Chapter 1 #3
I thought that was all it was. A few days of fun in paradise.
A memory I could leave on the other side of the world.
Then months later, she called with news that she was pregnant.
She didn’t want the baby. She was honest about that from the start.
She planned to give her up for adoption, said it would be better for everyone, said she wasn’t made to be a mother.
The second she told me, something in me went still.
That baby was mine. And I knew, with a certainty I’d never felt about anything before, that I wanted her.
So, I brought Isla home. I learned diapers and bottles and midnight fevers.
I learned how to braid hair badly and make pancakes shaped like hearts.
I learned how terrifying it was to love someone more than my own life.
Isla became my world. The one good thing that came out of the worst season of my life.
So no, I didn’t date. I didn’t bring women in and out of her life.
I didn’t chase distractions. I didn’t risk her stability because I was lonely or tired or because other people thought I should move on.
Everything I did revolved around Isla. And I’d never regretted that.
Cole watched me for a long second, like he knew exactly where my head had gone. He didn’t push. That was one of the reasons I loved the guy.
He just tipped his beer toward the pool and said, “She’s a great kid.”
My throat tightened.
“Yeah,” I said. “She is.”
A black SUV pulled up out front a few minutes later, saving me from whatever else Cole had planned to say. My parents, Oli and Sloane Russell, arrived with apologies about traffic, my mother sweeping into the backyard like a warm breeze and immediately searching for Isla.
“There’s my granddaughter,” Mom called.
Isla launched herself out of the pool and ran over, dripping wet. “Grandma!”
Mom caught her without hesitation, laughing even as Isla soaked the front of her dress. “Oh, I missed you.”
“I saw you last week,” Isla said into her shoulder.
“And I missed you the second you left.” Mom grinned, hugging her tight and not caring that she was getting her dress wet.
Dad came up behind them, grinning like Isla had personally hung the moon. “What about me?”
Isla peeled herself out of Mom’s arms and threw herself at him next. “Grandpa!”
“There she is.” Dad lifted her right off the ground, despite the fact that she was wet and getting pool water all over his shirt. “Look at you. You get taller every time I see you.”
“I’m the same height,” she said.
The smart aleck she was.
Mom brushed Isla’s wet hair away from her face, her eyes soft and bright. “Are you having fun, sweetheart?”
“Yes. Mila has diving rings, and Jaden keeps cheating.”
“I do not!” Jaden shouted from the pool.
Isla pointed without looking back. “See?”
Dad laughed. “Sounds serious.”
“It is.”
Mom kissed Isla’s cheek. “Go play, honey. We’ll be here talking to our friends.”
Isla ran back toward the pool, yelling for Mila before she’d even reached the water.
My mother watched her go; one hand pressed to her chest. “That girl.”
“She’s something,” Dad said, his voice quieter now.
Then Mom turned that look on me. I knew that look too.
“No,” I said immediately.
She blinked innocently. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was only going to ask how you are.”
“No, you weren’t.” I had just gotten the runaround from my coach. I didn’t need my mom on my case too. I just wanted to chill and enjoy the Fourth of July.
Dad grabbed a beer from the cooler.
“I was going to ask if you’re seeing anyone,” Mom said because she was relentless.
“Yup. I called it.”
“Hunter,” Mom chided.
“I’m not dating,” I said bluntly.
“Why not?” Mom puffed out her lower lip in a way that looked suspiciously like Isla.
“Busy.”
“With what?” she asked, incredulous.
“My child. My job. My desperate need for silence.”
“You can have silence when you’re old,” Mom said.
Dad leaned toward me. “You know your mom has a need to fix everyone’s life.”
“And I’ve been right every time,” Mom said.
I lifted my beer. “I’m good.”
She studied me for a beat, her expression softening in a way that made me want to look away. “You deserve more than good.”
There it was again. That damn ache. Before I could answer, a splash erupted from the pool, followed by Mila shouting, “Jaden cheated!”
“I did not!” Jaden yelled.
I turned toward the chaos with relief. “Duty calls.”
The sun dipped lower, turning everything gold.
Adults migrated toward the pool, some sitting at the edge with their feet in the water, others giving in and swimming with the kids.
I lasted longer than I expected before Isla begged me to get in, and after enough pleading, I changed into trunks and let her and Mila attack me with pool noodles.
