Page 21 of The Goalie in Room 1

It couldn’t be…right?

It really couldn’t…be.

I…

I didn’t…shit.

I did.

I just called the fucking doctor I’d spent months trying to get a referral to a silver fox.

After blatantly flirting with the man.

And accusing him of drooling over me.

Even though he had been.

And…oh God. I called him Daddy.

I called Dr. Thaddeus Vale, world-renowned surgeon, a silver fox Daddy. If the man staring at me from across the bar hadn’t made me blush enough, the utterly epic mortification had definitely ratcheted the red up enough to melt the fucking ice off a hockey rink in January. In fucking Foxwarren.

“Dr. Thaddeus Vale?” I asked. “You’re him?”

The good doctor’s brows lifted. He looked between me and…fuck…his brother before looking back at me. “Uh…yes, I’m Dr. Vale.”

“Thad, this is Cash Benjamin. He’s the new guy I mentioned when I texted you earlier.”

“Cash Benjamin, the goalie?” Dr. Vale asked, glancing between us again.

Wait. He knows who I am? How does he know who I am? The man’s a world-renowned surgeon who operates on the best of the best. How the hell would he know who I am? Compared to who he normally treats, I’m a nobody.

Dr. Vale shook his head. If he intended to rid himself of his shell-shocked expression, he failed. Before I could gather myself enough to answer him that yes, I am Cash Benjamin, the goalie, he looked back at Aaron and said, “Wait? What text?”

“I messaged you that there was a new guy at Halo House.” Aaron took out his phone, tapped the screen, then said, “Oh, you never responded, so I guess you never read the message.”

I cleared my throat and held out my hand. “Dr. Vale. Cash Benjamin. And yes, I’m a goalie. Most recently, with the Headland Cove Breakers.”

“That explains it.”

“Explains what?”

His eyes dropped.

Not to my dick—which, rude, considering the way he’d been staring at me ten minutes ago. The not-so-little guy deserved attention too, since he’d been twitching in my pants. Something he’d not done much of since before I took the ice in that last game.

No. His gaze bypassed my crotch and dropped lower.

To my fucking leg.

“Eyes up here, Doc.” I hated when people stared at my leg. At least I didn’t still wear the full leg brace. That thing really drew people’s gazes.

He cocked his head, his eyes fluttering as he looked my leg up and down, then met my gaze. “You’ve been keeping your weight off your right side since you walked over here.”

Well.

Fuck.

“You noticed that?” I asked, baffled that he⁠—