Puck Pact: A Marriage of Convenience Hockey Romance (East Coast Series)

“All right, birthday boy. Here’s your present.”

Aarya struts out of the bathroom and drops her towel. “I hope you’re ready because I’m about to rock your world.” Her feet falter halfway to the bed. “You’re not naked. You’re supposed to be naked. Why aren’t you naked?”

“Sorry.” I chuckle, holding up the letter in my hand. “I got momentarily distracted by this. But now that you’re in here looking like that, I’m distracted by something else entirely.”

She snatches her towel off the carpet and wraps it around her body. “What’s that?”

I hand her the letter from my grandfather’s lawyer as she lowers herself to the mattress beside me. “He’s dead.”

“Lorenzo?” She gasps as her eyes fly across the paper. “So, the villa…?”

“It’s mine.”

Aarya jumps to her feet and pumps her fist in the air. “Fuck, yeah! Take that, motherfucker. He’s dead and the villa is yours! Justice is served.”

I toss my head back and laugh at her reaction, mainly because she dropped her towel and is metaphorically dancing on someone’s grave while butt-ass naked.

Aarya covers herself with the towel again. “Damn, I can’t compete with that kind of gift. This is one smokin’ hot bod, but it’s hard to top a dead evil grandfather and a villa in Italy.”

I tug the towel until she’s standing between my legs at the foot of the bed. “This smokin’ hot bod blows everything else out of the water.”

I almost feel an odd sense of gratitude to the dead bastard. If it weren’t for him, I’d never have ended up where I am today, completely in love with this gorgeous woman—someone who stands beside me and holds my hand throughout life’s ups and downs; someone my daughter can look up to; someone who makes my soul feel whole and at peace.

We’d never be married or living together if it weren’t for Lorenzo.

But then a thought crosses my mind, sobering me immediately as the smile drops from my face. “So, uh… I guess we should talk about things now.”

Aarya tilts her head. “What do you mean?”

“Now that my grandfather is out of the picture and the villa is mine, we don’t exactly have to stay married.” I clear my throat, my eyes dropping to my hands in my lap. “You know, if you don’t want to. We don’t have to pretend⁠—”

Aarya leans down and cuts me off with a kiss. “You want a divorce, Big Man?”

I shake my head. “No.”

She drops her towel and tosses the letter somewhere behind her. “You sure about that?”

“Positive.”

“Good.” She climbs on top of me, straddling me as she pushes me onto my back. “Because I don’t want a divorce either.”

My hands fly up to her hips, gripping her tight. “Are you sure? I know we did things a little backwards.”

“Do I look like someone who is unsure of what she wants?”

“No.” Not my spitfire.

She reaches down between us and palms me over my sweatpants. “Maybe you just need some convincing then…?”

My lips curve into a smirk. “Now that you mention it, I’m not feeling too convinced.”

She hums in response, lowering her lips to my nipple ring and sucking on the sensitive skin there. “Then let me make myself crystal-clear.” Using her tongue, she toys with the metal barbel. “You are my husband.” Her hand slips underneath the waistband of my pants, and she pulls out my dick, giving it a few firm pumps. “We took vows. In sickness and in health.” She glides her slick pussy over my length, coating me in her arousal. “In good times and bad.” The head of my cock notches at her entrance, teasing us both. “Until death do us part.” She stills and her eyes lift to mine. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

My hips jut up to hers, and I cup her beautiful face in my hands. “Me neither, baby.”

Then she sinks down onto me, burying my cock inside of her, and we both cry out in relief. She pulls back and sits up, riding me like the goddess she is. I can’t take my eyes off of her. The sway of her tits, her mesmerizing eyes, the curve of her hips, the way her pussy swallows me whole…I’m consumed by this woman. I’m at her mercy. She has me, now and forever.

She runs her fingers over my shoulders and down my chest, and that’s when her eyes land on my tattoo—the new addition to it.

Her mouth drops open. “What…when did you do this?”

“This morning.” I grin. “A small birthday gift to myself.”

I knew I wanted to get the tattoo as soon as I saw Giuliana’s family picture in the hospital. Adding Aarya’s stick figure, accompanied by the word MOMMY in Giuliana’s handwriting was a no-brainer for me. I needed to have our little family on my body forever.

Aarya traces around the raw skin with her index finger, her eyes wide with admiration. “You permanently tattooed me on your ribs, yet you asked if I wanted a divorce?”

I chuckle. “I had to ask to be sure this is what you wanted.”

“Always asking for consent, since the first day I met you.” She flashes me a smile. “And all I wanted was for you to fuck my brains out.”

I wrap my arms around her and roll us both over until she’s flipped onto her back beneath me. “Then you’d better hold on because I’m about to fuck my wife.”

“Fuck, yeah! Our captain is back.”

McKinley slaps my shoulder pads as we shuffle toward the locker room exit. “Man, it feels good to have you back.”

I grin. “It feels good to be back. I was going crazy sitting on the bench.”

