Trick Shot: A Spicy Christmas Novella (Brother Puckers Book 1)
Trick Shot: Chapter 20

Riley is more beautiful than I remember. I’m not sure how that’s possible, since I thought my memory did a pretty good job at capturing her. But now that I’m seeing her in person again, this woman could easily bring me to my knees right in this middle of this bar.

Her pine eyes bounce between Jace and me.

“Hi, Shortcake,” I say, giving her a small smile.

She still doesn’t say anything, her mouth pressed in a hard line while her sister sits grinning next to her. They look similar with round features and green eyes. If I didn’t know they were sisters, it would be hard to miss that they’re related. I swallow the lump in my throat as I watch Riley, questions she wants answered written across her face. I’ll answer them all if she’ll let me, but in private.

The moment I walked into this dime-a-dozen bar, I felt eyes on me. The patrons all think I’m Lucas; of that, I have no doubt. But I didn’t make eye contact with anyone, just searched for Riley’s strawberry-blonde hair and made a beeline to her booth with Jace in tow.

When Riley continues to not make a sound or any movement, for that matter, Jace reaches for my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. The gesture finally seems to break Riley from her shock, and her eyes lock on our joined hands. I don’t miss how her gaze softens, or the slight upturn of her pouty lips. I’ve held Jace’s hand before, but never in a crowded bar in my hometown, the very hometown that Lucas plays hockey in. I’m sure the men staring have already been taking pictures. I make a mental note to text Lucas to let him know his publicist should be aware so they can get ahead of the stories that I’m sure will pop up in the tabloids tomorrow.

A clearing of a throat has me looking at her sister. She nudges Riley in the arm. “Are you going to say something, Ri? Because I’m dying from the sexual tension.”

Jace lets out a small laugh, his hazel eyes shining.

“You must be Riley’s sister,” he says.

She half stands, reaching across the booth so she can shake his hand. “The one and only. I’m Stevie, and you must be Jace. My sister’s Khal Drogo fantasy come to life. Nice work, Sis.”

Riley’s pink blush colors her cheeks in full force. I have bite back a laugh as Jace aims a simmering look in her direction. If all goes to plan tonight, I foresee some roleplay in our future.

Stevie nudges her sister again, and Riley finally speaks. “What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jace’s deep voice rumbles. “We’re here to get our girl.”

I think Stevie makes an aww sound, but I’m too lost in Riley’s reaction. Her breathing picks up, and her pupils dilate. She’s definitely thinking of our night together and of what we did Christmas morning. I know because I’m thinking about it too.

“How did you find me?” she questions.

Stevie sighs dramatically, flipping her long brown hair that’s the same wavy texture as Riley’s over her shoulder. “Is that really what you care about right now, Ri? This is like a big romantic gesture out of a movie. But if you must know, they showed up at the house and Dad told them where we were. I just saw the text from him while you were at the bar that said they were coming. You left your phone at home, or Dad would’ve texted you. Now, stop asking questions, and kiss them, or something.”

Riley looks mortified at Stevie’s words, and while I very much appreciate that she’s on Team Throuple, I step in. “You left your work ID at my place with your last name and email. I may have called in a few favors with some tech friends to find out where your parents live. Your dad probably gave up your location way too easily by the way, but I have to say I’m glad he did. We need to talk to you, Riley.”

Jace clears his throat to chime in. “What Leo wants to say is, will you give us a chance to make this better? To talk everything through?”

I grip Jace’s hand harder as Riley’s gaze penetrates us. I have the desire to shy away from the intensity of it. It’s like she’s staring into our souls, trying to figure out if we mean what we say. But neither Jace nor I look away; instead, we stare back.

After what seems like forever, but is probably a few seconds, she finally nods in agreement, and I let out a breath of relief.

“Not here.” I glance behind me at the people staring. “We have a room at the hotel down the street.”

