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  “It’s very sweet of you to ask, but no thanks,” Jenna giggled, marveling at the fact that he had secretly held onto a fake candy ring all night. She figured that he had planned to fake propose at some point during the night, making a mockery of their commitment. Really, she had expected much worse of him, which was why she was so amused. As one of Chicago’s most eligible bachelors, Alex was unable to understand the weight of their decision to marry.

  “Come on. It’s cherry! What woman could resist?” Alex stood and slipped the candy accessory on her right-hand ring finger. “Maybe you just need some time to think about it. I mean, I’m sure I’m much better in the sack than Biggie. When are you ever going to take me up on my offer?” he continued to tease.

  Jenna laughed to be polite and pushed him away playfully. Alex always joked like this, and Ryan never said a word against it. Everyone knew that Alex was kidding; besides, everyone also knew the rule that teammates never messed around with other teammates’ girls. That was a quick way to get traded or sent down to the American League.

  “I’m sorry, Frazier. But I’ll never love you.”

  “I’m not asking you to love me, Jenna. I’m asking you to—”

  “Okay, okay, enough,” Nick said, shaking his head. The bartender approached with their beers, and Nick did his best to censor the guys around outsiders. The Blackhawks had a reputation to uphold as pillars of the community. They did a lot of work around the city, a lot of work with kids, and they needed to be on their best behavior, always. And Nick could sense that Jenna was becoming irritated by Alex’s relentless sex jokes. Not everyone thought that particular sense of humor was funny.

  Alex shrugged and grabbed a bunch of the glasses and headed back to the table. He called over his shoulder, “Are you coming, Biggie?”

  Ryan grabbed his Jenna’s hand and nudged her in the direction of the group. She looked at Nick and rolled her eyes, but she followed Ryan to the table, accidentally leaving her Fuzzy Navel on the bar. Ryan took his seat as Nick set a full glass down in front of him, and then he snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap. Jenna thought it was too intimate of a position for present company, but he wouldn’t let her get up. He kept his arm around Jenna and used his free hand to drink his beer.

  While Ryan started to talk to Alex about the summer he spent at home in Minnesota, Nick addressed Jenna. “So, did you guys pick a date yet?”

  Jenna averted her eyes and pursed her lips. Nick could instantly tell by her body language that his question was a mistake and that she was now uneasy. “I’m sorry, Jenna—”

  “No, it’s okay, Nicky.” She quickly cut him off because she didn’t want him to feel bad. Everyone had been asking her that very question, and she was embarrassed that she didn’t have an answer for them. But she didn’t want anyone to know their private business; she wasn’t a secretive person, but she was very private and liked to keep her cards close to her chest. “So far, our engagement has been a whirlwind. And it’s a busy time of year right now, with coming back to Chicago for the season and stuff. We talked about it, but we haven’t set anything in stone yet.”

  He smiled, trying to be reassuring and kind. “Well, I guess when you’ve been together as long as you guys have, there’s no need to rush to the altar.”

  That didn’t make her feel any better; really, it had the opposite affect. Jenna didn’t see the point in waiting any longer to get married since they had already been together for so long. While it bothered her a little to put it off, she tried to nonchalantly play it off like it didn’t matter. She knew logically that, in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter when they got married. Just as she had been willing to wait eight years for an engagement ring, she was willing to wait for the wedding band—because it wasn’t about getting married. It was getting married to Ryan. But nevertheless, getting it over with sooner rather than later would have made their lives simpler because there would be less hassle.

  Ryan felt Jenna’s body tense in his lap, and he knew something was up. He listened in to what she was saying. “Yeah, I mean, it took him eight years to propose, so it could be a while before I can get him down the aisle.”

  Nick chuckled, but Ryan groaned. He had heard that joke too many times, and he didn’t think it was funny. Why couldn't everyone be happy that he had just asked her to marry him? “Do you have to keep saying that?”

  Jenna reached for her fiancé’s glass. “Nick just asked if we had set a date yet.”

