Pucking Strong: An MM Workplace Hockey Romance (Jacksonville Rays Book 4)

“How do you feel?” I ask in Swedish, watching Karolina flex her hand, newly without its purple cast.

“Strange,” she murmurs, rotating her wrist the way the doctor showed her. “My bone isn’t broken anymore?”

“No. Your body healed itself.” I brush a hand down her thick Dutch braid, kissing the top of her head. “You’re so strong, mitt lilla lamm.”

“But not my leg, right?”

“Not yet. But soon.”

“And then I can do ballet again? And go to school?”

“Of course. Mr. Torres says you’re doing wonderfully well with your English lessons. He thinks you’ll be ready for American school in January.”

“And ballet?” Her brow furrows with that serious look of a child determined to have her way. Emma Langley is doing a recital with her ballet school of Swan Lake this Christmas. The Langleys invited us to attend. It’s all Karolina has been able to talk about for days.

I nod again, offering her a patient smile. “As soon as your doctor clears you for athletic activity, we’ll enroll you in ballet. Miss Maria is saving a spot for you in Emma’s class.”

“Emma says they do classes for daddies and daughters too. Would you go with me, Morbror? I can show you how to plié. It’s not hard.”

I chuckle. “Of course I will. Can Teddy come too?”

He was supposed to be here with us this morning, but he agreed to help cover for Brady through the end of the week. He should be home by lunchtime. We’re celebrating Karolina’s big milestone tonight with Hanna and Torres. Hot dogs and ice cream at the beach, Karro’s choice.

Her smile falls as she drops her hand to her lap.

“What’s wrong, lamm?”

She glances up at me through her lashes. “Do you love him?”

“Teddy? Of course I do. Why would you ask me that?”

Her bottom lip quivers. “He told Miss Shae you don’t.”

My heart stops. “What? When did you hear this?”

“On the phone. He says you won’t say it, and it makes him sad.”

I groan, crossing my arms. It’s possible she misheard their English. Or, if she only heard Teddy, then she only heard one side. But why would Teddy talk of such things where Karolina might hear? And why discuss it with his sister instead of talking with me directly? I glance down at Karro. “And why were you listening to his private conversation?”

She pouts. “Are you mad?”

Sighing, I sink back in my chair. “No, lamm, I’m not mad.”

“I didn’t mean to listen. Honest. I just … woke up.”

I place a hand on her shoulder and give it a squeeze. “Karro, look at me.”

She looks up, bottom lip still quivering. “If you don’t say you love them, they go.”

“What?”

“Prince Derek didn’t say it, and Odette left. Then the monster got her. If you don’t say it, Teddy will go. I don’t want Teddy to go. He has to stay.”

“I’ll say it,” I assure her, brushing my hand down her long braid again. I’m getting better at braiding. My skills are nothing near as accomplished as Teddy’s, but I can now manage a passable French braid, a Dutch braid, even a fishtail.

“You have to,” she says again, her eyes narrowed at me.

“I will,” I repeat, feeling very much like I’m being chastised by my bossy older sister. Thinking of Petra, I sigh. “Your uncle is an old Swedish fart, Karolina.”

She giggles.

“I’m not used to saying what I feel,” I admit. “Your mother was always so much better at it than me. And Mormor. She always says exactly what she thinks and feels. You and Petra get that from her.”

“I miss Mormor,” she murmurs. “And I miss Mamma.”

I wrap my arm around her. “I miss your mamma too, lamm. Every day. So much. And Mormor. We’ll go visit her in the spring, ja? As soon as my hockey season is over. We’ll show Teddy the lake and the beach. We’ll take him looking for mushrooms.”

She sits up with an excited smile. “And Junibacken!”

I smile. “Of course.” She and Petra had season passes to the little children’s discovery center in Stockholm. I got them for Karolina as a third birthday present.

“I want Teddy to stay forever. He won’t leave if you tell him he can stay.”

My smile widens as I picture the two of them laughing and playing together, practicing ballet in the mirror. Years from now, they’ll argue over homework, and he’ll complain she drives too fast in my car. I can see it all. I see a future for the three of us, warm and bright. It’s not the future any of us expected. But now it’s the future we all deserve.

I glance down at her, nudging her with my elbow. “And me, lamm? Do you want to stay with me forever too?”

She takes my hand. “I have to.”

“Why?”

She shrugs. “You were sad before I came, Morbror. You’re not sad anymore.”

Wiping away my unexpected tears, I look to the ceiling and say nothing, letting my niece hold my hand.noveldrama

The elevator doors open on our floor, and I push Karolina out to see Hanna waiting for us at the end of the hall. She scrambles off the floor at first sight of us, phone in hand. Her eyes look puffy, like she’s been crying.

“Hanna, look,” Karro calls in Swedish, waving her uncasted arm in the air. “It’s all better now!”

