“No,” I said before I could overthink it. “It’s okay. I’ll come.”
“You sure?” His eyes searched mine. “They’re loud. And nosy. And… kind of a lot.”
“So are you,” I teased.
He let out a laugh. “Touché.”
I pulled the blanket tighter around me and sat up beside him, our knees touching. “Do I need a jersey? War paint? A sign that says, ‘Go Ben!’ or something?”
He grinned, a real one, the kind that crinkled his eyes. “Nah. Just show up. That’s enough.”
I smiled, but part of me already felt the fluttering nerves settling in. Meeting a guy’s family was no small thing. “I’ll survive,” I said lightly.
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “You’ll do more than that. They’ll love you.”
“And if they don’t?”
“They’re wrong.” His tone was gentle but firm.
My chest warmed. Nick stood, stretching again. “Get dressed. I’ll make us coffee.”
* * *
Nick gave me the rundown in the car, rattling off names and relationships like he was preparing me for battle.
Tyler was the oldest. He had cancer years ago. Nick said he was the reason he stopped drinking, and just hearing that made my stomach flutter in a way that wasn’t entirely nerves. It was something deeper. He’s the calm one who always handles everything. He’s engaged to Ava, and according to Nick, I was “absolutely going to love her.” No pressure there.
Connor was next. Second oldest, ran a construction company. Apparently he was quiet and moody but had a good heart underneath it all. He was with Emma, who Nick said was “tough as nails and kind of his female counterpart,” whatever that meant. I tried to imagine someone with Nick’s energy in a smaller, sassier body and immediately got intimidated.
Then came Sean. The doctor. ICU floor, which already made me nervous. I never really knew what to say around people who saved lives for a living. Lilly came in holding on for dear life. They fell in love, and that was that. Nick talked about them differently. Not like he admired him exactly, though he clearly did, but like there was some kind of unspoken bond there.Something about the way he said Lilly’s name made me pay attention.
He told me Lilly had come into the hospital barely hanging on, and Sean fell for her during her recovery. That should’ve sounded like something out of a movie. Unreal. But the way Nick said it, low and even, with this slight smile tugging at his mouth… it didn’t sound dramatic. It just sounded honest. He also told me she was the one who found him the day he almost bought a bottle of whiskey.
I didn’t ask questions. I didn’t need to. I was more curious than anything else. About her. About all of them.
His mom sounded like she had a heart of gold, soft but strong. His dad? Quiet, according to Nick, unless the moment called for sarcasm. A smartass in disguise. I’d already decided I’d probably love him.
And then there was Ben. The baby. The hockey star. The loudmouth. The “I-think-I’m-Him” golden boy who still lived in the frat-house corner of his brain, according to Nick. But goofy. Harmless. The kind of chaos that makes everything more fun.
Nick looked damn good driving. His hand on the wheel, his jaw set, music low. He was calm and easy, like none of this was a big deal. Meanwhile, my brain was running atmaximum chaos settings.
What if they didn’t like me? What if I said something weird? What if I couldn’t sit still long enough? What if I blurted out some random fact about snail mating habits like I did in high school once when I got too nervous during an icebreaker?
“Hey,” Nick said, pulling me out of my spiral as he parked. “You’re bouncing your leg like it owes you money.”
I stopped immediately, feeling flushed. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he said, shutting off the car and turning to face me. “Just breathe. They’re gonna love you.”
“You say that with a lot of confidence for someone with four brothers who probably haven’t met a lot of women you’ve brought around.”
He smiled crookedly. “You’re the first one I’ve actually wanted to introduce.”
Oh. Well now I was blushingandspeechless. He leaned in and kissed me, slow and soft, and for a second, everything went still. I wasn’t sure how he did that, but he was so good at calming down what was in my brain. “C’mon, Sunshine,” he whispered. “Let’s go survive Ben’s ego.”
The arena was loud. Shouting, horns, the sound of blades cutting into ice. I stayed close to Nick as he wove through the crowd, one hand on my back, the other carrying two overpriced waters.
He led me to a row near the front where the rest of the family was already gathered like a sitcom ensemble.
