Vows on Ice (Boys of Winter Book 6) Read online

  Boys of Winter #6

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Other Books by S.R. Grey

  Chapter One: You’re Squeezing It Too Hard, Dude!

  Chapter Two: Take it Off! Take it All Off!

  Chapter Three: What’s Good For The Goose…

  Chapter Four: The Boys Will Freaking Love This

  Chapter Five: I’m Not Surprised, You’re Surprised

  Chapter Six: Little Hellcats

  Chapter Seven: Paddle Play

  Chapter Eight: Keeping the Boys in Line

  Chapter Nine: Trouble Always Finds Us

  Chapter Ten: 0 For 2

  Chapter Eleven: Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off

  Chapter Twelve: Dick-Measuring Contest is On

  Chapter Thirteen: But You Don’t Even Have a Dick

  Chapter Fourteen: I Better Get Him Harder Than I Ever Have

  Chapter Fifteen: Numbers Are In And We Have a Winner!

  Chapter Sixteen: Benny’s Special-Order Donuts

  Chapter Seventeen: Family Night

  Chapter Eighteen: Nope, Not Churches

  Chapter Nineteen: Hey, I Know That Green Glow

  Chapter Twenty: Only Yoda Can Save Us Now

  Chapter Twenty-One: Uh, I Can Explain

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Bringing the Glow to Minnesota

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Things Turn Around

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Lingerie for the Win

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Here’s to Getting Lucky

  Chapter Twenty-Six: A Revelation

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Baby Fever

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Step Two

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Big Day

  Chapter Thirty: Married, At Last

  Epilogue: An Everlasting Love on Ice

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Destiny on Ice

  Copyright Notice

  Boys of Winter series

  Destiny on Ice

  Resistance on Ice

  Complications on Ice

  Caution on Ice

  Player on Ice

  Judge Me Not series

  I Stand Before You

  Never Doubt Me

  Just Let Me Love You

  The After of Us

  Inevitability duology

  Inevitable Detour

  Inevitable Circumstances

  Promises series

  Tomorrow’s Lies

  Today’s Promises

  A Harbour Falls Mystery trilogy

  Harbour Falls

  Willow Point

  Wickingham Way

  Laid Bare novella series

  Exposed: Laid Bare 1

  Unveiled: Laid Bare 2

  Spellbound: Laid Bare 3

  Sacrifice: Laid Bare 4

  You’re Squeezing It Too Hard, Dude!

  “For fuck’s sake, quit squeezing so damn hard, dude.”

  “Then make it stop moving around so much, Brent.”

  “I can’t. It has a mind of its own. You know that.”

  Nolan Solvenson, my best friend and teammate on the Las Vegas Wolves hockey team, huffs.

  Shit, it looks like he’s about to give up.

  But he can’t do that.

  The real fun is just beginning.

  I relax my body and lean back in the canoe we’re in. Maybe if I lighten up, he’ll do the same.

  With my newly adopted kicked-back position, and with a much more positive attitude, I say, “Of course, it’s going to twitch and squirm, Nolan. You can’t hold it in a damn death grip. Just grasp it firmly and confidently, my man.”

  Nolan readjusts his hand, grumbling the whole time.

  “Okay, okay, but I’m telling you that’s what I’ve been doing.”

  “No, it’s not,” I counter calmly. “Just look at how the tip is all plumped up over the top of your hand.”

  Observing what I’m referring to, Nolan relaxes his grip. “Crap. You’re right. Sorry, man.”

  “Ahh,” I murmur, “that’s much, much better. You’re finally getting the hang of it.”

  Rolling his russet brown eyes, clearly in irritation, he retorts, “Hey, I think I’m doing a damn good job, all things considered. This is my first time trying this, you know.”

  “I know, I know,” I reply as he begins to concentrate more intently on his task.

  I know I’ve lost him for a while. Nolan is like this with everything he does. He’s truly a perfectionist.

  I guess I am too, in a lot of ways.