“Look at you,” Hanna coos, finding her a smile. All the while, she casts me a look of warning that has my stomach sinking.

“What is it?” I say, reaching in my pocket for the keys. “Why are you here so early?” I pause, glancing around. “And why are you waiting in the hall? Did you lose your key?”

“I umm … no. I guess I didn’t feel right about just going in.” She clutches to her phone. “Is Teddy not with you?”

“He had to cover someone at work.”

She steps back. “I can—I think I’ll come back later then.”

“No. Stay.”

Her eyes go wide at my command, giving me all the proof I need that something is definitely wrong.

“Come in,” Karro calls in English as I push her inside the apartment. “We were gonna make you kanelbulle, but then we had to go to the hockey, because someone lost an elbow glove. And then I went to play with Emma!”

Hanna glances from Karro to me. Sometimes, between the constant switching from English to Swedish, things get a little lost in translation.

“You’re welcome to come in,” I assure her, gentling my tone. “Then you can tell me what’s wrong.”

“So you haven’t seen then? You don’t know?”

“Seen what?”

She glances from me to Karro again.

Groaning, I take the hint. “Start the coffee. I’ll get her settled in.”

By the time I have Karolina on the couch with a plate of apple slices and a princess movie, Hanna is in the kitchen, clutching to a mug of coffee. “What happened?” I say again, taking the other prepared cup.

“Oh, Henrik,” she cries. “It’s so awful. How have you not heard?”

“Show me.”

Setting her mug of coffee on the island, she unlocks her phone and hands it to me. On the screen is an article:

“On Thin Ice: Inside the Public Free Fall of the NHL’s Most Private Player”

My frown deepens as I read. It’s a scathing exposé article on me. In the first paragraph, the author calls me a “loose cannon” and a “PR liability.” There are pictures from Rip’s last night—Teddy tucked under my arm, grainy photos of Lamont exiting the bar with a bloody face.

Between my fight on the ice with that rookie during the Golden Knights game—yes, there are pictures of that too—and my brawl with Lamont last night, they’re calling me “violent” and “dangerous.”

Somehow, the author even tracked down evidence of my recently broken endorsement deal. They argue “inside sources” say the brand broke ties with me because I was bad for their image. No mention at all of our scheduling conflict. Every word of the article is malicious, salacious, and completely unfounded.

“There is no truth to any of this,” I say, holding the phone out for Hanna, but she shakes her head.

“Keep scrolling.”

I flick with my thumb, letting more of the story zip past. I stop on a new set of images. One is of me, Hanna, and Karro at the ice cream shop a few weeks ago. We meet there all the time for her to take Karro before I headed off to practice. The pictures make it look like I’m kissing her.

Well, I am kissing her, but only her cheek. And only in greeting. There’s a shot of us laughing together. Us smiling, each holding one of Karro’s hands as we walk down the pier. We look like a happy little family. Our outfits are different in every shot, which plays perfectly into the narrative that Hanna and I must be secret lovers, engaging in a weeks-long tryst.

I sigh. “Hanna, I’m so sorry.”

“Why are they doing this?” she says through her tears.

“To make money, I imagine. Why else?”

“But it’s not true. None of this is, right?”

“Of course not.” I hold out her phone. “I’m only sorry you were dragged into it.”

She takes the phone and steps away, wrapping her arms around her middle. “But why are they taking pictures of us? Of Karolina? Can it even be legal?”

“Yes, it’s legal. They’ve blurred her face out of the pictures they published.”

“But it’s so cruel. So irresponsible.”

My frustration rises. “I know.”

“It all just feels so violating,” she goes on. “I didn’t know what to do. I woke up to all these alerts from family and friends. Those pictures are everywhere, Henrik. Someone tried to tag me in them on Instagram. On the way over here, I got a request to do an interview.”

My anger flares. “Say nothing. You will only fuel their fire. Best to let this all die out.”

She shakes her head. “Teddy must hate me.”

“He doesn’t. Or he won’t when he finds out. He knows it’s not true too.”

As if speaking his name is a summons, the front door opens, and Teddy comes charging in. His locs are a mess, half up, half down, and he looks like he sprinted here from the parking garage.

“Teddy,” Karolina cries in welcome, waving with her whole arm. “Look, I got my cast off!”

He rattles his keys down in the tray and kicks off his shoes. “That’s great, honey, but I gotta talk to Morbror for a second!” He jogs into the kitchen, letting out a breath as he lowers his voice. “What the actual fucking fuck is going on?”

I sigh. “I take it you know?”

“Of course I know. My phone went crazy with all my sisters calling at once. They were ready to come down here and barbecue you until I called them off.”

Hanna bursts into tears. “Teddy, I’m so sorry!”

His eyes go wide as she stumbles into his arms on a stifled sob. He tries to soothe her, patting her back. “Hey, it’s okay. Hanna, we know this has nothing to do with you, okay?”

