Chapter 18
Ifelt Gracie before I saw her. The hairs on the back of my neck were suddenly at attention and my eyes seemed to know exactly where to look to find her.
She was standing at the side of Andrew Knight’s ridiculously huge mansion, her two friends behind her.
I couldn’t see them, though. Couldn’t see much of anything when Gracie was nearby.
Hadn’t it always been that way?
The sight of her took my breath away. Dressed in a pale yellow sundress, her hair piled up on the top of her head, she had never looked so beautiful. Well, that wasn’t quite true—she’d been more beautiful when she’d come apart in my arms on her couch last week. And in her bed. And the shower.
Just like that I had to adjust my khakis to hide the hardening of my dick.
I wanted to throw her over my shoulder and take her inside, find somewhere private where I could get my hands and mouth on her.
Wanted to peel away those tiny little sundress straps to taste the skin over her shoulders.
Wanted to sink deep inside her warmth and her heat and—
“Are you even listening to me, man?”
I jerked my eyes away from Gracie to see an amused expression on Jay’s face.
“Don’t say it,” I began, and Jay held up two hands.
“Say what?”
I pointed at his smirk. “Whatever is making your face look all smug like that.”
He grinned, but made a zipping motion over his lips. Yeah, like that was going to last long.
My eyes were drawn down the grass for about the hundredth time since we got here, to the spot where my daughter was shrieking with laughter in a bouncy house.
The only way I’d been able to convince Josie to come at all was to promise her that she wouldn’t be the only kid.
When the GM told us our owner was throwing this party for the entire organization and their families, he made it pretty clear that our attendance was not optional.
Management was clearly hoping bonding off the ice might improve our play on it.
A few of the married guys in the locker room had mentioned bringing their kids along, and from the amount of little rug rats running around, I could only assume that front office employees had brought their families as well.
I had barely seen Josie since we got here—she’d headed straight for the bouncy house, where the other kids were playing.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of that activity—all of those rowdy kids jumping around in an enclosed space seemed like a recipe for disaster, and I really didn’t need an injury on top of everything else.
But Josie had seemed so excited about it, I couldn’t bear to say no.
“She’s fine,” Jay said, once again guessing the direction of my thoughts.
“I’m gonna need to get her to eat something sooner than later,” I muttered, the thought making my stomach clench. I could just see the disappointment and annoyance in her eyes when I went to fetch her and forced her to spend a measly fifteen minutes at my side to eat some lunch.
“I can be the one to wrangle her,” Jay offered.
It was nice of him, and I would probably take him up on it. But it still hurt like a jab to the solar plexus, knowing my daughter would be happier to be with Jay than with me.
Before I could get too maudlin, I heard a high pitch female squeal from the direction where Gracie had been standing.
My eyes sought her out once more and sure enough, the dark-haired friend was slapping a hand over the blonde’s mouth.
But not before I distinctly heard her screech a sentence that sounded an awful lot like, “you already banged him!”
I didn’t bother to stop the slow grin from spreading over my face. I would bet half my salary for the season that Gracie was telling her girlfriends about me. And from the red hue spreading over her cheeks, she knew that I knew.
“I’m sending the rookie to get me another beer,” Jay said, jerking his thumb in Tommy’s direction. “You want one or are you gonna keep eye fucking the boss’s sister all afternoon?”
I grunted. “Can’t I do both?”
“Hey, Tommy,” Jay called out. “Get over here punk.” The tall kid joined us, running a hand through his mop of sandy brown hair.
“This house is nuts, man. Do owners always throw parties like this?”
I snorted. “Our owner in New York was an eighty-six-year-old billionaire. The only parties he threw for us involved raising money for his favorite charities—usually the opera or the ballet or some shit. Can’t tell you how many times I had to sit and listen to a bunch of people on stage bellowing in Latin. ”
“Poor Cap,” Jay said, patting my back. “It must have been hard being one of the highest paid athletes in New York City.”
“Well, if Andrew Knight ever drags our asses to the opera, you won’t be so quick to laugh.”
“Big boss man must have some serious cash, huh?” Tommy said, looking up at the stone behemoth behind us with not a small amount of awe.
“Yeah, kid. The fact that he could drop hundreds of millions on a hockey team should have been your first clue.”
