Page 2 of Ice Devil

“Yes!”

“Fucking perfection!”

As occurred with every win, the entire team went wild, acting like five-year-olds jumping all over each other. Hey, there was nothing wrong with letting our inner children go, especially since there was so damn much testosterone on the ice.

And it never got old.

“Dis be the man of the hour!” Doc ‘the Doctor’ Wallens roared as he pumped his chest. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was puffed up and celebrating my brother’s come from behind goals, one after another.

Ford held a grin that could light up the entire stadium, accepting the thanks while his gaze searched the crowd.

“Nah,” he said as he pushed Cujo out of the way, the huge left wing moving on to giving high fives to another player. “This is the man of the hour.” His voice boomed above the cheers, his arm raised and his finger pointed down as if from the heavens above.

To me. His younger brother.

“Yeah, man. The Devil came out to play in Phoenix,” Trip ‘the Brute’ Jones shouted, deciding for some reason howling like a wolf would provide any moments of endearment.

The dude was even off key, which prompted me to chuckle as I sexy-skated, as my sister Samantha had coined my after-every-win skating habits, toward him.

Ford kept his arm held high and I lifted mine, grabbing his palm as soon as we closed the distance. “You did fucking great, man,” he said so only I could hear while pulling me into a bear hug. I’d never thought we’d play on the same team, yet here we were, both rookies in the NHL on a brand-new team that held a lot of promise.

Maybe we were a little jaded, but we’d knocked the socks off the team’s owner.

“You were fucking incredible.” Ford backed away, pointing a finger at me. “Don’t let that go to your head.”

“That’s Georgia’s line. I think that fiancée of yours is rubbing off on you.”

As soon as I mentioned the woman who’d managed to tame his wild ass down, the man beamed as if the world was full of sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns. His proposal over Valentine’s Day had been over the top. How did I know? Because the entire family had been forced to watch the video of the proposal and be subjected to the photo display for over an hour.

No more family get-togethers for me.

He laughed and together, we took our victory lap. “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you have a human mate.”

“Why does it seem like her being human bothers you?”

“Maybe because we’ve started talking about having a family.”

“Why don’t you get married first, brother,” I tossed out at him. “And get through the first season in the big leagues. Unless you no longer want that million-plus-dollar account, in which case I’ll take it.”

He turned the opposite way, skating backwards while doing one of his signature dances that had all the puck bunnies going wild.

Including now.

He didn’t mind one little bit flirting with them, taking bows and even winking at a few who had their faces pressed up against the plexiglass partitions.

“You better watch out, big brother,” I told him. “Georgia might not have sharp canines, but she does have claws.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, why don’t you come down to the hotel bar tonight?”

“Wifie let you off your leash?” I teased.

To which my brother clandestinely offered his middle finger. “Something like that.”

“We’ll see.”

He waved me off. I wasn’t interested in dealing with a bar full of puck bunnies or dudes determined to become hockey stars at forty plus years old.

Tonight, every muscle ached. I longed for the very few muscular therapy sessions Georgia had provided before being engrossed in her classes at medical school. She had the magic touch; the one hired by Coach Griffen was every player’s nightmare.