Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“Okay,” I say with a bright smile. “I’d love to hang with you and Jules.”
“Awesome,” Luc says as he twists his torso, reaching across his body to grab me under the jaw. He leans over and gives me a rough kiss before pulling away. “And you can meet my sister, Simone. She’ll be there.”
“Sister?” I ask in surprise. I knew Luc had one, but didn’t know she was here, and now I wonder if this is a setup so his sister can meet me.
“Yeah,” he mutters, and I can hear the disdain in his voice. “She showed up on Max’s doorstep today and told us she dropped out of school.”
My brows draw. “Didn’t you tell me she was graduating this year and going to medical school?”
“That was the plan,” Luc says acidly. “But Max and I talked to her a bit this afternoon and she’s adamant she’s not going back, so she’ll be here indefinitely. I have no clue what’s going on with her, but it looks like she’ll be around for a while, so you might as well meet her.”
“Have you told her about me? And the baby?”
He shakes his head. “No. I’ll just introduce you as a friend of ours.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief. I think it’s wise Luc is holding off telling his family until we get a little further to ensure everything’s okay, but I am dreading the day when people will find out. I’m a private person, and having a child with a single professional athlete can get very messy.
I guess I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it, and no sense in worrying too much about it now. Besides, I have enough to worry about given the fact I’m developing feelings for Luc, and it’s wonderful and terrifying all at the same time.
Chapter 9
Lucas
“Stop looking at your watch,” Jules mumbles out of the side of her mouth as she leans toward me. “She’ll be here.”
“Yeah, I know,” I say as I glance around at all of the people mingling in Garrett’s house. We’re celebrating his birthday, which was really last month, but our schedule was such that there wasn’t a really good weekend to have the party. So it’s being held now, and while I’m still fairly new to the team, I’ve actually bonded quite well with Garrett. He’s so damn easygoing—like Max and me—that like sort of attracts like, I guess.
Stephanie insisted she meet us here, and I’m not dumb enough to miss the fact I’m sure she thinks that makes this less “datelike” in her mind. Which is fine. I respect her boundaries. I think they’re going to get blurred and confusing at some point, but I respect them.
On one side of the line, we are nothing more than friends who like to fuck. On the other side, we’re going to be co-parenting a child who was not planned. Something tells me that one or the other has to give, and I know it won’t be the child side, because that’s the most important.
Funny how drastically my life has changed in just three weeks, and while it was a complete and utter shock, I’ve actually done pretty good in accepting my fate. Kids were always a given with me. I want at least three, and preferably with a wife. I’ve had such an idyllic life with my family, and I want the same thing for myself.
But it’s not happening in the order I thought it would—because the wife would be first—and it’s happening a lot sooner than I had planned—by at least five years or so. I just turned twenty-seven, and Stephanie is twenty-eight. I hadn’t thought about having kids until I was in my thirties, because I honestly thought that was the prime of life.
Oh well. I am adaptable if anything.
Just then, I see the top of Stephanie’s red head walking through the crowd that extends from Garrett’s open kitchen into the adjacent living room. The two spaces are massive and can easily hold a hockey team—although not everyone came—and their guests.
She winds in and out and finally I see her face. She locks eyes with me and gives a tentative smile as she nervously tucks her hair behind her ear. That fucking amazing hair that looks good wrapped up in my fist. Just a mass of curls, all wild and untamed. Just like the way Stephy is in bed, and fuck if I don’t like that a lot.
“Hey,” she says as she walks toward Jules and me, her eyes going back and forth between us.
Max is off with Simone, making some introductory rounds. While he’s been a little more accommodating to her feelings about dropping out of school, I’ve not made any bones about the fact I think it’s the dumbest thing she’s done or ever will do in her life. Needless to say, she’s a little miffed at me right now, but I still want her to meet Stephanie when they come back around.