Page 63 of Game Misconduct

Either way, Team USA was damn good, but not quite ready to beat the longtime champs from Canada yet, apparently. It had been a much closer game than anyone had anticipated and most of them believed that with a slight shift in luck they would have pulled it off.

After post-game stuff and media, Team USA had gone out to dinner as a group. It hadn’t been sad at all and between Tanner and Matty, they’d had guys laughing over drinks in no time.

Dinner had led to a trip to the bar, and it had been late but not crazy late when Tanner got back to the hotel. He’d texted Leif once he was back in his room and he’d come over. Tanner had been hoping for sex, but Leif had taken one look at him, snorted, and said, “no fucking way.”

They’d ended up cuddled in bed, talking until Tanner passed out.

This morning, they’d managed some nice lazy handjobs under the covers before Leif went back to his room to pack and have breakfast with the remaining Nordic Team guys. He had a few hours to relax before he got a ride to the airport and flew home to New York.

Tanner would head back to Boston, but his flight was a few hoursafterLeif’s.

Now, as Tanner dried off and tossed the towel on the vanity—where it promptly slid to the floor—he smiled.

It had been a great tournament all around. He was psyched to have been invited and played well. Not perfectly. There was always shit to learn and ways to get better, but that was half of the fun, right?

Tanner wandered naked into his room, stopping when he spotted a takeout cup of coffee and what looked like a breakfast sandwich on the desk.

He hurried over, smiling when he saw there was a note in neat, perfect writing.Thought you might need this. -Leif

Ohh,thatwas why Leif had left, then come back to the room while Tanner was still in the shower. He’d assumed Leif had forgotten something. But that was more Tanner’s thing, really.

“I might be a little bit in love with you right now, Princess,” Tanner muttered to himself, then laughed because he could just imagine the face Leif would make if he said that to him.

Leif wouldn’t get that Tanner didn’t mean it that way. He totally lovedeveryonehe hooked up with a tiny bit. Or, like, felt like they had a special place in his heart anyway, even if the details of their hookups blurred together after a while.

It wasn’t true love. Not the kind that Jesse and Connor had or Rafe and Mickey, or Graham and Thad had. Not the way his mom loved his stepdad, Jeff, and he loved her back.

But, like … squishy heart feelings that might not mean forever but definitely meant something good in the moment.

Today, as Tanner drank the coffee and crammed the egg, ham, and cheese breakfast sandwich in his mouth, he had extra big squishy heart feelings for Leiffor sure.

I needed that,he thought as he tossed the empty containers toward the trash can. The cup went in, the crumpled wrapper bounced out to land on the carpet.Meh, close enough.

Fortified, he got dressed, did his hair, and even remembered to grab his phone and key card before he left for the team meeting/breakfast.

When Tanner walked into the meeting room, he was psyched to see that there was a breakfast buffet laid out and he wasn’t even the last one to show up for it.

Tanner loaded his plate with food for his second breakfast, got more coffee, then sat down at an empty spot. Next to him, Trevor Underhill sat with the hood of his sweatshirt up, sunglasses on, and a cup of coffee clutched in his hand.

Tanner snickered. “Rough morning?”

“So rough. Forgot the electrolytes. Wade’s gonna kill me,” he muttered.

Grinning, Tanner took a big bite of pancakes. “You’re not a very good influence on your stepson.”

“Wade and I aren’t married,” Trevor pointed out.

“You’re still the dad whostepped up.”

Trevor threw a balled-up napkin at him. “Are you seriously quoting that ‘I’m not the stepdad but the dad that stepped up’ shit at me?”

“Well, it’s true right?”

“I guess. Wade’s partner bailed before they even got Brayden home from the hospital and he’s a teenager now so I’m not sure that really applies to us.”

Tanner shrugged. “You’re still helping Wade raise him, right? You’re a family.”

“Yeah. Of course. I mean, I do my best with Brayden.” He set his coffee cup down and rubbed his forehead. “Not so great today, but …”