  “Marty, you’re such a woman,” Ryan said to his teammate as he watched Jenna drink some of his beer.

  Alex commented, “Jenna, are you sure you should be drinking that?”

  She gave him a confused look. “Yeah. Why not?”

  He leaned across the table and said in a mock whisper loud enough for the entire room to hear. “Because of the baby.”

  “Baby?” It took a moment before his implication sank in. She scowled. “I’m not pregnant.”

  “Really? Because I thought that’s why Biggie here proposed, ’cause he knocked you up. You know, shotgun wedding.”

  Jenna was truly offended; she didn’t want anyone to think that Ryan had asked her to marry him for any reason other than the fact that he loved her. And—on top of that—in her family, a child conceived out of wedlock would be a scandal. Her grandparents didn’t know that she was living with her boyfriend, and even her parents didn’t condone it. In their minds, the sooner she was married, the better. They were putting a lot of pressure on her to seal the deal already. “Shut up, Frazier. That’s a horrible thing to lie about.”

  “It's okay, Jenna. He’s just joking,” Ryan soothed, patting her on the leg.

  “Yeah, lighten up. I’m just joking.”

  “I don’t think it’s appropriate to joke about. If word got out and people really thought—”

  Ryan cut her off. “No one thinks that.” He spoke up and announced, “Jenna’s not pregnant. Okay?” When the guys at the table—or at least the ones paying any attention to the conversation—nodded, he looked at his fiancée with satisfaction. “There, does that make you feel better?”

  “Not really,” she muttered, taking another long swig of Ryan’s beer. The glass was almost empty at this point, and since she felt responsible, she unwrapped herself from his hold and stood. Besides, she needed yet another break from the guys. “I’m gonna get you another beer.”

  He grinned, delighted by the way she was offering to take care of him. Even after eight years together, she had never stopped putting in the effort needed to maintain their relationship. She didn’t come home after a long day and immediately put on ugly, frumpy sweatpants. She cooked all his meals—or at least made enough leftovers so he’d have a hot pre-game meal if she wouldn’t be around. Jenna was a caring, loving, thoughtful woman, and he was happy to know he’d be spending the rest of his life with her. Not that he’d ever had a doubt that he would.

  “Oh, hey Jenna, get me one, too!” Alex called out as she started to walk away toward the bar.

  “Hell no, Frazier. Get off your lazy ass and get it yourself.”

  Nick snickered under his breath. Those two had never really gotten along and probably never would; it was only funny because of how close Ryan and Alex were. There was some backstory about how Alex had hit on her without knowing that she was Ryan’s girlfriend and she had rebuffed him and bruised his ego, but that had happened long before Nick had been drafted so he didn’t know the whole situation.

  Alex huffed, “You need to talk to your woman, Biggie, about giving me some respect.”

  Ryan laughed loudly. “Uh, no. I’m not getting in the middle of you two.”

  Nick played with the straw in his water. “Really, Freeze, you should be nicer to her. She’s the captain’s wife.”

  “Soon-to-be wife,” Alex corrected. “Nothing’s final ’til there’s a ring on his finger, and I know she’ll come knocking on my door before that happens so she can know the love of a real man.”

&n
bsp; Ryan shook his head, not bothering with a rebuttal. Instead, he told Nick, “Don’t worry, man. Jenna’s a big girl, she can take care of herself.”

  Nick didn’t say what was on his mind: that as her boyfriend, fiancé, and eventually husband, Ryan should have been taking care of her and protecting her. At least, that’s what he would do if he had a girlfriend and someone on the team was giving her a hard time. He also thought that Ryan could have been setting a better example as captain.

  Jenna approached the table with Ryan’s beer. She tried her best to suppress the yawn that was building up, but she couldn’t fight it. “You tired, babe?” Ryan asked.

  She shook her head as her eyes watered from trying to hold it back. “No, I’m fine.”

