to me. “Come on, Mitchell, family honor at stake here.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I returned to the face off position and focused, or at least as much as I could.

Alex and I got into a staring contest waiting for the puck.

He had a relaxed smile, but an intense eye lock. What was going on in there? I didn’t remember the smile from our high school days; back then he was serious and stern. I held the gaze, but when the puck dropped I was ready. I scooped it away with the backside of my stick and skated backwards, carrying it away from the dot.

Alex took off after me and we ended up in a speedier version of the keep away game Trevor and I had played earlier. I dodged to my right to open up space and sprint away, but Alex anticipated the move and I ended up plowing right into him. He was ready for the impact, staying upright, while I bounced off his chest and crashed to the ice.

He took off his glove to help me up. “Sorry about that. I figured you’d stop, not slam into me.”

“No worries.”

No worries at all. Hell, that was awesome. Alex was as rock solid as he looked. I’d love to run into that again, except next time I’d hold on instead of bounce off. I accepted his hand to stand up and then wiped the ice off my sweatpants.

“Congrats on that nice move to win.”

“Thanks.”