Pucking Sweet: An MMF Workplace Hockey Romance (Jacksonville Rays Book 3)

I walk out into the manicured hotel garden, complete with climbing trellises and boxwoods. Several yards away, a fountain bubbles in the middle of a square glowing with twinkling lights. Violet and Anderson stand just beyond the fountain, arguing.

“No—I can’t do this anymore,” Violet cries.

“We had an agreement. Goddamn it, I am not going to be made a fool of again.”

“I’ll pay you back,” she says with tears in her eyes.

“You already signed the contract. We’re going through with this, Vi.”

My heart is racing as I cross the square over to them. Every cruel and cutting word I was about to lob at my sister fizzles like fire on water as I take in the desperate look on her face.

“Please, Anderson. Just let this be enough—”

“No,” he says, grabbing her arm.

“Hey, is everything okay?” I call out, my heels clicking on the large paver stones.

Anderson drops his hand away from Violet, and she covers the spot with her hand. Tears well in her eyes. “Poppy, I’m so sorry—”

“Don’t.” I raise a hand to her. “Not now.” I turn back to Anderson. “I asked if everything is okay.”

“No, everything’s not okay,” he snaps. “Your stupid fucking sister thinks she can make a fool of me the same way you did, and I’m reminding her that’s not how this is gonna go.”

Violet flinches, stepping away from him.

“What’s the agreement between you?” I ask, looking to Violet.

“We have a prenup—”

“Shut up,” he growls at her. “She doesn’t get to know our business.”

“Violet?” I press, only looking at her.

“He was paying me,” she explains as he curses under his breath. “A third when we got engaged, a third when we marry, and the last third when Daddy helps him win his first election.”

I fold my arms over my bump. “So, he’s buying you then? You’re selling yourself as his political trophy wife? Seriously, Vi?”

“Come on, Pop. Don’t make it sound so tawdry,” says Anderson. “Prenups are a standard practice. I had one with you too, if you remember.”

“I remember everything,” I reply flatly. I look to my sister. “How much?”

“Ten million.”

My heart stops. “But you’ll get that from Nana.”

She just shakes her head, lip trembling. “Not anymore. Mom took it from me six months ago…right before I agreed to marry Anderson.”

I drop my hands to my sides, all the pieces falling together in my mind. “Why?”

Tears fill her eyes. “Because I’m a disappointment to the family, and Nana wouldn’t want me to have the money. Mom said I don’t deserve it, since all I do is party and waste my life away. She said she was giving it to you.”

Well, shit. No wonder Violet’s been so extra bitchy to me lately.

“I went from thinking I’d be set for life to having nothing,” Violet admits with a teary shrug.

This is the core difference between Violet and me. I’ve always worked hard to make it so I didn’t need Nana’s money. But Violet went another way. It’s hard not to dream when our siblings are able to do things like take expensive holidays in Vale and rent apartments in Paris. Violet sees Nana’s money as the answer to a life problem, while I only ever saw it as a gift.

Violet steps toward me. “Popcorn, I’m so sorry. Anderson and I have just been one big mistake from the start. I think I was feeling rebellious at first…and then I kept crawling back, even when you warned me away—”

“I’m standing right here,” he huffs.

“Anderson asked me to marry him again and again, and I always said no,” she goes on. “I know he’s only after me for Daddy and his own career, but then Mom took everything from me, my whole future. So, the next time Anderson asked, I heard myself say yes.”

He moves around the fountain toward us. “You fucking bitch. You really think that’s how it played out?”

“That’s exactly how it played out,” she says over her shoulder. “You’ve only ever cared about this obsession with your stupid political destiny. But it takes more than a square jaw and pockets full of cash to win the hearts of the public. You’re pathetic, Anderson!”

“And it takes more than a pair of tits and the St. James name to bag a man,” he jeers. “Look at you both: beauty on the outside, but rotten to the fucking core.”

Violet steps closer, taking my hand.

“I’m the only man who has ever given you a chance—either of you,” he adds at me with a glare. “No other man fucking wants you. Hank should’ve been paying more attention at home. Maybe then he would’ve noticed his hired help raised a pair of sloppy whores.”

Violet flinches. But my rage crackles like a holy fire. “Anderson, this is over. You need to go.”

He dares to take an imposing step closer to us. “I’m not going anywhere. Violet and I still have a deal. She owes me three million dollars. I don’t leave until I get every dime back.”

Violet looks to me, panicking. “I don’t have it,” she whispers.

