Page 19 of Game Misconduct

Tanner smiled too. Not only were they good friends, Tanner was, like … ninety-nine-percent sure they’d fucked at some point too. Talk about a hot sandwich to be in the middle of.Goddamn.

La Bouche was a big red-haired Viking-looking dude. Rumor was, he had a pierced dick. Also, Tanner knew he chirped a lot and that was why they called him “The Mouth” but he’d always wondered if maybe there was another reason …

Gabriel was smaller, slimmer and shorter, but his wavy nearly black hair brushed his chin and he had gorgeous dark eyes and this … deepmysteriousenergy to him.

Tanner was totally into it. But they were both happily married to other people now. Ugh. Boring.So fucking boring.Why did everyone have to settle down?

And how could he and Leif be the only single guys here? This wasdistressing.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Hey, do you want to get married?” Tanner asked Leif a few minutes later, apropos of absolutely nothing.

Confused and horrified, Leif choked on his drink, spraying it across the table.

Zane’s eyebrow flicked up but he merely handed over a napkin to Leif, then dabbed at his tailored quarter zip burgundy sweater.

Leif winced. What a fantastic way to make an impression on one of the top queer executives in the league.Great job, Rasmussen, he chastised himself. Of course it was Tanner who had fucked it up for him.

It wasalwaysTanner causing problems for him. Every single time.

“I’m sorry.What?” Leif asked hoarsely, turning to look at Tanner. “No, why on earth would I want to marry you? I don’t like you. I never have.”

“Notme,” Tanner said with a laugh, brushing his curly hair off his forehead. “Oh my Godno. I don’t want to marry you either. I don’t want to marryanyone. I was just curious if you were into the idea in general.”

“You want to know if I plan to get married to someone I love someday?” Leif asked, wanting to be sure he’d gotten it right this time.

“Yeah, that.”

“Yes.” Leif took another sip of his spritzer, needing the fortification.

He hadn’t planned to drink alcohol at all tonight, but Ryan Hartinger had offered and well, it would have been rude to turn him down.

His drink of choice wasn’t very high in alcohol and right now, he was starting to deeply regret that.

“You do?” Tanner sounded surprised. “Huh.”

“Yes. How many times do I have to say it, Clayton? Someday, I want to fall in love and marry. For now, I’m worried about hockey. You should do the same.”

“I do worry about hockey!” Tanner protested. “But I play better when I’m getting laid on the regular.”

“Likely excuse.” Leif scoffed at the idea.Ridiculous.Everyone knew abstaining before a game led to better performance. Tanner probably hadn’t read any of the research on it. Hell, he wondered if Tanner could even read.

“No, it’s totally true!” Tanner protested. “It helps me focus or whatever.”

Leif frowned. “Do you have ADHD or something?”

Because now that Leif thought about it, it would certainly explaina lotabout him. Like why he’d spent all evening jiggling his foot under the table and bumping into Leif’s leg.

Leif wanted to shift away from him but then he’d be in Ryan Hartinger’s personal space and that just seemed rude.

Besides, Ryan Hartinger was not a small man and hesprawled. If it wouldn’t be totally inappropriate to think about with his husband sitting across the table from them, Leif might enjoy it, but as it was, it just crammed him closer to Tanner for no good reason and made the entire situation extremely awkward and uncomfortable.

Tanner shook his head. “Nope. I’ve been asked that before but I’m just … like this. You should haveseenme as a little kid. I was bouncing off the fucking walls. It’s why my mom put me in hockey to begin with. She hoped it would tire me out.”

“Clearly it didn’t work,” Leif said drily.

“Nah, you should see me when I’m not playing,” Tanner said with a laugh. “I’m so much worse.”