Out of the Game3 by Kate Willoughby

don’t think it’s shallow to want a man with all his body parts. It’s human nature. Otherwise—”
    “You bitch!” a woman yelled.
    Now what?
    Looking to see who had shouted, Claire saw two women squaring off. One of them was the groper. The other was a slender Asian woman in a long red dress. Alex was standing between them. Rapid movement caught her eye. To her left, Calder Griffin, one of Alex’s teammates, was striding quickly toward the angry women. To her right, Tim and Erin were hurrying over. They had confused expressions on their faces and Claire began to suspect the woman in purple was a wedding crasher.
    “What’s going on?” Shawna asked.
    Claire didn’t even say goodbye before heading toward the ruckus. By this time, people had stood up to see what was going on and were blocking the aisles, but they made way to let the groper pass. Her face was turning red around her left eye and she was mumbling angrily.
    When Claire finally got over to Erin and Tim, they were talking to one of the waiters who nodded and then headed toward the bar.
    “Erin, what was that? What happened?”
    Tim grinned. “There was a fight! Did you see it? Damn. It made me wish I had a referee’s whistle.”
    “It was only one punch,” Erin said. “Calder’s girlfriend was mad because some wedding crasher made a move on him.”
    Claire gasped. “I
knew
she was a crasher. She made a move on Alex, too.”
    “She did? Oh my God.” Erin looked indignant as she turned to Tim. “You know, if you weren’t a famous hockey player, our wedding wouldn’t have gotten crashed by a puck bunny.”
    Tim brushed his fingers against Erin’s cheek. “Honey, if I wasn’t famous, we probably wouldn’t have ever met.”
    At that, Erin’s expression went gooey and she put her hand over his, pressing her cheek into his palm. Claire smiled at the silent exchange. They were so in love it almost hurt to look at them.
    * * *
    Alex grinned when Claire got back to the head table. “Hey, you missed all the excitement,” he said. “A wedding crasher made a pass at Calder and Calder’s girlfriend took her out.”
    “No, I saw it.”
    “You did? Wasn’t it was great? I think Calder’s serious about her. He’s got that look...” He waved a hand. “And Becca? The girlfriend? I
know
she’s serious. When she saw that Remi woman moving in on her man, I could barely hold her back.”
    “How do you know her name? The wedding crasher, I mean.”
    “Oh, she tried to hook up with me before she tried Griff.”
    Claire sat up all prim and straight. “Not very discriminate.”
    “Nah,” he said with a shrug. “Puck bunnies usually aren’t.”
    “I wonder how many of your teammates she felt up tonight.”
    Alex stuffed an hors d’oeuvre into his mouth. “At least two. Hold on. I’ll ask around.”
    Chewing, he pulled out his phone. She leaned over to read what he was typing.
    Who got stick-handled by the bunny?
    “Now we’ll see,” Alex said. “I texted the whole team.”
    Almost in tandem, several men around the tent reached for their phones. A few moments later, the replies began to roll in.
    “Well?” Claire asked, leaning again.
    Grinning, he showed her the screen. “Okay.” He nodded as he slid his finger to advance the information. “Looks like she got me, Calder, Ford, and Dev, and she either didn’t want or have time for the rest of them.” He cackled. “Gibson’s all insulted.” He put his phone back on the table, then picked it back up and typed Maybe she couldn’t find it to Gibson. Then he laughed again.
    “Is that normal for you?” Claire asked. “For strange women to come up to you and tickle your testicles? Do you...like it?”
    “Let me see. Is that normal?” He shrugged. “It happens. Most of the time they lay a hand on the chest. It’s the safest. The braver ones go for a pat on the ass. Maybe a squeeze. But Remi just now? That’s the first time one of them went for the grand prize, now that I think