  That’s what makes us such good hockey players and really great linemates. See, I’m the top line center with the Las Vegas Wolves, and Nolan plays on my right wing. That’s our line, along with left winger Benny Perry.

  Together, the three of us score a lot of goals…and have even more fun.

  Though I have to say, I’ve never had fun quite like this before with Nolan.

  Ah, there’s a first time for everything, though, right?

  Quietly, I watch Nolan as he finally gets the hang of what he needs to do in order to succeed at this endeavor.

  Finally, I murmur, “Mmm, you’re doing a fabulous job now.”

  “Thanks, Oliver.”

  Crap, he sounds dejected. I better throw him a bone, offer up some kind of support, or he may give up.

  “Hey,” I begin with my tempo and tone upbeat, “just remember you already caught one fish so far today. And really, who knows? Maybe there is something to be said for using worms practically smooshed to death as bait.”

  “Ha-ha,” Nolan deadpans since that’s what he’s been doing. “You’re a real funny guy, Oliver. I’m just following through on what you told me to try.”

  “Sure. Whatever you say,” I mutter, chuckling.

  Eh, it doesn’t matter. Despite Nolan’s heavy-handed method of baiting his hook, aka smashing the worms in the process, he’s had success fishing at my Minnesota lake house property this morning.

  He’s never done this before in his entire life, so hooking even one fish is something to be proud of.

  Wait, what did you think we were doing?

  Perverts!

  Nolan garners my attention when he hisses, “Yes!”

  He’s finally threaded a second nearly squeezed-to-death worm onto his hook. He baited his first line all by himself, as well, which was, surprisingly, the one that landed him a twenty-inch walleye.

  Too bad, even at that impressive length, it was still too small to keep.

  “It sucks that we had to throw my first catch back in,” Nolan says out-of-the-blue, unknowingly echoing my thoughts as he casts his line out over the pristine lake surface.

  I check my own line—no bites—and agree.

  “Yeah, I know. But those are the rules, my friend. We have to abide by the water regulations for shit like that. Minnesota has strict guidelines for fish limits, possessions, and keeper sizes. It blows, but it’s just the way it is.”

  Yeah, Nolan and I may be fishing on my own private lake, but I always follow the rules to the letter of the law.

  Correct that—I always follow the rules these days.

  There was a time not so long ago that I didn’t follow rules at all.

  Nope, I was Mr. Rule Breaker.

  But then shit got a little out of hand, and the team hired Aubrey Shelburne, life coach extraordinaire, to whip my ass back into shape.

  She did exactly that, and in the process we fell in love.

  That’s why I’m here today in the wilderness several miles outside Minneapolis. It’s a beautiful June morning, and Aubrey and I are getting married in a couple of weeks. The ceremony will be held in a white-steeple church in the quaint little town right
down the road.

  Nolan’s here to be my best man, which is perfect since Aubrey’s sister, Lainey, is the matron of honor. She happens to be married to Nolan.

  Speaking of our beautiful women… Aubrey and Lainey will be flying in to join us later this week—Saturday, to be exact.

  Nolan and I came up to the lake house early to get in some quality bro time.

  To kick things off, I asked him last night if he wanted to go fishing today. He claimed he was all in…until I told him what time we’d need to get up.

  Man, I really thought he might bail.

  “At dawn?” he exclaimed, looking none too happy.

  We were kicking back outside on the upper deck off from my living room, watching the fireflies and drinking beer.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” he went on.

  “Nope, sorry. I’m not. Early morning is when the fish are biting, my man.”

  “Shit, Brent. It’s bad enough when we have to get up at ungodly hours for hockey practice. But this is the off-season and I’m enjoying sleeping in, thank you very much.”

  “Hey, I’m no early riser either,” I replied, laughing. “But the fish don’t care about our sleeping habits. We need to get our asses out on the lake early if we want to have any luck.”

  He sighed. “Hmm, I don’t know if this country living is for me. But, what the hell, I’ll give it a go.”

  I was surprised he relented so easily, as Nolan Solvenson really is a city guy at heart.

  That’s okay. He’s taking to rural life just fine now.

