Chapter 1 #2
“Right you are.” I gently pinch her chin between my thumb and finger, giving it a little nip.
Augustus “Gus” Kelly is a defenseman for The Midnight and Crosby’s best friend.
The man is an overgrown golden retriever: full of energy and just shy of desperate for attention.
But also loyal and kind, and one of my favorite people since I moved here.
He happens to be missing a tooth: his upper incisor on the right side.
He wears a bridge to put a fake one back in place, but the odds he remembers are fifty-fifty.
I straighten when the tips of chocolate-brown dress shoes bracket Natalia’s gold strappy sandals.
As my knees extend, my neck cranes upward until I’m looking into Nicky’s stormy face.
A square jaw, covered with perfect three-day growth, twitches slightly, as though he’s gritting his teeth, and those blue eyes meet mine with his usual coolness.
They give me a quick flick of appraisal, darkening slightly as they skim the tops of my breasts that graze the bodice of my dress in a respectable display of cleavage.
I almost smirk that the usually unflappable man feels more than indifference around me, but with his daughter still hovering between us, I bite my tongue.
I know this dress looks good; it’s why I wore it.
But it also feels good to have someone else appreciate it.
“You are early, but my comment was not directed at you,” I offer instead, automatically curling my fingers around Natalia’s smaller ones when she holds my hand.
I don’t know what makes me so at ease with the little girl.
But from the first time I met her in the hallways of The Midnight’s facility, eyes bleary from the late hour after a playoff game in the arms of her father, I’ve never hesitated to give her every scrap of my attention I can spare without thought.
Nicky nods in the quiet way of his, and any interest that briefly sparkled in his eyes is once again hidden away.
I try not to feel disappointed, but I know it’s just my self-induced moratorium on men that has me desperate for every little hint of interest from someone with a penis.
Kind of pathetic. But absolutely necessary.
No more giving in and feeding a fleeting attraction just because I’m lonely.
It’s like wearing a pair of shoes that leave blisters; they look amazing, but the pain after is hardly ever worth it.
“Are there going to be cupcakes, Bea?” Nat asks from her place between her dad and me. I smile at the innocence of the request, but notice when Nicky’s face pinches.
“It won’t be all sweets this afternoon,” Nicky gently corrects, and I sense it isn’t the first time they’ve had this conversation. But I don’t blame a girl for getting excited about cake.
“Yes, Daddy.” She bobs her head but still looks at me hopefully. I flick my eyes to Nicky, lifting a brow, and get a single nod back. Again. But it’s the go-ahead to alleviate her concerns that this party won’t have what she’s looking forward to.
“When your dad says it’s okay, there will be three different kinds of cupcakes to choose from,” I tell my little friend. She bounces on the balls of her feet. “Do you like chocolate cake with chocolate frosting?”
“No.” Natalia’s nose scrunches up in a clear signal of distaste. I giggle as Nicky grumbles across from me.
“‘No, thank you,’ milaya. We say, no, thank you.”
“No, thank you,” Natalia perfectly recites, a seriousness creeping in, but I’m still smiling, and she lets a tiny laugh color the last word. “Daddy loves chocolate. Can we save him one since I don’t want it?”
My heart squeezes at her consideration. Is this what a happy childhood looks like? “We’ll make sure he gets one. What flavor do you like?”
“Vanilla with sprinkles!”
“Perfect!” I say to her, tapping her nose playfully.
The boop sends her into a fit of giggles.
“I happen to know for a fact that Alli has been craving that exact kind, so she added some to the order last week,” I tell Nicky conversationally, trying to loop him in beyond the parental comments he’s made.
But all I receive is another nod of acknowledgment.
Since taking over a position in the public relations department, I haven’t had much reason to interact with the man the fans call “The Baladin Wall” one-on-one.
But he is close friends with all The Midnight boys, who Violet readily adopted when she started working for the team and dating Crosby.
Random dinners, game nights, or visits to the beach this summer with the rest of The Midnight crew have led to lots of opportunities to get to know Natalia and quietly observe her protective father.
The pair orbit each other like twin stars, and the more time I spend with either of them, the more I feel my curiosity turning into gravity.
The time we’ve spent together socially has been enough for me to develop an adoration for his daughter—and to realize his nickname might extend to more than just his ability to keep a rubber puck from hitting the back of a goal.
Nikita Baladin is the definition of enigmatic.
I can’t get a full read on him, which, as someone who needs that skill in her daily job, is exceptionally frustrating.
It also consistently leaves me wanting more, because in addition to being a mystery, he’s sexy as fuck.
Sensing I won’t get any new insight right now, I shift my attention away from him and back to Natalia. “Would you like to help me put some stuffies on the tables?”
“Real stuffies?” Nat’s eyes, a soft hazel, go comically wide at the mention of the stuffed animals Allison wanted strategically placed among the greenery.
“Just little ones,” I tell her, shrugging. Natalia turns to Nicky, waiting for his approval. He considers before replying to her in Russian. I know he’s fluent, but he was born and raised here. His body language and cadence indicate he’s giving clear instructions for her to follow.
“Da,” Nat agrees, a sharp bounce of her chin showing she understands before turning to me.
“There’s a box at the end of the hearth over there.
Let’s grab a few and head over to the tables.
We’ll figure out where to put them.” I indicate where I want her to go and give a guiding nudge on her back with my hand when she begins walking.
Left with Nicky, I see how closely he keeps his eyes on her.
He tracks her with the same intensity as ninety-mile-per-hour slapshots on the ice.
I’m caught off guard by how curious I am to know what it would feel like to have that kind of focus on me.
“It was a long morning trying to get her ready.” His words keep me from examining the intrusive thought.
I glance back at Natalia, who has successfully extracted a half-dozen fuzzy stuffies of varying types: bears, bunnies, and smaller woodland creatures in pastel colors.
She lingers over a pink bunny with floppy ears with a polka dot interior, touching it gently and bringing it close for inspection before stroking its nose with her finger.
Then she cuddles the rest tightly against her to keep from dropping any as she makes her way onto the lawn.
“When I finally managed to get her going, I didn’t want to lose the momentum.
So, I just put us in the car and came over. I’m sorry if it interrupted the setup.”
“Not at all.” I wave a hand in the air between us, swiping away his imaginary concerns.
“Henri’s somewhere inside if you want to go find him, and other people will start showing up soon.
I’m happy to have a helper.” I gesture to Nat and her look of concentration as she sets the small pink bunny on the bed of greens of the closest table, tucking it under a branch as if to anchor it from any searching hands.
I make a mental note of its location, planning to slip it inside the Baladin’s thank-you bag.
“She likes you.” Nicky finally locks his eyes with mine, like he’s staring through my soul, dragging the depths of me with three words.
“I like her, too.” The words tumble out.
They’re an inadequate way to explain that every time I see Natalia, it heals a little part of me.
Instead of growing up as the afterthought of one parent and the byproduct of an absent one, she’s well-loved by a man who makes her his whole world.
There’s an envy I carry, but also a desire to bear witness to it.
“Come on, Bea!”
Whatever else could be said dies at her melodic request as Nat bounds onto the patio, waving me over.
I look back at Nicky, raising my eyebrows in the direction of the house, expecting he’ll go find his former teammate.
Instead, he joins Natalia and me at the box of stuffed creatures.
Spreading his large hands wide, he carries the stuffies with ease, following us through the grass.