Common Goal

“We can be the kind of friends who don’t have sex. I’ve heard some friendships work that way. Seems weird.”

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REVIEW

Would I read this again? Yes No Maybe

Spicy Level Legend How spicy is this book?

Tropes	Trigger Warnings
Friends to lovers, Hockey romance, MM romance, Age gap romance	Homophobia, Discussion of past possible inappropriate behavior

SUMMARY

Want to just skip to the spice? I got you: 8, 13, 14, 17, 20

Eric Bennett is the goalie for the New York Admirals and he knows this is his last year playing hockey. He hasn’t told anyone yet, but he knows. He’s also recently went through a divorce from his wife and is thinking maybe he should get back into the dating scene. He’s never admitted it to anyone, or himself, but he’s always been attracted to men and women, and there’s only one person lately that has been catching his eye.

Kyle Swift is the bartender at the Kingfisher. A gay bar that Kip and his friends used to love going to and now Kip works there. Which means Scott Hunter comes in a lot. Scott will sometimes bring his friends - like Carter Vaughn, Matti Jalo, and Eric Bennett. And randomly, Ilya Rozanov shows up. Mainly to pick on Scott.

Kyle has a slight problem of having a silent crush on Kip. In Kip’s book, they flirted a little, and Kyle kissed him (thinking that Kip wanted him to). Kyle knows that Kip and Scott are disgustingly in love but he can’t help how he feels. He thinks him and Kip would be perfect together.

At Kip’s birthday, which is at the Kingfisher, Kyle and Eric talk a little. Eric finds himself attracted to Kyle. Kyle also finds Eric attracted but sees that Eric is wearing a wedding ring so he backs off. Eric has been divorced for a year but he has never played hockey without his wedding ring on and feels weird taking it off now.

Eric decides to have a party at his house. He never has parties but wants to have a party for his birthday at his house. He invites Scott and Kip and tells Scott to tell Kip to bring his friends. Kip calls Kyle to invite him but Kyle makes up excuses about why he doesn’t want to go until Kip mentions that Eric is divorced.

So Kyle ends up at the party. Him and Eric both share a love of art and they spend a lot of time talking to each other and looking at Eric’s collection. Everyone is drinking and having fun. Eric doesn’t drink so Kyle decides not to as well. Kyle ends up being the last one there and is helping Eric clean up. It's late so Eric offers him a guest room to spend the night.

Kyle does and the next morning Eric makes him breakfast and then tells him he’s bisexual - which he has never told anyone before. He tells Kyle that he would be interested in trying to date men but he has no idea how to pick up guys. Kyle tells him that he will teach him. They will go out together and Kyle will help Eric get a guy. They make plans to meet up later that night and go to a gay bar.

Eric doesn’t pick up any guys. Kyle gets approached by one but he tells that guy that him and Eric are celebrating their anniversary. Eric asks him why he did that and Kyle said he wasn’t going to abandon Eric. They hang out for a bit, talking and getting to know each other. Eric really likes Kyle but he thinks he’s too old for him. He tells Kyle he only wants to date guys older than 30 and Kyle is 25.

Eric walks Kyle home and Kyle thinks fuck it. He kisses Eric and then says well, there’s your first kiss with a guy, you did it. Kyle offers to be Eric’s “teacher” and help him with other firsts if he wants.

Four days later, Eric decides it's time to come out to Scott. Scott is shocked. A little upset that Eric hasn’t told him before. And obviously supportive.

A few days later Eric texts Kyle and tells him he wants to take him up on his offer and they make plans to meet when Eric is back in town. Kyle blows Eric’s mind and Kyle tells him he still has a lot more to teach him so they should do this again.

Kip invites Kyle to the game on Saturday afternoon - where Eric has a shutout. Kyle has watched hockey before, he has watched Eric play before, but this time he thinks how hot it is that he had a shutout. They celebrate later.

They start hanging out more, as friends obviously (Eric wants that to be clear). Kyle opens up to Eric and tells him about how he got outed to his whole town because he was having an affair with his boss who was an older, married guy. Eric gets pissed off - at this dude and at Kyle’s parents for basically shunning him. He thinks this is more validation that he shouldn’t be in a relationship with Kyle because he’s so much older than him (this line of reasoning makes no sense).

Kyle doesn’t tell a lot of people his story because he thinks he is the villian. When Eric starts acting distant, Kyle thinks it's because he is disgusted with him being a homewrecker.

After not talking for a few days, Kyle texts him, and Eric tells him they should be friends. Kyle really likes Eric and he’s hurt but would rather be friends than nothing.

They see each other at a drag show charity event that Scott is participating in (oh if Ilya could have seen this, he would have fucking died). Even though he said he wasn’t going to hook up with Kyle anymore….they do. And Kyle ends up spending the night.

Eric has games out of town and then it's Christmas so he’s not in the city. When he gets back, they meet up for coffee and Eric tells him that he missed him. Kyle admitted he missed him too.

Two weeks later, at the All Star game, Eric tells Scott that he’s retiring. But he isn’t telling anyone else yet. Kip and Kyle watch the All Star game together and Kyle is happy to realize that he doesn’t feel anything towards Kip except friendship. Kip asks him if he’s going to talk to Eric about how he feels. Kyle says what's the point, Eric thinks he’s too old for him. Kip says Kyle will never know unless he tries.

Eric breaks the news to his teammates and then makes a statement at their first game after the All Stars.

The next day, Eric and Kyle go hiking. Eric’s retirement was just announced and he just wants to hide from the world. When they get back to Kyle’s apartment, Kyle tries to tell Eric how he feels but Eric shuts him down. He tells Kyle that he isn’t right for him. Kyle gets upset and is like oh so I’m good enough to fuck but not to date?

Two months later, Eric plays his last game during the playoffs in Washington. He hasn’t talked or seen Kyle since the day they went hiking. During the flight home from Washington, Eric wonders why he’s been so stupid about the age difference and he wonders if he’s too late.

He goes straight to the Kingfisher when he gets into town. Eric apologizes to Kyle and Kyle says he has tried to hate him and get over him but he can’t.

Epilogue - Scott and Kip's wedding. Eric and Kyle are together. Eric and Scott bought the Kingfisher so that Kip and Kyle can improve it like they have been wanting to do.