  But he sure wasn’t this morning.

  Despite having warned him that we’d be waking up extremely early, he was none too pleased when I sauntered into his bedroom at the ass crack of dawn.

  It didn’t help matters that, like a moose in heat, I bellowed, “Rise and shine, motherfucker. It’s time to go reel us in some whoppers.”

  “Whopper this, Oliver,” he grumbled, grabbing his junk.

  In no way deterred by his belligerence, I volleyed back, “Fuck off, Solvenson.”

  Barefoot, I padded over to a big-ass window facing eastward, right in the line of the sun coming up over the horizon, and yanked on the shade.

  Up it went, not only making one hell of a clatter, but also allowing the bright morning light to blast right in on Nolan.

  Covering his eyes, he yelled, “What the hell? Do you have a death wish, Oliver?”

  I just laughed. “Christ, you sure are one mean prick in the morning. I don’t know how poor Lainey stands you.”

  “Pfft,” he retorted, chuckling, “maybe she just knows the right way to wake me.”

  “Yeah, well…” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not doing that. And thanks, by the way. That is so not a visual of my soon-to-be sister-in-law that I care to have stuck in my head all day.”

  “Speak for yourself,” he murmured. “I find it a rather inspiring visual.”

  “I bet you do. And just for that…” I popped up the shade of another window and was promptly met with more death threats.

  “No, no, you don’t want to kill me, Solvenson,” I said.

  Rolling onto his back, and covering his face with his forearm, he muttered, “Oh yeah? Why not?”

  “First,” I ticked off, “Aubrey would definitely seek revenge. And it wouldn’t be your life that was in danger—it’d be your balls.”

  “Fuck.” He lowered his hand to cover his nads. “Lainey wouldn’t like that one bit.”

  “Exactly,” I concurred. “That’d most definitely have the sisters fighting. And since I’d be dead, you’d have to deal with the two of them all on your own.”

  Nolan shuddered. “Jesus, say no more.”

  “So I get to live?”

  “If it means I only have to deal with one Shelburne woman at a time, then yes, your life is no longer in danger.”

  “Phew.” I blew out a faux relieved breath, complete with a dramatic forehead swipe.

  The Shelburne sisters can be a handful sometimes, but you know what?

  Neither Nolan, nor I, would have it any other way.

  Aubrey is hot and sexy and keeps me on my toes. And from what Nolan tells me, Lainey does the same for him.

  Nolan sat up in bed then and scrubbed his hand down the dark scruff on his face.

  “So we’re really going fishing today, eh?” he asked.

  “You told me you wanted to try it,” I reminded him. “And since there’s a lake conveniently located right outside…”

  “Okay,” he relented. “Let’s go do this.”

  So that’s how we got to where we are right now—floating around in a canoe on the lake, lines cast out, waiting for another bite.

  I’m actually glad Nolan didn’t back out. This lake is brimming with walleye, trout, and bass. It’d be a shame to let a good fishing opportunity go to waste.

  Before Aubrey, I never even thought to do constructive shit like this. The only thing I ever did on this lake was take girls out in the canoe so I could fuck them on the water.

  Jesus, I’m glad those days are over.

  It was fun for a while, sure, but in the end I was heading nowhere fast.

  This was all a couple of summers ago—pre-Aubrey, of course.

  Nolan and my other linemate, Benny Perry, were up here at the lake house. All three of us were a bit of a mess back then, spending most of our time simply partying. We never went fishing that summer, not once. We were too busy getting drunk and screwing puck bunnies.

  Glad that’s all over now. The three of us have settled down and put our hard-partying ways behind us. Not only am I with Aubrey and Nolan with Lainey, but Benny, the biggest partier of us all, is himself in a serious relationship, with a woman named Eliza.

  She has a cute baby, Ava, whom Benny adores. The fact that Ava is a child from another man has never deterred him from pursuing—and then committing to—her.

  He’s just a great guy like that.

  I think that’s why Coach Townsend, who happens to be Eliza’s father, didn’t murder my big lug of a teammate once their relationship came to light.

