“No. Nope. Uh-uh,” I clearly state. “We have a child sleeping between us, and she’s now officially our barrier between crossing borders.”
“We suck at limits.” His sexy look falls to a hopeless one.
“Yeah, exactly why we should take some time to clear out our adrenaline of our life change and then address stuff.” My hands pretend to shovel the air, him included.
Vaughn removes his finger from under my chin, and the excitement from his touch lessens slightly because it can now be tamed.
He kisses my forehead. “Agreed but not forgotten,” he promises before he walks away.
21
VAUGHN
Isla is standing behind the boards with her jaw hanging low as she watches, unsure if this is a good idea. But Nora is now a few weeks old and loves her carrier wrap.
I’m on my skates with Nora bound tightly to me as I skate slowly around the rink. She’s bundled warmly against my chest, and this is her first taste of life on the ice. I love it.
I decided my break between meetings should be this, and since we only have summer training camp happening, it’s a little easy on the ice with the players. The person from the marketing team taking a video can’t be helped, but the world already knows that I’m a dad. The team posted a congratulations photo on their social media channels. Naming the mom? It made a lot of fans go crazy in the good type of way. The whole “sister of the hockey player falling for another hockey player” has an angle that people seem to eat up.
Except we’re not officially together, and nobody has corrected the public either. It doesn’t matter, right now my focus is on being Daddy Vaughn.
I’m well aware that Nora has no clue what’s going on while we skate, nor will she remember this, but her nervous mom on the other hand most definitely will.
“Just don’t fall,” Isla mentions when I pass.
“Relax, I’m a pro at this,” I assure her.
“Yeah, and I’ll beat him to a pulp if he does,” Briggs pipes up as he skates by me, enjoying his time off but still hitting the ice.
I sigh because there is no escaping Isla’s brother before he leaves for Seattle next season, but he has been tamer around me, and occasionally he backtracks.
“Supportive as always,” I call out sarcastically.
Skating some more, I look down and notice that my daughter is slowly closing her eyes. “Uhm, you’re supposed to be wide awake for this. It’s your big ice debut,” I tease my little girl who has no clue what I’m saying, especially as her eyes shut. I guess this is relaxing for her.
I notice that Briggs has stopped up ahead near the goal post, with his eyes skeptical as he stares at me. Approaching him, I decide to extend an olive branch, but he beats me to the punch.
“My sister seems happy. She was meant to be a mom, even if by accident.”
I smile softly to myself. “Does it matter how it happened, as long as she’s okay?”
Briggs swipes a hand across his jaw. “About that… as much as I hate this, I want us to have a man-to-man talk.”
My posture straightens in surprise. “Probably a good idea. I was waiting for you to cool off from everything, but I also want to talk, so let’s do it now.”
We both glance at Isla who is far enough away that she can’t hear; instead, she studies us warily.
Briggs starts. “You have to take care of her when I’m not here. She may appear to be strong, but I can guarantee that she’s more scared than you can imagine when it comes to having a family. If she ever says she can do it alone, then it’s a lie; she would be brokenhearted for Nora if you are not involved.”
Inside I’m in complete agreement. I understand more than Briggs will ever know.
“If you’re giving me a warning, then you don’t need to. I wouldn’t do that to Isla or Nora. I will always be involved.” More than my old man ever was.
Briggs seems to grasp my sincerity. “Good. Because I’ve been the one to watch her, but now I won’t be here all the time. I need to know she’s okay. I also don’t want to break any laws if I find out she’s in pain, especially if it’s by you.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying not to get aggravated, but I could repeat myself a thousand times. “Briggs, you have my word. We can agree on one thing and that’s Isla and Nora.”
He scoffs a laugh. “You do realize I am only talking about the parenting factor. Whatever the hell you two do on the relationship factor, then that deserves a whole other discussion. I’m not sure what in the world you two got up to the last months before Nora entered our lives, but I sure as hell hope that my sister doesn’t end up upset. It’s no longer fun and games, you know.”
