Not Practice

He has sat beside the man for two seasons. The first time he says so, the answer is no.

Joey Ruggiero is twenty-nine, six months divorced from a wife he still likes, and staying behind in Anchorage while the rest of the Frost fly south for the All-Star break. Five empty days, and nowhere left to file the want his divorce finally let surface.

Duncan MacNeil has wanted Joey for exactly those two seasons, and has been somebodys "trying it" before. So he says no, flatly and kindly. He will not be anybodys experiment.

Joey stops asking. He just shows up: an outdoor skate, pie on the Old Seward, a dinner he cooks badly, the true story of a marriage nobody lied in. By Friday night, Duncan lets him in.

Then Joey makes one careless joke, and Duncan gets ready to walk into Mondays practice as if the five days never happened.

The team plane is already in the air. Joey has one night to say it plainly.

Teammates to lovers, a first time with a man, high heat and a guaranteed HEA. An Anchorage Frost standalone. Perfect for fans of Rachel Reid and Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy.