Chloe
It was a warm, sunny day about a week after Will was feeling better that we ambushed him with a barbecue at the house.
He was grumpy about it for all of ten minutes, glaring at me and Arushi for our role in it all while his teammates carried in coolers full of beer and meat. But a few kisses on the cheek from Maven, Livia, and Grace, combined with Ava being supremely thrilled that she had swim buddies for the day, made the frown between his brows slowly disappear.
The guys had practice earlier in the day, but had the rest of the afternoon and evening off before tomorrow’s practice. Then, they’d be on a flight to Atlanta.
I didn’t know how they did it, how I could look around the backyard and find so many seemingly calm and collected men when I knew they felt the stress of the season weighing on them. Then again, they loved hockey. This team was like their family.
And the Cup was within reach.
I knew that was driving Will, and I imagined it was the same with all the guys. Tampa hadn’t won the whole thing since early in the 2000s, even though our team had had many winning seasons.
Maybe this was the year.
Carter Fabri had flown in from New York for a few days, making the most of a break he had in his AHL season. It was my first time meeting the kid I’d heard Will refer to as the closest thing he had to an annoying little brother, and I adored him within the first ten minutes.
He was like a giant golden retriever.
He smiled wide and unapologetically. He goofed around like he didn’t have a care in the world. Where Vince and Jaxson were cocksure and Will was grumpy, Carter was kind and funny and sweet.
Presently, he and I were in the pool with Ava, playing a very intense game of Marco Polo that had her bursting into a fit of giggles every time Carter managed to evade her. She’d call out Marco, he’d call back Polo, and when she’d launch herself across the water, he’d skate away just in time for her to hear his splash.
It was absolutely adorable.
Around us, the party was in full swing. Music wafted over the pool from speakers above the outside kitchen. Chef Patel was on the grill, clamping her tongs at any man who tried to take her place, while the rest of the crew either worked on setting up sides, snacked on the appetizers we had out, or chatted away in the shade of one of the many umbrellas.
Grace was in Jaxson’s lap in a lounge chair, both of them soaking up the sun and struggling to keep their hands — and mouths — off each other.
It wasn’t until Vince went by and flicked Jaxson hard on the ear that they broke apart.
When Arushi called Ava up to eat, I helped her dry off, high-fiving Carter before he ambled toward the guys, and I made my way to where the girls were congregating around a bottle of champagne on ice. Livia poured a tall flute for me and handed it to me as soon as I arrived under the shady pavilion, wrapping a beach towel around me.
“For you, beautiful,” she said, bowing a little as the glass left her hand and slid into mine. “You are too cute with her, by the way.”
“Seriously. I think that little girl’s eyes turn to stars when she looks at you,” Grace offered with a smile and lift of her sun-kissed cheeks.
I took a sip of the champagne, all of us watching where Chef was helping Ava pile her plate up.
“She’s the best kid,” I said softly.
“Truly,” Maven agreed. “And I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that man so happy.”
She nodded to where Will was standing in a circle with Carter, Vince, and Jaxson. Vince was showing them some kind of golf stance before Jaxson jabbed him hard in the ribs and nearly sent him toppling into the pool.
When Will laughed, the girls gasped, and I didn’t miss how the guys balked at their goalie.
“Did he… did he just laugh?” Livia asked, blinking. She looked like a million dollars, white bikini blazing against her rich brown skin, nails painted a glossy red, gold hoops hanging from her ears and a body chain that matched draping from her neck down to her hips.
“He’s been doing that all day,” Grace said, shaking her head. “Jaxson and I were talking about it. Specifically, about how that never happened before this one came along.”
She nudged me in the hip, drawing my attention back to them. When I saw the way they were all smirking at me, I flushed.
“Oh, stop,” I said, waving them off, but I couldn’t hide my victorious grin at the sight. I’d accomplished my mission of making that grumpy oaf laugh, and now that I had, it seemed he couldn’t quit laughing.
It was the best.
“No, you stop,” Maven said, her smoky voice teasing and light. “Girl, we are not blind.”
“Or stupid,” Livia added with a tilt of her glass to her lips.
“That man can’t keep his eyes off you. And you light up like a sky of fireworks every time you catch him looking.” Maven folded one arm over her lean stomach, balancing the elbow of her other arm on her wrist with the champagne flute hanging daintily from her fingers. “Care to share with the class what that’s all about?”
Shit.
I hoped the panic I felt racing through me didn’t show on my face, that the roll of my eyes and easy smile on my lips was convincing. One of Will’s number one rules was that no one find out about us.
And no matter how badly I yearned for advice from these girls, I wouldn’t betray his wish.
Even though I desperately wanted to. I wanted to pull them to the side and divulge every detail. I wanted to see if they could figure him out, if they could tell me why one minute he was worshipping my body and laughing in my sheets and asking about my life, only to shut down and run from me in the next breath.
I wondered if they would know the layout of this game better than I did, if they’d be able to see something I didn’t.