  Good thing he didn’t, seeing as Benny is an integral part of the team.

  Big Benny will actually be joining us here at the lake house later tonight. Nolan and I couldn’t leave him out of our no-women-allowed bro fest. Hell no!

  I sigh as I think about the days ahead. This truly is our last hurrah before the wedding. Not that we have anything wild planned, since, like I said before, we’re all real mellow now.

  Then again, who knows?

  When the three of us are left to our own devices, anything can happen.

  Maybe we’re not so mellow, after all.

  After adjusting my line once more, I remark to Nolan, “It’s good to be up here at the lake house once again, isn’t it? Kind of like old times.”

  “It is,” he agrees. “This place is pretty fucking awesome.”

  “You’re not kidding, man.”

  For as much as I adore Las Vegas, where Aubrey and I make our home during the hockey season, I just fucking love Minnesota. It will always be my true home. My family still live here, and I grew up not too far from where we’re at right now.

  I guess that’s why I was elated when Aubrey suggested we get married in this little town outside Minneapolis. She told me it felt right because we had met at the lake house, which is a whole other story unto itself.

  I chuckle at that memory, and Nolan asks, “What’s so funny, Brent?”

  Still smiling, I reply, “I was just remembering how Aubrey and I first met.”

  Nolan, thinking it over for a sec, says, “It was at that end-of-summer party we had, right? That was our final blowout before training camp started that year.”

  “It was,” I confirm. “And, yep, that’s when Aubrey and I met. But, man, she and I sure hated each other at first.”

  “Dude, how could that be? She woke up in your bed the next morning.”

  I laugh. “Yeah, that’s part of the reason wh
y she hated me.”

  As Nolan fidgets with his line, he says, “Eh, it doesn’t matter now. You two have come a long way since then.”

  I blow out a breath and have to agree, “Yeah, we sure have.”

  Nolan asks what time it is, so I grab my phone so I can check.

  “Uh, looks like it’s almost seven,” I tell him, squinting to see the screen in the sunlight.

  Nodding thoughtfully, he says, “That means it’s about 5:00 out in Vegas.”

  “Hey, wait,” I interject, “I just remembered Aubrey’s bachelorette party was last night. Wonder if she, Lainey, and the girls are still out on the town.”

  Nolan chuffs, “No way, man. I don’t know about the other girls, but we, my friend, have our women satisfied and tamed.” He puffs out his chest, all masculine-like. “Guaranteed, Aubrey and Lainey had maybe one or two drinks, gossiped and giggled with their friends for an hour or so, and then wrapped up the party by midnight.”

  Jesting, I say, “So you don’t think they’re out partying in the wee hours of the night with a bunch of male strippers?”

  We look at each other and burst out laughing.

  “Yeah”—I nod—“no fucking way are they still out on the town.”

  “Nope,” Nolan concurs. “In fact, scratch what I said earlier. I bet they were back home and in bed by eleven.”

  “Definitely.”

  While I imagine my beautiful Aubrey fast asleep in the big bed we share in our Las Vegas home, probably dreaming about our upcoming nuptials, Nolan calls out, “Hey, I think I got a bite.”

  Take it Off! Take it All Off!

  “Ooh, baby, take it off! Take it all off!”

  That’s not me screaming to the hot, nearly naked man up on the stage.

  Nope, it’s Lainey, my wild and crazy younger sister.

  Her long raven hair flies in my face as she starts doing her best heavy-metal head swing, chanting once more, “Take your clothes off, baby. Take…them…off.”

  Yep, it may be almost five in the morning out here in Sin City, but my bachelorette party is still going strong. Wonder what our men, Brent and Nolan, are doing in Minnesota right about now?

  I bet they’re sleeping.

  Hell, that’s what I’d be doing at this hour under normal circumstances. But my party is far from “normal circumstances.” I knew we were in for a long night from the very beginning. Shit, we didn’t even start the festivities till around midnight, kicking it off with a full-course dinner, followed by drinks at an after-hours club.