Chapter 16
Hunter
By the time I pulled into the parking lot of The Orchard Table, I had convinced myself I could handle this.
I had played in front of twenty thousand screaming fans and faced down defensemen who thought taking out my knees was a reasonable career strategy.
Lunch with Cole and Holland Davis should not have been what made my palms sweat.
Except none of those situations involved sitting across from my coach after I’d spent the afternoon with his daughter naked in my shower.
I sat in my car for thirty seconds too long, staring through the windshield at the restaurant like it might burst into flames and solve all my problems. My phone buzzed.
Catherine: Are you here?
I looked toward the entrance and saw her standing near the host stand through the front window. Jeans. Blue shirt. Damp hair tucked behind one ear. Lips still a little swollen. My grip tightened on the steering wheel.
Me: Parking.
Catherine: Do I look normal?
I almost laughed, but nothing about this felt funny enough yet.
Me: You look beautiful.
Catherine: That’s not helpful.
I got out of the car before I could text something worse. The second I walked inside, Catherine looked at me. Just a quick flick of those green eyes, down my chest, back to my face, then away like I was any other person joining her family for lunch. She was doing well. I was already dying.
“Hunt,” Cole called from a booth near the window.
I turned and saw him sitting with Holland and Jaden. Holland looked bright and pleased with herself. Cole looked relaxed. Jaden looked like he would rather be anywhere else.
“Hey,” I said, walking over.
My voice sounded normal. Cole slid out of the booth and pulled me into one of those half-hugs hockey men did.
“Glad you came,” he said.
“Thanks for inviting me.” Guilt punched me in the ribs. Cole trusted me. He trusted me enough to pull me into family lunches and ask me about camp schedules and let me around his kids. And I had just crossed a line with Catherine so hard the line was probably in another zip code.
Holland smiled. “I’m very happy you’re here. You need real food.”
“I eat real food,” I chuckled.
“Protein powder isn’t food,” she said.
“It has nutrients,” I argued.
The hostess led us to a larger booth near the back, and somehow the only open spot was beside Catherine.
Because apparently the universe had developed a very specific sense of humor.
I slid in beside her, leaving what I hoped was a polite amount of space.
There wasn’t enough space in the state of Texas.
Her knee was maybe three inches from mine, and my entire body knew it.
Jaden looked up from his menu. “Why are you sitting so stiff?”
I froze.
Catherine coughed.
“No reason,” I said. Too fast. “I’m good.”
Jaden squinted. “You look like Dad when Mom asks if he remembered something.”
Cole pointed at him. “Watch it.”
Catherine’s mouth twitched. I picked up my water because my mouth was dry.
Holland turned to Catherine first. “How was brunch?”
“Good,” Catherine said. “The girls were chaotic.”
“That sounds accurate,” Holland said. “Who was there?”
“Billie Rose, Taylor, Liv, and Sadie.”
Cole nodded. “I saw Jake talking to management this week.”
Jake Sutherland was a retired NHL player. He had broken quite a few records in his time.
Catherine nodded. “That makes a lot of sense. Sadie was being hush hush about it. Maybe they are planning to move to Dallas.”
“Maybe.” Cole shrugged.
The waiter came by and poured water into our glasses. I picked mine up again because my mouth was still dry.
“How are things going with the team?” he asked.
Catherine straightened a little, slipping into that professional posture I’d watched her use at the arena. “Good. I’m learning a lot. Wren’s been great, and the pace is intense, but that’s what I wanted.”
“Anyone giving you a hard time?” Cole asked.
I looked at my menu. The menu was very interesting. Farm greens. Braised carrots. Herb-roasted chicken. I suddenly hated every vegetable.
“No,” Catherine said. “Everyone’s been respectful.”
Cole nodded. “Good. Tell me if that changes.”
“I can handle myself,” she assured her dad.
“I know you can,” Cole said.
His voice softened just enough that I glanced up. Catherine’s expression changed too. There was a whole conversation in that small exchange. Cole saw his daughter as capable, but still wanted to stand between her and anything that could harm her, just like I did with Isla.
The waiter returned, and everyone ordered.
Catherine picked some seasonal pasta thing that sounded too small for the kind of afternoon we’d had.
I ordered the chicken because Holland was watching me like she might check my protein intake by force.
When the waiter left, Holland folded her hands on the table and turned to me.
“Oh, before I forget. Quinn called,” she said.
I had just taken a sip of sparkling water.