She looks confused again, and I can’t help but smile. “It wasn’t intentional, but I guess the universe wants us to talk. We booked that room before we knew you were here.”

“But my sister—”

“I’m fine, Ri,” Stevie says, grinning. “I’ll take the car and you can Uber home tomorrow.”

Fuck, I already love Stevie.

“Are you sure, Stevie?” Riley asks.

She stands, sliding out of the booth. “Positive. Who am I to get in the way of love?”

Her words have the three of us all blooming in color.

When she’s in front of us, she stands at her full height and points a finger at us. She’s not tall like Riley, maybe 5’5” at most, but she’s intimidating.

“Don’t make me regret this. I know how to make rumors go viral.” She snaps her fingers, and I flinch. “Like that.”

Riley abruptly stands, tugging on her coat as she makes her way out of the booth to end her sister’s frightening threats.

“Okay, Stevie. I’ll see you at home.”

“Have fun.” She winks. Then she’s darting out of the bar, leaving the three of us and a packed room full of Seattle Stormbreaker fans.

Jace looks wearily over his shoulder. “We should probably head out before this turns into an autograph and picture signing.”

Riley cringes. Out of all the places in the world, she had to be at a sports bar in downtown Seattle.

“Good idea.” I hold out my hand to Riley, and to my surprise, she doesn’t hesitate to take it.

When our palms touch, it feels like one of those rom-com movies where the character gets zapped by a spark. The touch of her smooth hand in mine and Jace’s rough one in the other has my body ablaze. It feels so fucking right. I’m broken out of my stupor by some drunk yelling that he didn’t know Lucas McKnight was into such kinky shit.

Riley squeezes my hand. “Let’s go,” she says.

She tugs at me and we start to move through the bar, which has only gotten more crowded since we walked in. Some people have their phones out, and others look like they want to ask for an autograph. When a guy approaches us, Riley grips my hand and holds her free one up in a stop gesture.

“I’m sorry, but we won’t be doing any pictures tonight. We’re on our way to a family event,” she tells him, her voice kind but strong. Fuck, that was hot. I wonder if she’s ever considered being a celebrity publicist. She’d be great at it. It would also get her away from Chad, which thrills me.

Once we’re free of the curious crowd and walking into the frigid winter air, I finally take in a frozen breath. “Thanks for that, Shortcake. It was impressive.”

“It was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing to me.” I squeeze her hand. “Now let’s get to the room before we freeze to death.”

A similar look of awe like the first time she saw the inside of my penthouse washes over Riley’s face as she takes in the honeymoon suite of the hotel. It’s massive, with white and gold accents throughout the space. There’s also complimentary champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries on the king-sized bed for “the happy couple,” as the man told Jace and me when we checked in.

I have to admit it was nice he thought we’d just got married. And the fact that the idea of marrying him didn’t scare me shows how much everything has changed since we met Riley. I feel like a totally different person. The only thing that will make everything perfect is Riley’s forgiveness.

“You went all out, didn’t you?” she asks.

“It was the only room we could find open,” I say.

Jace chuffs. “Be real, baby. Even if this wasn’t the only room left, you still would’ve gotten the best room they had.”

My body heats. “Okay, that may be true.”

Jace grins and takes his coat off, draping it over the back of a chair. “Would anyone like a drink?” he asks.

“Yes, please,” Riley and I answer at the same time. It makes the three of us laugh and breaks some of the tension.

“Let’s sit,” I say, taking my own coat off and grabbing hers. When we’re seated on the couch, Riley a respectable distance away from me, I have to stop myself from pulling her to me like I would have the other night.

For a brief time we sit in silence, Riley twiddling her thumbs as we wait for Jace with our drinks. I hate that we went from being able to easily talk to acting like strangers. I just hope we can fix it.

“Here you are,” Jace says, handing Riley some of the champagne. “And for you.” He gives me the other glass before sitting down on the other side of Riley.

