Page 14 of Knocked Sideways

“Nah, it’s cool.” McBride glanced up briefly and flashed a smile before focusing on his phone again. “My cousin was crashing with us, but he’s going home today. So we’re used to having a full house, you know?”

“Okay, then. Thanks. Are you guys going to be around tonight? I need to go pack up, and then I can get a car to your place.”

“Yeah, I’m going to grab some food and then hang out at home,” Petey said. “I’ll text you the address. Come over whenever.”

“Thanks again, Petey.”

Remy was suddenly aware of someone sitting down on the bench next to him. Of Jed sitting down next to him. No big deal, even if Remy felt ridiculously self-conscious as he turned away from Petey. If he put his mind to it, he was totally capable of more or less ignoring Jed except for maybe giving him a casual “Hey.”

Totally capable. But.

Jed was sitting on the bench in nothing but a towel.

Which, again, no big deal.

This was a locker room. Lots of guys were in towels.

It didn’t affect Remy at all.

He certainly wasn’t noticing the thick sprinkling of blond hair on Jed’s chest or the beads of water on his broad shoulders.

With all that not-noticing, Remy completely failed to give Jed any kind of greeting at all.

“Nice practice today,” Jed said finally, once Remy managed to meet his eyes.

“Thanks.” Remy tried to channel Petey’s chill vibe and failed, because his voice came out higher-pitched than usual.

Jed didn’t give any indication that he noticed Remy’s reaction to him. He kept talking like it was a normal chat between two regular teammates, one of whom definitely wasn’t checking the other out.

“I’m going to grab some food nearby. Want to join me?”

Well, damn. How was Remy supposed to be chill about that?

“Hal likes the defensive players to get to know each other,” Jed continued, maybe thinking that Remy needed the invitation explained.

“Right, yeah, makes sense.” Obviously, the invitation was about the team. Unfortunately, that didn’t change how not-ready Remy was for this. Once the words started, they didn’t stop. “Sure, sounds great. I’m hungry. So yeah, food is good.”

And now Jed was looking amused. It was actually hard to tell because his expression never changed much, so Remy couldn’t be completely sure. But Jed should be looking amused, because of course Remy had used about four times as many words as he needed, which was the exact opposite of chill.

Still. It wasn’t every day your former idol—not obsession, whatever Lily might claim—asked you out for a meal. Remy was allowed to be a little bit non-chill about this.

“Okay, give me a minute to dress. We can take my car, unless you have one?” Jed asked.

“Uh, no. Not yet. No car—I’m staying across the street at that hotel. I mean, I was, but I’m going to move in with Petey later. After we get food. Obviously.”

Remy couldn’t believe himself. Lily would be doubled over laughing at him if she could see this. He was glad that Petey and McBride were already gone and hadn’t heard his word vomit.

“I’m just going to grab a drink in the lounge. I’m ready whenever you want to leave . . .”

Remy trailed off, unable to look directly at Jed for more than a moment and truly afraid of what might happen to him when Jed dropped the towel to finish getting dressed. He was pretty sure he would need, like, a full meditation session to calm himself down enough to be unmoved by that sight.

Jed was far from being the most ripped guy on the team. He didn’t need to be. But there was something about him that short-circuited Remy’s brain, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

It’s that he’s huge, Remy’s brain supplied helpfully. He could wrap you up completely.

“I’ll see you in a few,” Jed said, like he was giving Remy a hint. Remy grabbed his bag and left the room as quickly as possible, cheeks burning.

Fifteen minutes later, Remy was sitting on a chair in the lounge, trying to breathe deeply so that he could finally have an interaction with Jed that said, “I’m just a regular guy playing professional hockey.”