Easton and Caroline shared a deep love during high school. Easton was a talented hockey player, while Caroline came from a more ordinary background but wholeheartedly supported him in pursuing his dreams.
An unexpected moment of intimacy led to Caroline becoming pregnant, but Easton’s mother threatened her to protect his full-ride hockey scholarship. Out of love for Easton, Caroline made the painful decision to leave him, pretending to be the one who had cheated. Heartbroken, Easton accepted the separation.
Years later, unable to forget his true love for Caroline, Easton returned to uncover the truth behind their past. As he approached her house, a young girl suddenly emerged and called him “Daddy,” leaving Easton bewildered.
Easton point of view Being a stalker was new to me, but I was a quick learner. I wasn’t able to find her on social media. Either she didn’t have a profile or she’d locked it down, which wouldn’t be unusual for a cautious single woman who always thought stuff through rather than flying by…
“How are the kids doing?” She’d seen them a few days ago, so she was well aware, but always hopeful, she lived for the day I’d say they were doing well. “Not much has changed. Heath is noncommunicative and sullen except when he’s playing hockey. Hailey is the opposite, acting out and demanding attention.” “I’m…
The regular season started the first week of October. We’d battled for a spot through the last two weeks of preseason games in September. Now it was showtime. Axel raised his glass and grinned at us. Half of his beer sloshed over the side and soaked our nachos. We didn’t care. We raised our glasses…
The room spun around me. I tried to focus, but I was looking down a long tunnel of blurry images from my past. My spine turned to mush, refusing to hold up my body. I leaned to one side, leaned more, and more. The chair tipped, and I fell into a black abyss of blissful…
I grimaced and braced myself for the news. Up until I’d seen the devastated expression on Axel’s face, I’d been confident I’d made the team, but that very confidence eroded with every passing minute. My preseason play was as good as any rookie’s, and better than many of the veterans’ performances. I’d done everything asked…
I was still amazed they’d forgiven me as fully as they had, a testament to what good people they were. I’d left Hailey with Fran and Howard to fill the role of hockey mom and shuttle Heath to practice. I searched the group of kids skating around the rink, easily picking out my son. He…
“You don’t seem overly happy for a rookie who’s taking the NHL by storm.” Ice sat down next to me at a table in the team lounge. I glanced up at my captain, ready to deny I was anything but ecstatic, only no words came. Ice didn’t tolerate bullshit, and by the look on his…
“It’s the same one you had back when we…we were friends.” “Friends?” I barked out a disbelieving laugh. We’d been way more than friends that summer, and my depraved mind immediately conjured up images of Caro’s gorgeous body naked in the moonlight. I swallowed hard and couldn’t stop my dick from responding to those memories.…
I didn’t smile back. I forced my gaze to meet his and blurted out the words, my carefully written speech all but forgotten. “You’re a father.” He’d just brought his beer to his lips, and he choked on it. The glass slipped from his grasp, hit the edge of the table, and sprayed all over…
“A father?” Steele shook his head over and over, as if the motion would help him make sense of my words. “Yeah, a father.” I held up my hand to stop the questions from coming. “I was so shocked, I dropped my beer. It drenched us, and the glass broke on the floor.” “No wonder…