Riley thanks him, then takes small sip, her nose scrunching cutely from the tickle of bubbles. After taking a drink, I place my glass down on the coffee table and face her. I’m nervous, but with Jace here, his warm gaze safe and encouraging, I know that no matter what, it’s going to be okay.

After a deep breath, I open my mouth to speak, but Riley beats me to it. “I’m sorry,” she blurts out.

Jace and I look at her, confused.

“What are you sorry for, Riley?” I ask. “None of this was your fault.”

Riley bites her lower lip. “Maybe so, but I think I may have overreacted a bit.” She leans back just enough so she can address Jace. “You were right to ask me to stay and talk everything through instead of leaving.”

“Riley,” he starts, but she shakes her head.

“At the time, I was just too upset to think straight. And honestly, I think I got a little scared. Christmas Eve was…” She looks off into space for a moment, remembering. “It was intense, wonderful, eye-opening. Finding out you both lied just set me off, made all my trauma from Chad come up.” She lets out a sad huff that has my chest aching.

“You didn’t overreact, Riley,” Jace says, his voice like a soothing balm. “While we wish you would’ve stayed, we should’ve told you the truth from the beginning. It was wrong of us.”

Riley picks at invisible lint on her black leggings. “It hurt. To know you’d both kept that secret after what we shared together. I felt—feel—like an idiot.”

Fuck. I’m an asshole. A big one.

“No, no, no, Riley,” I try to reassure her, “you’re not an idiot. If anyone is, it’s definitely me. This is ultimately my doing. I should be the only one that feels like an idiot here.”

“Actually, I think Chad is the real idiot,” Jace adds.

She smiles at him, a breathy laugh leaving her lips. “He really is.”

I scoot closer to her on the couch, my body angled toward her so our knees touch. When she doesn’t move away, I do an internal fist pump. So I take it one step further and take her hand. That spark happens again, and my heart thumps in my chest.

“You were always honest with us, and we should’ve been honest with you,” I say. “Regardless of how our evening started at the airport, I should’ve known from the second we all met that you were never going to be a one-night stand, Riley.”

She sucks in a sharp breath, and I squeeze her fingers tighter while Jace places a hand on her back. The gesture is hopefully letting her know that he thinks the same as well. ‘Jace and I talked after you left. He knocked some sense into me.”

I give Jace a quick glance, and he answers with a warm smile—one that makes my heart race. “I’ve come to realize a couple of things since Christmas Eve. One of which is that I’ve been an oblivious idiot. Jace and I are together, together now. No more bullshit and pretending otherwise.”

Riley’s face brightens. “About time.”

“Damn straight.” Jace winks at her.

I want to roll my eyes at their antics, but I don’t. I brush my thumb over Riley’s knuckles, and she turns her attention back to me.

I continue, “The other is that I’ve been selfish. I didn’t want to disappoint you. You thought I was Lucas, and while it was meant to be harmless at the time, I realize that me not revealing the truth came from shit I’ve been dealing with my whole life. It has nothing to do with you, Riley. I was wrong for not admitting that I’m just me. I’m Leo.”

A thoughtful quiet settles around us. My words, I’m Leo, hanging in the air.

Riley shifts, taking her hand from mine to bring it to my jaw. She strokes the stubble that’s formed there, then runs her finger along my ear. My whole body quivers at her touch, and I do my best to keep my cock from perking up. This is a serious moment, but it’s also my Shortcake touching me. My body has already learned to crave her sweetness.

“I like Leo,” she murmurs. “I like him a lot. I couldn’t give two shits about you being a famous hockey player or an actor. I wanted to go home with you because you made me feel good. I felt safe enough to put my well-being in your hands for the night.” She glances at Jace, then offers her free hand to him, which he gladly takes. “And yours, Jace.” When she looks back at me, there’s a seriousness in her eyes that conveys to me the importance of what she’s saying. “I don’t care who you are or what you do for a living, Leo. I care that you’re a good person. That I can trust you.”

