Theo beamed at her like he could have taken over the sunshine and lit the earth with how excited he was. The guys allcrowded around him, chanting over and over.Hat Trick! Hat Trick!
He went to her right away and gave her a bear hug, like he’d thirsted for a motherly figure for so long. And if Theo liked Jessa, what kind of dad would I be to get rid of her for my own selfish reasons?
I couldn’t move, staring at them, my mouth agape. Too many feelings started swarming up. Then a hand startled me, clapping me on the back.
“Quite the game for Theo. I don’t know where you found Jessa, but he seems crazy about her,” Atlas said. His observations were not needed. I wasn’t blind. “I talked with him between periods. He’s getting so big.”
“Do you want to come over? We can celebrate his hat trick.”
“Nah. I’m hooking up with an old girlfriend tonight.” He wiggled his brows.
“In private or on a date?”
“Private.” His shit-eating grin told me he’d be getting lucky way before I ever would.
I rolled my eyes. “Good. Right now I don’t need photos of you with various women surfacing in the society papers under the assumption that it’s me. Although with your beard, maybe they’d realize it wasn’t.”
“I’m shaving it off tonight before I see her. I don’t like to get it messy, if you know what I mean.” He winked.
“Asshole. Try to avoid anyone with a camera, okay?”
“It’s always about you, isn’t it? Why don’t you go celebrate with your son and stay out of my love life. See you soon.” He stalked off, shaking his head.
It wasn’t always about me. But this was my life he walked back into now and then, as if there were a revolving door nearby. I couldn’t just drop everything whenever he damn welldecided to show up. If he’d stay a while, we could become close again.
I certainly couldn’t afford the time right now to worry about my relationships with my brothers.
The team celebration continued, parents and kids mingling about, when someone called for a celebration at a local ice cream parlor. Jessa caught my eye, and I gravitated toward her like I couldn’t help it.
Clare interrupted my path, stepping between us. “Hello, Griffin. Please thank that driver of yours for giving Mitch a ride to the game. It was such a relief in my schedule today. And by the way…” she dropped her voice and leaned in. “Jessa is great. She fits right in here. Better keep her. I know how hard it has been for you to find good help.”
“Thanks for your opinion.” I wouldn’t dare tell her Brock was waiting for me right outside. He deserved to find a good woman, of course. But I already knew a little about Clare and her gold-digging ways, and didn’t see this working out for either of them.
I stepped around her. I’d come here ready to give Jessa the “thanks for your help today but…” speech, hoping Theo would care less only one day into the arrangement. But this was beyond anything I expected.
Watching them interacting like this—her hand on his shoulder like she claimed him as hers, his face glowing with pride up at her—I knew I was lying to myself.
Jessa Cole was more than a distraction. She was the warmth I didn’t know I’d—we’d—been missing.
Damn it all. I had no idea how to let her go now. How to release my mind from tracing her curves in my deepest sleep. How to tell Theo that Jessa couldn’t work for us—wait.
What if…?
Sam’s entire plan for creating a pretend marriage of convenience situation slammed into my thoughts.
No way. I couldn’t have Jessa for all the wrong reasons. I wouldn’t do that to her. She wasn’t some stranger that I could force in and out of my life so easily.
I finally stepped close enough, and her face glowed, grinning at me. A breath caught in my throat in a moment of indecision, yes or no, keep her or let her go, weighing all the options, looking several steps ahead…
If I were to have a pretend wife, I couldn’t see it being with a stranger. But I could see Jessa taking the role. And if it included some intimate times in my bedroom, all the fucking better for me. Our one night at the lake on repeat for the next few months or more? I could handle that. Atlas could be jealous of my sex life for once. Maybe I’d be less cranky at the office then.
Yes, this could work well in my favor. As long as I didn’t catch any genuine feelings for her. I’d been married once before. And divorced. I didn’t need to go there again.
Only… at the end, when we’d part ways, what would that do to Theo? He already had one mother MIA. Could he handle losing Jessa, too?
He jumped into my arms. “Did you see my hat trick, Dad?”
“You bet I did, buddy. You must be so proud.” I held him close, still able to lift him with his hockey gear on and all, thanks to my trainer. A year from now, he would be too heavy and too grown up for me to do this. Over his shoulder, I mouthed to Jessa, “Thank you.”