My heart sinks as I squeeze her hand. “You’ll get your money back, Anderson. You know we’re good for it. I promise—”

“Your promise doesn’t mean shit to me,” he shouts. “You promised to love me and marry me and give me the future I’ve always wanted. The future I fucking deserve! You made a goddamn fool out of me, and I’ll be damned if I let your spoiled little sister do the same thing.” He grabs her arm and jerks her away from me, both of us crying out.

“Anderson, don’t,” I beg.

He grabs her by the shoulders, shaking her as she cries. “We’re getting married tomorrow, and you’re going to keep your word and deliver everything we agreed on. Do you understand?”

“Let her go,” I cry.

“Poppy!” Lukas rushes to my side, Colton just behind him.

They both get their hands on me, pulling me to safety.

“Stop this,” I say on a breath. “Please, stop him.”

Colton’s hands clamp down like bands of iron on my arms.

“Permission to break rule number two?” Lukas asks.

I nod, heart racing as they still argue. “Please—”

“Then where’s my money?” Anderson shouts, his hands squeezing Violet’s arms.

“I said I don’t have it,” she cries.

“Give me back my fucking money!”

“Anderson, please, just stop this!”

Lukas storms up with a holy vengeance. “Get your fucking hands off her!”

Anderson balks at Lukas’s approach, shoving my sister away. She cries out, stumbling down to the paver stones as Lukas lunges, slugging Anderson in the jaw. It’s a K.O. punch that sends Anderson falling backward like a sack of flour. He drops to the ground and doesn’t move.

“Ohmygod, is he dead?” Violet shrieks, crawling on her hands and knees over to him.

Lukas drops to one knee, feeling for his pulse. “Nah, he’s alive,” he assures us.

I let out a shaky breath of relief, tears falling. Colton presses in behind me.

“He’s just out cold,” Lukas adds. “A doc should check if I broke his jaw. I sure tried hard enough.”

“Well, that was a fucking assault!” Rowan shouts, striding toward us.

Lukas stiffens and turns, ready to face my brother.

“Don’t fucking move, asshole! I’m calling the police right now. I saw what you did.”

Ignoring him, Lukas stands. “What you saw was me protecting your sister. It was Anderson who did the assaulting!”

Violet is still on her knees, mascara running down her cheeks. “Ro, it’s true.”

“What the hell is happening out here?”

I take a deep breath as our dad appears, striding down the path behind Rowan. He steps past my brother and surveys the scene. His gaze is murderous as he looks from Anderson’s prone body to Violet on her knees to Lukas, still panting. Slowly, Daddy turns to me. “Poppy, explain.”

“Violet and Anderson were arguing—”

“I didn’t see an argument,” says Rowan. “I saw one of your boyfriends punch Anderson’s damn lights out!”

“Because you’re a day late and a dollar fucking short,” Lukas shouts. “He had his hands on your sister!”

Daddy turns to me. “Go on, Poppy.”

Next to him, Rowan huffs, arms crossed as he glares at Lukas.

“She wanted to call off the wedding,” I go on. “But he didn’t. Apparently, they have a financial agreement. He said he wouldn’t walk away until he got his money back.”

Daddy looks to Violet. “Is this true?”

She nods.

“How much?”

She rises shakily to her feet, the knees of her pristine white dress now stained and ruined. “Daddy, I’m sorry—”

“How much, Violet?” he shouts.

She flinches back, lip trembling. “Ten million in total. He paid me 3.3 million already. I was going to get another 3.3 when we married tomorrow . . .”

“Jeezus,” Rowan mutters. “And let me guess, you already spent it all?”

“Quiet, Rowan,” Dad warns.

Rowan bristles but crosses him arms again.

“And the last third?” Dad asks with a raised brow.

She’s quiet for a moment, embarrassed to own the truth right to his face. “When you helped him win his first election. He wanted to run for Senate next year.”

Dad sighs. “Lord have mercy. Anderson has all the potential of a state senator, maybe a mayor, but the town’s gotta be small . . . and solidly red.” He rubs a tired hand across his brow. “What a goddamn mess.”

I step forward. “Well, if you have no faith in his political career, then why did you try to pair us both with him? Why did you push so hard for these marriages?”

“I didn’t,” he shouts. “You think I wanted any of this? I want my girls happy. That’s all I’ve ever cared about. I don’t know what either of you ever saw in this turkey bird,” he adds, waving at Anderson’s prone form. “But I was willing to put on the tux and pay for the wedding. Twice,” he adds with a glare. “If it made you happy, and your mother assured me it did, then I was gonna suck it up and do it.”

My heart shatters all over again. “So, this really has been all about Mom and her vision for our futures.”

“Your mother is a complicated woman, Princess.”

“Oh Daddy, please. She’s a narcissistic ‘queenmaker’ with a god complex!”