  “What do you say we get out of here?” Ryan asked, standing up and intercepting her. He had been looking for an excuse to leave anyway. His nose brushed against her ear as he added quietly, “God, I need to be inside of you.”

  Jenna bit her lip for two reasons. First, she needed to suppress the moan that now threatened to escape. Ryan never held back when it came to what he wanted sexually, and Jenna loved to oblige him. Second, she needed to hold back from telling him that he shouldn’t have said that so loud. As much as she liked when Ryan talked like this, he shouldn’t do so when in earshot of the bartender and the entire team. It was just improper and inappropriate.

  All she did instead was nod as her teeth dug into her bottom lip, still preventing herself from speaking. Ryan smiled widely as he grabbed her hand and looked for the establishment’s bright red EXIT sign. “Here, Freeze, you can have this,” he laughed, pushing his beer across the table.

  Jenna tried to ignore the knowing looks generated by the table full of Ryan’s teammates. As she was led toward the door, she gave a meek smile to the only other guy at the table to whom she wanted to say goodbye. “See ya later, Nicky,” she said, looking back one last time as she dutifully followed her fiancé out the door.

  Chapter 2

  Nick Martin had always been a determined, responsible, and mature individual. As a kid in Kamloops, British Columbia, he had been precocious and sometimes that made him seem like a bossy know-it-all, and he had always preferred the company of adults to those his own age. He was only ten when his father had passed away, and he had taken it upon himself to assume the role of the man of the house and help take care of his mom and younger brother and sister. Worried that her son would miss out on his childhood, she signed him up for both hockey and lacrosse so he would have a place year-round to focus his intense energy and also plenty of interaction with his peers.

  All his coaches had loved Nick because he had listened to their instructions and followed them to the letter; they often gave him the C or an A because Nick led by example. Because of his dedication to the sports he played, he could have gone far in either of them, but he had to make a choice as a teenager and pick which one he wanted to pursue. It was one of the hardest decisions he had ever made, but he followed his heart and chose hockey—and he had never regretted it. Nick won gold medals in the World Junior Championships for two consecutive years and a gold medal when he had played for Canada in the Olympics in 2010. But what he really wanted was the Stanley Cup.

  The transition from Juniors to the NHL hadn’t always been easy for Nick. Because he was mature for his age, the adjustment from living with a billet family to being on his own in Chicago wasn’t very difficult; however, he had trouble getting his new teammates to take him as seriously as he wanted them to. He didn’t relax much around the guys, and that in turn made the guys target Nick as the butt of their jokes and pranks. Respect meant a lot to him, and he was still struggling to earn it after three years on the team. He was friendly to everyone, and they liked him as an individual, but he could be rather intense and that sometimes caused some friction.

  Nick’s best friend on the team was Brian Cavanaugh, popularly known on the team as “The Caveman” for his Neanderthal behavior or sometimes just called “Cav” for short. Brian was a star winger on the team, and he was nowhere near hitting his prime yet. Just six months younger than Nick, Brian was still a little immature and unable to handle his success. While he played hard, he partied harder, and he got himself into a lot of trouble through his antics at the bar. After one particularly raucous night in his hometown that summer, he woke up with no memory of what had happened and an accusation of sexual assault. The girl retracted her story a week later after some incriminating text messages were leaked, in which she had bragged about sleeping with one of the Blackhawk’s most famous players. But even though the truth had come out, Brian’s reputation had already been tarnished, and he would have to stay on the straight and narrow in order to prove his character to the public.

  Those two could not have been more different, but they found a way to have fun together. Brian brought Nick out of his shell a little bit, and Nick reined in Brian in the self-control department—which he especially needed help with in order to reconstruct his public persona. In fact, Nick had already advised Brian to settle down and encouraged him to seriously date Cara, a girl Brian had met at a Blackhawks charity event the previous spring. Being in a relationship would help his image, and it kept him from getting too crazy out at the bars.

