Page 106 of The Closed Off Captain

“So is Ricco,” Amber adds. “How is she?”

“Contractions were less than a minute apart, and they were preparing her for delivery,” Stephanie fills her in.

Amber shakes her head. “I can’t believe it’s going so fast.”

“Me neither.” But I’m pretty sure we’re thinking about two different things. Amber drops into the seat next to Stephanie. It doesn’t take long for Rico and Sebastian to show up. Rico is first. Amber’s out of her seat the moment he walks through the door. He smiles when he sees her and pulls her into his arms and kisses her. They converse quietly for a moment, and Stephanie and I give them their privacy. Sebastain comes next, a big grin on his face as he pulls Stephanie out of her chair and into his arms. When he finishes mauling her, he turns to me. “Cap is coming. He got pulled in for an interview.”

Disappointment fills me, but I shouldn’t be surprised. They all settle in chairs, and I smirk at the guys trying to fit in the small waiting room chairs.

“Who scored the last goal?” I haven’t had a chance to look it up yet.

“Travis,” Rico says with an easy smile.

My eyebrows rise. “Really?”

Seb grins. “Right? Who knew the boy had it in him.”

“Gunner set it up beautifully for him, though,” Rico says.

I smile because of course he did. The conversation flows easily, and I’m surprised to not feel like an outsider. Although, it shouldn’t surprise me. I’ve been working with these guys for a few years now. When the conversation dies down, I look at Amber. “Shouldn’t we hear something by now?”

“It just depends how long the last stage takes.” I can tell she’s nervous because her knee is bouncing up and down. Rico must know as well because he puts his hand on her leg. The door opens again, and finally, he’s here. The moment he steps into the room, I feel my heart settle. His eyes scan the room and land on me. He starts towards me, and I stand to my feet and walk to him. I don’t hesitate and I step right into him. His arms come around me and hold me against that amazing chest, and I wrap my arms around him. I close my eyes and let him center me. I’m not sure how long we stay that way, but I finally pull back and look into those gorgeous bright blue eyes.

“Good game.”

His eyes scan my face, landing on my cheek. I’d actually completely forgotten about it. It was nice of the girls not to bring it up today. His thumb gently strokes my wounded cheek. “How are you?”

“I’m good now that you’re here,” I tell him honestly. His smile gentles, and his large hand runs up and down my spine, sending a shiver through me. “Did you get to eat?”

He shakes his head. “I’ll grab something later.”

I wish I'd had time to grab something for the guys; they have to be starving. Gunner takes my hand in his and leads me over to the rest of the crew. Every single person takes notice of our joined hands. I’m ready for them to tease us, but nobody mentions it. Gunner sits, and I sit in the chair next to him. “Any news?” he asks.

“No, and I’m going to kill Aiden if my niece or nephew is here and he’s just keeping it private,” Amber spouts off.

“Heaven forbid he wants a few minutes with his wife and newborn,” Rico says with a pointed look. Amber scowls and crosses her arms. “We didn’t get that, remember?” He glances pointedly at Gunner and Sebastian.

“Hey, it’s not our fault you decided to start cross-country running during the birth of your child,” Seb says. I laugh in spite of myself because I've heard the story of how they got stuck in traffic trying to get Rico to the hospital for the birth of Riley. Apparently, he gave up waiting and started running. Gunner, Seb, and Aiden, being the good friends that they are, ran with him. It ended up being like five miles or something. They all still tease Rico about it.

Amber squeals suddenly, startling everybody. “He’s here.” We all turn to her. She shows her phone to Rico, and he wraps an arm around her and pulls her close. She wipes her eyes before turning to us. “He said we can come see the baby, two at a time.”

“You two go,” Gunner says, taking the lead. “You’re family.”

“We’re all family,” Amber corrects but stands to her feet. She and Rico disappear, and I feel like I can breathe for the first time tonight. Gunner wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me to his side.

“You okay?”

I sigh again. “Yeah. It’s been a crazy few hours.”

“Thanks for all you did,” he says quietly.

“I’m just glad I was able to help. It helped to take my mind off...everything.” He knows exactly what I’m talking about. His thumb rubs a circle on my upper arm. “Did I throw you with the endearment on the phone?”

I turn to him. His eyes are on mine. “Yeah, but it was good.”

He gives me a small smile. “I didn’t mean to throw you off; it just sort of slipped out. I could tell when you went quiet that I threw you for a loop.” His thumb never stops moving on my arm.

“I mean, youdidsurprise me.”

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