“Hey,” he says, tone firm. “Don’t talk about your mother that way.”

“Daddy, she ruined our freaking lives! She forced us both into thinking Anderson was a good match. I never would’ve picked him for myself if she wasn’t in my ear from the age of ten telling me the best I could ever hope to achieve in life was becoming a politician’s wife. I’m supposed to be the woman behind her man, raising him up and helping him shine.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he counters. “We sent you both to the best schools. You have a top-tier business education. Violet has a law degree. Pops, you’re a goddamn director in your field.”

“I know,” I cry with a wave of my hand. “I did all that despite her, not because of her. She’s been dragging me down and hating on my choices my whole freaking life because they weren’t her choices.”

He sighs, shaking his head. “I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t care,” I clap back, hands on my hips. “You’ve never paid attention to what was happening to us at home, what she was doing to us. Daddy, do you know she took Violet’s trust fund away? Just took it. Poof.” I snap my fingers.

He looks to Violet with a raised brow. “She did?”

Violet nods. “She said she was giving it to Poppy.”

“And the only reason I’m even here is because she was threatening to do the same thing to me,” I go on. “You heard her, Dad. At the Lafayette. Were you even listening? She hates my choices, even though they’ve made me the happiest I’ve ever been in my freaking life, and she’s punishing me for it. She was so determined to see Violet married off, she just recycled my bad pick. I mean, it’s madness! And it has to freaking stop.”

Daddy’s quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry. Girls, I’m so sorry. This is all…” He just shakes his head. He looks to Violet. “What do we do here, sugar bean? What do you want?”

“I don’t want to marry him,” she replies. Panting, she wiggles the huge engagement ring off her finger and drops it down to the paving stones next to Anderson’s limp body. “Daddy, please.”

“But you owe him money? There’s a contract involved?”

She nods.

“Right. Well, I’ll have my people deal with that first thing in the morning.” He turns to me. “And what do you want?”

Heart racing, I hold his gaze. “Nothing,” I reply. “The only thing I’ve ever wanted was the respect and genuine love of my family. Since I can’t have that, there’s really nothing left.”

Daddy’s eyes narrow at me. “You think I don’t love you?”

Tears sting my eyes. “You may love me, Daddy. But you don’t respect me. You don’t respect any of us. You and Mom, you both just trample and control—you with Rowan, and Mom with us. And I’m telling you, it has to stop. You need to open your eyes and see that we are our own people with our own goals and dreams. I may not have followed the path you set out for me, but that doesn’t make what I do beneath your notice or your respect.”

He takes a step closer. “You think I’m not impressed by your career? You think I don’t talk up your accomplishments to my friends and colleagues? You think I don’t watch hockey games, hoping for a glimpse of you?” Closing the space between us, he cups my face.

Tears fall as I lean into it, pressing his hand to my cheek.

“You are so strong,” he says down at me. “Every day, you make me proud. Never change.”

Taking a deep breath, I hold my dad’s steely blue gaze. “You’re right. I am strong.” Reaching up, I brush his hand away and take a step back. “I’m strong enough to know I deserved better from you. We all did.”

His eyes narrow as his shoulders tense. “Poppy—”

“All my life, I just wanted you to see me. I wanted you to care. I wanted you to protect me from her . . . but you didn’t.”

He sighs. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

I nod, reaching blindly for Colton’s hand. His touch is like a lifeline, giving me strength. “And maybe someday I can forgive you, but you need to know that I will never forget. This is what it took to make you see us.” I gesture around. “Your indifference brought us here as swiftly as Mom’s constant meddling. If you ever want to earn my respect back as your daughter, you will fix this.”

Dad’s expression is impossible to read. Resolved, he looks to Colton. “Will you please see my girls safely inside? I’ll deal with Anderson.”

“Daddy, no,” Violet cries. “You can’t kill him.”

He just chuckles. “I’m not gonna off the man. I’m gonna splash some water on his face to get him conscious. Then I’ll tell him in no uncertain terms that the next time he comes sniffing around a St. James, he’s gonna get his nose stomped with the heel of my goddamn boot.”

Lukas steps forward. “Sir, I can’t have him pressing charges—”

“Should’ve thought of that before you knocked him out cold,” Rowan counters.

“Rowan, enough,” Dad snaps. He looks to Lukas. “We have witnesses that he was attacking Violet, yes?”

“Yes,” I say with a fervent nod.

“We both saw it too,” Colton assures him.

“That’s good enough,” Dad replies. “As I said, leave Anderson to me. The day he presses charges on you will be the day his life goes up in smoke.”

“Thank you, sir.” Lukas steps over and offers out his hand.