  On the night after their first session of training camp, those two hung out at Nick’s apartment in downtown Chicago. They were hanging out and playing Call of Duty after a demanding day on the ice, taking it easy because they knew that the next day would be just as strenuous.

  “I’m excited for this year,” Nick casually mentioned, tossing down his controller and heading for the kitchen to get something to drink. Hydration was key. “I really think we have a chance to win the Cup this season.”

  “Just keep passing me the puck, and we’ll win every game. But can we not talk shop tonight? We’re going to eat, breathe, and sleep hockey for the next couple of months. I just wanna relax before all that, you know?”

  “Yeah, I get it. I’m just really excited to get started.”

  “Dude, all you think about is hockey. I think you need to get laid.” Just as Brian thought that Nick only thought about hockey, Nick was of the opinion that Brian had sex on the brain. Even though he had a girlfriend now, all Brian talked about was going out to the bars and scoring—off the ice. Brian reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ve got a bunch of numbers from some hot girls in here. Just say the word, and I can set you up with any of them.”

  Nick was physically repulsed by the idea of getting intimate with a woman who Brian had already slept with. Besides, he didn’t like those kinds of girls. They were puck bunnies who were only interested in high-paid hockey players, and that didn’t interest Nick in the least; he wanted someone with the same type of personality and goals as him. More importantly, he wanted someone who would love him and not just his paycheck. “I just really want to focus on my playing this season. I want to win. I have to win.”

  Brian wanted his name on the Stanley Cup, too. It had been his dream for as long as he could remember. But winning wasn’t his only pursuit in life—he wanted lots of other things as well. He didn’t understand how Nick could have such tunnel vision to be focused on one thing: the Cup. In a way, Nick lacked emotional maturity, because he couldn’t maintain multiple facets of his life and could only concentrate on achieving one goal at a time.

  “Whatever, man. I’m just saying, if you need to blow off some steam,” he said, and then he laughed at his own double entendre, “just let me know, and I’ll hook you up with one of the best.”

  “Uh, thanks.” Nick knew that Brian meant well, even though it was really gross. “Here, you want a Gatorade?”

  “You got any beer?” Brian asked, hoping for a more adult beverage during their boys’ night in.

  “No, just red Gatorade and bottled water.”

  Brian sighed and picked up his controller again. “Yeah, I’ll take a Gatorade then.”

  Jenna paced around the kitchen, pulling f
aces and grimacing as she talked on the phone to her future mother-in-law. She loved Ryan’s mom; there wasn’t any doubt in Jenna’s mind that Mrs. Linsenbigler had been the driving influence for why Ryan had even proposed. But now that there was a wedding to plan, Mrs. Linsenbigler had ratcheted up the intensity tenfold. She wanted them to get married—yesterday.

  “So, has the happy young couple set a date yet?”

  “No, Sharon, we haven’t,” Jenna said, suppressing the half-sigh, half-groan that formed in the back of her throat. “We’re just really busy right now because we moved back into our home in Chicago, and now training camp has started, and my classes are going to start next week and there are a lot of events for The Blackhawks Wives and Girlfriends Charity to start planning for.”

  “You know you have to keep the pressure on him or else he won’t commit to anything.”

  Jenna rolled her eyes. Like she didn’t know that. Ryan was a great guy and he had many great qualities, but he was often flighty and dismissive when it came to things that weren’t high on his list of priorities. He loved Jenna, and she knew that—but he had enough to handle as captain of the Blackhawks that she didn’t want to burden him with extra responsibility. And Jenna was fine with that, because she knew that was Ryan’s personality. She never gave him an ultimatum because she knew that tactic wouldn’t work with his nature, and she didn’t want to start out their engagement with that kind of make-it-or-break-it situation. How would that have been beneficial to their relationship?

  Sharon continued, “Because really, everything is easy-peasy from there once you pick the date. That’s the most important thing in wedding planning. Well, you need the guest list, too. But once you have the date, then you can figure everything else out and start booking the chapel, the reception hall, the DJ....”