“They made me look so awful,” she says through her sniffles. “But I would never—Teddy, I’d never break up a marriage. My dad cheated on my mom and left the family when I was nine. So, I know that pain. You have to believe me—”

“We do,” I assure her, stepping closer.

But Teddy holds up a warning hand, keeping me back. Best to just let her have a good cry. Proximity to me will likely only make it worse.

“You saw the article?” I say at him.

“Oh, I saw. The articles, the videos, the stupid fucking photo diaries. Who knew he had such a ‘bad boy’ streak, huh?” he teases, still patting Hanna’s back. “I guess I bring it out in him. We’ll have to get him a motorcycle to go with his leather jacket.”

Hanna makes a sound between a laugh and a sob.

“You need to call Poppy,” he says over her shoulder. “She needs to know, if she doesn’t already.”

I lean my hip against the island, sipping my coffee. I’ve resigned myself to taking it with milk and sugar. Teddy and Hanna won’t prepare it any other way. “At this point, I don’t know what else we can do, other than let it all die down naturally. The fires of controversy always flame out.”

“But this isn’t just idle gossip now. Hen, this is serious. They have pictures and ‘inside accounts.’”

“All meritless,” I growl.

“Idle gossip about us is one thing. Proof that you’re violent? That you’re a dangerous liability? This could ruin your chances at future endorsement deals. Hell, it could get you traded. The Rays won’t want to carry the weight of your new ‘bad boy’ reputation if it will reflect poorly on them. Neither will any brands looking to keep a family-friendly image.”

Hanna pulls away from him, her mascara running as she turns to me. “Oh god, this could get you traded?”

Teddy winces, patting her shoulders. “Still not your fault,” he assures her.

Before I can respond, my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. I check the caller ID and see my dad’s name. I look to Teddy, holding up the phone. “I have to take this.”

His eyes go wide. “Is it Poppy? Elin?”

“My dad.” Turning away from the kitchen, I walk down the hall and accept the call. “Hej, Dad.”

“Oh, Henrik, what have you done?”

Closing the door to the bedroom, I sit down on the edge of the bed and try for a tone of levity. “I take it the story about my new devilish reputation has arrived in Sweden?”

“This is no laughing matter, son. A reporter came to the house this afternoon.”

My heart stops. “What?”

“He asked all kinds of questions, upsetting your mother, confusing her with rumors of your infidelity. The questions played with the holes in her memory. She told him you weren’t married. She’s been crying all evening. Now she keeps asking for Petra.”

My rage surges. “Why did you let him in? Why did you speak to the reporter at all? I told you, never talk to the press!”

“I didn’t,” he retorts. “Your mother let him in while I was out in the yard. The man said he was writing an article about your hockey career. He asked for pictures from your time in the SHL.”

I groan. “Dad, any pictures he could ever need are already publicly available. Or he could contact the teams I played for directly. Same for the NHL. He doesn’t need to go to my mother.”

“Yes, well, you know how she gets confused. By the time I came inside, she’d already sat him down with coffee. She denied you were married. I assured him that you were. But then he kept asking whether you had a violent nature as a child, which upset her greatly.”

“He was just trying to get a new angle on the story making the rounds in the American papers.”

“He showed us the pictures of you and that poor nurse,” Dad goes on. “Henrik, infidelity is so distasteful. I’ll admit, I’m surprised at you.”

“It’s not true,” I shout. “Dad, I am very happily married to Teddy. Hanna is our employee. She’s Karolina’s nurse. Nothing inappropriate has ever taken place. Not even close.”

“Well, why put yourself in the position to be compromised in the first place?”

“If greeting someone on a public street is proof of infidelity, then we are all unfaithful every day of our lives!”

We’re both quiet for a moment. My chest rises and falls with each breath as I clench my fist, trying to calm down.

“Son, we’re just worried about you,” he finally says. “You’ve been so careful to keep your reputation all about hockey.”

I huff a laugh, shaking my head. “No, Dad. All I had was hockey.”

“What?”

Rising to my feet, I pace into the bathroom. “Before Karolina came to stay with me, before Teddy, all I had was hockey. It was my whole life.”

“Well, you were dedicated.”

“I was a ghost! Practice and games, practice and games. Planes, busses, hotel rooms. I had no life, Dad. No friends. No focus, no dreams, no plans. Nothing outside of hockey and the four of you. Then Petra died, and I wanted the earth to swallow me too. But then Teddy and Karro came into my life, and now …”

Dad waits. “And now, son?”

I smile, looking around at the mess in my bathroom. Teddy’s hair products are piled on the edge of the counter. Karro’s bath toys litter the floor of the shower. My gaze settles on the lonely sink, and I laugh, dragging a hand through my hair. “God, Dad, now I have so many plans.”