“Guy’s probably not too pleased with his investment so far,” Enzo said, sounding glum. Out of anyone on this patio, he had the least to feel sorry about—the kid had been kicking ass in the net. Now if only the rest of the team could get our shit together.
“It’s way too early to get all negative,” Jay said calmly. “The regular season hasn’t even started yet. Anything could happen.”
That was the line the captains had been spouting for the past three weeks, trying to keep up the morale in spite of the ass kicking we’d been getting at nearly every exhibition game.
But in private, even Jay and I had to admit that the pre-season had been rough.
No professional athlete enjoys losing, and doing it so thoroughly and consistently was starting to get everyone down.
“If coach doesn’t get his head out of his ass, I don’t see things getting much better,” Enzo muttered quietly.
“Kid has a point,” Jay agreed. Our performance on the ice had been far less than stellar, but the players were not the only problem on this team.
It almost seemed like Dillion wanted us to lose, based on how little effort he was putting into his coaching duties.
He was consistently underplaying the younger guys, even the ones who had been showing some real potential at camp.
He definitely favored veterans, particularly the ones who came over from Atlanta with him.
The last exhibition game, he hadn’t even called the lines, handing the responsibility off to one of the assistant coaches while he did little more than pace and sneak into the tunnel behind the bench to smoke cigars.
“Shit, now I’m depressed,” Jay muttered. He nudged Tommy. “Go grab us a beer, kid.”
“Be careful over there,” Dalton said, appearing at Enzo’s side. “Some blonde chick practically hopped on my junk in the middle of the party.”
“Was she hot?” Enzo asked. “Because I got to tell you, I wouldn’t mind a little junk hopping. It’s been a while.”
“Goalie needs to get laid,” Tommy grinned.
Jay held up a hand. “Hang on now. He’s been playing pretty damn good. Maybe celibacy helps his game.”
“Jesus, there’s a depressing thought,” Enzo muttered.
“So who was this blonde?” Jay asked, peering over to the patio where the beer tubs were. Gabriel scanned the area before nodding to a corner. “That’s the one.”
I had a feeling I knew who would be standing there before I even turned around. Sure enough, Gabe nodded at the little huddle where Gracie stood with her friends.
“Shit man,” Enzo said. “She’s a freaking knock-out. Why aren’t you all over that?”
Gabe shrugged. “I like a little subtlety in my women.”
Enzo made a scoffing sound. “A woman who looks like that doesn’t need to be subtle.”
I had stopped paying attention to their banter the second I set eyes on Gracie. Her cheeks were still a little pink, the sun shining down on the hair I loved, lighting it up with a thousand shades of gold and red, like a sunset or the deepest flames of a campfire.
Jesus, listen to me. Next thing I knew I was going to start spouting poetry in front of the guys.
I slipped my sunglasses off so Gracie could see me more clearly, and raised my eyebrows, tilting my chin a little. Come over here.
She hesitated, fingers rubbing her collarbone, eyes jumping from me to her friends and then the larger crowd around the lawn.
Then I guess I’m coming to you, sweetheart, I thought. But before I could take a step, a little body came barreling into my legs. “Daddy, I’m hungry,” Josie whined, pulling on my hand.
We’d talked a lot about her whining, but at that moment, I couldn’t make myself care. At least she was talking to me. And when Josie suddenly gasped, I realized this kid was about to get me exactly what I wanted.
“Is that Miss K?” she squealed.
“It sure is. You remember she told you that Daddy’s boss is her brother?”
Josie was jumping up and down, windmilling her arms at her teacher. I looked back to Gracie and raised my eyebrows. You’re not going to ignore the kid, are you?
She shook her head, but she was grinning at me. Saying something to her friends, the three women headed in our direction. Next to me, Gabe let out a little whimper—he must have seen Peyton.
“Josie O’Conner,” Grace said, putting her hands on her hips. “Was that you I saw jumping in the bounce house? Where’d you learn to do a somersault like that?”
“That was an accident, Miss K,” Josie said, giggling. “I tripped and fell and just kind of…rolled.”
All the guys around us laughed. “Gentlemen,” I said, gesturing to Grace. “This is Josie’s teacher, Grace Knight.”
Dalton’s eyebrows went up. “Knight as in…?”
She smiled. “Andy is my twin brother.”
“Wow,” Tommy said. “Any chance sucking up to you will help me earn a starting spot in the opener this week?”