Because everything in my body, heart, mind, and soul said that Will Perry wanted more from me than just sex, that we were more than just sex.
But any time I’d lean too far into that belief, he’d remind me with his words, with his actions that we had a deal.
And that deal was sex and sex only.
“Listen,” I said, lowering my voice and leaning in like I had a big secret.
The girls all widened their eyes and leaned in, too, ready for me to spill.
“I don’t think there is a woman on the planet who does not think that man is hot,” I said on a laugh. “Including me. So, yes, sometimes I blush a little when he looks at me. Can you blame a girl?”
“Hell no,” Livia said. “That man has Daddy Energy in more ways than one, if you know what I’m saying.”
Maven rolled her eyes and elbowed her best friend. “Okay, so… are you two… you know?” She waggled her brows.
And I prayed I was putting on the best show of my life when I shook my head on a smile, glancing at Will before pulling my attention back to them.
“He’s my boss, nothing more. I’m here for Ava. And honestly, I’m just glad I could prove to him that he could find a nanny who doesn’t want anything from him, because I’m pretty sure he was convinced that wasn’t possible.”
The girls all deflated in sync, which made me laugh. Grace was even pouting a little as she took a sip of her champagne.
“Well, as much as I wished for a different answer to that,” Maven said with a sigh. “I’m actually really happy to hear that response. Will… he’s quiet, you know? He doesn’t really let anyone in. But we all knew he needed help for a long time. We all knew he was struggling.”
“And now that he has you?” Grace smiled, squeezing my arm. “He’s a completely different person.”
I returned her smile, cheeks heating as I glanced over my shoulder at Will.
I froze when I realized he’d been watching me, too.
The guys were talking, but he stared right through the gap of Carter and Jaxson’s heads, his eyes pinning me in place.
“I feel the same way,” I said honestly.
My heart rate spiked when Will smiled at me like he knew what I was saying even from across the pool.
And then I blew out a breath and turned back to the girls. “This has been life changing for me. I have Ava, Will, Arushi — and you three,” I said, poking each of them with a smile. “I’ve never had girlfriends before.”
“Aw,” Grace said, wrapping me up in a tight hug for what a slight little thing she was. “I feel this so hard. I was the same way before finding this crew.”
“Well, you’re one of us now. Even if Will messes things up, you’ll always have the girls,” Maven promised.
“Yeah. Like if he messes up your bed sheets,” Livia murmured. “Or your hair, or your—”
Maven pinched her, and I smiled, shaking my head.
“Chloe is a professional,” Grace said, waving her shoulders side to side. “Besides,” she added with a wicked grin my way. “She’s got Noah.”
Livia and Maven shared mischievous looks, and now the three of them were bouncing on their heels waiting for me to update them on the hot teacher at school.
The hot, non-existent teacher and a story I had yet to come up with.
But I pretended to melt away from them in a shy smile, hiding my face until they were begging for details.
Anything to steer them away from the truth.
• • •
Will
Chloe was impossible to ignore on an average day, but on a hot, sunny one in nothing but a black bikini custom-fitted to her incredible body?
I was fucking ruined.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off her and I knew it. From when she was playing with Ava in the pool to when she was laughing with the girls as they drank champagne and snacked on fruit, my gaze was glued to her.
I thought I’d gotten away with it, that I was somehow slicker than I felt because no one had called me out yet. But just when I was confident in that, Carter had to go and ruin it all.
The large group of us ate at the long outdoor dining table under the shade by the grill. I forced Arushi to join us, especially after she worked so hard all day on not just hamburgers, but steak and ribs that were out of this world.
The conversation floated from Vince and Maven’s wedding to our playoff race, the afternoon fading into evening with everyone smiling and laughing and having a great time. Even I couldn’t hold my displeasure at the surprise barbecue for long — not when Ava was this happy, when the guys were relaxing when they very much needed to, and most of all, when Chloe was smiling so contently.
After dinner, the girls worked on helping Arushi tidy up — despite how the guys and I had tried to do it ourselves. They insisted it was so they could gossip and to leave them alone.
I smiled when I watched Chloe give Ava a list of jobs to do, knowing that would make my daughter feel better than if she’d told her to go play.
God, she just knew her. Like she always had.
Like she was her own.
I was lost in that thought as Jaxson ribbed Carter about how he’d been ogling our dentist all day. Carter tried and failed to deny it, his voice pitching up a few octaves.
And then, the punk escaped further interrogation by throwing me under the bus.
“Besides, if anyone is ogling anyone here, it’s our goalie.”
I whipped my head toward him, narrowing my gaze.
“I mean, he’s practically fucking his nanny with those sad eyes of his every time she walks by.”
I punched him hard in the chest, which earned me laughs from Vince and Jaxson as Carter rubbed the spot. He shrugged his shoulders and mouthed sorry, like I should have been understanding that he was just doing what he had to do to get the conversation to steer away from him.