Daddy shakes it. “By the way, I like the tattoo.”

Lukas grins. “Thanks. Your daughter drew it.”

“Oh god,” I mutter as Colton laughs.

“Did she now?” Dad looks at me. “Always full of surprises.” He drops Lukas’s hand. “Now, y’all head on inside. I’d prefer not to have a witness to the threats I’m about to levy on this man’s soul.”

Lukas takes Violet’s hand, leading her over to us. I take her other hand, and the five of us start walking back toward the golden lights of the hotel. The music grows louder as we approach the restaurant.

“Well, that was embarrassing,” Rowan mutters. “Are you two capable of doing anything but bringing shame to the damn family?”

“Oh, Rowan, will you shut up already?” I snap. “If we can survive our mom, you can surely survive dad. Or if you can’t, do what I did and walk away. The door is always open to a new life.”

He huffs. “Sure. Why don’t I just go see if a few football players can knock me up too?”

Next to me, Colton groans. “Permission to break rule number one?”

“Be my guest,” I say with a wave of my hand.

Rounding on my brother, Colton grabs him by the shoulders and shoves him up against the nearest boxwood. “Ouch—fuck—get your hands off me,” Rowan cries.

“Listen to me, you literal fucking shit stain,” Colton growls in his face. “Say one more bad word about your sisters, and I will personally put my fist so far down your throat, it’ll massage your prostate. Do you understand me?”

Rowan’s eyes go wide. Then he squirms, fighting Colton’s hold. “I don’t think you know who you’re talking to—”

“I know exactly who I’m talking to,” Colton shouts. “And your sister is an angel sent to this earth to fucking redeem me. She is the best person I know, and I will tear your heart out if you hurt her feelings again. So much as look at her sideways, Rowan, I goddamn dare you.”

Rowan opens his mouth, but then closes it again.

“Good boy,” Colton sneers. Pulling him from the bush, he gives him a shove. “Now, get the fuck out of here.”

Rowan stalks away, cheeks pink with embarrassment, muttering under his breath.

“Okay, you’re my new favorite,” Violet says at Colton.

“Wow,” Lukas says with a dramatic nod of his head. “You’re welcome for saving your life, by the way.”

She smiles at him. “You’re my favorite too.”

“Better.” He leads the way in the opposite direction Rowan just disappeared.

Over by the restaurant, Tina is leaned up against the wall, puffing on her vape. She takes in the state of Violet’s ruined dress and our makeup-smeared faces. “Do I even wanna know?”

“The wedding is off,” I reply. “You came all this way for nothing.”

She shrugs. “Eh, it was a nice drive.”

I smile, an idea forming. Squeezing Violet’s hand, I glance to Tina. “Wanna do me a favor?”

“Depends,” she replies.

“Get Violet out of here? Take her home before my mom notices she’s gone?”

It was Tina who supplied me with my getaway car when I left Anderson. It’s only fitting she should help another St. James girl in need. She grins, nodding. “Life is a freaking circle, isn’t it?” She holds out her hand. “Come on, Vi.”

Violet looks to me, all the words unspoken lingering between us. “Poppy…”

“Go,” I say, giving her a nod. “Really, it’s okay.” At her wary look I add, “Okay, it’s very much not okay…but maybe it could be again. The door on my side is still open, yeah?”

Slowly she nods, giving my hand one last squeeze. “Yeah.”

She walks away with Tina, leaving me standing in the light of the restaurant. Inside, I can see that the guests have all but cleared out. Another Rosemary Clooney song plays as waiters clean up the plates.

“Well…that was memorable,” says Lukas, wrapping his arms around me.

I let out a shaky breath, leaning against him. “That was a disaster.”

Colton steps in, and they both nuzzle me, exchanging kisses. We’re still whole, and that’s all that matters.

“I’ve thought about it,” I say, rubbing my hands down both their arms. “And I’d like permission to break rule number three.”

They both look down at me.

“Babe, the wedding is off,” Colton says. “No wedding, no church.”

I just shrug. “So, we find one. Maybe this hotel has a chapel.”

“That’s how you wanna spend the rest of your sister’s ruined night?” says Colton. “Fucking like rabbits in a hotel chapel?”

I feel oddly light as I grin. “Let’s try to steal some tiramisu too.”

“On it.” Lukas ducks away from us to slip inside the restaurant.

I turn in Colton’s arms. “What were we going to win if we didn’t break the rules this weekend?”

He smiles down at me. “Whoever won got to take you to Aruba.”

My eyes go wide, but my smile is wider. “Can we do it anyway?”

He kisses me with a laugh. “Of course. I already bought the tickets.”