“Regardless, stealing is never acceptable. Heath, did you steal your sister’s candy bar?”
Heath stuck out his lower lip in a show of belligerence. “No.”
My phone rang, and I reached for it. Easton. Just what I needed right now. Hailey was yelling at Heath, and Heath turned his back on her and stomped to the only bedroom with her on his heels.
I had a splitting headache.
“You have to answer him, Caro. I’ll take the kids to school.”
With a resigned sigh, I pressed the answer button. “Hi.”
“Wow. Don’t sound so happy to hear from me. What time are we meeting and where?”
“Today isn’t a good time. It’ll have to wait.”
“What? What do you mean?” Now one more person was pissed at me.
“I mean it’s not a good time.” I was reaching the end of my patience.
“What kind of game are you playing?”
I was playing a coward’s game, getting cold feet, having second thoughts. I didn’t want anyone else to have a say in my children’s lives, but it was a little late for that. “No games. I promise.”
“The condo should be ready in a day or so. As soon as I get the green light, I’ll give you a tour, and some of the guys are going to help move you in this weekend.”
“That’s not necessary. I’ll hire movers. I don’t need your help.”
“Not happening, Caro. I’ll take care of the move. Quit jerking me around. You can’t undo what’s been done. I can’t forget what I know. Neither can you.”
“I understand, and I’m so sorry. Please, give me a little more time to adjust.”
He was silent for so long I hoped he’d hung up. No such luck. He was still on the line. “Where shall I meet you? How about the hotel café?”
He wasn’t going away. He was right; there was no turning back, only going forward.
“I’ll see you at eleven,” I said, resigned to my fate.
He ended the call without another word.
I sank down onto the couch, wondering what kind of monster I’d created.
Easton point of view
Later that morning, I arrived early at the small café in the hotel my attorney had booked for Caro and our children. The hotel wasn’t far from my condo, so I walked, enjoying a crisp fall day with clear skies.
I ordered a cup of coffee and stared out the window, more fidgety and nervous than I’d been in my first NHL game. This wasn’t a game. This was life, and being a father was forever.
Caro stopped in the doorway and glanced around. I gulped down some water to ease my dry throat. She dropped something and bent down to pick it up. My eyes were drawn to her nicely rounded ass hugged by a pair of skinny jeans, and I swallowed hard. She still had an effect on me, and I had to get beyond what she did to me physically and see her merely as the mother of my children.
This situation was complicated enough without throwing a physical or emotional relationship with Caro into the mix. Her husband had only been dead a few months. She wasn’t ready for a relationship, and I was a sworn bachelor, a Puck Brother. I didn’t take my PB status lightly either. I’d earned it, and I would wear my badge proudly. I had to rein in my lust.
No complicated relationships, and a sexual relationship with her, even for one night, would be too complicated for my easygoing, do-as-I-please lifestyle. The woman planned her life and made lists while I wandered through life without a care or a worry.
Confusing shit, that was.
I wasn’t one who dissected situations or worried about much of anything, but she had me so inside out I was doing both, and I didn’t like the experience.
Seeing her again brought back old insecurities, and I could not allow a woman to jeopardize my pro career. I hadn’t seven years ago, and I wouldn’t now. I was absolutely committed to hockey, my team, and now my children. There wasn’t room for anyone else in my life. Well, except my family, but they didn’t demand much from me.
Steeling my shaky resolve, I plastered a neutral expression on my face and waited for Caro to walk in. I gripped the manila envelope stuffed with paperwork and waited for her to sit. Her gaze flicked from me to the envelope and back again. She had as good of a poker face as I.
“Easton.” She spoke pleasantly, as if she were meeting a client for a business meeting, not a father to discuss their children. She placed a day planner on the table, and I recalled she’d always had one in her possession. No digital planners for her.
She looked fantastic and smelled as good as she looked. My gaze strayed downward, taking in those shapely legs encased in denim, and travelled upward. Her hips were wider and her breasts larger than I remembered. She had more curves than before even though she was still on the petite, slender side. Motherhood hadn’t ruined her figure, it’d improved on it. I liked what I saw way too much.
I breathed in her unique scent and was flooded with memories of hot summer nights on the beach and in the back seat of my beat-up old Toyota. We’d gone at it those few months like the sex-crazed teenagers we were. There’d been quiet times, too. Lying on a blanket and gazing at the stars or talking about our hopes and dreams, mine all revolving around hockey, of course. Hers had been to use her full-ride scholarship to get a degree in nursing. I guess she’d never done it, which made me sad.
Caro cleared her throat, and I jerked my gaze away from her body. Embarrassed I’d been caught ogling her, I felt heat rise from my neck to my ears. If she’d noticed my flushed face, she gave no indication.
“I have the paperwork from my attorney for the temporary parenting plan.” Flustered, I fumbled with the stapled sets of papers, giving her one copy, while I looked at the other. “I’ll give you time to read it.”
She said nothing but nodded. I ordered coffee, got a handle on myself, and sat back to observe her. She chewed on her lower lip as she read, a quirk she’d always had when concentrating on something important. I drew in a labored breath and was grateful the growing bulge between my legs wasn’t visible because of the table. This was the mother of my children, not a woman I’d be getting naked with now or in the future.
Yet… I squelched those thoughts before they took root.
“Aren’t you jumping the gun? They don’t even know you’re their father. They need time.”
“I’m not asking for you to adhere to this immediately.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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