Back Check.

by Kelly Jamieson.

Chapter 1.

Aw, f.u.c.k no.

Tanner tried to keep the horror from showing on his face. He guzzled some of his beer, then carefully set it down on the table in the Sin Bin, where he was sitting with three of his teammates and buddies. "Say what?"

Marc Dupuis, also known as Super Duper, captain of the Chicago Aces, grinned. "I want you to stand up with me as one of my groomsmen. Army's my best man," Duper referred to their teammate Duncan Armstrong, also sitting with them. "And I want you, Rupper, and Hughie to stand up with us."

Tanner swallowed. "Well. Sure. I'd be honored."

He'd rather be f.u.c.ked sideways with a hockey stick, but obviously he couldn't say that.

He'd been to way too many weddings in his life and not a f.u.c.king single one of them had resulted in a lasting marriage. Including his own. Not that he was a superst.i.tious guy-oh h.e.l.l, who was he kidding, he was mega-superst.i.tious-but it could almost make him think he was a jinx.

"But are you sure?" he asked cautiously. "Just gonna put this out there-any wedding I've ever been part of has ended up in divorce. Or..." Gah. He stopped short of saying "or death." Because their teammate Max Hall had lost his young wife to cancer last year. n.o.body wanted to be reminded of that, and Tanner sure as h.e.l.l didn't want Duper to think that his and Lovey's marriage would end with Lovey dying of cancer.

Jesus. Morbid much?

Tanner shook off the negative thoughts. This was his friend and it really was an honor to be asked to be in the wedding party.

"What are you saying?" Duper narrowed his eyes and exchanged glances with Army. "You're a curse?"

Tanner wasn't the only superst.i.tious one. Hockey players were notoriously superst.i.tious. He forced a laugh. "Ha-ha. n.o.body believes that, right? It's just coincidence."

A worried crease appeared between Duper's eyebrows.

"Hey, I'm just kidding around. It'll be great. And you and Lovey are going to live happily ever after."

Duper nodded slowly.

"Please tell me I'll be paired up with a hot bridesmaid."

One corner of Duper's mouth lifted. "Amber."

She was hot, but she was also Army's girlfriend. "Well, s.h.i.t."

Army grinned. "Yeah, she's hot. But she's mine. Just remember that."

Tanner may have a reputation as a player, but he'd never screw around with a buddy's woman. Ever.

"Lovey was all stressed about whether Amber should be the maid of honor, since Army's the best man, but she couldn't do that to her best friend from back home in Wisconsin, so..." Duper shrugged. "Whatever. Her friend Jillian is also a bridesmaid and her cousin Kendra."

"Is her cousin hot?"

"Um, sure. She's pretty. I only met her once."

Yeah, he knew what that meant. "Jillian's pretty."

"This wedding isn't being planned to hook you up with chicks," Duper said, pointing at him.

Tanner laughed. "Yeah, yeah, but wedding hookups are the best part of weddings. Just sayin'."

"Well, I guess you can hook up with Jillian or Kendra, if you want." Duper grimaced. "But don't do it, like, during the ceremony or...Actually, it's probably a bad idea overall. Lovey wants this wedding to be perfect."

"Of course she does." Tanner knew only too well how chicks got all invested in the wedding. His ex-wife had probably been the worst. Talk about bridezilla. He still felt his nuts shrivel every time he thought of how much money they'd spent on a G.o.dd.a.m.n horse-drawn carriage, the Plaza Hotel in New York, and the f.u.c.king ten-thousand-dollar dress Presley wore exactly once.

Six months later they were divorced.

Ah, that was history. He never wanted to think about Presley again.

"Fine," he said. "No wedding hookups for me. I'll just be grateful it's you and not me getting tied down. I plan to keep my options open and my freedom intact. Forever."

Army lifted an eyebrow. "Sounds kinda lonely."

Tanner laughed. "I'm not lonely. I have plenty of female company."

Duper and Army exchanged a sad look, as if they were sorry for him. He scowled. "What?"

Duper shrugged. "Hookups are one thing. Life without love is kind of empty."

Tanner stared at his teammates incredulously. "Seriously? You're getting all sappy and philosophical? That's what love does to you?"

Duper grinned. "One day it'll happen. You'll find someone and, bam, that'll be it."

"Not gonna happen." He knew from experience what a bad idea it was to get emotionally attached to someone.

"Sure. Whatever." Duper and Army exchanged another glance, then Duper left to hit the men's room.

Army leaned over. "f.u.c.k," he said. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do as best man."

Tanner shrugged. "Yeah, there's a bunch of s.h.i.t you'll need to take care of."

"Like what? Christ. The only time I was in a wedding party was Hallsy's wedding in Barbados. That was just a weeklong party on the beach. This is my best buddy and my sister getting married." He scrubbed a hand over his face. "Still hard to believe."

"It'll be fine. Lovey'll make sure you know what needs to be done."

"She's hired some hotshot wedding planner to organize things. She'll probably be following us around with a whip and a bunch of lists. She's going to make me feel like an idiot."

Tanner grinned. Army wasn't the most sophisticated guy in the world, despite living in Chicago for...a bunch of years. But he was a true, loyal friend and teammate.

"Hey, I've been to a few weddings. I got your back, man. Don't worry." He clapped a hand on Army's shoulder.

"Like how many weddings?"

"Well, I wasn't there the first time my parents got married-" He paused as Army barked out a laugh. "But they each got married three more times after they divorced each other."

"Jesus."

"I know, right? My dad made me best man every time. Then I was best man at Rich Koslowsky's wedding." One of his New York teammates. "And stood up with Hallsy. And then there was my own." He rolled his eyes.

"That was before I knew you."

"Yeah, I was still in New York then."

Duper slid back onto a stool. "Still in New York when?"

