Page 8 of Hat Trick
"Just use me as your training wheels while you get your parenting feet underneath you. I'll walk you through what to do and how to do it and whenever you feel confident you can take over, little by little."
I stop in my tracks, Emily taking another step before stopping and turning back to me. Before I can stop myself I reach out, grab her by the shoulders and pull her to my chest. She collides with me with a little 'oof' of surprise. My one arm wraps around her back while the other holds her head against me. I lower my cheek to rest on top of her head and she wraps her arms around my waist.
"Thank you, Emily. I don't have the words to explain just how grateful I am. You haven't judged me, haven't made me feel stupid. You dropped everything to help me. I..." I pause, worried the emotion that's wrapped itself around my throat will make my voice crack.
She simply smiles. "Of course." Like there was never any question about helping me. Like she didn't just quit her job and drop her life to move in with me and two other strangers to help me learn how to be a dad.
Like she doesn't know just how fucking incredible she is.
Chapter four
Luca
My whole body hurts and I want to sleep for a thousand years. My calves and glutes burn in protest as Gabe and I drag our sorry asses up the front steps of our house. It's only the beginning of the season but every year seems to be harder than the last.
I'm laughing at some dumb joke Gabe said as we got out of his car, when he opens the door and stops dead in his tracks.
I bump into the back of him and let out a grunt of protest. He leans back, checking the number on the house as if he's confused. Forget the fact that his key has just unlocked the door.
Finally, I peer around him to see what's got him so spooked when I see the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on. She's perfection in an image. I've been thinking for some time about settling down and finding The One. Looking at the woman in my house is like God took all the things I love about the female sex, made her just for me and plopped her right onto my living room floor.
Her natural beauty is a punch to the gut when she looks up at me from the floor and gives me a shy smile.
I'd enjoyed the first few years of being a professional hockey player and what that meant with the ladies, but after the puck bunny routine and connectionless sex, it just wasn't scratching that itch anymore. I never visited the same bunny more than once because I didn't want one catching feelings. That might make me a douche, but most bunnies let it go to their head if we exchanged numbers. They'd want the show, to go public, to think they could fuck their way into arelationship. If they even wanted a relationship. Most of them just wanted to fuck their way into fortune and fame.
And shit, that was with the more serious bunnies. A lot of them just wanted the bragging rights that they bounced up and down on my dick for a night.
I long for a connection, for someone to know me and want me for something other than the fame and bank account that comes with being with a professional athlete.
This angel of a woman on my living room floor has the perfect girl-next-door look that makes me itch to bring her home to meet my mom. Mousey brown hair in a sloppy bun, large, brown doe eyes, pink, plump, kissable lips.
Fuck, there's even a baby in her lap.
"Roadie!!! Why is there a strange woman in our house!" Gabe shouts from in front of me. I elbow him to the side.
"Shit, guys. I forgot to text you," Carter says, coming from the hallway and running a hand through his hair. "So...this is Annie, she's apparently my baby? My daughter? And this is my Emily. No, not mine. Just, Emily. I've hired Emily to be my nanny."
Emily stands and reaches her hand out to shake mine. Now standing, I can see all her delicious curves and have to stifle a groan.
"Hi," she says sweetly, her voice going straight to my dick. "It's nice to meet you two." I wrap my large hand around hers and use it to drag her closer to me - closer than two people who have just met should stand. A pretty pink colors her cheekbones and she looks down at the same time her breath hitches. I smile. She's just as affected by me as I am by her.
She softly pulls her hand from mine and steps back before offering her hand to Gabe. He takes it quickly, looking at her like she's a bomb about to go off.
"You have a baby?!" Gabe whisper-shouts to Carter, who is now rubbing the back of his neck.
"I guess? You remember Cedar?" Gabe nods. "Apparently something happened with her birth control? And she thinks it's mine? I need to get a DNA test but, I mean...look at her." He says, motioning to Annie.
If she wasn't biologically related to Carter, it would have surprised me. Annie is just starting to lose some of her baby fat, but her hair, eyes and chin are all Carter.
"Dude," I say with a sympathetic laugh. "Holy shit, dude, you're a dad!"
"Language!" Carter bites back without any real heat.
"Since this is all so new to everyone and wasn't planned out, I think it's a good idea if we set some ground rules. I've never lived with three men who weren't related to me before, and I really don't want to upset your routine, or the peace you guys have here." Emily says, giving her full attention to Annie.
"She's LIVING here?!" Gabe whisper-shouts, not nearly quietly enough. My smile breaks out into a wide grin. I'll get to see her every day we're home, live with her, flirt with her. It's too good to be true. I must have done something very right in a past life.
My smile fades a bit, however, when I see her wince. She tries to school her face to not give away her thoughts, but she wears her heart on her sleeve, every emotion playing across her features. Gabe's making her feel unwelcomed and she's afraid we don't want her here.
