Gauging the Player: A One-Night-Stand Sports Romance (The Playmakers Series Hockey Romance Book 3), стр. 31
“Hardly. Just one of those lucky nights.”
“Lucky, my ass!”
Embarrassed, Gage dismissed the compliment, eager to steer the conversation in a different direction. “Hey, Grims, your girlfriend, Nicole. She’s got a kid, right?”
Grims peered at him as if he’d sprouted a horn—or two. “Yeaaaaah. And?”
“And how does that work? I mean, when the kid’s around? Can you tell her what to do? Does she think of you as a stepdad? How do you deal with it?”
Grims came to a dead stop. “First off, she’s a he, and second, I just deal because Nicky’s little boy is part of her. I knew they were a package deal. In fact, Nicky tried to talk me out of it,” he chuckled. “But whatcha gonna do? You fall for the mom, you end up falling for the kid. The only part I’d change is her asshole ex—shit, would I love Nicky to be free of that fucktard. I’ve offered to get rid of him for her.” Grims, who was a mountain of a man, smiled wide, showing off the gap where his front teeth should’ve been. If it were possible, dude was scarier with the smile than without.
Gage laughed.
Grims grasped his shoulder. “All I can say, Nelsy, is if you’re gonna start something with a MILF, make it easy on yourself and pick a widow.” He winked and walked toward a group of fans clamoring for autographs.
Gage stood in a stunned fog, chewing on Grims’s words. Who knew the Grim Reaper was a sage?
Coming to, he headed toward a cluster of waiting friends and family. Lily hadn’t texted him back, so when his eyes landed on her, he blew out a breath of relief, his spirits climbing like a helium-filled balloon making a break for the stratosphere. She smiled shyly, and he made a beeline for her, eyes fixed on only her, unaware at first that she stood between Natalie and a strawberry blond.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“Hey, Goldilocks” was all he had.
“I’d like to introduce you to my sister, Ivy.”
He broke his gaze and took in the strawberry blond staring at him with a glazed look. A little bigger than Lily, Ivy’s coloring and blue eyes were darker than Lily’s. She was pretty, but Lily outshone her in spades. Then again, he was beginning to think Lily outshone pretty damn near every woman on the planet.
“Happy to meet you, Ivy. You’re gonna help me convince your sister to attend every one of my home games from now on, right?”
Shit. I’m in trouble.
Gage excused himself from the restaurant table and headed to the men’s room. When he came out, Ivy was leaning against the wall by the ladies’ room, and they had the hallway to themselves. She lifted her chin at him and, bold as you please, said, “So are you into my sister?”
While his mind processed the question and the reason behind it—protective big sister? Nosy big sister?—he deflected. “Why do you ask?”
“Call me curious.” She tilted her head as if appraising him.
Gage arched an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“Meaning my sister doesn’t date.”
Before he could stop himself, his posture straightened—probably because he felt his chest inflate. “We’re not dating.”
“Whatever.” She flapped a hand at him. “The fact that she’s here, and that she’s actually introduced you to me, leads me to conclude you’re different.”
“Different from …?”
“The idiots she typically meets.”
Now he was off balance, and he wasn’t sure what bothered him more: Lily meeting idiots or the possibility that Lily was introducing him to Ivy because she wasn’t interested in him—the way he wanted her interested anyway.
“What kinds of idiots does she typically meet?” And how do I keep her from meeting them in the first place?
“They’re irrelevant. As far as dating her, I suspect you’d like to change that, am I right?” Ivy gave him a sly smile.
He nearly blurted out a yes but stopped himself in time. Instead, he held an internal debate over how to respond. Play it safe and stick to the “strictly business” scenario? Or admit I want to date her sister and run the risk of a) humiliating myself when big sister laughs in my face, or b) losing my balls when big sister’s protective self rampages?
Apparently, he was taking too long to formulate his answer because Ivy added, “You called her ‘Goldilocks,’ and I see how you look at her.”
This caught him by surprise. “How do I look at her?”
“Like a man who hasn’t eaten in a week.”
He coughed out a laugh. “Have you considered it’s because the appetizer plate was sitting in front of her?”
“Pfft. Nice try, ace, except the plate was empty when I caught you staring. And don’t worry. No one else picked up on it.”
He stuffed his hands in his front pockets. Where the hell is this going?
As if she’d read his mind, she said, “I love my little sister, and I want to see her happy. Something tells me you might be good for her.”
Ivy had just captured all of his attention. “I think you’re reading way too much into this.”
“Well, I don’t.” She cinched her arms over her chest. “Look, I’m pretty damn sure my sister’s last date was with her late husband, Jack.” She shot him a knowing look that had him giddy and squirming inside at the same time. Either that or what he’d eaten so far wasn’t settling right.
“You do know about Jack, right?” she said.
He nodded. “I know she was married to him, that he was Daisy’s father, and that he died. That’s about it.”
“Well, I’ll give you a few more insights.” She paused and raised her eyes to the ceiling, as if marshaling her thoughts, then leveled a penetrating gaze at him. “My sister was really young when she met Jack. He was eight or nine years older, and there’s been some debate as to whether she was even legal. In any case, she was dazzled and she fell hard.