“He’s got a fair point there, Daddy P,” Jaxson said, taking a pull of the IPA in his hand. “I’ve seen you smile more today than in the entire time I’ve known you.”
“Fuck the smiles. You’ve been laughing,” Vince pointed out, like it was the equivalent of seeing a trick shot. “Does our new friend Chloe have anything to do with that?”
I slow blinked at them with my lips in a flat line, refusing to entertain the question.
“Oh, he’s got it bad,” Carter said, shaking his head on a drink of his beer.
“I do not have anything,” I argued. “Other than, finally, a competent nanny who my daughter adores.”
“I don’t think Ava is the only one doing the adoring,” Jaxson said with a wag of his brows.
Fortunately, I was saved from the hellish conversation and having to blatantly lie to my friends when the girls joined us. Grace jumped on Jaxson’s back while Maven slipped under Vince’s arm, planting a kiss on his cheek before he was beaming down at her.
Carter tried to put his arm around Livia, who simply arched a perfect brow at him and blinked. I found it hard not to laugh as he cleared his throat and pretended it was just a stretch before folding his arms over his chest.
Chef Patel was entertaining Ava, watching her hold her breath in the pool for all of three seconds before she’d pop back up. Arushi, bless her, acted like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. My girl was lucky to have her.
And then, there was Chloe.
She stood across from me, right between where Maven and Livia were, her skin a bit pink from the sun. My heart ached a bit as I watched a smile bloom on her face at something Carter said, and I willed myself to look away before anyone else caught on to how gone I was for her.
Because I was.
I was so fucking gone it wasn’t funny.
My focus rested entirely on not letting that little fact show — to my teammates or to myself, if I was being honest. It took so much effort that the conversation felt muted to me.
Until the second Livia slammed me back down to Earth with one stupid name.
“Are you really going to make me leave tonight without even a single detail about Noah Balboa?”
The question was aimed at Chloe.
Which made no fucking sense.
“Noah Balboa?” Maven asked on a laugh.
“What?” Livia shrugged. “Hot teacher with an awareness of his trauma? That screams big dick energy to me.”
“Who’s Noah?”
I tried to ask the question casually, but the way everyone’s heads snapped in my direction, I had a feeling the words came out more gruffly than I was aiming for.
Chloe shrank under my gaze, tucking her hair behind one ear. “He’s just a friend.”
“A teacher friend at her school,” Grace corrected.
“Who is apparently very hot, divorced, and tripping over himself trying to tell our girl Chloe here that he’s into her,” Livia added.
“And I mean honestly, who could blame him?” Maven asked. “I’d trip over myself, too.”
There were some laughs at that, and then I thought I heard Jaxson asking Chloe for details. I thought I heard Vince telling them all to bug off and leave the girl alone, to let her keep her dating life private. I thought I heard Carter say something about how nothing was private in this little group of friends.
But I couldn’t be sure of any of it.
Because I was barely breathing, staring at Chloe with a war of emotions raging inside me.
She was into a guy at school.
He was into her.
My blood boiled at the thought, throat tightening, ribs refusing to expand and give my lungs the room they so desperately needed. Jealousy and anger surged through me like rival tidal waves, each of them battling for the top spot.
But on the heels of them was a deep, horrible sadness.
Because I knew this was a good thing.
Chloe was the most incredible woman I’d ever known. Every man should be tripping over themselves to get her attention. She should be crushing on a man who can give her what she deserves.
I wanted her to be happy.
But fuck if I didn’t want her to be happy with me.
The reality that I couldn’t make that a reality was more sobering than any ice bath I’d ever taken. I stared at her from across the circle, all my friends’ laughter subdued like I was drowning under water and watching from the bottom of the pool.
Chloe was blushing and giggling at something someone had said, her eyes on her feet.
But then, they lifted to mine.
Her smile fell, the color draining from her face. She swallowed beneath what I knew was a hard stare from me, one powered by the jealousy and rage I couldn’t quell.
Somehow, I forced a breath.
And then, I forced a smile.
“Well, before you two get serious, I think you better bring him by the house,” I said, hoping the joke would play off, that I could somehow make it sound like a tease, that I could somehow convince her I was unaffected. “I promise to only polish one gun while I grill him.”
There was a pause from the group, and then Carter burst into a laugh that made everyone else release, too. He clapped me on the shoulder, shaking his head.
“Will Perry, forever playing the role of Daddy,” he said with a grin. “Stop playing, though. You don’t own any guns.”
I cocked a brow at him. “That you know of.”
And with that, the conversation turned away from Noah the Hot Teacher.
I waited long enough until I could make the excuse that I needed to get Ava down to sleep, and then I snuck away, holding my shit together as I got my daughter cleaned up and into her bed. The sun and water had her falling asleep before I could even read a full page of a book, and when I slipped out of her room, I walked slowly down to the guest one down the hall.
Then, I grabbed the first pillow I saw, and screamed into it as loud as I could.