The bubbles hit my throat at the exact moment my body forgot how to swallow.
I choked. A full, humiliating, eyes-watering cough that made Holland sit up straighter and Cole reach toward me like he was about to perform the Heimlich in the middle of a farm-to-table restaurant.
Catherine’s hand jerked under the table.
I felt it more than saw it. She wanted to help.
“You okay?” Cole asked.
I coughed into my fist. “Wrong pipe.”
“Do you need water?” Holland asked.
“That was the problem,” I said, still coughing.
Catherine pressed her lips together. She was laughing at me. I glared at my plate, even though the food had not arrived yet.
Cole looked at Holland. “Why was Quinn calling you?”
Holland’s smile turned innocent, which meant she was not innocent at all. “She wanted information.”
“About?” Cole asked.
“Hunter,” she continued.
My spine locked. Catherine stopped moving and stared at her lap.
Holland leaned back. “Apparently Quinn heard you might be dating someone.”
There it was. A grenade. Right in the bread basket. Cole looked at me with a half smile. “You dating someone?”
It was a simple question. A question I could have answered easily twenty-four hours ago. Now the woman I wanted was sitting beside me with her parents across the table.
I cleared my throat. “Not officially.”
Catherine’s knee hit mine under the table. I deserved it.
Holland’s eyes narrowed. “Not officially?”
Cole hid a smile behind his glass.
“I mean,” I said, trying to recover and immediately making it worse, “I’m not currently bringing anyone to family functions.”
Catherine choked on air.
Jaden pointed. “Now Catherine is dying.”
“I’m fine,” she said.
Holland’s gaze moved from Catherine to me and back again. Too slowly and carefully. My pulse climbed. Cole shrugged, apparently less interested in murdering me than I deserved.
“Well, if you are seeing someone, good for you. It’s been a long time.”
That hit differently.
I looked down at the table. “Yeah,” I said. “It has.”
The air softened for one dangerous second. Then Holland went right back to being Holland. “Quinn wanted to know if she was nice, if she understood Isla comes first, and if Sloane knew.”
“Damn,” Cole muttered.
Catherine muttered, “Sloane is the final boss.”
I almost smiled. Our food arrived, which should have saved me. It didn’t. Because the booth was small, the waiter set Catherine’s plate down close to me, and she shifted to make room. Her thigh brushed mine. A tiny contact. Except my body was a traitor and apparently had no interest in context.
I reached for my napkin and somehow, because my brain had taken a leave of absence, my hand landed on Catherine’s thigh instead. Bare skin through the rip in her jeans. She sucked in a sharp breath. I pulled my hand back like the table had caught fire.
“Sorry,” I said. Too loud.
Cole looked up. “For what?”
My brain went blank.
Catherine grabbed her fork. “He bumped me.”
“With his hand?” Jaden asked.
I wanted to slide under the table and live there.
“Yes,” Catherine said, glaring at her brother.
Jaden looked between us. “That’s weird.”
“Eat your sandwich,” Holland said.
I looked at my chicken and wondered if anyone my size had ever escaped through a restaurant bathroom window.
Cole asked about prospects camp. I gave him clean, boring answers.
Nothing that involved the word prospects in any context that would make Catherine make that strangled little sound again.
Because I was reacting to her, and that was dangerous.
It wasn’t just the sex. It was the way she sat with her family.
The way she rolled her eyes at Jaden and softened when Holland asked if she was tired.
The way she pushed back at Cole without ever doubting that he loved her.
She was part of a big, messy, loyal family that had its hands in every corner of my life.
And I wanted in. Not as the captain invited to lunch or as the guy everyone trusted to do the right thing.
I wanted in beside Catherine. That thought scared the hell out of me.
“So,” Holland said, turning to her daughter with a tone that made Catherine immediately sit back.
“No,” Catherine said.
Holland blinked. “I haven’t said anything.”
“You used your mom voice.”
Jaden pointed his fry at Catherine. “It was her meddling voice.”
“Thank you,” Catherine said.
“Don’t thank him,” Cole said. “He’s enjoying this.”
“I am,” Jaden confirmed.
Holland ignored all of us. “I was only going to ask if you’ve thought about dating again.”
Catherine closed her eyes. I focused on cutting my chicken into pieces much smaller than necessary.
“Mom,” Catherine said, her tone chiding.
Holland softened. “I’m not trying to pressure you. I just don’t want Julian to be the reason you stop letting yourself have a life.”