Hazel chuckled softly. Moreau’s diversionary tactic wouldn’t work forever, but for now, the five-year-old girl threw herself at her leg.
“Will you buy me a goat, Aunt Hazel?” Melody asked, looking up at her wide-eyed.
Well, so much for that.
Hazel’s heart grew three sizes as she ruffled her quasi-niece’s hair. “Right away!” she said earnestly.
“Hazel,” Moreau growled, giving her a dark look. That was his standard expression, though, the one he wore while eating ice cream and gazing at a rainbow, so it didn’t impress her much.
“She can already count to fifty, Moreau. I think she deserves a goat.”
“Yes!” Melody agreed, beaming, and the grin alone made Hazel’s abdomen ache. “Dad, may I look at the goat?”
Moreau sighed. “All right. Go see Leon, okay? He’s right outside. Tell him it’s his job to look after you.”
“Leon is funny. He says a lot of bad things,” the girl remarked with a giggle, before running off toward the petting zoo. There, Moreau could keep an eye on her in case Leon Alvarez violatedhis supervisory duty. The young player certainly didn’t impress with his sense of responsibility — Hazel still wanted to sign him as a client. He was ridiculously talented and ridiculously handsome, a dream for any agent who made most of their money from endorsement deals.
Melody hopped in the sand, fell to her knees, got back up…and Hazel felt an internal sigh of longing.
“Oh man, I think I want kids,” she said.
“You’re not having mine,” Moreau replied dryly, but greeted her with a quick hug.
Warmth flooded her…chased by a little emptiness. There were indeed many great men in her life. Unfortunately, she wasn’t attracted to any of them.
“I’m just saying. I’m over thirty, and I want a family. Maybe I really need to start working a little less… Make more time for personal stuff and eliminate stress by hiring another agent to take some of my clients off my hands. They could open an East Coast office under my guidance, so I’d have to fly less.”
Her current life didn’t leave room for anything more. She wanted to be successful. She wanted to continue running her own business and make more money than anyone had ever believed she could. But she also wanted love, and children, and someone to come home to…
And if men could haveallthat, then she certainly could, too.
“Youhavea family,” Fox murmured, putting an arm around her shoulders.
Grateful, she smiled at him. Obviously, he was right. But, being loved by blood relatives and your best friends, and being…the most important person in someone else’s life wasn’t the same.
She took a deep breath and pushed the thought away. “Where’s Anna?” she asked instead, looking at Moreau. She liked the new female lead in their little family.
“She’s treating her brother.”
“What? Who?” Fox asked, confused. “Dax or Jack? And for what? We’re not playing hockey right now, so how did he get injured?”
Moreau squinted against the sun. “It's Jack. It was probably a…household accident. This morning. In the bedroom. And, yes, I wish I’d been given less information too, but Anna likes to talk.”
“Holy shit.” Fox grimaced in pain. “The mental images. Why did you have to plant these in my head? So,whereexactly did he hurt himself?”
“I didn’t ask, and I don’t want to know!”
Hazel laughed…but the sound caught in her throat as she glanced over Fox’s shoulder.
Gareth was standing less than twenty feet behind him, staring at her.
The bastard was wearing a tuxedo.
Her heart skipped a beat.
It was habit. Pure habit. That self-indulgent, inappropriate behavior had developed almost ten years ago and Gareth had always looked better than was good for his ego.
When she'd first seen him in the lecture hall years ago – when he gave an incomplete and incorrect answer, and she loudly corrected him – his expression had been as blank and intense as it was now. Then too, the seconds had dragged on indefinitely when their eyes locked. Barely perceptible, he lifted one corner of his mouth, as if he’d been impressed. As if he’d accepted the challenge she’d unknowingly issued. As if he didn’t mind a bit of competition. As if he were even happy about it.
