“Huh,” I say, playing dumb. I take a drink of my beer and watch her with twinkling eyes.

“Yeah,” she says knowingly. “Said it was a great offer too.”

“I suppose,” I tell her grudgingly.

“And that you turned it down,” she adds, then watches me like a hawk for my reaction.

“You got me,” I say with a grin. “I turned it down.”

“What the fuck, Roman?” she almost hisses at me, then leans a little over the counter. “It was a lucrative deal. More money than we could pay you here.”

I shrug. “Wasn’t interested.”

“You know Lexi would move if you went with another team,” she says softly. “She’d never let you leave her behind.”

“I know. But I wouldn’t want her to leave her family…not when she just found them.”

Gray nods at me, her face so soft and admiring. “That’s what I thought.”

I take another slug of beer and don’t respond. There’s nothing more than needs to be said. I love Lexi. She loves her family. And okay…I sort of love them too, but most important, I want Lexi to be near them. She’s waited so long for this, I couldn’t deny her now. Doesn’t mean I won’t get traded in the future, and she would go with me, I’m sure.

But for now, we need to be here.

“You’re a really great guy,” Gray says to me. “My sister is lucky to have you.”

“I’m the lucky one,” I tell her candidly.

“Lucky about what?” Lexi says as she walks into the kitchen. She comes to stand beside Gray and casually drapes an arm around her sister’s shoulder.

I push Lexi’s beer across the counter to her and answer, “Lucky to have me. I think your sister kind of likes me.”

Gray snorts and wrinkles her nose. “You’re an egotistical jackass.”

“Better than an uptight windbag,” I throw back at her.

“Cheers,” Lexi says as she holds her bottle out to me, and we tap the necks. “That was a good one.”

“I’ve been saving them up,” I say with a wicked grin leveled at Gray, who snickers as she looks down at her watch.

“Speaking of trades,” Gray says all businesslike again as she pulls away from Lexi. “I’ve got a call in about an hour. Looks like we’re going to iron out the Luc Fournier deal.”

“Awesome,” Lexi says, holding up her palm for Gray to give it a high five. “He’ll bring some incredible depth to the team.”

I have to smile in a sweetly proud way at my girl. She’s delving deeper than ever into the Brannon hockey dynasty and she knows more about the team players and stats along with depth charts, plus/minus ratings, and even how Gray’s statistical models work. I’m thinking she might be a genius herself, but for now, she’s really enjoying learning the business.

And Luc Fournier will be an amazing addition. He’s our goalie Max Fournier’s little brother and I’ve met him once…cool dude. Look forward to getting to know him a little better once he joins our team.

“Okay, kiddos,” Gray says jovially. “I’m going to go herd my crew up so we can get home before my call. I’ll need to jump on my computer beforehand.”

“We’re going to head out too,” Lexi says as Gray walks toward the living room. “Be there in a minute.”

When Gray is gone, Lexi turns to me and her eyes are serious. “You got an offer from another team?”

I wince, because I didn’t think she’d heard that. “It wasn’t that great of an offer.”

She glares at me. “I heard Gray say it was lucrative.”

I walk around the counter toward Lexi as I mutter, “You have ears like a bat.”

“Roman,” she says with slight annoyance as I wrap my arms around her waist. “You cannot make decisions about your career based on me.”

I cock at eyebrow at her and wait for her to come to the conclusion on her own.

“You can’t,” she maintains.

I keep my eyebrow cocked.

“You shouldn’t,” she insists. “It’s not good business.”

“You’re good business,” I tell her as I lean my face toward hers. “You’re the best business I have, so my decisions will always take that into account.”

“But you’re turning down money—”

“To be with you, and keep you here and happy, which makes me happy,” I tell her gently. “And that is the best kind of business decision to make.”

Lexi’s eyes get soft and misty as she whispers, “I think my ovaries just exploded.”

“Sounds like a dire situation,” I whisper back. “Think we should go back to my house and take care of that?”

“I think that would be good.”

I kiss her again, because I can and it feels good. When I pull away, I put my palms to her face and hold her still. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she says sweetly before we head into the living room to make our goodbyes to the family.

To Shawn,

my biggest champion from the very start…

BY SAWYER BENNETT

The Cold Fury Hockey Series

Alex

Garrett

Zack

Ryker

Hawke

Max

Roman

Lucas (coming soon)

The Sugar Bowl Series

Sugar Daddy

Sugar Rush

Sugar Free

The Wicked Horse Series

Wicked Fall

Wicked Lust

Wicked Need

Wicked Ride

Wicked Bond

The Off Series

Off Sides

Off Limits

Off the Record

Off Course

Off Chance

Off Season

Off Duty

The Last Call Series

On the Rocks

Make It a Double

Sugar on the Edge

With a Twist

Shaken Not Stirred

The Legal Affairs Series

Legal Affairs

Confessions of a Litigation God

Friction

Clash

Grind