Page 76 of Silver Fox Puck

“Daddy, did you see? I almost did it by myself!”

The word slams into me.

Hard.

I don’t breathe. I don’t blink. Because I must have heard that wrong. I had to.

But no.

She’s looking right up at him, waiting for his approval, her little face shining with excitement.

Grant kneels on the ice, brushing one of her curls from her forehead, his voice soft but clear.

“Yeah, baby, I saw. You’re a natural.”

My stomach twists into knots.

No.

No, this—

I would have known, wouldn’t I?

He never said—

How the hell did I not know?

But I can’t deny it. I see it now. The way he softens. The way his whole world just shifted to orbit around her.

I can’t move.

Can’t process the fact that Grant has a daughter and I had no idea.

Because Grant Maddox isn’t just the man who turned my world upside down in Denver.

He isn’t just my brother’s coach.

He’s a father.

And I had no fucking idea.

The Grant I know—the one who teased me in a bar, wrecked me in his bed, smirked in my doorway like he knew I’d come back for more?

That Grant?

Didn’t come with strings.

Didn’t come with a little girl who laughs when he spins her on the ice, who looks at him like he hung the goddamn moon.

I swallow, hard.

Because seeing him with her? Seeing the way his entire world centers around her?

It hits different. My chest tightens. For weeks, I’ve been telling myself this is just lust.

Just a mistake. A one-time thing. Something I can shove into the past and forget.

But watching him with her? I know that’s not true. This isn’t just sex. It’s not just a game. It’s not just about me.