Page 79 of Hot Puck
And I was his.
Even if I was a disappointment because I didn’t have a dick. My life would have been so different if I did and while my childhood wasn’t the best, especially after my parents’ deaths, it would have been so much worse if I had been a boy.
“Hey, got a minute?”
Glancing up I see Chase has poked his head into my office. “Of course. Is something wrong?” I ask with a frown.
“No, no, all good. Just wanted a few minutes of your time without the girls here to distract or interrupt.”
“Oh. Well, come in, close the door.” Neither of us speaks until he’s in a seat across from me. “What’s up?”
“I want to talk about your suggestion for giving the girls security if something happens to me. The marriage of convenience one.”
It appears we’re in sync with our thoughts today. Come to think of it, we’re in sync a lot.
“What about it did you want to discuss?”
“I know it seems like this is out of the blue because we haven’t talked about it since you first mentioned it. Not seriously, anyway. But I think, no, Iknow, it’s the best option for the girls’ future. I also want you to adopt them if I can remain their legal guardian as well.”
“I...” I close my mouth.
Does he realize if I adopt the girls, we don’t need to get married?
The thought of adopting the girls without marrying Chase has my stomach sinking. But I can’t let him believe both are necessary to achieve what he wants.
“Either option would give you what you want. We don’t need to do both.”
“We do.”
I eye him. He seems certain—determined. The expression on his face is the one I’ve seen close-up numerous times on the Jumbotron when he’s in goal guarding it from all comers.
“You want to tell me why you want both?”
“I want all of us to have a connection.”
As explanations go, it’s simple. But the complexities behind it are not. “Why?”
“Because you don’t have anyone either. You should have someone.”
“I have Oakley, Blake, and Cami. And Eli.”
“Yes. But you should have someone who’s just yours.”
“I have Eli.”
He nods. “You do. But he isn’t in your life every day. He won’t be sharing the parenting of a couple of teenagers and a baby.”
“We don’t need to be married to do that.”
“We don’t. But it’s what I want.”
I don’t understand why a twenty-one-year-old would want to tie himself to me even with his sisters as a strong motivator. “Chase. What if?—”
“Don’t say it. It isn’t going to happen. My focus is the girls and hockey. Our co-parenting partnership.”
“Is that how you’re looking at it? A partnership?”
“Yes. We’ll be partners in parenting the girls and ensuring they get every opportunity in life our parents would have given them.”