For a while, I forgot about the strange tightness in my chest. Then CC came out in a yellow string bikini that made every rational thought I had ever possessed abandon me on the spot.
I saw her from across the pool and immediately looked away.
Then, because apparently, I was weak and stupid, I looked back.
She dove cleanly into the water, sleek and confident, cutting beneath the surface before coming up laughing at something Hannah said.
Droplets clung to her shoulders. Her long hair slicked back from her face, making her cheekbones sharper, her eyes brighter.
I reminded myself of several important facts.
She was Cole and Holland’s daughter. CC was also Max’s cousin.
She used to babysit Isla, for goodness’ sake.
Now she was going to be working with the team doctors.
I was a grown man with responsibilities, a daughter, a career, and enough common sense not to destroy my life over a woman I had no business wanting.
Then she climbed out of the pool. Water ran down her body in shining lines. My brain went silent. I turned away so fast I nearly took a pool noodle to the face.
“Dad!” Isla laughed. “You’re not paying attention.”
“You’re right.”
I dunked under the water, hoping the cold would shock some sense back into me. It didn’t.
The day was turning to evening. The kids had moved to the shallow end, the adults were scattered around the deck, and I was warm, tired, and trying very hard not to track CC’s every movement.
But I was failing terribly. It didn’t help that more guys from the team stopped by.
The very single younger guys. Leo Karlsson one of Sierra and Nils triplets, our left winger, and someone who was like a cousin to me leaned over and whispered, “I didn’t know Coach’s daughter was such a smoke show. ”
He was twenty-two, closer to her age than I was, and he was a good guy. The worst part was that I felt protective of her.
“Are you effing crazy?” I gave him a look that said shut the hell up.
“Come on, Hunter, we aren’t blind,” Ronan, our starting goalie, added.
“Chill, Captain. Boys just want to have fun,” our right winger, Dax, said quietly.
“Not at the expense of your coach’s daughter, idiots. He’ll never invite you guys back here,” I said.
They were out of line. The worst part was that I was even worse because I was nine years older than her.
I saw her wrap a towel around her waist and say something to Holland.
Then she walked away, which was for the best. A few minutes later, Isla asked for a plate of watermelon.
I got her out of the water, gave her a towel to dry off, and grabbed some for her.
Then I realized I needed the bathroom. The closest one was in the pool house.
I headed over without thinking much of it, rubbing a towel over my hair as I walked.
The music was louder near the patio, the laughter softer back here.
The pool house sat just beyond a row of hedges, all white stone and glass doors, built like a miniature luxury hotel because, again, Cole did nothing halfway.
I opened the outer door and stepped inside.
Cool air hit my damp skin. The space smelled faintly like chlorine, clean towels, and expensive soap.
Somewhere deeper inside, water was running. I paused.
“Hello?” No answer.
The shower, maybe. Or a faucet. With this many kids running around, someone had probably left something on.
I moved down the short hallway toward the bathroom, following the sound.
Steam curled faintly near one of the half-open doors.
I should have stopped. I should have knocked.
I should have done literally anything except assume.
But I was thinking about Isla needing dinner, and Cole’s interrogation, and my mother telling me I deserved more than good, and the fact that CC had walked back into my life looking like every bad decision I’d ever trained myself not to make.
So, I pushed the door open. The world narrowed.
CC stood in the shower. Naked. Completely, devastatingly naked.
For one suspended second, neither of us moved.
Water streamed over her hair and down her body, turning the air between us hot and heavy.
Her head was tipped back, one hand braced against the tile, her lips parted on a breath that didn’t sound like surprise.
Her breathing was fast. Her green eyes heated.
She was getting herself off. My hand froze on the door.
Her eyes flew open. Her green eyes locked on mine.
My heart slammed so hard against my ribs I couldn’t breathe.
“Hunter?” she gasped.
I couldn’t speak, move, or do anything except stand there like a bastard, staring at the one woman I had absolutely no right to want.
Then the door slipped from my fingers and knocked softly against the wall.
CC didn’t move to cover herself. She just stared back at me, water running between us, her face flushed, her breath uneven.
Like maybe I wasn’t the only one who had just crossed a line neither of us could uncross.