Page 45 of Delayed Penalty

Then Flora sets her hand on her arm, and all the tension bursts like someone just stuck a needle into a balloon. She’s the first to look away, and thank fuck too, because if she’d looked at me like that a second longer, I might have forgotten I’m not supposed to kiss her again.

“Good, I guess. She just got here,” I say, dragging my eyes back to Hutch.

He’s staring at me, his lips tipped up in the corners, and nowI’mthe one wiggling.Why the fuck is he looking at me like that?

“What?” I mutter.

He just laughs, shaking his head lightly. “Nothing, man. Nothing at all.”

But his words don’tfeellike nothing. They feel like something. Even so, as badly as I want to know what, I’m too damn chicken to ask.

Hutch and I transition to talking about theupcoming season as we polish off the rest of the Chinese and the clock ticks closer to Flora’s bedtime. Somewhere in the middle of our conversation, Auden and Hutch lock eyes, and Hutch turns to me and says it’s time for them to go. It’s as simple as that—one look, and they know what the other is thinking.

“Thanks again for watching Flora today,” I say sincerely as I walk them to the front door.

“Any time.” Hutch pats my shoulder, giving me that same proud grin he did earlier.

I fidget under his stare, trying to ignore it and how damn good it makes me feel.

“She’s a doll.” Auden smiles, then wraps me in a hug before I can protest.

Hutch glares at me over her shoulder, and I make a show of squeezing Auden extra tight.

“And Quinn, too,” she says softly for only me to hear. “I like her a lot. Don’t do anything to scare her off, okay?”

Oh you mean like kiss her on her first day of living with me?

I nod, releasing her before my captain breaks my hands and I can’t start the season.

“I’ll try.”

“Good.” She sends a wave to Quinn and Flora, then loops her arm into Hutch’s. “Puh-leasetell me we’re stopping for ice cream on the way home?”

He sighs, but there’s no annoyance in it. It’s puredelight, and it’s funny to see how deeply my grumpy teammate, who once swore off love, has fallen for his girlfriend. I’m betting there are wedding bells in their future sooner than either of them thinks.

I close the door behind them, then turn and point to Flora.

“It’s bedtime for you.”

For the first time ever, she groans in protest, and I’m not even mad about it because she’s acting like a kid, not an eighty-year-old trapped in a little body.

“But can’t I just have five more minutes?” she begs.

Quinn rolls her lips together, hiding her smile. “How about you take a shower, then I’ll read you a story instead of going straight to bed, deal?”

She nods and races off toward the bathroom.

“No running!” I call after her for the first time, and I only kind of mean the words as she skids to a quick walk instead.

Maybe this was what she needed all along: being around people more, going out more often. Maybe she’s more like me in that aspect than I realize.

I turn back to Quinn, who has disappeared completely.

Wait. No, not completely. She’s in the kitchen, stacking the empty food cartons and tossing them in the trash.

“I didn’t hire you as a maid, you know that, right? I have a housekeeper already. I don’t need two.”

“Are you saying you were going to leave this mess for them to clean up instead of picking it up yourself?”

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