"When I got married. Let's not talk about that. You're the happy groom-to-be now."

Duper grinned. "Whatever. It's still months away. Man, you have to plan these things far ahead."

"The wedding is happening here, isn't it? Not in Quebec?"

"Nah, it's here. Although my mom would love to have the wedding at eglise du Tres-Saint-Sacrement."

"Huh?"

Duper grinned. "Our church." He lifted a chin at Army. "Your mom wanted it to be back in Wisconsin. So the compromise is, we have it here. It's not that far for your family. And I'll fly my family in."

"My little sister's getting married." Army shook his head. "I hope you know what you're in for."

Duper rolled his eyes. "I think I do, yeah."

"I'm kidding. It's weird...for once I think she's got her head on straight."

"You don't give her enough credit," Duper said with a frown. "She's always had her head on straight."

"You didn't grow up with her."

"No, I didn't. I don't have the same history with her as you do. But she's all grown up now. She's running a successful business, she's the one who organizes the Aces Ladies, and she's doing a bunch of volunteer stuff with that women's shelter and the Aces Foundation. You need to get over the fact that she may have made impulsive decisions in the past and recognize who she is now."

"Whoa." Army frowned at his friend. "I just said I think she's got her head on straight. No need to go all offensive defenseman."

Tanner grinned, watching Duper defend his fiancee to her brother. The Armstrong siblings were hilarious. They loved to chirp at each other, but you could tell they were actually pretty close. Tanner didn't have any siblings, which had kind of sucked growing up, especially since his homes had had revolving doors for the step-parents and step-siblings who'd come and gone. He didn't even know what a real, normal family life was like. And his first attempt to make his own family had been an epic fail.

Yeah, he was pretty experienced at weddings. Marriage and family was a whole other issue, though. And he was never going there again.

His attention shifted to the guy who'd just walked into the bar. "f.u.c.k," he muttered. "What's he doing here?"

Rupper, Army, and Duper all turned to look. Ryan Kirby had just walked in.

"He's probably here to have a beer with his teammates," Rupper said evenly.

Tanner swallowed a growl. Kirby annoyed him. There was something about the dude that chapped his a.s.s. His c.o.c.ky att.i.tude, his sense of ent.i.tlement, and then there was the night last year when Tanner'd caught him forcing himself on a girl. He and Kirby had ended up brawling in the ladies' room right here at the Sin Bin, and Tanner'd f.u.c.king broken a bone in his hand, he'd punched Kirby so hard.

Yeah, that hadn't gone over well with team management. They'd covered the story up, and Tanner had played the entire playoffs with a busted bone in his hand that he couldn't let on about, but that meant that Kirby'd gotten away with hara.s.sing that woman and he f.u.c.king shouldn't have. It still made Tanner's blood simmer, thinking about it. That s.h.i.t was not right.

He'd been happy when Dale Ronson had returned to the team for the start of the season, home from rehab after a little issue with prescription meds, and Kirby'd been sent back to the farm team. But Kirby had recently been called up to replace Brian Erhard, who was out with a "lower body injury," as they said, and every time Tanner saw the dude, he wanted to punch him again.

He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. Duper'd talked to him about this and he knew he had to move past what had happened and not let Kirby get to him, for the sake of the team. Hockey was a team sport. He'd grown up living that and he'd played in the NHL for eight years now. He couldn't let his feelings about Kirby affect how they played together.

- Katelyn pretended to check her calendar, her cellphone pressed to her ear. "Hmmm, let me see..."

"I know June's not far away, but my original wedding planner went out of business." Panic edged the voice of the woman speaking in Katelyn's ear. "And now I know why. So I need someone who can step in and pull this off in six months. I've been calling a bunch of places and everyone is already booked up. I got your name from someone I know. She said you might have the capacity to do this."

I do! I do! Katelyn kept her tone calm as she said, "I'm just checking my planner."

"I looked at your website and I loved your pictures," the woman continued enthusiastically. She was definitely chatty.

Nearly a year ago, Katelyn had started her own event planning business. She'd done lots of events for a number of corporate clients, a few bar and bat mitzvahs, and several weddings. She had a couple of other weddings she was working on, one this month, one next month, another one that had already been postponed a couple of times. She couldn't afford to turn down business, but she didn't want to seem desperate. "Okay, yes, I think I can rearrange a few things and do this."

"Oh thank G.o.d." The woman exhaled on the phone. "You have no idea what a relief this is."

Katelyn smiled and leaned back in her chair. "I'm happy to help. But we do need to meet for an initial consultation to make sure that we're compatible."

The woman laughed. "Really?"

"Yes." It was part of her process, one she'd learned the hard way after dealing with too many brides with unreasonable expectations. "You've already looked at my portfolio, so that's good, but we need to talk about budget. And communication. We're going to be working together pretty intimately for the next six months."

"That makes sense," the woman said slowly. "If we'd had that kind of conversation with our last planner, we wouldn't be in this situation."

"We can also go over the arrangements that have already been made and what still has to be done. I a.s.sume your fiance will be part of the meeting?"

"Um, it depends when it is...he has a crazy schedule."

"I can do tomorrow evening, if that works."

"Yes! That would be great."

"Let me get down some details...name, address, phone number."

"Of course. My name's Lovey Armstrong."

Lovey? That was odd. "Is 'Lovey' a nickname?"

"It's short for 'Lovina.' But I never use that."

Katelyn nodded, making notes as Lovey gave her address and phone number. "Would seven o'clock be okay? I'll come to your home." Since Katelyn was still working out of her apartment, she generally preferred to meet with her clients at their premises. "If you have contracts, pictures, magazine clippings, Pinterest boards, or whatever, have those ready for the meeting."

"Yes, I will. Thank you!"