“You can trust me. You can trust us,” I reassure her. “Everything that happened was a stupid mistake born from my insecurities. I can’t promise mistakes won’t happen again. A relationship with three people, two of which are men, is bound to have mistakes, but I promise you can trust us, Riley. I swear it.”

Jace kisses her hand. “I do too.”

Riley casts a look between us. That familiar energy that we had on Christmas Eve sparks in the air, making it heavy and laced with need.

“You both want a relationship with me?” she asks timidly.

Jace and I grin stupidly at each other.

“If you’ll have us,” I say.

She lets out a sound of disbelief. “This is insane, you both know that? We all just met. You two have a history and I’m, I don’t even know!”

Jace scoots over so he’s practically plastered to Riley, then he brings one of his fingers up to tease her ear before he tugs on the lobe, causing her to shiver.

“We don’t care if it’s insane. We like you, Riley,” he says in a husky voice.

“We more than like you,” I add, my gaze burning into hers as I move even closer to her.

Riley rests her hand on my chest right over my heart. “It’s not going to be easy,” she whispers.

“I don’t like easy,” I say, putting my hand over hers. “Jace and I are hard workers. We go after what we want and we put in the time to do it. If you’re not ready to be ours, Riley, then we’ll wait. We’ll do what it takes, but we want you in our lives. Whatever way you’ll have us.”

Jace kisses her shoulder and says, “We can go slow,” the double meaning of his words turning up the heat in the room. Fuck, I think I’m starting to sweat.

Riley turns her face toward his so their lips are almost touching. My cock pushes against the placket of my jeans, and I lick my lips in anticipation as I watch them.

“And if I don’t want to go slow?” she asks breathlessly.

A groan escapes my lips as Riley’s hand starts to move down my chest toward my growing erection.

“We’ll take you however you want to go, beautiful.” Jace brushes his lips against hers, but before they can kiss, Riley pulls away, leaving him wanting.

“Under one condition,” she says.

“Anything,” Jace and I say together.

“No more lies. Even if they hurt. Even if we’re scared. For this to work, we can’t lie. Not about our feelings, what’s going on in our lives. From this moment on, we tell the truth. It’s not just my heart involved here, it’s three.”

I sit up a little straighter as her words settle in. She really is going to give us a chance. This beautiful, smart, unicorn of a woman is going to give us a chance. I feel like the luckiest asshole on the planet.

“No more lies,” I say, my tone sure.

“No more lies,” Jace agrees.

Riley surveys us quietly before the corners of her lips turn up.

“No more lies,” she echoes.

The promise of our words settles in like we’ve just signed a binding contract.

Then, I’m not sure who moves first. All at once we’re a pile of limbs and hands as we come together. I feel Riley’s lips on mine, then Jace’s. There are hands on my cock then moving inside my sweater as Riley’s shirt is thrown somewhere on the floor.

My mind tries to catch up to the feelings my body is experiencing, but I’m lost in soft moans, heated breaths, and warm skin. My cock leaks as Jace’s rough hands work with Riley’s delicate ones to tease and touch me in every place possible.

At some point we move to the bedroom, and there’s no words, just sounds of pleasure as we explore and taste each other till my hard length is encased in Riley’s heat like before and I can hear the snap of a lube cap as her breasts plaster to my chest. Jace inserts his cock and Riley cries in pleasure against my shoulder.

Then we’re moving and kissing and making promises of what’s to come and how nothing has ever felt so right before. I feel the ridges of Jace’s cock moving against mine and he’s whispering words of love in my ear that has me pulsing my come inside Riley’s sex as she shatters and squeezes me with her own release, one so strong that it has Jace following right behind her.

I’m not sure how long the whole thing lasts, but as we cuddle together on a hotel bed in the honeymoon suite of a random hotel in downtown Seattle, I know one thing is for sure.

Santa did me a solid this Christmas.

Ho, ho, fucking, ho.