“What’s up with Shelby?”he asks with a worried furrow to his brow.“Is she okay?The baby?”He glances at his phone, I assume to see if there’s a message from his brother.
I pat his hand.“She’s fine.We were discussing how having a shifter baby makes the timing with due dates and stuff unpredictable.I was wondering if Shelby was dealing with that too.”
His shoulders relax—I hadn’t realized he was tense.
Ollie nods.“Since Bigfoots are a humanoid form instead of an animal like an eagle or cougar, gestation of Bigfoot shifter babies is more predictable.Shelby is on a normal forty-week schedule.”
It’s weird to find a man using the word “gestation” and speaking comfortably about pregnancy sexy, right?He’s going to be a wonderful husband and father.To me.And my children.I don’t care what I need to do to convince him he loves me, but he’s mine.
“Dude.How do you know this?”Liam asks.
Ollie flushes slightly.“I have a lot of cousins, so someone in my family was always pregnant, and I’d hear stuff.One of the families I worked for as a nanny in college was a Bigfoot couple expecting a baby, so I was around through the pregnancy and after the baby was born.”
“Okay, Phoebe, I love Logan with my whole heart,” Daphne says, patting her husband’s leg, “but I’m jealous that you’ve found the perfect man.I bet he’s going to change diapers when you have babies.”
Now it’s my turn to blush.“He said he’d teach me how to change diapers because I’ve never done it.I don’t have experience with babies or kids.”
“Hell,” Stone says.“I don’t have kids and won’t any time soon, but I’d hire King to care for them.”
Logan nods.“When you stop playing hockey, you have career options caring for the Devil Bird chicks that will come along in the next few years.”
Ollie tenses, and I slip my hand into his.He gives mine a squeeze, and I feel the tension ease some more.He’s probably thinking he’ll be hanging up his skates at the end of the season and opening a Devil Birds day care center this summer, but he’s too talented of a player for the Birds to want to give up.I expect he’ll get offered a multiyear contract.At least, that’s my hope.I need something to keep him here in South Jersey so I have time to win his love.
Ollie taps my finger to get my attention, and I tear my gaze from our linked hands to look into his warm brown eyes.His raised brows are asking if I’m ready to go.I love how in tune we are with each other.Before I can say anything, Daphne speaks up.
“Ollie, I sent Phoebe the video of your engagement.Let me know if it’s okay to share on the team’s social media.”She gives us a sweet smile.“If you don’t want it shared, that’s fine, but I know other people not affiliated with the team were watching and videoing too, so it may still get out.”
He looks at me, and I let go of his hand to get my phone out.I click on the video, and he puts his arm around me as we lean in together to watch the video.When he sniffles, I glance over and see him blinking quickly to hold back tears.From this angle, I can see how incredibly long his eyelashes are.When we have kids, I hope they get his eyelashes.
I gasp because for the first time in my life I thought of having an actual flesh and blood child and pictured them having Ollie’s luscious lashes.A real person, not an abstract blob.Ollie turns his attention to me.
I smile and whisper, “I’m fine.”
He goes back to watching the video and smiles ruefully when yet another kiss is interrupted.
“You are so cute!”Daphne says when we finish watching the video.
Ollie flushes.“Thank you for recording this, Daphne.”He looks down at me.“Up to you if you want it posted.”
“I’m fine with it as long as you are.”I know that posting it is going to help me the most because of the baking contest, so I appreciate his willingness to share something so personal.It will help him too, by integrating him into the team.I wish we were sharing to celebrate a wonderful moment and not to help our careers.
“Great!”Daphne says cheerfully.“Can I get a couple pictures of you to include?Cute couple pictures, cuddled up and showing the ring.Phoebe, do you want your last name shared?”
“That’s fine,” I say.
“Can you tag Snarky Sweet too?”Ollie asks.“And Pastry Pro Championships.”
Daphne’s face lights up.“Good idea!Wait, did you make the show?”
Nodding, I try to pretend to be excited.“Yeah, Andie and I heard today.We’re team Hockey Honeys.”
Everyone laughs and congratulates me.Except Stone.He looks at me with a furrowed brow.I don’t think people realize how empathetic he is.They see a lumberjack-looking dude who likes to cook for people, but he tunes into people’s feelings and is a sensitive soul.We’ve hung out a little bit when Andie and I joined the team after games.Nothing romantic ever happened between us, but we did form a friendship.Ollie is my best friend, but Stone Waller is a dear friend too.I think maybe he was my substitute Ollie.Stone knows how important my baking business is to me and watches these shows enough to know how they work.Even though I haven’t said anything, he knows being recognized as someone’s girlfriend or fiancée isn’t how I want my business to grow.
Ollie wraps his arm around me and presses a kiss to my temple.Stone quirks an eyebrow and smiles slightly before adding his congratulations.That’s when I realize Ollie’s sign of affection was him marking his territory.I’m not sure how I feel about it.I’ve never known Ollie to be jealous or territorial.It’s a little bit of a thrill to think he cares enough about me to be jealous, but it’s icky too that my sweet cinnamon roll Ollie has it in him to be possessive, like I’m property and not a woman with autonomy.
I grab his drink and take a big gulp.I’m going to regret it, but I don’t care.Ollie’s eyes widen because I take a sip of Guinness from time to time but never a gulp.Placing the glass on the low table in front of us, I stand and ask Daphne where she’d like us to stand.We pose in front of a bank of windows with the ocean behind us.Logan adjusts where we stand so we aren’t dark blobs against a bright background.Thank goodness for his professional photographer’s eye.
“I’m sorry,” Ollie murmurs as we are directed to stand next to each other, Ollie’s arm around me with his hand on my hip, my arm around his waist, and resting my left hand on his chest to show off the ring.