The announcer begins calling each of us onto the ice while we wait our turns in the tunnel. Adrenaline courses through me, those familiar nerves buzzing just under my skin, pumping through my veins.

I love this game. It’s a delicate art, despite the physical toughness of the things we push our bodies to do, and there’s an unprecedented level of talent required to maneuver on sharp blades of steel. It’s constant, fast-paced action with the speed in which we fly across the ice, combined with the agility it takes to control a small puck into the back of a net. Not knocking any other sport, but I just don’t see how anything can compare to hockey.

It takes control. It takes precision.

It’s a lot like riding a motorcycle, ironically enough.

Furthermore, I love my team. We can’t play this game without each other, without assisting and giving one-hundred percent to each other. These people are my friends. My brothers. And I’m proud to lead them.

I glance up at the quote painted on the wall—Great moments are born from great opportunities, from the late Herb Brooks—and I tap it three times with my stick, as I do before every home game. Then I step up to the entrance, and the announcer’s voice booms over the speakers.

“And now, returning to the ice, let’s hear it for the captain of the Goldfinches—who’s celebrating his thirtieth birthday with all of us tonight—Alexander Krum!”

The cheers from the crowd shake the stadium as I glide across the ice. Lights flash, and people jump from their seats as they hold up their homemade signs welcoming me back after a terrifying injury. Their support means so much to me, yet there’s only three people in this crowd who are truly here for me and me alone.

I lock eyes with my curly-haired baby girl, standing on her seat holding up a foam finger that’s bigger than she is. She is my whole heart, my reason for living. She made me a father, and taught me the meaning of unconditional love.

Annie holds her steady from the seat beside her, beaming at me like a proud mother would. I got through some of the toughest times in my life because of that woman, and I am eternally grateful for her.

And then my gaze drifts to the spitfire next to them, donning my jersey and looking like the sexiest woman I have ever laid eyes on. From fake wife, to step-mom, to the love of my life, Aarya has engrained herself into the fabric of my soul. How we ended up here, I’ll never understand, yet at the same time, it feels like we were inevitable.

I’m one lucky bastard.

Looking back at the loss of my parents; Rachel’s betrayal; my conniving grandfather—it all feels like another lifetime. Everything is different now. Everything I’ve been through has led me to this moment, and there’s no other place I’d rather be than where I am right now.

We play a great game, and come away with another win. Annie takes Giuliana home, while Aarya and I head out to a bar with the rest of our friends to celebrate.

“To Krum Cake’s triumphant return!” Jason raises his shot glass in the air, and I clink my water bottle against it.

“Happy birthday, Big Man.” Aarya squeezes me with her arm around my waist.

I press my lips against her cheek, and then whisper, “How did you feel watching me play tonight?”

“I was nervous at first, but it went away by the second period.”

I tuck her hair behind her ear. “Thank you for being there, despite it being hard for you.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it. I’m proud of you for getting back out there.”

McKinley wedges himself between us and rests an elbow on each of our shoulders. “Look at you two. Head over heels in love.” He side-eyes Aarya. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time we were here, you were having a very serious conversation about love being bullshit.”

She rolls her eyes, a smirk curving her lips.

My eyebrows jump as I shove McKinley out of the way, and move to stand in front of her. “You think love is bullshit?”

“I didn’t say love is bullshit. I just don’t buy into all that romantic crap. No guy is going to do the things you read in a book.”

I cross my arms over my chest, recreating the conversation we once had in this very VIP room months ago. “Men can be romantic.”

She lifts her chin like a brat. “I’ve never met a man who has done any of those romantic things.”

“Then you haven’t been spending time with the right kind of men.”

Her smile slips free as the façade fades, and she lifts her hands to wrap around the back of my neck, stretching up onto her toes to reach my mouth. “I only want to spend my time with one specific man.”

My hands skate around to her lower back, pulling her flush against my body. “Lucky man.”

“He is.” She nips at my lower lip. “But I’m also a lucky woman.”

“That so?”

“Mhmm.” She presses her lips against mine. “You showed me what it feels like to be cared for.”

“I will always take care of you.” My grip tightens around her. “You will always feel loved, and appreciated, and safe with me.”

Her eyes flutter as she gazes up at me from under her long lashes. “I love you so much, Alex.”

“And I love you.”

She kisses me again, and this time I deepen the kiss, slipping my tongue between her lips and wrapping it around hers. Our friends whistle and clap around us, and we break apart wearing sly smiles.

We spend some time with our friends, and we dance. But it’s not long before we’re ready to go home and spend the night together—just the two of us.

“Remember when you told me you don’t want to be tied down, just tied up?”

Aarya waggles her eyebrows. “I do.”

I bring my lips to her ear. “I have some zip ties in the garage.”

Her body shudders against me. “Take me home.”

I take her by the hand, and I do what I wanted to do the night we first met.

I take her home.

But this time, it’s our home.